Oligarchy and Patronage in Late Medieval Spanish Urban Society

Spanish historians explore the complex economic and social relationships in the cities of the several Medieval kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula. One of their goals is to dispel the assumption that the patterns that historian have found (well, maybe invented) for the royalty and grandees can simply be downsized to fit into urban society. The topics include oligarchies and social fractures in the cities of late Medieval Catalonia, political and financial groups in 15th-century Castilian towns, the Muslim population of the Christian kingdom of Granada, and Pamplona in 1100-1328 and the first urban oligarchic networks in Navarre. The anthology is not indexed. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Maria Asenjo-Gonzalez is Professor of Medieval History at the Complutense University of Madrid. Her research interests cover historical urban problems in Castilian cities from 1250 to 1520 and settlement in urban territories.