Collective Action and Local Leaderships in Early Medieval North-Western Iberia: Ninth-Eleventh Centuries

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to outline a critique of current models of peasant resistance for early medieval Northern Iberia and to advance some of the elements that might contribute to the development of a more comprehensive interpretation of peasant struggles in the area. It challenges the idea –sometimes made explicit, others largely implied in the historiography– that the peasant community was both the primary subject of collective action as well as the prevalent peasant political subject. Through the analysis of records of conflicts involving peasant individuals and communities it demonstrates that other forms of collective action are visible in the sources and addresses the question of local leaderships. Ultimately, it argues that in order to provide a more comprehensive account of peasant resistance and class struggle in the early medieval period such forms of conflict should be also taken into account.