The consolidation of royal control: evidence from northern Castile, 1352–1787

Abstract

Rulers of modern states consolidated control over territories that were previously complicated mosaics of private political jurisdictions. Systematic information about this process is sparse. This article analyzes village-level transition paths between jurisdictions—royal, seigneurial, and ecclesiastical—in northern Castile in the period 1352–1787. It quantifies how much power different types of lords preserved or lost to the Crown in the long run and also offers conjectural estimates showing that exposure to opportunities for trade led to more resilient and larger royal domains—at the expense of secular lords, but not of the Catholic Church.