| Resumo: | The detailed analysis of the political and economic governance of medieval towns in the Late Middle Ages provides some insight into they way in which the exercise of power by the ruling oligarchy was supported by a broad social base or elite. Their ample representation in the council's large governing assembly, which both acted as an electoral college and supplied the eligible members of legal courts, went hand in hand with the involvement of the same individuals and households in the economic management of municipalities. Thus they became major beneficiaries of wages derived from office holding and revenues obtained through purchasing census-based debt, tax leases and subsidies granted in order to support grain imports to fill the town granaries. Personal data drawn from the accounting records in the city of Valencia during the financial year 1411-1412 (and more particularly from exchange rate tables in the municipal banking system) provide evidence regarding the full involvement of the numerous local town councillors in the municipality's political and financial management. So much so indeed, that it becomes possible to posit an equation between the town's political class and the urban community as collectively enshrined by local law and fully characterized by this dual aspect of their activity.
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