Violent Conflicts within the Oligarchical Groups of the Castilian Towns at the End of the Middle Ages: the «Bandos» of Ávila

Abstract

The author analyzes the factional strifes between the two most prominent noble houses of the city of Ávila that took place at the end of the fifteenth and at the beginning of the sixteenth century. He tries to verify if there was any kind of connexion between these strifes and the affiliation of the families of the local oligarchy of the city to two local institutions that were called the linajes (lineages) of Saint Vicent and Saint John that guaranteed the peaceful distribution of the offices of local government in the city. He arrives to the conclusion that at the analyzed period these linajes were not genuine factions with a hierarchical structure, because divisions between groups of aldermen that rivalled for power had developed within them.

Keywords

• castilla
• nobleza urbana
• luchas de bandos
• conflictos políticos urbanos
• siglo xv
• siglo xvi