Taxes, as the name suggests, are never voluntary. There was a time in Spain when, to approve them, the king demanded the approval of different Courts and Assemblies, the most powerful being the Castilian, attended by representatives of Arrived the main cities of the kingdom. These institutions that limited royal power soon disturbed the monarchs, who intended to hoard the whole kingdom in their hands. The commoners have been the last defenders of this status quo.
Perhaps the responsibilities of the Castilian courts were anachronistic for a kingdom that already extended to the other side of the planet, in any case, as with any loss of freedom, was charged with blood and fire.
- In 1517 Prince Charles.
- Of Flemish origin.
- Landed in Asturias to occupy the throne under the name of Charles I.
- He initially assumed hope of reversing the situation of poor harvests.
- Social tensions.
- Political instability.
- Hunger and high taxes.
- That devastated Castile.
Soon Charles made decisions that displeased the population, such as the request for services, a kind of extraordinary tax, to spend on the conquest of the imperial throne. Many nobles also did not like the excessive presence of foreigners in the Court.
After a few Cortes held in La Coruña, new services would be approved without the support of cities such as Toledo or Salamanca. The widespread feeling was that the king, who did not know the local language, treated his main kingdom secondaryly.
In Ledea, a meeting was proposed in Avila, bringing together cities that voted in the Courts, members would be called commoners. These municipalities have decided not to comply with many of the new taxes and demand the return of certain freedoms and charges to Spanish.
As of 1920, in the month following the Courts of Corua, future comuneros took the city of Segovia murdering the representative of the Courts; Leon, Guadalajara, Burgos and Zamora followed.
The only way to impose their demands were weapons, and they would not hesitate to accept them, however, the first blow was given by the king’s troops.
To subdue the Segovian commoners, the governor in the absence of Charles, Hadrian of Utrech, needed the artillery of Medina del Campo. The inhabitants of Medina refused to give it up because of such scandal and their houses were burned down.
The cruelty was so great that many cities quickly joined, Padilla would lead Toledo, Maldonado, Salamanca, Bravo, Segovia, Zapata, Madrid and many others. The army they assembled took Tordesillas to meet Ms. Juana.
Juana de Castilla, Charles’ mother, was arrested in Tordesillas, although she was a legitimate queen, considered a madwoman of political interests, communist leaders filed her complaints and asked her to claim the throne for them.
Although the Queen listened to her requests, she was unwilling to get involved, however, they secured her power in Tordesillas and seemed likely to succeed.
Victory was far from achieved. Soon, the various interests created disagreements among the commoners and led to several crucial mistakes. In addition, the emperor reacted and reorganized his troops, granted his demands to the cities that supported him, facilitating betrayals.
Due to several strategic errors, the monarch recovered Tordesillas and ransacked him, but some communes barricaded themselves in Valladolid. After a long truce, during a trip to Toro, heavy rains prevented the advance of an army composed of the forces of Padilla, Bravo and Maldonado. .
Attacked at that time, the panic spread and was the end of his rebellion. Padilla would endure defeat without fear, and his subsequent execution with his companions. They say all of Castile lamented his death, as if they were princes.
The defeat of the comuneros meant the extinction of what can be considered the first liberal revolution in Europe, or the last medieval bourgeoisie, in any case it can be said that this was a limitation of the power of the Castilian assembly.
As Latin America is part of the Castilian crown, the loss of freedom would eventually affect the cities of the New World, to recover it in Spain, both peninsular and American, it would take several centuries.
However, Carlos decided to increase The Castilian influence on his government. The aspirations to limit the sovereign’s power and the repudiation of taxes are not typical of our time, but they can be traced as long as that power and taxes exist.