The Revolt of the Comuneros (Spanish: Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla, "War of the Communities of Castile") was an uprising by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles I and his administration between 1520 and 1521. At its height, the rebels controlled the heart of Castile, ruling the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas, and Toledo.
The revolt occurred in the wake of political instability in the Crown of Castile after the death of Queen Isabella I in 1504. Isabella's daughter Joanna succeeded to the throne. Due to Joanna's mental instability, Castile was ruled by the nobles and her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, as a regent, while Joanna was confined. After Ferdinand's death in 1516, Joanna's sixteen-year-old son Charles was proclaimed her co-monarch of both Castile and Aragon; while Joanna also succeeded as Queen of Aragon, during her co-regency with her own son, she remained confined.
Charles had been raised in the Netherlands with little knowledge of Castilian. He arrived in Spain in October 1517 accompanied by a large retinue of Flemish nobles and clerics. These factors resulted in mistrust between the new king and the Castilian social elites, who could see the threat to their power and status.
In 1519, Charles was elected Holy Roman Emperor. He departed for Germany in 1520, leaving the Dutch cardinal Adrian of Utrecht to rule Castile in his absence. Soon, a series of anti-government riots broke out in the cities, and local city councils (Comunidades) took power. The rebels chose Charles' own mother, Queen Joanna, as an alternative ruler, hoping they could control her madness. The rebel movement took on a radical anti-feudal dimension, supporting peasant rebellions against the landed nobility. On 23 April 1521, after nearly a year of rebellion, the reorganized supporters of the emperor struck a crippling blow to the comuneros at the Battle of Villalar. The following day, rebel leaders Juan López de Padilla, Juan Bravo, and Francisco Maldonado were beheaded. The army of the comuneros fell apart. Only the city of Toledo kept alive the rebellion led by María Pacheco, until its surrender in October 1521.
The character of the revolution is a matter of historiographical debate. According to some scholars, the revolt was one of the first modern revolutions, notably because of the anti-noble sentiment against social injustice and its basis on ideals of democracy and freedom. Others consider it a more typical rebellion against high taxes and perceived foreign control. From the 19th century onwards, the revolt has been mythologized by various Spaniards, generally liberals who drew political inspiration from it. Conservative intellectuals have traditionally adopted more pro-Imperial stances toward the revolt, and have been critical of both the motives and the government of the comuneros. With the end of Franco's dictatorship and the establishment of the autonomous community of Castile and León, positive commemoration of the Comunidades has grown. 23 April is now celebrated as Castile and León Day, and the incident is often referred to in Castilian nationalism.
Origins
Discontent had been brewing for years before the Revolt of the Comuneros. The second half of the 15th century saw profound political, economic, and social changes in Spain. Economic growth created new urban industries and offered a route to power and wealth not tied to the aristocracy. Support from these urban elites was critical to Ferdinand and Isabella's centralization of power, and they acted as a counterweight to the landed aristocracy and the clergy.
However, with Isabella I's death and Joanna's accession in 1504, this alliance between the national government and the budding middle class faltered. The Castilian government decayed with each successive administration, becoming rife with corruption. Joanna's husband, Philip I, reigned briefly; he was replaced by Archbishop Cisneros as regent for a short time, and then by Isabella's widower Ferdinand who ruled from Aragon. Ferdinand's claim to continue ruling Castile as regent was somewhat tenuous after Isabella's death, but no plausible alternatives existed as the sovereign, their widowed daughter Joanna, was mentally unfit to reign on her own. The landed nobility of Castile took advantage of the weak and corrupt Royal Council to illegally expand their territory and domain with private armies while the government did nothing. In response, the towns signed mutual defense pacts, relying on each other rather than the national government.
The budgets of both Castile and Aragon had been in poor condition for some time. The government had expelled the Jews in 1492 and the Muslims of Granada in 1502, moves that undercut lucrative trades and businesses. Ferdinand and Isabella had been forced to borrow money to pay troops during and after the Reconquista, and Spanish military obligations had only increased since then. A large number of troops were required to maintain stability in recently conquered Granada, threatened by revolt from the maltreated moriscos (former Muslims who had converted to Christianity) and frequent naval raids from Muslim nations along the Mediterranean. Additionally, Ferdinand had invaded and occupied the Iberian part of Navarre in 1512, and forces were required to garrison it against Navarrese revolts and French armies. Very little money was left to pay for the royal army in Castile proper, let alone service foreign debts. The corruption in the government since Isabella's death only made the budget shortfalls worse.
Succession of Charles
In 1516, Ferdinand died. The remaining heir was Ferdinand and Isabella's grandson Charles, who became King Charles I of both Castile and Aragon in coregency with his mother Queen Joanna I of Castile. Joanna, who had been confined in Tordesillas, also succeeded as Queen of Aragon, but during the coregency with her own son, she remained confined and largely powerless.
Charles was brought up in Flanders, the homeland of his father Philip, and barely knew Castilian. The people greeted him with skepticism, but also hoped he would restore stability. With the arrival of the new king in late 1517, his Flemish court took positions of power in Castile; young Charles only trusted people he knew from the Netherlands. Among the most scandalous of these was the appointment of the twenty-year-old William de Croÿ as Archbishop of Toledo. The Archbishopric was an important position; it had been held by Archbishop Cisneros, the former regent of the country. Six months into his rule, discontent openly simmered among rich and poor alike. Even some monks began to agitate, denouncing the opulence of the royal court, the Flemish, and the nobility in their sermons. One of the first public protests involved placards posted in churches, which read:
You, land of Castile, very wretched and damned are you to suffer that as noble a kingdom as you are, you will be governed by those who have no love for you.
With the unrest growing, Charles' paternal grandfather Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died in 1519. A new election had to be held to choose the next emperor. Charles campaigned aggressively for the post, vying with King Francis I of France to bribe the most prince-electors. Charles I won the election, becoming Emperor Charles V and cementing the power of the House of Habsburg. He prepared to head to Germany to take possession of his new domains in the Holy Roman Empire.
New taxes: The Cortes of Santiago and Corunna
Charles had already stressed the treasury to its limit with his extravagant Flemish court, and over 1 million florins were spent in bribes for the election. Taxes had to be raised to cover the debt, but any new taxes had to be approved by the Cortes, Castile's parliamentary body. Thus, in late March 1520, Charles convened the Cortes in Santiago de Compostela. Charles ensured the Cortes would only have limited power, and further attempted to stack the Cortes with pliable representatives he could bribe. Support for the opposition only increased in response, and the representatives demanded that their grievances be heard first before any new tax was granted.
A group of clerics soon circulated a statement in protest of the king. It argued three points: any new taxes should be rejected; Castile should be embraced and the foreign Empire rejected; and if the king did not take into account his subjects, the Comunidades themselves should defend the interests of the kingdom. It was the first time where the word comunidades (communities, communes) was used to signify the independent populace, and the name would stick to the councils later formed.
At this point, most of the members of the Cortes in Santiago intended to vote against the king's requested duties and taxes, even with the Cortes stacked with royalists. In response, Charles decided to suspend the Cortes on 4 April. He convened them again in Corunna on 22 April, this time getting his program passed. On 20 May, he embarked for Germany, and left as regent of his Spanish possessions his former tutor, Adrian of Utrecht (better known as the future Pope Adrian VI).
Beginnings of the Revolt
Rebelliousness in Toledo
In April 1520, Toledo was already unstable. The city council had been at the forefront of protests against Charles' bid to become Holy Roman Emperor. They decried the short-term expenses that would be borne by Castile and questioned the role of Castile in this new political framework, given the possibility that the land would become a mere imperial province. The situation erupted when the royal government summoned the most radical of the city councilors away from the city, intending to send back more easily controllable replacements on a royal salary. The order came on 15 April; one day later, as the councilors prepared to leave, a large crowd opposed to the departure rioted and drove out the royal administrators instead. A citizen's committee was elected under the leadership of Juan López de Padilla and Pedro Laso de la Vega, naming themselves a Comunidad. On 21 April, the remaining administrators were driven from the fortifications of the Alcázar of Toledo.
Following Charles' departure to Germany, the riots multiplied in the cities of central Castile, especially after the arrival of legislators who had voted "yes" to the taxes Charles had asked for. Segovia had some of the earliest and most violent incidents; on 30 May, a mob of woolworkers murdered two administrators and the city's legislator who had voted in favor. Incidents of a similar size occurred in cities such as Burgos and Guadalajara, while others, such as León, Ávila, and Zamora, suffered minor altercations.
Proposals to other cities
With widespread discontent circulating, on 8 June Toledo's council suggested to cities with a vote in the Cortes to hold an emergency meeting. They proffered five goals:
- Cancel the taxes voted in the Cortes of Corunna.
- A return to the local-controlled encabezamiento system of taxation.
- Reserve official positions and church benefices for Castilians.
- Prohibit money from leaving the kingdom to fund foreign affairs.
- Designate a Castilian to lead the kingdom in the absence of the king.
These claims, especially the first two, spread quickly through society. Ideas began to circulate of replacing the king; Toledo's leaders floated the possibility of turning the cities of Castile into independent free cities, similar to Genoa and other Italian republics. Competing proposals suggested keeping the monarchy, but dethroning Charles. They proposed that he be replaced by either his mother Queen Joanna or his Castilian-born brother Ferdinand. With these ideas, the revolt shifted from a simple protest against taxes to a broader revolution. Many cities, while not quite in outright revolt, stopped sending taxes to the Royal Council and began to self-govern.
Expansion of the Revolt
Blockade of Segovia
The situation moved closer to armed conflict on 10 June. Rodrigo Ronquillo had been sent to Segovia by the Royal Council to investigate the recent murder of Segovia's legislator, but Segovia refused him entry. Unable to besiege a city of 30,000 with only a small force, Ronquillo instead set out to blockade foodstuffs and other supplies from entering Segovia. The people of Segovia, led by militia leader and noble Juan Bravo, rallied around the Comunidad. Segovia requested aid against Ronquillo's army from the Comunidades of Toledo and Madrid. The cities responded by sending their militias, captained by Juan López de Padilla and Juan de Zapata, who won in the first major confrontation between the forces of the king and the rebels.
Junta of Ávila
Other cities now followed the lead of Toledo and Segovia, deposing their governments. A revolutionary Cortes, La Santa Junta de las Comunidades ("Holy Assembly of the Communities"), held its first session in Ávila and declared itself the legitimate government deposing the Royal Council. Padilla was named Captain-General, and troops were assembled. Still, only four cities sent representatives at first: Toledo, Segovia, Salamanca, and Toro.
Burning of Medina del Campo
Faced with the situation in Segovia, Regent and Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht decided to use the royal artillery, located in nearby Medina del Campo, to take Segovia and defeat Padilla. Adrian ordered his commander Antonio de Fonseca to seize the artillery. Fonseca arrived on 21 August in Medina, but encountered heavy resistance from the townspeople, as the city had strong trade links to Segovia. Fonseca ordered the setting of a fire to distract the resistance, but it grew out of control. Much of the town was destroyed, including a Franciscan monastery and a trade warehouse containing goods valued at more than 400,000 ducats. Fonseca had to withdraw his troops, and the event was a public relations disaster for the government. Uprisings throughout Castile occurred, even in cities that previously had been neutral such as Castile's capital, Valladolid. The establishment of the Comunidad of Valladolid caused the most important core of the Iberian plateau to declare for the rebels, upending the stability of the government. New members now joined the Junta of Ávila and the Royal Council looked discredited; Adrian had to flee to Medina de Rioseco as Valladolid fell. The royal army, with many of its soldiers unpaid for months, started to disintegrate.