| Summary: | This thesis examines the structures of politics in Castile in the fraught period between 1275 and 1325. Whereas these decades have frequently been viewed as the product of an inevitable confrontation between crown and nobility or as a chaotic caesura in Castile’s march towards statehood, this thesis argues that the interpretive keys to the period lie in the evolving relationships between central and local structures, which explain how diverse elements of society were drawn into new patterns of dialogue, cooperation and conflict. Through a combination of documentary, normative and narrative sources, the first part traces the interlocking development of noble (Chapter 1), urban (Chapter 2) and royal (Chapter 3) power in three separate zones: the northern regions of Burgos and Valladolid, the medial areas of Ávila and Cuenca, and the southern kingdom of Murcia. It argues that the different conditions in each of these zones produced different configurations of power which affected patterns of interaction with the centre. The second part turns to the royal centre, showing how legal and judicial changes (Chapter 4), strategies of office-holding and grant-making (Chapter 5) and the ideology of the royal service (Chapter 6) drew political society into a structure that was highly dependent on convincing and undivided leadership at the centre. The final part applies these structural insights to a discussion of the events of 1275-1325, arguing that the dynamics of the reigns of Alfonso X and Sancho IV (Chapter 7) and Fernando IV and Alfonso XI (Chapter 8) can only be understood if we give due appreciation to the weight that the centre had acquired over the preceding century and the strategies that various agents actually pursued when faced with structural crisis. In place of a narrative of chaos and disaggregation, therefore, this thesis posits one of integration and reciprocal development.
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