Santa Hermandad
Santa Hermandad (Spanish: [ˈsanta eɾmanˈdað], lit. "holy brotherhood") was a type of military peacekeeping association of armed individuals, which became characteristic of municipal life in medieval Spain, especially in Castile. Modern hermandades in Spain, some of which evolved from medieval origins, are now for the most part religious confraternities retaining only a military structure and ethos.
Background
As
With the countryside virtually everywhere effectively in the hands of nobles, such brotherhoods throughout the High Middle Ages were frequently formed by leagues of towns to protect the roads connecting them.
Early formation
The hermandades initially began to form in
As one of their first acts after the
Relationship with rulers
The hermandades have had an inconsistent relationship with the ruling powers of Spain. They were sometimes used to undermine the authority of the king or his officials, and sometimes used to enforce it. Early in their formation, they tended to be temporary and to work in favor of royal authority in times of unrest. The king also took only a very minor role in the formation and regulation of the league.[4]
Under the reign of King Alfonso in 1298, hermandades were used against the king because some of the towns felt that he had been abusing his power.[3] While under the reign of Isabella I of Castile the hermandades were used to consolidate her authority and silence those who objected to her reign.[5] By 1476, the administration of the “soon-to-be-kingdomwide league was incorporated into Isabella’s government as the Santa Hermandad (Holy Brotherhood)”.[5] At that point, the Hermandad had a charter, which stated that its duties were to "...guard the sovereignty and service of the king and all the rights he ought to have and to guard our bodies and all that we have … and we will live in peace and quiet so that when our king comes of age he will find the land well ordered and richer and better settled for his service."[3] At one point, corregidores were chastised by the townspeople because they were unable to stop the outrages and abuses of the Hermandad.[5] Corregidores held posts within the Holy Brotherhood, but their power to control their chapter was limited.[5]
Relationship with towns and local communities
Just as the Hermandad's relationship with the rulers and their fellow government employees was constantly changing, so was the opinion of them held by the towns they were supposed to be guarding. As mentioned before, the hermandad was initially created as local militias in times of need. When they became a more powerful and more permanent institution, there were definite instances of abuses of power. There were the previously mentioned instances of the Holy Brotherhood silencing those who objected to Isabella's reign. There were also reported instances of abuse by judges and archers, about whom the corregidores could do nothing.
Among local communities, the Santa Hermandad—also known colloquially as los mangas verdes ("the green sleeves"),[citation needed] since their body armour covered all but the sleeves of their green uniforms—attained a reputation of being unreliable, corrupt and negligent of the interests of the townsfolk. Modern Spanish parlance has maintained the phrase a buenas horas, mangas verdes! (roughly translated as "right on time, green sleeves!", meaning "better late than never!"), referencing the Santa Hermandad's inability to react promptly to crimes in their districts.
Finances
The Holy Brotherhood was supported by the collection of taxes
Other uses
In the Netherlands, the Dutch expression hermandad remains a derogatory nickname for the police.[8]
See also
References
- ISBN 0-8014-0880-6
- ^ a b c d public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hermandad". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 365. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ a b c d O’Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975.
- ^ a b c d Lunenfeld, Marvin. The Council of the Santa Hermandad. Coral Gables: University of Miami Press, 1970.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lunenfeld, Marvin. Keepers of the City. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1987.
- ^ Henry Kamen, Empire: how Spain became a world power, 1492-1763, 2002:7.
- ^ Kamen 2002.
- ^ Dutch Wikipedia: "Hermandad".
Further reading
- Stewart, Paul (1975). "The Santa Hermandad and the First Italian Campaign of Gonzalo de Córdoba, 1495-1498". Renaissance Quarterly. 28 (1): 29–37. S2CID 163644959.