The Rebellion of the Remences or War of the Remences was a

popular revolt in late medieval Europe Popular revolts in late medieval Europe were uprisings and rebellions by (typically) peasants in the countryside, or the bourgeois in towns, against nobles, abbots and kings during the upheavals of the 14th through early 16th centuries, part of a ...

against seignorial pressures that began in the

Principality of Catalonia The Principality of Catalonia ( ca, Principat de Catalunya, la, Principatus Cathaloniæ, oc, Principat de Catalonha, es, Principado de Cataluña) was a Middle Ages, medieval and early modern state (polity), state in the northeastern Iberian P ...

in 1462 and ended a decade later without definitive result.

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia from ...

finally resolved the conflict with the ''

Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe The ''Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe'' (Arbitral Decision of Guadalupe) was a legal decree delivered by King Ferdinand II of Aragon at the Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain on 21 April 1486 to free the Catalan reme ...

'' in 1486. The Catalan term ''remença'' derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''redementia'' and emphasizes the possibility of redemption from servitude. In the early 14th century, the rise of Catalan cities and the expansion of Catalan culture and the

Aragonese Empire The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Ba ...

led to a decline in the rural population, which declined still further due to the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

. The

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

began to strictly enforce the

evil customs Evil customs (Catalan: ''mals usos'', lit. "bad uses") were specific medieval feudal customs, generally levies, which peasants were subjected to by their Feudal lordship, feudal lords in the Crown of Aragon and other European countries. These oblig ...

tying

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

s to the land; they also began a much stricter enforcement of seignorial rights in general than had been the practice in recent centuries. The strongest support for open rebellion came from the poorest peasants. Those with more goods—who were in the majority on the

Plain of Vic The Plain of Vic (Catalan ''Plana de Vic'') is a 30 km long depression located at the eastern end of the Catalan Central Depression in the Osona comarca. It is named after the town of Vic, an important and ancient urban center in this natur ...

, l'

Empordà Emporda (from the official name in ca, Empordà, , name in es, Ampurdán, ) is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain, divided since 1936 into two ''comarques'', Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà. The city of Figueres, an important u ...

, and el

Vallès El Vallès (or simply Vallès) is a historical county in Catalonia, Spain, located in the center of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range. It is nowadays represented by two separate administrative divisions ( ''comarques'') which are part of the Barcelon ...

—tried to appeal to the king for reforms and the end of the seignorial abuses. The monarchy had some reasons to wish to have the peasants as an independent force, since the Aragonese crown was continually in a power struggle with the nobility. In the mid-15th century,

Alfonso V of Aragon Alfonso the Magnanimous (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfonso V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfonso I) from 1442 until his death. He was involved with struggles to the t ...

, "the Magnanimous", allowed the peasants to form a ''sindicat remença'', a peasants'

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

or primitive

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

, granted them their liberty and intervened in several other ways against the abuses. However, the

Bishop of Girona The Roman Catholic Diocese of Girona ( la, Gerunden(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Girona in the Ecclesiastical province of Tarragona in Catalonia, Spain.Generalitat Generalitat (, literally in English 'Generality') is the name of two major medieval and early modern political institutions and their modern-day analogues in Kingdom of Spain. The ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia were ...

, controlled by the nobles, their opposition led Alfonso to reverse himself. Alfonso's successor,

John II John II may refer to: People * John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499) * John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672) * John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302) * John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318) * John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...

, sought the peasants' help against the nobility. By May 1461, the peasantry had declared themselves in favor of the king against the nobles.

First War of the Remences

In 1462, the

remensa Remensa (Catalan: ''Remença'') was a Catalan mode of serfdom. Those who were serfs under this mode are properly ''pagesos de remença'' (''pagesos'' meaning "peasants"); they are often (though not quite correctly) referred to simply as ''remenc ...

peasants rebelled; this coincided with the

War against John II The Catalan Civil War, also called the Catalonian Civil War or the War against John II, was a civil war in the Principality of Catalonia, then part of the Crown of Aragon, between 1462 and 1472. The two factions, the royalists who supported John ...

by the nobles. The peasants, under the leadership of

Francesc de Verntallat Francesc de Verntallat (Sant Privat d'en Bas, 1426 or 1428 - Sant Feliu de Pallerols, 1498 or 1499) was a Catalan nobleman who captained the Remensa Army in the War of the Remences, a conflict overshadowed by the Catalan Civil War. For this reas ...

, fought mainly in the mountainous interior, while the king and the more traditional armed forces loyal to him fought nearer the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coast. After ten years, John won the war, but failed to abolish serfdom or even to bring about significant reforms.

Second War of the Remences

In 1484, a second rebellion broke out, under the leadership of Pere Joan Sala, the former captain of

. It began with the Mieres Uprising, which took place in the Valley of Mieres on September 22, 1484. Following that, Joan Sala was able to extend his power not only in the Muntanya Comarca, but also in the

Selva Selva () is a coastal comarque (county) in Catalonia, Spain, located between the mountain range known as the Serralada Transversal or Puigsacalm and the Costa Brava (part of the Mediterranean coast). Unusually, it is divided between the provinc ...

Garrotxa Garrotxa () is a comarca (county) in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Its population in 2016 was 55,999, more than half of them in the capital city of Olot. It is roughly equivalent to the historical County of Besalú. Geography Garrotxa borders t ...

, and

Gironès Gironès (; es, Gironés) is a comarca (county) in eastern Catalonia, Spain, bordering Selva, Baix Empordà, Alt Empordà, Pla de l'Estany and Garrotxa. , more than half of the comarca's 175,148 inhabitants live in the capital, Girona, which is ...

. He wasn't as successful in

, where the peasants didn't follow him into revolt, nor on December 14 when he tried to take Girona. However, Lieutenant ''

Infante ''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to t ...

'' Enric, who wanted to organize an attack against Joan Sala, had to retreat in the face of the size of his amassed forces. In the face of this rebellion, King Ferdinand II, "the Catholic" issued the ''

Sentencia de Guadalupe The ''Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe'' (Arbitral Decision of Guadalupe) was a legal decree delivered by King Ferdinand II of Aragon at the Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain on 21 April 1486 to free the Catalan remens ...

'' (1486), outlawing the more severe abuses and allowing remensa peasants to be redeemed by a payment of 60

sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) ( ar, سوس, sūs, shi, ⵙⵓⵙ, sus) is an area in mid-southern Morocco. Geologically, it is the alluvial basin of the Sous River (''Asif n Sus''), separated from the Sahara desert ...

per household, leaving a rural society that was still

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

in character, but significantly reformed. Nunez, Clara, Eugenia, and Tortella, Gabriel. "Economic Development and the Problems of National State Formation: The Case of Spain". In Teichova, Alice, and Matis, Herbert, (ed.) ''Nation, State And The Economy In History''. Cambridge;

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 2011 (p.115)

References

Bibliography

External links

"La qüestió remença"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Remenca Conflicts in 1462 Conflicts in 1484 15th-century rebellions Principality of Catalonia Crown of Aragon Military history of Catalonia Civil wars involving the states and peoples of Europe Civil wars of the Middle Ages Peasant revolts Revolution-based civil wars Popular revolt in late-medieval Europe Medieval Catalonia 15th century in Catalonia Medieval Spain

First War of the Remences

Second War of the Remences

See also

References

Bibliography

External links