History of Europe

The Birth of the Courts

In the year 1188 the Leonese monarch Alfonso IX summoned an extraordinary Curia Regia, which was attended, for the first time, by delegates from some cities and towns of his kingdom , or what is the same, the third state. That event marked, neither more nor less, the birth of the Cortes. It has been assumed that a year earlier, in 1187, representatives from various cities of the kingdom participated in a Curia of the Kingdom of Castile. In any case, the León meeting continues to be the point of reference for the genesis of the Cortes. What was the reason that delegates from the cities and towns attended the Curia? Sánchez-Albornoz defended the idea that the bourgeoisie, dissatisfied with the abuses of the kings in the coinage, reached an agreement with them. In exchange for the economic support that the cities would provide, the monarchs undertook to mint coins according to certain rules and only every seven years. In the Cortes gathered in the year 1202 in the town of Benavente, it was said, very expressively, that «the king sold his currency to the people of the land of Duero for VII years, receiving for each one of them for the purchase of this currency two separate marvelous. Others, in this same year and time that same currency was bought from all extremadura ». In any case, the acceptance in the governing bodies of the monarchy of representatives of the cities and towns clearly revealed the strength that this sector was gaining.


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