The Seigneurial Pedido: Exaction, Negotiation and Seigneurial Power in Late Medieval Castile (The Example of the Towns in the Aragonese Trastámara Estates)

Abstract

This article analyses the origin and evolution of the seigneurial pedido, one of the main forms of exaction that were linked to the practice of jurisdictional lordship in late medieval Castile. For this purpose, we have chosen a case study consisting of the Castilian towns under the dominion of Ferdinand of Antequera and Eleonor of Alburquerque, Infantes of Castile and kings of Aragon, and their heirs between the end of the 14thcentury and the first half of the 15century. As a result, the negotiation dynamics that articulated taxation and, in general, the power relations between lords and dominated communities in Castilian feudal society at the end of the Middle Ages are revealed.