The Crusading Indulgence and the revolt of the Comunidades of Castile (1520-1521): Texts for an ecclesiastical reform

RIZZUTO, CLAUDIO CÉSAR

Virtual

Congreso; Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting 2021; 2021

Renaissance Society of America

The revolt of the Comunidades of Castile (1520-1521) was an uprising of most of the cities against the government of Charles I of Spain (also Emperor Charles V). The rebels produced a number of manuscripts and printings, which only a few of them are conserved. The Comuneros? chapters pointed out several problems of the Castilian society and politics. The ecclesiastical matters are present among them. This presentation deals with the writings of the Comuneros on the Crusading Indulgence, known as Bula de Cruzada. This Indulgence was a religious, military, fiscal and political resource for the crown. After serving as a form of raising money for the Reconquista, it became a way to provide financial support for any need. The Comuneros intervened in the debate that the use and abuse of this Indulgence generated. They tried to reform and to limit its possibilities of intervention in the local religious world. Thus, the rebels of 1520-1521 were part of the Indulgence?s controversy of Sixteenth-Century Europe. By this, the presentation propose an approach on the cultural and religious dimensions of the Comuneros of Castile.