“Abbots have gotten away with it”: the dispute over tithes in the Manor of Capilla during the Modern Age.

Abstract

The clash between the Dukes of Béjar, the Archbishopric of Toledo and the clergy of the Manor of Capilla for the perception of tithes and the right to appoint the parish priests and assign their wage, ran over a century and half, being resolved fundamentally in the Roman Rota with different alternatives. Involved in this long process, the Capilla riot in May 1629, whose excuse was the celebration of bullfights, was a very serious challenge to the authority of the Dukes, and an important group of neighbors of the village took part in it. It was arranged by the clergy, who joined forces with the leaders of the village council. This fact shows that the intervention of the ecclesiastical establishment in the social conflicts of the Castilian Modern Age was not always that of moderator of the conflict.