Merindad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Merindad is a Castilian or Spanish Medieval administrative term that refers to a country subdivision smaller than a province but larger than a municipality. It can roughly approximate the English county or bayliff. The officer in charge was called Merino which may be related or not to the sheep race of the same name. It was used in the kingdoms of Castile and Navarre. Connected to the birth of Castile the Merindades of the province of Burgos were part of the creation of the administrative division by Pedro I and still use this term. Currently the Foral Community of Navarre keeps the merindad as a historical division. Administratively they have been substituted by the partido judicial. In Biscay, the mancomunidades comarcales keep the place of the old merindades, such as Duranguesado.