Castilian War of the Communities
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The Castilian War of the Communities is also known as the Revolt of the Comuneros, and in Spanish as la Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla.
It was an uprising by citizens of Castilian communities against the rule of Charles V and his administration. It took place between April 16, 1520 and February 3, 1522. According to some scholars, this revolt had elements of a modern revolution, notably because of the mixture of hate for social injustice and unfair taxation and the ideals of democracy and freedom were among the causes of the uprising.
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[edit] Origins
After the death of Ferdinand II in 1516, his grandson Charles became King of Castile and Aragon in co-regency with his mother, the mentally unstable Queen Juana of Castile. Charles, inexperienced and young, brought up in Flanders, modified the government and entrusted important positions to foreigners he had brought with him. His government denied solicitations by the Castilians. The province of Castile itself was in difficulties due to poor harvests and efforts by the nobility to reestablish power that had been lost under Isabella’s rule. Charles’ ambitions in Europe resulted in heavy taxation and people recognized that this money was spent elsewhere. After an expensive election Charles was named Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and, in the following year, he left Spain to assume his new reign. His mentor, Adrian of Utrecht (the future Pope Hadrian) was left as regent. With more demands for money, rebellion soon broke loose.
[edit] The Santa Junta
On April 16, 1520 a popular revolt erupted in Toledo. The royal administrators were driven out, and a citizen committee elected under the leadership of Juan Lopez de Padilla and Pedro Lasso de Vega. Other cities followed. A revolutionary cortes, La Santa Junta de las Comunidades, had its first session in Ávila and declared itself as the legitimate government deposing the Royal Council. Padilla was named Captain-General, and troops were assembled. Adrian responded with force and tried to take Medina del Campo. Through a conflagration the town burned down. More of the country rose up, and the revolt was spreading to the peasants. Adrian’s army started to disintegrate.
[edit] Queen Juana
Troops of the comuneros went to Tordesillas to liberate Juana and declare her the sole sovereign. On September 24, 1520, the Queen, for the first and only time, presided over the Cortes. Charles, in a brilliant counterstroke, appointed the Admiral and the Constable coregents with Adrian, and by this action placated the nobles from whose rank these persons came. Further, many nobles had become frightened by more radical elements of the comuneros and feared social disorder. The comuneros themselves lacked unity and vision. Their attempt to use Juana for their legitimacy blocked their initiative when she fell into a stupor and refused to sign any edicts. By December, the royalists had amassed a new army with the help of many nobles. Tordesillas was conquered and Juana imprisoned. She stayed in her cell for 35 years until her death.
[edit] The End
In February 1521, the comunero army was victorious at Torrelobaton, but two months later it received a crushing defeat in the Battle of Villalar. Juan de Padilla together with the two other main leaders, Francisco Maldonado and Juan Bravo were executed and town after town succumbed. The last town resisting was the one where it all started, Toledo. The defense of the city was organized by Maria Pacheco, widow of Padilla. The city surrendered on October 25 under the condition that the life of the comuneros be spared. A truce seemed to be in place but broke down on February 3, 1522, when the Imperial troops crushed a final insurrection. Maria Pacheco fled to Portugal, where she died ten years later.
[edit] Aftermath
With the failure of the uprising, Castile became integrated into the Habsburgs' empire. From thereon Castile, under the domination of its loyal nobility, provided the bulk of the Habsburg's military and financial resources, and later, administrators. It became the keystone of the Habsburgs' growing empire. The restored powers of a nobility with their medieval notions about status, government and economics was to retard and even reverse the social and economic development of Spain, which for a long time was disguised by the ever rising importation of silver from the American mines. It would take more than a century, but with the Castilian nobility identifying totally with the Habsburg cause, Castile's interests would be endlessly sacrificed, and ultimately when Castile finally began to crumble under its extraordinary exertions the empire of the Habsburgs soon followed. For now, however, Charles established a repressive regime, but also learned to change his policy towards Spain. He left the administration of Castile largely in Spanish hands. Upon abdication, he partitioned his realm and handed Spain to his son Philip. With Isabella I's reforms reversed the nobility regained power.
The revolt had a distinct Castilian character and was directed against foreigners. Juan de Padilla and Maria Pacheco were the heroes that arose out of the masses. The spontaneous and sudden developments of the uprising were surprising, yet crumbled in the face of determined resolve, and under its own contradictions.
The regional feast of the modern autonomous community of Castile-Leon commemorates the Comuneros, with ceremonies being held at Villalar, now Villalar de los Comuneros, every 23 April.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Miller, T. The Castles and the Crown. Coward-McCann, New York, 1963.
