Saturday, May 29, 2021

Juan de Leiva and the Transformation of the Government of Mula and Lorca

The Villa de Mula would have been governed by a wide college, in which the members succeeded each other by annual rotation. A similar system is in force in the regional capital between the municipal reform of 1399 and the institution of life regiments with Juan II. And in Lorca, until 1490. The establishment of such a college represented in Murcia an attempt to extend the political base of the municipal institution beyond the small group of pre-eminent lineages. And it is known that his disappearance corresponds, in the two main cities of the Kingdom of Murcia, to a reinforcement of the oligarchy. In Mula, too, everything changed around 1470 when a neighbor named Juan de Leiva asked that the trades be chosen from among the most capable of the town and not among "the thirty-six individuals." "He was listened to and from that moment on it was done like this ...". From that moment, the unit of the dominant oligarchy rotates (the thirty-six individuals), the lords of Mula will take advantage of the opportunity to place people of their trust at the head of municipal positions until 1510 the total number of the City Council is reached. A living example of how a request from an honest citizen with apparent good intentions to elect the most capable may have someone behind it without such good intentions. It is possible that the Lord has taken advantage of the disunity of the oligarchy and the constitution of a party favorable to the extension of his power. However a resistance movement is drawn. Already in 1480, the council sent Diego de Leiva to complain about the appointments made in the town before the Lord to which he replied that “your good practices and customs in choosing your offices in the town council are kept by me. ... ”



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