La participación en Cortes de un reino sin Cortes: el caso de Mallorca

El reino de Mallorca nunca tuvo Cortes propias. Ocasionalmente, entre los siglos XIII y XV, representantes del Reino (a título general) o de las islas de Mallorca (e Ibiza) y Menorca participaron en Cortes Generales de la Corona de Aragón o en Cortes catalanas. Las experiencias de representación política en el continente nunca resultaron satisfactorias a los intereses insulares. Tampoco fueron completamente exitosas embajadas a los reyes para negociar bilateralmente privilegios y franquicias a cambio de subsidios puesto que, a falta de blindaje parlamentario o cláusulas que reflejaran su carácter transaccional, reyes posteriores se irrogaban la potestad de denunciarlos unilateralmente. En cambio, en el ámbito interno sí hubo instituciones representativas eficaces, como los consells generals de Menorca e Ibiza y el Gran i General Consell y el Sindicat de la Part Forana de Mallorca. Palabras clave: Mallorca, medievo, Cortes, representación, negociación, monarquía The kingdom of Mallorca did not have a Parliament on its own. Occasionally, from the 13th until the 15th century representatives of the kingdom (as a commonwealth) or the islands of Majorca (and Ibiza) and Minorca were called in parliaments for the whole Crown of Aragon or for Catalonia. For financial, political or symbolic reasons, or all together, the islands' ruling class never enjoyed its experiences in representative institutions in the mainland. Thus, bilateral meeting points with the monarchy were preferred. This may have a disadvantage: privileges and franchises could be more vulnerable since it would not be that clear that they had been granted in exchange for financial or military services. In contrast, quite effective representative institutions were working for long within the biggest islands, Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza. Keywords: Majorca, Middle Ages, Parliaments, representation, negotiation, monarchy