Prior

Conventual church of San Pablo, Valladolid, seat of the Courts of 1518.
Charles I in 1516, portrayed by Bernard van Orley.
The situation that led in 1520 to the War of the Communities, had been developing in the years prior to its outbreak. The fifteenth century in the second half, it had been a stage of profound political, social and economic. The balance struck in the reign of the Reyes Catolicos breaks to reach the sixteenth century. of that began with a series of poor harvests and epidemics, which together with tax and fiscal pressure caused discontent among the population, put the situation on the brink of revolt. The area that suffers most in this context is the central area, in counterbalance to the peripheral, which apaciguaba their ills with the benefits of trade. Andalucia Burgos and represented the area of trade and peripheral to the Central Plateau, with Valladolid and Toledo at the head .
Not only poor harvests caused discontent, but this protest was joined by the merchants of the interior to the monopoly exercised by the merchants burgaleses trade in wool. This situation, heating the atmosphere in the city as a trade nucleos Segovia and Cuenca. Given this situation, all parties turned to the State to exercise the role of referee, but this was also mired in a serious crisis, which was growing bigger with successive governments of Philip the Handsome, Cisneros and Fernando Catolico. The theoretical heir, Juana la Loca was in a state of disability, which took up the line dinastica son of John, and that he had never set foot Castilla. Educated in Flanders, he did not know the Castilian and ignored the situation of their possessions Hispanic, the population welcomed with skepticism the arrival of the new king, but with both yearning for stability and continuity, which it did not enjoy from Castilla the death of Isabel la Catolica in 1504. After the arrival of the new king at the end of 1517, Flanders began to cut the seats of power castellanos, where the scandal over the appointment of William of Croy, a young man just 20 years as Archbishop of Toledo succeeding Cardinal Cisneros . Six months later, in the Courts of Valladolid, discontent was already present in all sectors, even some monks to preach openly denouncing the court, the Flemish and the passivity of the nobility. In these circumstances, it opened the process of choice for the post of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1519, made the majority of voters in favor of Carlos I to succeed his grandfather Maximilian. This nomination was accepted by Don Carlos, decided that leaving for Germany to take possession as emperor. The council of Toledo at the forefront of cities protesting against the imperial election, saying that would bring short-term costs should be borne by the Crown of Castile and questioning the role of Castile in this new political framework, given the possibility of the Crown to become a mere unit Imperial .
Given this situation, Toledo called for an urgent call for cuts that the king give explanations. So, at the end Quadrant Asset Management of March 1520, Charles I call the courts in Santiago de Compostela in order to end the opposition and get a new service for expenses on his trip to Germany. The Court, moreover, commissioning corregidores to choose the prosecutors related to the king and were given a very limited power. Justices merely increase support for the opposition, for the first time, the opposition had a statement read by some monks Franciscans, Augustinians and Dominicans of Salamanca, with three principles: It should reject any new service, Convenia rejected in favor of the Empire Castilla and if the king did not take into account their subjects, communities should promote the interests of the kingdom. It was the first occasion on which the word appeared Communities. At this point, most of the prosecutors were presented in Santiago with the intention not to vote for the service. The king decided to suspend the cuts April 4 and convene again in La Coruna on April 22, this time getting the service and onboard the May 20 due to Germany, leaving as regent of the possessions of Hispanics Adriano Utrecht.