Los conflictos entre la caballería local y el episcopado zamorano: Villamor de los Escuderos durante el siglo XIII

Abstract

This study aims to consider the importance of signorial frame in the success or failure of the local chivalry on the road to social differentiation. We are especially interested in communities that do not stay inside realengo, specifically in the case of those entering in the lordship of the bishop of Zamora. We intend to demonstrate that, unlike what happens in the realengo, chivalry, far from playing a positive role in the consolidation of the episcopal manor, set themselves up as direct competitors of the lord in the process of feudalisation. In this respect it will be central to understand the problem considering the streght relations that opposed the cavalry to the bishop. To this end we will use only documentation from the Zamora Cathedral Archive to illustrate, first, how social matters lead to conflict between the ecclesiastical lords and local cavalry, and, secondly, the shape of the dispute in the case of Villamor de los Escuderos, a community near Toro.