Feudal Rent, Exercise of Power and Peasant Social Differentiation. The Abadengo of Armuña, an Estate Held by the Salamanca Cathedral Chapter (12th-15th Centuries)

Abstract

This paper analyses the long-term evolution of an ecclesiastical estate in order to shed light on estates in Leonese Extremadura. In particular, we consider an estate belonging to the cathedral chapter of Salamanca between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, seeking to demonstrate that it did not possess an identical structure throughout this period and that its transformations can be explained by a complex combination of variables. These changes exerted an impact on social structures, and especially on peasant social differentiation processes. We demonstrate that specific rent collection methods had the capacity to modify the social structure of communities and that the development of wage labour was closely linked to economic trends and to the possibilities and constraints of seigniorial management. Lastly, we show that social transformation was not always irreversible and that its consolidation depended on the inability of the lords to exercise their political powers.