Presura
The Presura (Portuguese: presúria , also known as aprisio in Catalonia ) was the predominant form of Christian land grabbing on the Iberian Peninsula as part of the Reconquista until the 11th century . It was usually carried out by kings, nobles, bishops or abbots. The Presura was the socio-economic basis of the resettlement or resettlement (Spanish: Repoblación , Portuguese: repovoamento) of the regions previously depopulated in the fighting against the Muslims, whose Muslim inhabitants had been killed, enslaved, fled or driven out.
Etymologically, the term is derived from presa , the Spanish term for “taking away”, “taking possession”, which comes from the Latin prendere (to take). The terms aprisio and presa have the same content.
According to the Spanish historian José Luis Martín, the Presura means “that a private person, either as an individual or within a group, or members of an ecclesiastical institution as well as noble vassals delimit a piece of land whose owner was unknown and which they cleared and cultivated. After that, the competent authorities could recognize them as owners ”. In the overall process of reconquering, settling and securing territories militarily, the king either acted as presor himself or commissioned nobles or church officials to take over or approved the land. In the first centuries of the Reconquista, monasteries in particular, as cultural and economic centers, made an important contribution to resettlement.
According to the legal opinion of the time, the conquered ownerless land theoretically belonged to the king, whose consent to settlement was therefore required in principle. It was therefore often expressly pointed out that an act of land seizure had been carried out “on the orders of the king”. In other cases the king's consent was not obtained, but tacitly assumed. Because of the military and economic importance of the repopulation, the rulers were very interested in its success and strongly encouraged it. Anyone who was able to fulfill the duties of a settler was welcome as such. Even criminals were amnestied if they were willing to settle in exposed areas and to cultivate the land and, if necessary, defend it.
The historian René A. Marboe emphasizes the “right of ownership through use”, the fact that it was not an already existing right of ownership, but the willingness and ability of a settler to use the land that established his claim to ownership. If a settler or those wishing to settle could not fulfill his task, his right of ownership could expire and the land could be made available to someone else.
In the initial phase of the land grabbing, secular and clerical rulers often appointed their serfs as settlers. But it was also necessary to recruit freelancers as colonists, especially where the settlers also had to take on military tasks. Many of the settlers were Mozarabs (Christians who had moved away from the Muslim-ruled regions), others came from the core areas of the Christian kingdoms. Later settlers also came from the south of France.
For the presor , the number of colonists played a decisive role, as the cultivation capacity and thus the size of the lands taken over depended on it. In the course of colonization, the settlers were able to become owners or tenants of their parcels, but were gradually integrated into the feudal system of taxes and compulsory payments.
In the 11th century, the system of the Presura was gradually replaced by settlement privileges granted by the king, which led to repartimiento (systematic, precisely regulated division of lands).
literature
- Dietrich Claude : The beginning of the repopulation of Central Spain. In: Walter Schlesinger (Ed.): The German East Settlement of the Middle Ages as a Problem of European History (= Constance Working Group for Medieval History. Lectures and Research 18). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1975, ISBN 3-7995-6618-X , pp. 607-656.
- José Luís Martín: The Christian Kingdoms of the Middle Ages (711–1474). In: Peer Schmidt (ed.): Small history of Spain. Updated edition. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-15-010559-5 , pp. 43-76.
- René Alexander Marboe: From Burgos to Cuzco. The Becoming of Spain 530–1530 (= expansion, interaction, acculturation. Historical sketches for the Europeanization of Europe and the world 9). Magnus, Essen 2006, ISBN 3-88400-601-0 .