Violencia y sociedad en una villa medieval: Castellón de la Plana en el siglo XV

Abstract

On the evidence of local court rolls, this paper studies the patters of violence in a valencian small town oriented to a great extent toward agrarian activities. It was especially a structural and daily violence, that usually it was not caused by habitual criminals but by common people and even by members of the ruling group. Abuse of force usually taked place from poweful to weak (from richs to poors, from masters to serviants, from husbands to wives, from Christians to muslims), so that these forms of violence reaffirmed internal hierarchies that divided local community.