This paper examines the case of sheep raising in Aragon from the 13th to the 17th century to explore the political dynamics and social criteria that rural communities used to manage their common land, and their role in larger economic and political frameworks. In the line of recent historiography about the commons, the research connects the strength of rural communities, institutional arrangements governing access to natural resources, and environmental efficiency. The hypothesis is that the "social reproduction" of the community was the aim that defined the collective action of strong and horizontal communities. They preserved their natural resources and defended large swathes of common land from foreigners. However, when these communities acted in a more complex system of transhumance within the framework of poorly articulated kingdoms, they would tend to predate others' resources and keep others' commons open to their free access. The outcome was the existence of large, but very different, and contested, kinds of commons.
This paper examines the case of sheep raising in Aragon from the 13th to the 17th century to explore the political dynamics and social criteria that rural communities used to manage their common land, and their role in larger economic and political frameworks. In the line of recent historiography about the commons, the research connects the strength of rural communities, institutional arrangements governing access to natural resources, and environmental efficiency. The hypothesis is that the "social reproduction" of the community was the aim that defined the collective action of strong and horizontal communities. They preserved their natural resources and defended large swathes of common land from foreigners. However, when these communities acted in a more complex system of transhumance within the framework of poorly articulated kingdoms, they would tend to predate others' resources and keep others' commons open to their free access. The outcome was the existence of large, but very different, and contested, kinds of commons.
RESUMENLa autora se pregunta por las causas de la consolidación y pervivencia de formas institucionales ineficientes desde un punto de vista económico. Se estudia un caso concreto: el monasterio cisterciense de Santa María de Montederramo (Orense) en el siglo xiii para poner en evidencia la existencia de marcos institucionales formales e informales definidores de la acción de unos agentes cuyos intereses se construyeron en el proceso de interacción social, es decir, en contextos socio-culturales determinados y no como fruto de la limitación institucional sobre la naturaleza maximizadora de agentes extemporales. En primer lugar, el artículo presenta las paradojas en los debates clásicos sobre el Císter. Atendiendo a la Regla de la Orden, se acepta que el Císter perseguía varios objetivos: la compactación de las parcelas adquiridas, la tenencia en régimen de propiedad no compartida y la explotación de la tierra con mano de obra propia. A partir del caso elegido se reflexiona sobre la distancia entre los principios teóricos de la Orden y la morfología diversa de los señoríos y sus formas de gestión práctica. Se concluye que los monasterios se convirtieron en aparatos acumuladores de bienes invirtiendo recursos según criterios de reciprocidad, redistribución, identidad y estableciendo redes con las comunidades o con algunos de sus miembros destacados. En este compacto entramado de dinámicas sociales y mentales se fueron configurando sus formas económicas.' Quiero agradecer a Reyna Pastor, Jesús Martínez Izquierdo y Maribel Alfonso Antón el tiempo dedicado a leer y corregir este artículo. Sin su ayuda, nunca habría conseguido afinar mis apreciaciones y orientar el argumento. Los errores, por supuesto, son de tni exclusiva responsabilidad.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.