The Catholic Church came about as a religious and political entity in the Iberian Peninsula in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. From here, missionaries who possessed the banner of Christ came to the Americas for a fresh, new environment for Christianity to thrive. There was a clear alliance between the Church and the Crown in Spanish America. Ecclesiastical institutions were allotted some freedom from the Crown. The "fuero eclesiástico", or clerical immunity, granted clergy members immunity from the royal courts. According to this "fuero", any civil crime or criminal offense will be heard in front of the ecclesiastical instead of the royal or local court. This privilege was then extended to all clerics, nuns, priests, monks, and friars. This "fuero" extended to the land owned by the individuals and institutions which means the Spanish Crown could not exercise justice physically nor collect taxes.