Five Centuries of Debate: Rebellion and Reform rather than Revolution in the Communities of Castile

Abstract

The Communities of Castile, as a social and political movement, have been characterized as an attempt to renew Charles V’s reign as a form of government. The growing body of knowledge on the political ideas that informed the doctrinal corpus of the Communities shed light conceptually and terminologically on the frequently revisited debate regarding the revolutionary nature of that movement. Using texts from the main theoretical supporters of the Communities as well as documentation establishing their claims, this paper outlines the scope of their demands for reform of the State or form of government, based on participation and equality. Relying not only on ex post interpretations or syntheses, but on the very notions of political regime and political system in the original texts, one may reach a better understanding of the movement as a reformist rather than a revolutionary process.