Germanías

The rebellion of the Germanías (in Spanish) or Germanies (in Catalan) is an armed conflict born in the Royaume of Valence with the beginning of the reign of Charles Quint (Charles Ier of Spain) between 1519 and 1523. This revolt is one of the elements releases of the acceleration of the centralizing process, of the loss of being able of Valencian oligarchy peerage-book and a strong reduction of the rights of the Valencian people. This movement forms part of the European convulsions which mark the first crisis of the Feudal system: the French Jacquerie S , the revolt of the Ciompi in Italy in 1378, the English insurrection of 1381, the Gran Guerra Irmandiña in Galicia in 1467, the Revolt of the bumpkins in Germany in 1524, the rebellion of the the Communities of Castille in 1520.

Initial causes of the conflict

The craftsmen of the kingdom of Valence obtained, during the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic, the privilege to form militia to fight against the fleets Barbaresque S. In 1519, Charles Ier allows the formation of these militia, directed then by Joan Llorenç. This organization of the military type makes harder the revolt of the Germanías .

The period corresponds to an episode of economic difficulties. The nobility fled Valence at the time of an epidemic of Peste in 1519. Rising initially takes the character of a social revolt, the Valencian company being then primarily middle-class. After the escape of the nobility, the middle-classes and the Corporation S of the city seize gradually the government until the establishment of the Junta of the 13; this Junta is consisted a representative of each corporation and is charged to direct the Valencian capital. King Charles Ier, in this year 1519, is with Aachen, for the preparations of his crowning as emperor. The single measurement taken by its regent Adrien of Utrecht (future pope Adrien VI), is to order the deposit of the weapons, prohibition of which nobody holds account.

The Junta of the 13

The Junte of the 13 tries to found a system interdisat the free labor not controlled by the corporations. The germanía (of germà, brother into Valencian) is the system of recruitment of the militia having to prevent the pirate incursions. At the beginning, the commander in is Joan Llorenç, a moderated man, who dies in 1520, which allows the entry in the set of more radical groups, ordered by the velvet manufacturer Vicente Peris.

Consequently, the movement undergoes a progressive toughening, being converted into an open war, with terrible episodes like the attack and the fire of the district Moor of Valence, whose inhabitants are shown to collaborate with the noble ones. The rebellion antinobiliaire extends in the campaigns with confusion from the grounds and the haciendas from the noble ones; it touches other villages and urban centres of the kingdom where constitute themselves revolutionary juntas. The viceroy of Valence, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, must flee with Denia, then with Peñiscola, where it takes the head of the royal troops. Two hearths of resistance are constituted: one, in North, ordered por Alphonse d' Aragon, duke of Segorbe; the other, in the South directed by the viceroy in person. The Agermanat S , directed by Jaime Ros, are overcome the July 18th 1521 by the duke of Segorbe with Almenara and the August 20th 1521 with Orihuela. On the other hand, on July 25th, Vicente Peris puts in rout the viceroy and his knights at Biar.

Thereafter, the movement loses its unit and of the discords had appeared between its leaders. The following military campaigns are concluded by routs for the agermanats . The night of the February 18th 1522, into a despaired attempt, Vicente Peris is introduced into Valence, moving into its own house and gathering its partisans; a hard combat hard during all the night in the streets of Valence and a group of soldiers end up setting fire to his house. Vicente Peris goes to the captain Diego Ladrón de Guevara. March 3rd 1522, the royal troops enter Valence definitively; Vicente Perished and some of his/her closer companions are carried out. Only the towns of Xàtiva and Alzira remain under the domination of the agermanats . The rebellion knows a renewal of activity under the orders of a mysterious character known as El Encubierto , which is made pass for infant Juan, wire of the Kings Catholiques.

Divert Agermanat S

After the assassination with Burjasot of El Encubierto , the May 19th 1522, by two of its seconds to touch the reward offered by the viceroy, and the fall of Játiva and Alcira, the rout is final for the agermanats ; Germaine of Foix is named vice-reine of Valence which it controls of an iron hand until her death in 1538; it organizes there with her husband, the duke of Calabria, small but brilliant court. Certain sources mention 800 sentences of death, carried out in a sporadic way over several years. According to other sources, the reprisals consist much more of confiscations and fines, striking the corporations especially, and are translated in rare cases by a capital punishment. The December 23rd 1524, the regent of Valence grants one thanks to the " Perayres " in an official document which is regarded as one of the first acts written in Castillan in the Kingdom of Valence, which led some people to see in the rout of the agermanats one of the causes of the imposition of this language, like additional reprisal against the losers. The effective pacification of the territory is effective in 1528, when the king grants a general forgiveness.

Germanías in the kingdom of Majorque

The movement of the germanías finds an echo in the Kingdom of Majorque, in there bright in 1521 following the imprisonment of six craftsmen. Just as in Valence, a trained junta of thirteen people (the Tretzena ) constituted itself, which takes the control of the capital and relieves her general governor, Miguel de Gurrea, which must flee with Ibiza. The noble ones which survécivent with the slaughter of the Castle of Bellver, take refuge with Alcúdia, single village remained faithful to the king during the year and half of domination of the island by the agermanats . In August 1522, Charles Quint sends 800 men to help Gurrea, which unloads in Alcudía to subject the island, helped by the noble ones which joined it there. In December, they besiege the capital, and the March 8th 1523, the agermanats go to Palma de Majorque after mediation of the bishop. In spite of this mediation, more than 200 agermanats are carried out; many others in addition fled in Catalogne.

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