Urban factions and seigniorial pacification in Late Medieval Castile: Paredes de Nava and Fernando of Antequera (1400-1416)

Abstract

This article approaches to the function carried out by the seigniorial poweraround situations of conflict which brought its vassals face to face and affected its exercise of authority. We analyse as an example the struggle between urban factions for the counciliar government happened in Paredes de Nava, a seigniorial town upon the infante Fernando of Antequera, in 1401-1403. In base of this case, we can observe that these clashes were conditioned by a great variety of factors and the remarkable sophistication of resources deployed by the seigniorial sphere for facing them. As we could see, justice, peace, imposition and mediation are finely articulated into seigniorial speech and action.