The early Castilian peasantry: an archaeological turn?

Abstract

Notions and interpretations of the peasantry of early medieval Castile evolved significantly during the twentieth century, along the lines of major historiographical changes. After a period largely dominated by the paradigm of legal and institutional history, the incorporation of social and economic approaches in the 1960s gave way to a significant increase in the volume of research and a deeper understanding of the articulation of local communities within the broader framework of early medieval Castilian society. This development was firmly rooted in changing visions of settlement and territorial structures and strongly biased towards social‐political, rather than economic issues. This article aims to argue that we are now in the initial phase of a major turn defined by the sudden rise of the archaeology of early medieval peasant settlements. The combination of material culture and environmental date recovered from those sites are quickly forming a substantial body of fresh information to combine with a stable well‐known documentary corpus. These changes are opening the gate to a new, exciting horizon for research in this field, although they also pose a great challenge for both historians and archaeologists, who will need to build a hybrid conceptual space where the hitherto dominant textual information and methodologies can accomodate the increasing impact of archaeology.

Keywords:

• early middle ages
• Castile
• peasantry
• historiography
• archaeology

Acknowledgements

The first version of this paper was delivered at the Medieval Peasants Revisited conference, held on 16–17 May 2008 at The Huntington Library, Los Angeles. I am indebted to the convenors of the conference, Piotr Gorecki, John Langdon and Isabel Alfonso, as well as all the participants – with special thanks to Áline Durand – for their constructive comments and suggestions. I am likewise grateful to Simon Doubleday for his suggestions, to Juan José Larrea, for his comments and for use of his writings, some of them before publication, and to Juan Antonio Quirós for a constant exchange of ideas and use of unpublished material. Equally, my thanks are due to the two anonymous reviewers, for their hugely valuable comments and suggestions. No one of the aforesaid is responsible for any errors. The research for this article was supported by a Research Project funded by the Spanish Government’s Plan Nacional de I‐D‐i, ref. HUM2004–01812/HIST.

Notes

¹Górecki, unpublished presentation, delivered at the Medieval Peasants Revisited conference, 16–17 May 2008.

²Bisson, Tormented Voices.

³While admitting to a relative loss of popularity, a recent survey shows that the medieval rural world and its peasants have been much researched in recent times: Alfonso Antón, The Rural History of Medieval European Societies.

⁴Freedman, Images of the Medieval Peasant.

⁵Martínez Díez, El Condado de Castilla (711–1038), I, 7–18.

⁶Escalona, “Patrones de fragmentación territorial;” Chavarría Arnau, El final de las villae en Hispania; and “Interpreting the Transformation of Late Roman Villas.”

⁷Castellanos García and Martín Viso, “The Local Articulation of Central Power.”

⁸The so‐called First Castilian Annals (c. 940), edited by Gómez Moreno, Anales Castellanos, is the only such piece written in Castile; the rest are either Arabic authors or the Astur–Leonese royal chronicles, which place Castile within the broader framework of their neo‐Gothic reinvention of the past. See Monsalvo Antón, “Espacios y fronteras,” 63–70.

⁹Puig‐Samper Mulero, Tiempos de investigación.

¹⁰See, among others, Glick, “Américo Castro;” Portolés, Medio siglo de filología española; Pastor Baños et al., Sánchez Albornoz a Debate; Rodríguez Mediano and Pérez, Humanismo y progreso.

¹¹This is even more true of those who, like Sánchez‐Albornoz or Castro, developed a great part of their careers in exile in the Americas. I am grateful to Simon Doubleday for his suggestions in this respect.

¹²Never is this more evident than when comparing Sánchez‐Albornoz’s studies of specific textual or institutional issues with his more general works, in which the ideological charge is clearly visible: see Sánchez‐Albornoz, España, un enigma. The same is true of Castro’s flagship synthesis, España en su historia. Ultimately, it was the deep traditionalist roots that underlay Sánchez‐Albornoz’s historical thought that made possible the paradox that his work should become in the 1950s to 1970s the quintessence of Spanish conservative historical orthodoxy, despite the fact that he was himself an ex‐member of the Republican government and an exile from Franco’s regime. See Pastor Baños, “Claudio Sánchez Albornoz,” and Martín, “Un historiador metido a político.”

¹³This was the work of a number of scholars, stemming from Eduardo de Hinojosa and Claudio Sánchez‐Albornoz, with Julio Puyol, Álvaro d’Ors or Luis García de Valdeavellano as main representatives. See López Sánchez, “La Escuela Histórica del Derecho madrileña.”

¹⁴See Sanz Fernández, “La historia contemporánea;” Castrillejo, La desamortización de Madoz.

¹⁵Costa, La religión de los celtíberos; and Colectivismo agrario en España.

¹⁶Menéndez Pidal, La Leyenda de los Infantes de Lara; and Reliquias de la poesía épica.

¹⁷Sánchez‐Albornoz, Despoblación y repoblación. A critical review in the context of the early 1990s can be found in García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “Las formas de organización social.” On the impact of depopulationism, see Escalona, Sociedad y territorio, esp. 7–14. For a criticism in English of the theory’s textual bases, see Escalona, “Family Memories.”

¹⁸Sánchez‐Albornoz himself declared, in an opening note addressed to a sceptical Menéndez Pidal: “The depopulation of the Duero valley is the basis of all my theses on Spain and Castile’s institutional and vital history.” Despoblación y repoblación, 5.

¹⁹Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier.”

²⁰Reinhart, “La tradición visigoda.” For race‐based readings of funerary archaeology, see Olmo Enciso, “Ideología y arqueología.”

²¹Menéndez Pidal, “Carácter originario de Castilla.”

²²Sánchez‐Albornoz, “Homines mandationis y iuniores;” “Las behetrías;” “Muchas más páginas.”

²³Sánchez‐Albornoz, “Castilla, islote de hombres libres;” Estepa Díez, “Sánchez Albornoz y el feudalismo castellano.”

²⁴Pellistrandi, La historiografía francesa del siglo XX.

²⁵Duby, L’économie rurale; and Guerriers et paysans. On Duby’s influence in Spain, see Pastor, “La recepción de la obra de Georges Duby.”

²⁶Such studies had to face the lack of modern editions, as lamented by García González, “Edición de fuentes eclesiásticas;” and “Estudios de economía monástica.” Until the wave of new editions of the 1980s, most of the material for early Castile derived from the works of Luciano Serrano or earlier authors.

²⁷Gautier‐Dalché, “Le domaine du monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana;” García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, El dominio del monasterio de San Millán de la Cogolla; Moreta Velayos, Génesis y desarrollo del dominio del Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña. Other Castilian monasteries were slower to find their historians. A PhD thesis on Arlanza was published in three short articles: León‐Sotelo Casado, “Formación y primera expansión;” “La expansión del dominio monástico;” “El dominio monástico de San Pedro de Arlanza;” while monographs on Covarrubias (by Gerardo Marraud), Silos (Magdalena Ilardia) and Puerto (María Isabel Loring García) remain unpublished.

²⁸See Álvarez Borge, Poder y relaciones sociales, 109–25; García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre and Peña Bocos, “Poder condal;” Ayala, “Relaciones de propiedad;” and Davies, Acts of Giving, 113–38.

²⁹Escalona, “De ‘señores y campesinos.’”

³⁰On the historiography of village communities, see Estepa Díez, “Comunidades de aldea;” and, more recently, Larrea Conde, “De la invisibilidad historiográfica;” and Davies, “Lordship and Community.”

³¹García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “Les communautés villageoises,” was highly influential in this strand.

³²This approach was pioneered by Barbero de Aguilera, “La integración de los ‘hispani,’” originally published in 1966, and developed in Barbero de Aguilera and Vigil Pascual, La formación del feudalismo, 354–80.

³³The impact in those years of the works of Abilio Barbero, Marcelo Vigil, and Reyna Pastor cannot be exaggerated: Barbero de Aguilera and Pascual, La formación del feudalismo; Pastor, Resistencias y luchas campesinas.

³⁴Álvarez Borge, “El proceso de transformación;” and Poder y relaciones sociales; Estepa Díez, “Formación y consolidación.”

³⁵García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “La serna, una etapa del proceso de ocupación;” Botella Pombo, La serna: ocupación, organización y explotación. The study of the vocabulary of agrarian space was being also renewed by authors like Alfonso Antón, “Las sernas en León y Castilla;” and Faci Lacasta, “Vocablos referentes al sector agrario.”

³⁶The research line was presented by García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre and Díez Herrera, La formación de la sociedad hispano‐cristiana. In 1985 the first general overview of space in the medieval Crown of Castile was published: García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, La organización social del espacio; followed by the first synthesis of rural society in medieval Spain: García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, La sociedad rural en la España medieval. Settlement studies were also highly influenced by Martínez Sopena, La Tierra de Campos Occidental.

³⁷Sesma Muñoz and Laliena Corbera, La pervivencia del concepto.

³⁸See an early criticism in Escalona, “Algunos problemas relativos a la génesis.”

³⁹García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “Del Cantábrico al Duero;” and La sociedad rural, 1–54.

⁴⁰Barbero de Aguilera and Vigil Pascual, La formación del feudalismo, 232–78. Also relevant in this context: Estepa Díez, “La vida urbana en el norte.”

⁴¹Estepa Díez, “El alfoz castellano.”

⁴²By date of PhD dissertation defence: Díez Herrera, La formación de la sociedad feudal en Cantabria (1987); Peña Bocos, La atribución social del espacio en la Castilla altomedieval (1990); Álvarez Borge, Poder y relaciones sociales (1991); Reyes Téllez, Poblacion y sociedad en el Valledel Duero (1991); Pastor Díaz de Garayo, Castilla en el tránsito de la Antigüedad al feudalismo (1995); Escalona, Sociedad y territorio en la Alta Edad Media castellana (1996); Martín Viso, Poblamiento y estructuras sociales (1999).

⁴³Compare García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “Formas de organización social;” and “Movimientos de población.”

⁴⁴Álvarez Borge, “Estructuras de poder en Castilla,” 278–89.

⁴⁵Estepa Díez, Las behetrías castellanas.

⁴⁶Álvarez Borge, Poder y relaciones sociales, 100–4; Pastor Díaz de Garayo, Castilla en el tránsito, 254–68.

⁴⁷Sánchez‐Albornoz, “Castilla, islote de hombres.”

⁴⁸Álvarez Borge, “Estructuras de poder en Castilla,” 290–4.

⁴⁹Escalona, “Vínculos comunitarios y estrategias de distinción.”

⁵⁰Compare Pastor Díaz de Garayo, Castilla en el tránsito; Martín Viso, “Territorios, poder feudal y comunidades;” Escalona, “Comunidades, territorios y poder;” “Mapping Scale Change.”

⁵¹Alfonso Antón, “Campesinado y derecho.”

⁵²Davies, “Lordship and Community;” García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “Movimientos de población,” 129.

⁵³Stock‐breeding and pastoralism is a relatively favoured area. See, among others, García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre and Peña Bocos, “La atribución social.” Compare with Fernández Mier’s work on Asturias: Fernández Mier, Génesis del territorio.

⁵⁴Davies, “Sale, Price and Valuation.”

⁵⁵Quirós Castillo, “Las aldeas de los historiadores.”

⁵⁶Escalona, “L’archéologie médiévale chrétienne.”

⁵⁷Besides the pioneering, largely under‐appreciated efforts of Silos monk Saturio González Salas, the key figure is Alberto del Castillo; see, among others: Castillo Yurrita, “Cronología de las tumbas.”

⁵⁸Reyes Téllez and Menéndez Robles, “Aspectos ideológicos.” On the historiography of rock‐dug graves, see Martín Viso, “Tumbas y sociedades locales.”

⁵⁹Azkárate Garai‐Olaun, “De la Tardoantigüedad al medievo cristiano” is the most comprehensive synthesis of post‐Roman funerary archaeology heretofore.

⁶⁰Escalona Monge, “Paisaje, asentamiento y Edad Media.”

⁶¹An early criticism in Barceló Perello, Arqueología medieval. More recent suveys in Quirós Castillo and Begoetxea Rementería, Arqueología (III), 59–65; and Escalona, “L’archéologie médiévale chrétienne.”

⁶²Compare the role assigned to archaeology in Martínez Sopena and García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “The Historiography of Rural Society” with García de Cortázar y Ruiz de Aguirre, “Movimientos de población,” 129–31.

⁶³Caballero Zoreda, Mateos Cruz, and Retuerce Velasco, Cerámicas tardorromanas. For advances on early medieval pottery of the Duero basin, see Gutiérrez González and Bohigas Roldán, La cerámica medieval, where the county of Castile is not represented. Also see Menéndez Robles, “Cerámicas altomedievales en el Valle del Duero;” and Larren Izquierdo et al., “Ensayo de sistematización.”

⁶⁴Solaun Bustinza, Erdi aroko zeramika Euskal Herrian [La cerámica medieval en el País Vasco].

⁶⁵Alonso Matthías, Rodríguez Trobajo, and Rubinos Pérez, “Datación de madera constructiva;” Rodríguez Trobajo, “Procedencia y uso de madera de pino silvestre.”

⁶⁶Albarella, “Exploring the Real Nature of Environmental Archaeology;” Durand, Les paysages médiévaux du Languedoc; Lewit, “Pigs, Presses and Pastoralism.”

⁶⁷López Sáez, “Reconstrucciones paleoambientales.” An outstanding example of chronological resolution for the northern Catalan coastal area can be found in López Sáez et al., “Historia de la vegetación en el litoral norte de Girona.”

⁶⁸Riera Mora, “Cambios vegetales holocenos;” López Sáez et al., “Contribución paleoambiental;” Ariño Gil, Riera i Mora, and Rodríguez Hernández, “De Roma al medievo,” were early examples of the potential of this approach for the Duero basin.

⁶⁹Morales Muñiz, “35 years of Archaeozoology;” Morales Muñiz, “Zoohistoria;” Moreno García, “Musulmanes y cristianos en la Sierra de Albarracín.”

⁷⁰The first call for attention is to be credited to Vigil‐Escalera Guirado, “Cabañas de época visigoda,” after which the new findings were set into a wider west European context by Azkárate Garai‐Olaun and Quirós Castillo, “Arquitectura doméstica altomedieval.” See also Quirós Castillo and Begoetxca Rementería, Arqueología (III).

⁷¹See Vigil‐Escalera Guirado, “El modelo de poblamiento rural en la Meseta;” Quirós Castillo and Vigil‐Escalera Guirado, “Networks of Peasant Villages;” and Vigil‐Escalera Guirado, “Granjas y aldeas altomedievales al norte de Toledo.”

⁷²See Palomino Lázaro and Sanz, “Las aldeas altomedievales en Castilla y León.”

⁷³Quirós Castillo, “Las iglesias altomedievales en el País Vasco.”

⁷⁴Ballesteros Arias, Blanco‐Rotea, and Prieto, “The Early Mediaeval Site of a Pousada;” Ballesteros Arias, Criado Boado, and Andrade Cernadas, “Formas y fechas de un paisaje agrario.”

⁷⁵Quirós, personal communication.

⁷⁶Moreland, “Archaeology and Texts.”

⁷⁷Zadora‐Rio, “Le village des historiens;” Quirós Castillo, “Las aldeas de los historiadores.”