Seigneurial Pressure: external constrictions and stimuli in the construction of urban collective identities in 15th Century Castile

Abstract

Seigneurial pressure, exerted on cities and towns and their municipal jurisdictions by the nobility, constituted one of the dominant traits of Castilian politics in the 15th century. Notwithstanding the extent and intensity that this pressure might reach in general, few cities and towns were subjected to the (individual or coordinated) actions of important numbers of noblemen. This was the case of the city of Cuenca. This was one of the reasons explaining the relative success achieved by the city in fighting these agreesions. The presence of a significant number of noblemen, each of them seeking their own interest, lessened (relatively) their ability to depradate Cuenca’s hinterland. This constriction (over the city and its jurisdiction) also influenced both elites and commoners to adopt a cooperative line of action. This way, Cuenca body politic laid out the key political traits of its communal political identity. These policies and marks of identity were observed throughout the years of civil war and, at least, until the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I, when the pressure exerted by the nobility was reduced to a reasonable dimension.