Adelantado

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In the Middle Ages, an adelantado was an official of the Castilian crown with judicial and government powers for a specified area. Title and office were later used in colonial administration in America.

Adelantado literally means “advanced” (from Spanish adelantarse “step forward”, “surpass”). The Office is partially that of the steward or seneschal comparable. At the same time, there is a model in the Moorish administrative apparatus : the Almuqaddám , Spanish Almocadén ("superior", "boss," "magistrate").

Adelantados on the Iberian Peninsula

The term Adelantado as a name for a royal or city official is mentioned for the first time in Navarre and Castilian documents of the 11th century, but without specifying the powers of this office. The definition of the tasks and competencies took place in the context of the fundamental political and administrative reforms under Alfonso the Wise . The office of the Adelantado was politically upgraded, given official authority and placed in the judiciary. With measures, Alfons strengthens the administrative apparatus in relation to city councils, the nobility and the church.

The first Adelantado was appointed in 1253 in the newly conquered La Frontera (Andalusia) . The time was marked by the division of the conquered lands among the new Christian residents, the establishment of city and community councils and the granting of special rights, the Fueros . In order to be able to govern the new areas effectively, the monarchy needed a local representative with sovereign powers. The then applicable legal code Las Siete Partidas was then added to the new office of Adelantado Mayor, a judicial office for a defined territory, which formed the intermediate instance between local judges and royal courts. At the same time, the Adelantado represented the king and carried out royal orders.

After the satisfactory experience in southern Spain, the office was also introduced to Castile , León , Galicia and Murcia in 1258 . It replaced other exercising offices, in particular that of merino , which up to now lacked judicial competence. Because there had already been a similar office in the north, the old name was continued to be used and expanded to include mayor ("upper").

Over the next century, the Adelantados acquired more and more military competencies, especially in Andalucia and Murcia, that they were later even considered to be a core competence of the office. This change in competence passed on to the Adelantados in Central and South America.

From 1258, the Adelantados were recruited almost exclusively from the wealthy members of the high nobility ( ricoshombres ) and the royal family. In Murcia, Don Juan Manuel, nephew of Alfonso X. , finally secured the monopoly on the title for the first half of the 14th century, thus continuing a process that saw the office in the possession of a few families after the reign of Heinrich of Trastamara : the Manriques in Castile , the Quiñones in León, the Fajardos in Murcia and the Ribera-Enríquez in Andalusia . At the same time, more and more functions were transferred to other institutions. Although there were attempts to restore the office's traditional competencies and thus the abundance of power (e.g. by Pedro Enríquez in Andalusia), towards the end of the Middle Ages it was only an honorary position.

Adelantados in the Spanish colonies of America

For the conquest of America, the title Adelantado was reactivated. The Crown bestowed it on certain individuals for life or inheritance for the territories they would discover, conquer, or settle in America. The aspirants then, like most other conquistadores , equipped their expedition with private funds in the hope that they would be compensated economically by the conquests and politically and socially recognized by the title. The Argentine legal historian Ricardo Zorraquín Becú worked out in a study on this topic that the title in America was given purely for the sake of honor and did not include any function or competence.

literature

  • Rogelio Pérez-Bustamante y González de la Vega, El gobierno y la administración de la Corona de Castilla, Ediciones Aldecoa, 1976 ISBN 84-7009-188-3
  • Manuel Josef de Ayala, Diccionario de Gobierno y Legislación de Indias, Madrid: Ediciones de Cultura Hispánica, 1988, ISBN 84-7232-449-4
  • Cristina Jular Pérez-Alfaro, Los adelantados y merinos mayores de León (siglos XIII-XV), Universidad de León, 1990, ISBN 84-7719-225-1
  • Braulio Vázquez Campos, Los adelantados mayores de La Frontera o Andalucía (siglos XIII-XIV), Diputación Provincial de Sevilla, 2006, ISBN 84-7798-230-9