Medieval Iberian Parliaments: Structure and Decision-Making
After the opening and before the start of the session, checks on the powers of prosecutors took place. In 1475, the Secretary of the Foreign Ministry and others, perhaps belonging to the Royal Council, addressed this need. When, in the sixteenth century, a chairman of the Courts other than the monarch was appointed, they and the secretary of the meeting ascertained powers, a task that later fell to the Board of Wizards, called the Cortes. The same function was assumed in Aragon by individuals enabling designated for that purpose.
C) Development and End of Sessions: Adoption of Resolutions
Following the conclusion of these preliminary acts, discussion begins, focusing on the king’s demands and the wrongs for which prosecutors requested compensation. Each of the separate state meetings required arrangements to ensure a functional order of discussion and an appropriate relationship between the king, the different estates, and among the estates themselves.
Each of the estates chose a promoter, who served as president, presented proposals, managed proceedings, and referred resolutions to be adopted. Negotiations between the estates and the king took place through a treater, who acted as a spokesperson for offers and counteroffers. Furthermore, the estates were connected by two ambassadors appointed by each. The comings and goings of ambassadors and treaters ensured smooth communication between the estates and the monarch.
Agreements required the consent of all estates, although the requirements for achieving agreement varied. Usually, a majority in each estate sufficed, while in Catalonia, a certain moral majority was considered, based on the view that certain votes held higher quality or weight. In Aragon, authors traditionally argued for unanimity in each estate, and therefore in the whole assembly. However, some authors have contested this, showing that decisions were taken despite dissent from some trustees. Ledesma Rubio argued that the adoption of agreements in Aragon required a majority in each estate, citing the study of the Maella Courts in 1404.
Redress of grievances in Castile was in the hands of the king, who decided on filed complaints. In Aragon, the Chief Justice held the authority to judge and decide, offering greater guarantees for the kingdom. In Catalonia, redressers or purveyors of grievances were appointed by the king and the estates of the Courts.
Once agreements were adopted or discussions concluded without success, parliament was dissolved.
D) The Cut Diputació
The Cortes voted on subsidies and adopted agreements. To ensure their correct levying, administration, and implementation, a body called the County managed projects from the end of one Cortes to the beginning of the next. Initially a provisional institution with a specific purpose, it gained considerable importance over time, assuming representative and other functions. In the Middle Ages, Provincial Courts existed in the Crown of Aragon, and only from the sixteenth century were they established in Castile and Navarre.
From the late thirteenth century, Catalonia appointed delegates or Diputats before its dissolution to collect subsidies. These individuals, initially appointed for a specific purpose, formed a permanent board by the mid-fourteenth century, the Provincial Council of the General, which became the permanent representative of Catalonia. Starting with fiscal powers, the General Diputació expanded to enforce laws, swear in royal officials, monitor public safety, and control military recruiting.
In Aragon, the Council of the Kingdom played a role in its origins, as Sesma notes. With the establishment of a general tax, it was supposed to be inspected by the estates of the Courts. The County Council consolidated in the fifteenth century, starting with the Courts of Alcaniz in 1436, where delegates from eight deputies were appointed by the estates with the power to choose their successors for three-year terms. These members were competent in tax matters and in defending the kingdom’s privileges, enjoying absolute power with decisions not appealable to the Court or the monarch. In a sense, the council was established as an autonomous political-administrative organ, detached even from the courts and often controlled by the oligarchy rather than the kingdom.
In Valencia, a delegate to the Cortes existed by the late fourteenth century. With the same initial aim of raising subsidies, the Provincial Government of the Regne was created in 1419.
The Three Theoretical Foundations of Freedom (ITEM 7.5)
1. The Model of Historicism
The approach to the problem of freedom can be categorized as historicism, individualism, and statism.
Each tends to combine with one of the other two. Thus, we have:
- A doctrine of state and individual freedoms, built on an anti-historical, individualistic basis.
- An individualistic and historicist doctrine, built on anti-statism.
- A historicist and state doctrine, built on an anti-individualistic basis.