TheIrmandiño revolts (orIrmandiño Wars) were two revolts that took place in the 15th-centuryKingdom of Galicia against attempts by the regional nobility to maintain their rights over thepeasantry and thebourgeoisie. The revolts were also part of the larger phenomenon ofpopular revolts in late medieval Europe caused by thegeneral economic and demographic crises in Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries.[1] Similar rebellions broke out in the Hispanic Kingdoms, including theWar of the Remences inCatalonia and theforáneo revolts in theBalearic Islands.[2]
Despite being joined to theCrown of Castile with the dynastic union of theKingdoms of León andCastile in 1037, theKingdom of Galicia maintained unique features, characterized by an economy which depended heavily on agriculture and a society marked by enormous feudal power that was concentrated in both secular and ecclesiastical lords. In addition, Galicia was isolated from the rest of the kingdom due to its mountainous territory and geographical location, a situation which the Galician nobility reinforced politically. These lords—the Osorios inMonforte de Lemos andSarria, the Andrade inPontedeume, and the Moscosos inVimianzo, among others—held excessive power, with which they abused the general rural population.[3] This resentment triggered two uprisings: theIrmandade Fusquenlla (theFusquenlla Brotherhood) of 1431–1435 and theGrande Guerra Irmandiña ("Great Brotherhood War") of 1467–1469. (Theirmandade here should not be confused with thehermandades, who were aconstabulary.) Although ultimately unsuccessful, the rebels lay the groundwork for the incorporation of Galicia into the direct administrative control of the Spanish crown, which theCatholic Monarchs were beginning to establish.
TheIrmandade Fusquenlla was formed in 1431 on the estates of the lords of Andrade in reaction to harsh treatment bypt:Nuno Freire de Andrade, "the Bad." The revolt broke out in Pontedeume andBetanzos and spread to the bishoprics ofLugo,Mondoñedo, andSantiago de Compostela. It was led by afidalgo of low status, Roi Xordo ofA Coruña, who died in the reprisals after the revolt was suppressed in 1435.
The Great Irmandiño War (Galician:Gran Guerra Irmandiña) broke out in 1467, but Alonso de Lanzós had begun forming a "general brotherhood" (irmandade xeral) a few years earlier with the backing ofHenry IV and variousmunicipal councils of A Coruña, Betanzos,Ferrol, and Lugo. During the war, the municipal councils became primary actors, giving the conflict the characteristics of a truecivil war rather than just a revolt, as had occurred three decades earlier.
Several years of bad crops and plagues provoked the popular revolt. According to testimony from trials after the revolt, theIrmandiños counted some 80,000 troops. Several social classes participated in the organization and direction of the rebellion:peasants, city dwellers, the lesser nobility, and even some members of theclergy (some in the church hierarchy financially supported theIrmandiños). Leading the revolt were hidalgos. Pedro de Osório led the armies in central Galicia, especially the Compostela region. Alonso de Lanzós directed the war in the north of Galicia, and Diego de Lemos in the southern part of theProvince of Lugo and in the north of theProvince of Ourense. The presence of an "avenging and anti-lordmentality" in medieval Galicia, which portrayed the great lords as "evildoers," made theIrmandiño Wars possible.[4]
Opposed to theIrmandiños were the higher nobles, who had castles and forts, and the heads of the principal churches andmonasteries. TheIrmandiños destroyed about 130 castles and forts during the two years of war. The Lemos, Andrade, and Moscoso families were the main targets of the rebels, who spared the ecclesiastical authorities. At the start of the war, the nobility fled toPortugal or theCastile, but in 1469Pedro Madruga began a counter-campaign from Portugal with the backing of other nobles, the kings of Castile and Portugal, and the armed forces of the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela. The nobles' army, which had better equipment, such as the latestarquebuses, took advantage of divisions within theIrmandiño movement and defeated them. The leaders of the rebellion were arrested and executed.
The Irmandiño revolts paved the way for the centralization efforts of theCatholic Monarchs two decades later. They appointed agovernor-captain general and created anaudiencia for the Kingdom of Galicia that took over the dispensation of justice from local lords and placed it under the auspices of the Crown. They also ordered that none of the castles destroyed by theIrmandiños be rebuilt and had the Galician monasteries placed under the authority of their respective Castilianorders. The Catholic Monarchs also eliminated or neutralized the powerful lords. In particular, it is possible that they had Pedro Madruga—who remained grateful to the king of Portugal and, therefore, supportedXoana A Bertranaxa in her efforts to gain the crown of Castile againstIsabella—murdered in 1486. (The other possibility, depending on the chronicle, is that he died ofcarbuncles.) Another powerful lord, Pedro Pardo de Cela, was executed and his lands incorporated into the royal domain. Finally, Ferdinand and Isabella extended the authority of the Santa Hermandad to Galicia and abolished any remnants ofserfdom in the region in 1480.[5]
Every year a large-scalerole-playing event,"Irmandiños A Revolta," is financed by theXunta de Galicia to promotehistorical reenactment. In past years up to 800 people have participated, making it the largest role-playing event in the world.[citation needed]
