The Importance of Being Earnest: Urban Elites and the Distribution of Power in Castilian Towns in the Late Middle Ages.
The model of urban power in Cuenca, quite contrary to what might be imagined, was not oligarchic. The mere fact of occupying superior class position, the importance of being in the elite of power, did not imply a monopoly of power resour-ees. Their access to types of resources closed to the urban s...
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| Format: | book part |
| Publication Date: | 2004 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha |
| Repository: | RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/41763 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10578/41763 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Castilian Cuenca Late Middle Ages Urban elites |
| Summary: | The model of urban power in Cuenca, quite contrary to what might be imagined, was not oligarchic. The mere fact of occupying superior class position, the importance of being in the elite of power, did not imply a monopoly of power resour-ees. Their access to types of resources closed to the urban subsystem as a whole allowed for a broad distribution of urban resources among the lineages located in the elite of participation and the minor sector in terms of power. The elite of power shared these resources with other members of the dominant class, privileging that second tier comprising the elite of participation. The latter was granted ample participation in the power subsystem, and its class position was recognised by those that controlled the subsystem; in retum, this control was not questioned. |
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