一五世紀カスティリアにおけるコルテスの衰退と王領地の都市
スポンサーリンク
概要
- 論文の詳細を見る
The Cortes, representative assemblies of the medieval Castile, declined notably in the fifteenth century. Among various causes which contributed to the decline of the Cortes, these were the substancial : first is various measures taken by the kings who aimed at strengthening the royal power ; second is the change of circumstances which had surrounded the towns of Castile. Focusing on the latter point especially, this thesis is intended to analyze the cause and effect of the decline of the Cortes. In the fifteenth century, the absorptive expansion of the nobility endangered the autonomy of the Castilian municipalities, and moreover, the protracted civil war led the kingdom to a great confusion. In the face of such a critical situation, the Castilian municipalities became to wish the strength of the royal power, because the towns regarded the kings as the defender of their autonomy and as the director of peace and order of the kingdom. The first problem in regard to the Cortes lies in this point. The second is the consolidation of the oligarchy by the caballeros villanos, or the town's knights. They had accomplished to monopolize the town's government by excluding the rest of the inhabitants from it. It is necessary that the procuradores, or the deputies of the Cortes, too, belonged to the caballeros villanos, and therefore the interest which they tried to protect was nothing but their owns, which often opposed to the interest of the rest of the inhabitants. For this reason, the Cortes couldn't obtain the support of the general public, and couldn't fulfill their function as the counterbalance against the royal power. The third cause is related to the antagonism between the town's agriculture and textile industries on the one hand, and the Mesta and the international woolen trade on the other. The municipalities often required the king to defend their agriculture from the trespass of the migratory sheep and to assure the supply of the raw materials to their textile industries by restricting the woolen export. But it was in vain, because the king was a chief beneficiary from the sheep growing and woolen trade. And what is more, for further development of the Mesta which traversed the peninsular, it was indispensable to subordinate the municipalities to the single authority, that is to say, the royal authority. From a viewpoint of the economic history the significance of the Cortes' decline exists in this point.
- 財団法人史学会の論文
- 1983-08-20