royal policies regarding common lands in late medieval castilian councils of realengo

The aim of this study is to understand the oscillations of royal policy regarding common lands in the area of Castilian councils during the later Middle Ages. The relation between the central power and the dominant local groups is analysed, which reveals a set of policies ranging from negotiation to competence. Collective property, which is sometimes defended and sometimes attacked, is part of the complex framework of interests through which royal domination is articulated. The Crown need of support at the local level often contradicts the seigneurial attemps to invade common lands, which put at risk the political authority of the king as well as his base of social reproduction, inasmuch as both the privatization of commons and the imposition of coercive powers over communities imply a decrease in the level of royal revenues. The oscillations that royal behaviour shows with regard to common property protection responds to the delicate balance between the monarchy and the forces that supports feudal domination in the cities and villages.