The Participation of the Nobility in the Government of the European Towns during the Late Middle Ages. A Comparative Study

Abstract

In the western European towns the presence of members of the nobility in their institutions of local government was not a very widespread phenomenon during the Late Middle Ages. It can only be perceived in a great scale in very few regions, mainly in the kingdom of Castile and in Italy. In this article the author gives account of the main signs of the political control that the nobility exercised over the institutions of local government in the Castilian towns. He then pays attention to the important differences that in this respect existed during the Late Middle Ages between these towns and those of other kingdoms of western Europe, where the nobility didn't participate in the institutions of local government. He proposes some exemples taken from the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon, the German Empire, France and England, leaving out of his consideration the case of the urban republics in Italy because of their specifical character, derived from their important degree of autonomy.