Conflict and Community in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the conflicts between seroras and their communities. Seroras, like their male colleagues, were parts of their communities through and through, and often little separated emotionally, physically, or economically from the people they served. Proximity easily gave birth to tension and conflict, and as members of their communities, seroras and priests often responded passionately and intensely. These visible contraventions to a reformed, peaceful, and professional clergy drew the attention of the bishop; consequently, criminal cases handled by the Diocese of Pamplona are skewed toward breaches of both legal obligation and social expectations, including episodes of violence. How parishioners reported, reacted to, and participated in conflict with their seroras underscores the ease with which the ideals of reform were consumed and deployed by local communities and for local purposes. Seroras occupied a central place within local religious life; yet the vocation was not static, nor was it immune to challenge. In the postreform years, conflict involving seroras and their communities provided a crucial opportunity for localities to engage with the practical aspects of implementing religious reform, mold it according to their own preferences, or reject it altogether.