Hermandad

Hermandad, literally "brotherhood" in Spanish, was a peacekeeping association of armed individuals, a characteristic of municipal life in medieval Spain, especially in Castile.

As medieval Spanish kings were often unable to offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in the 12th century against bandits and other rural criminals, as well as against the lawless nobility or to support a one or another claimant to the crown. These organizations were to be temporary, but became a long standing fixture of Spain. [O'Callaghan, Joseph F. O. "A History of Medieval Spain". (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1975), 448. ISBN 0-8014-0880-6] The first recorded case of the formation of an hermandad occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to Santiago in Galicia, and protect the pilgrims against robber knights. Throughout the middle ages such alliances were frequently formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them, and were occasionally extended to political purposes. They acted to some extent like the Fehmic courts of Germany. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the "Hermandad de las Marismas": Toledo, Talavera, and Villa Real.

As one of their first acts after the war of succession, Ferdinand and Isabella established the centrally organized and efficient Holy Hermandad ("Santa Hermandad") with themselves at the head. They adapted an existing hermandad to the purpose of a general police acting under officials appointed by themselves, and endowed with large powers of summary jurisdiction even in capital cases. The original hermandades continued to serve as modest local police units until their final suppression in 1835.

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