Propiedad, explotación agraria y organización del trabajo en Tierra de Campos a fines de la Edad Media

Abstract

El presente trabajo pretende efectuar un análisis de la estructuración de la propiedad, los modos de explotación y la organización del trabajo en las comunidades campesinas de la Tierra de Campos en el periodo del tránsito del XV al XVI, tomando como referencia el estudio de la villa de Becerril de Campos. Aqui, la concurrencia de fuentes y la clara hegemonía de la propiedad campesina que se relaciona con las peculiaridades jurídicas asociadas a su estatuto de behetría, permiten completar un modelo fácilmente extrapolable, que nos muestra la imagen de una comunidad campesina ampliamente inserta en los circuitos de intercambio y fuertemente fracturada por una intensa desigualdad en el acceso a la tierra. En ella, la emergencia de un estrato de campesinos enriquecidos tiene su contrapunto en la insuficiencia de la base agraria de un número muy significativo de vecinos, y las instancias políticas comunitarias desempeñan un papel esencial en el mantenimiento de unas relaciones productivas de las que se benefician los vecinos más abonados, y contribuyen por tanto a la reproducción de la desigualdad.

This article analyzes the property structure, , the farming methods, and the labour organization of the rural communities in the Tierra de Campos region in the 15th and 16th century, based on the model of the Becerril de Campos village. The prolusion of sources and the strong hegemony of the peasant property, given its specific legal status of behetría or fief benefice, results in a model that can be easily extrapolated, which reveals a community that is widely inserted in the trade circuit and notably fractured given the great inequality in terms of access to land. In that community, the counterpoint of the emergence of a stratum of wealthy peasants was the lack of an agrarian base of very significant number of the inhabitants. Furthermore, the political levels of the community played a major role in upholding a set of This article analyzes the property structure, , the farming methods, and the labour organization of the rural communities in the Tierra de Campos region in the 15th and 16th century, based on the model of the Becerril de Campos village. The prolusion of sources and the strong hegemony of the peasant property, given its specific legal status of behetría or fief benefice, results in a model that can be easily extrapolated, which reveals a community that is widely inserted in the trade circuit and notably fractured given the great inequality in terms of access to land. In that community, the counterpoint of the emergence of a stratum of wealthy peasants was the lack of an agrarian base of very significant number of the inhabitants. Furthermore, the political levels of the community played a major role in upholding a set of productive relationships to the wealthier dwellers, and therefore drove further inequality.