Mecanismos de selección, participación social y sistemas de promoción en los municipios de la Corona de Aragón (ss. XIII-XV)

Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragón was a political conglomerate consisting of numerous kingdoms and earldoms, all of which had its own institutions and governing bodies. Every political government of the Crown of Aragón convened the Royal Courts, and had its own laws, tax systems, and separate currency. There seems to be an apparent institutional symmetry in the models for administrative and political organisation of the towns and cities in the territory, which in the 13th century were constituted as Universitas through the requisite royal concession. The singular nature of the regional institutions in each territory of the Crown of Aragón and the various privileges and royal provisions received by each urban conurbation led to the creation of specific municipal institutions with their own instruments of selection, social participation, and systems of promotion in each of the royal towns and cities in the territory. This paper aims to analyse the various mechanisms for selection, social participation, and promotion systems in the towns and cities of the Crown of Aragón, based on a study of the different electoral systems established in each urban centre, the social profiles of the governing groups in each municipality, and the internal instruments of social and political promotion in each city of the Crown of Aragón between the 13th and 15th centuries. La Corona de Aragón, entre los siglos XIII y XV, era un conglomerado político constituido por diferentes reinos y condados, que tenían sus propias instituciones y órganos de poder. Cada entidad política de la Corona de Aragón convocaba Cortes reales, disponía de sus propias leyes, sistemas fiscales y moneda diferenciada. En este contexto se aprecia una aparente simetría institucional en los modelos de organización administrativa y política de las ciudades y villas del territorio, constituidas desde el siglo XIII en Universitas mediante la preceptiva concesión regia. La peculiaridad de las instituciones forales de cada territorio de la Corona de Aragón y los diferentes privilegios y provisiones reales que recibía cada centro urbano, generó instituciones municipales específicas con sus correspondientes mecanismos de selección, participación social y sistemas de promoción en cada una de las villas y ciudades regias del territorio. El objetivo del trabajo es analizar los diferentes mecanismos de selección, participación social y sistemas de promoción en las villas y ci