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  • Land, Power, and Society in Medieval Castile: A Study of Behetría Lordship
  • Sybil M. Jack
Pérez-Alfaro, Christina Jular and Estepa Díez, Carlos, eds, Land, Power, and Society in Medieval Castile: A Study of Behetría Lordship (The Medieval Countryside, 3), Turnhout, Brepols, 2010; hardback; pp. xiv, 338; 10 b/w tables, 11 b/w line art; R.R.P. €70.00; ISBN 9782503526232.

In the period historians generally classify as 'feudal', the canonical understanding of social power relations is still largely based on French and English material and postulates a vague but persistent idea of a 'pure' feudal form which is critical to interpretation of the period. Recognition that political structures, social hierarchies, and the distribution of power in the period have a much more varied pattern that markedly differentiates the various territories of Europe has been slow to take hold. The work in this area of scholars published in languages other than English has tended to be confined to small academic communities and largely dismissed as peripheral in influential general textbooks.

This collection of essays from Spanish experts on Behetría lordship and the distinctiveness of Spanish feudal relationships should inspire a [End Page 278] reassessment of some of the fundamental assumptions of the common view. The editors define this Castilian term as 'a peculiar form of lordship that linked lay lords both to their dependent peasants and to royal power' (p. xi). In some interpretations this is seen as critical to the distinctive creation of a Spanish identity.

For reasons that have been hotly disputed between iconic Spanish historians like Sancho-Albornoz and Américo Castro but which possibly relate to the Reconquest of Spain, Behetría relationships differ from those common in other parts of Europe. Recent work, though, has established links to similar institutions elsewhere. The best-known feature of this legal structure is the right of peasants of free status to choose their lords. These were lay lords mostly of the lower or middle nobility as the system was not available to ecclesiastical lords. By the mid-fourteenth century, the system which had been dominant in the twelfth century was losing ground as such lordships were changed into other forms. Attempts by the hidalgos to abolish it completely, however, failed.

The theme of the collection turns on an analysis of Behetría's development in the context of the exercise of power by the monarch, the lord, and the peasant in particular territorial structures and geographical areas. Two case studies - that of the Rojas and the Velascos - serve to illustrate the complexities of the situation, and the difficulties in collecting and interpreting the evidence.

The papers on the peasantry in the Behetría system, tease out the changes that occurred in the position of the peasant and the factors that eroded their independence. This was not a simple conflict between lord and peasant. Isabel Alfonso Anton shows how important intra-noble conflict and disputes between lay and ecclesiastical lords contributed to the creation and alteration of the social and economic hierarchy.

The editors have designed the volume to enlighten the general reader but the discussions require a considerable willingness to master unfamiliar detail. The result, however, is well worthwhile. [End Page 279]

Sybil M. Jack
New South Wales
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