Parliamentary Representation and Royal Authority in Medieval Spain

Parliamentary Representation and Mandates

After their appointment, citizens received delegated authority to act in parliament, becoming mouthpieces for the views of cities on items proposed in the notice. It was usually stated that attorneys and trustees lacked autonomy and were limited to conveying what the city had agreed. This power of attorney represented an imperative mandate. If new issues arose, the attorney would seek new powers, maintaining a close relationship with the city they represented, which was secured in Catalonia by constituting an ad hoc committee. The nature of these powers, and the consequent lack of initiative of the prosecutors, would have made their appointment by lot more understandable.

According to José Sarrión, this scheme should be subject to qualification. First, the king would provide a letter of commendation, which would make little sense if the personality of the prosecutor were irrelevant. Furthermore, letters of attorney often left matters to the discretion of the governor. Therefore, one should not speak of a strictly binding mandate, but rather an open mandate.

Immunity and Legal Protections

In attendance at the Cortes, trustees in the Crown of Aragon were provided with a pass that preserved their immunity. Similar immunity was also recognized by Pedro I of Castile for prosecutors at the Cortes of Valladolid in 1351.

Constitution of the Courts

1. Call, Place, and Date of Meeting

The call of the Courts was issued by the king, who, by letter, indicated the purpose, place, and date of the meeting. In cases of the monarch's minority, the call could be made by guardians and trustees; in such cases, the Cortes were sometimes forced to meet at regular intervals. In Aragon, the call was always understood as a royal prerogative.

The call letters were individual, separately addressing each of the magnates and cities expected to attend. The designation of the place and date remained at the discretion of the monarch, though in Aragon and Catalonia, meetings were occasionally held in specific cities—Zaragoza, Barcelona, or Lerida—despite struggles to ensure the frequency promised by the king. In Castile, meetings were typically called every two or three years, though periods often grew longer. In Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia, meetings were also held every two or three years, though reaching an agreement often proved unworkable.