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IMC 2013: Sessions

Session 119: Urban Elites in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon: Power, Networks, and Identities

Monday 1 July 2013, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Sandra de la Torre Gonzalo, Departmento de Historia Medieval, Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas, y Estudios Árabes e Islámicos, Universidad de Zaragoza
Moderator/Chair:Raúl González González, Área de Historia Medieval, Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Oviedo
Paper 119-aOn the Definition of the Medieval Urban Elite: Composition, Limits, and Ambiguities - The Case of Honoured Citizens in 15th-Century Barcelona
(Language: English)
Carolina Obradors Suazo, Department of History & Civilization, European University Institute, Firenze
Index terms: Daily Life, Economics - Urban, Genealogy and Prosopography, Social History
Paper 119-bMagistrates, Bankers, Creditors, and Leaseholders: The Making of an Elite Based on Local Tax Systems in Late Medieval Catalonia - The Example of Girona, 1350-1450
(Language: English)
Albert Reixach Sala, Institució Milà i Fontanals, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Barcelona
Index terms: Administration, Economics - Urban, Social History
Paper 119-cThe Importance of Scale: Entrepreneurial and Business Elites in the Crown of Aragon after the Black Death - The Case of Zaragoza, 1380-1430
(Language: English)
Sandra de la Torre Gonzalo, Departmento de Historia Medieval, Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas, y Estudios Árabes e Islámicos, Universidad de Zaragoza
Index terms: Economics - Trade, Economics - Urban, Mentalities, Social History
Abstract

It is well known that urban elites - landed aristocrats, jurists, and merchants - played a crucial role all around Medieval Europe. From such a complex stage as the Crown of Aragon, our session will explore the diversity of these ruling groups from different viewpoints. By focusing on three relevant cities of the Crown: Barcelona, Zaragoza, and Girona, we will not only analyze their political influence but also their roots, sources of incomes and activities. To this end, we will use a prosopographical approach that will enable us to retrace the complex personal ties that contribute to consolidate the influence of these groups. In so doing, we will question some visions of urban elites in the Crown of Aragon, in an attempt to provide a renewed image of one of the most controversial identities of the medieval city.