Práctica y ceremonial de la comunicación escrita entre el rey y las ciudades castellanas en la Baja Edad Media

Abstract

One of the most important facets in the exercise of royal power in the kingdom of Castile can be found in the relations between the Crown and the towns. The king exercised his sovereign rights over a society that was essentially urban. A system was thus designed whereby the monarch was able to relate to his subjects by way of written communication, a practice that was thoroughly regulated on the basis of a formula which was applied with only minor variations in all royal towns and cities. The purpose was to pursue a practice which the Crown utilised as a lever of legitimisation and propaganda. This was done through the Royal Household and Court’s own officials and those of the judiciary, the law and the various local chanceries as deputies entasked with assuring good and effective communication—the basis of a proper exercise of power. All this took place within the context of a ritualism charged with feudalistic gestures, words and symbols whose support the late mediaeval State was reluctant to give up.

Keywords

• Documentary practice
• ritual and ceremony
• royal documents
• royal sovereignty
• towns
• written communication