Wastelands, pastures and royal grants: the access to commons by monasteries and the transformations in local communities (Castile and Rioja Alta, tenth-twelfth centuries)

Abstract

This article analyses the role of royal and count (in the case of Castile) grants related to commons in favour of some monasteries. The case study is the area of the former County of Castile and the Rioja Alta between the tenth and twelfth centuries. The examination of count and royal grants denies the idea of privatisation of common lands, although some places (vacarizas), albeit they were part of the commons, were exploited for private use. The monasteries became demanding neighbours or protective lords, without destroying the complex network of collective uses. However, social and political practices were transformed, giving rise to the construction of new forms of social domination that took as their starting point the micropolitics around the collective areas. Livestock farming acted as an agent that favoured the development of local lordship.