Context

During the Late Middle Ages the territory that today is Cantabria was divided into merindades, fiscal and legal administrative divisions of the kingdom of Castile controlled by a merino. Their different parcels had different degrees of administration. They could be of realengo (dependent on the king of Castile), of abadengo (of an abbot), solariegas (of a nobleman) and of behetría (of the Crown, but subordinated to a nobleman, freely elected, to whom to pay tribute).^[8]

From the 12th century and, mostly, from the 13th century, this territory was dominated by the nobility to the detriment of the power of the abbots, who since the 9th century had held the privileges of the region, especially those of the St. Juliana Abbey. The privileges of the lords continually swelled, obtaining more territories by royal grace or usurpation of territories formerly belonging to the Crown of Castile in terms of taxes, authority and jurisdiction.^[9] In turn, the rights of the peasantry, who had originally been able to elect their lords, were diminished.^[3] The Asturias de Santillana valleys, before the power of the first Duke of Infantado spread through them, were free to hold general assemblies. The first that was documented happened in 1430 in the Campo del Revolgo of the town of Santillana.^[10] The increase of the lordly power is documented by comparison between the Becerro de Behetrías (1351) and the Apeo of 1404, both documents that indicate the conditions of the places. In the first one there are more territories of realengo and behetría and in the second one more of manorialism.

One of the most important lords of the 14th century was Garci Lasso de la Vega I, favourite of Alfonso XI of Castile and chancellor of Valladolid, who was chief of name and of arms of the House de La Vega and obtained territories in the Asturias de Santillana. During the 15th century, the de la Vega family confronted the power of the Crown of Castile, creating the figure of the mayordomazgo to extend their power, an administrative system controlled by them.^[11] The Vega family received in 1341, from the hand of Alfonso XI, the valleys of Carriedo, Villaescusa, Cayón, Camargo and Cabezón, along with other properties.^[12] Leonor de la Vega, heiress of the lineage, married Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, thus forming the House de la Vega-Mendoza. Their firstborn, Íñigo López de Mendoza, was left at the death of Leonor with the territories of the Asturias de Santillana.^[13] In 1445, King John II of Castile confirmed his possessions, a fact that the valleys did not recognize as lawful.

Although the House de la Vega—later united with the house of Mendoza—was the most powerful, other noble families disputed the territories, even in some of the nine valleys. This is the case of the counts of Castañeda, who took possession by force of some areas of the valley of Camargo.^[11]

It must be said that at the beginning of the 16th century, in the territories controlled by the Duke of Infantado, and especially the Asturias de Santillana, the peasantry suffered a continuous increase in taxes, which stirred up discontent. Independence from manorial rule was desirable, since taxes could remain in symbolic amounts. This situation occurred in Trasmiera, the valleys of Soba and Ruesga, and in that of Carriedo since the Duke of Infantado lost power after the sentence of 1505. In addition, some of these communities did not have to pay tariffes for importing basic necessities. However, after the lawsuit was won and the nine valleys returned to the royal manor status, the fiscal pressure intensified even more.^[7]

The first lawsuits

It is often considered that the Valleys lawsuit lasted from 1438^[14] until its resolution in 1581 or even until the creation of the province of the Nine Valleys in 1589; that is, about 150 years. In reality it was a series of lawsuits, the first of which was the "Old Valleys Lawsuit", which favored the manorial power.

The Nine Valleys lawsuit

After the ruling of the Carriedo lawsuit, they decided to appeal to the monarchy the valleys of Alfoz de Lloredo, Cabezón, Cabuérniga, Camargo, Cayón, Penagos, Piélagos, Reocín and Villaescusa, part of the Asturias de Santillana, which belonged to the dukes of Infantado, also marquises of Santillana.^[22] The valleys presented their querencia in 1544 to the Duke of Infantado.^[3] Reocín and Cabuérniga were late possessions of the Duke, and Cabuérniga joined the lawsuit later, so they are sometimes not presented as complainantss. The valleys protested before the king saying that:

... the Councils and neighbors of the valleys of Camargo, Alfóz de Lloredo, Villaescusa, Cayón, Penagos, Piélagos, Cabezón and Riocín, declare that all the said valleys, places, Councils and neighbors, with their boundaries and mountains, pastures, pastures and vassals, high and low jurisdiction, civil and criminal, mere and mixed empire and the rents and taxes and rights with all the other things attached to the valleys, are royal and of the royal crown of your kingdoms and the royalty from sea to sea. And thus they could not and cannot separate, nor divide, nor depart from the said royal crown, free and exempt from all vassalage, nor any manorialism, not being vassals of the said duke nor being able to be by right, nor owing him, as they do not owe him vassalage, nor service, nor chest, nor right, nor any other tribute whatsoever. The said duke by force and not duly, has entered and occupied against all reason and justice the said valleys...^[15]

Province of the Nine Valleys

The direct consequences of the resolution of the conflict were the return of the valleys to the Castilian crown, integrated in 1589 the "Province of the Nine Valleys of the Asturias de Santillana", the recovery of the royal power and the reduction of the manorial power in the area.^[1][22][10] The new province was constituted in the Casa de juntas de Puente San Miguel, where in 1778 it was decided to integrate it into another province—province of Cantabria—which although short-lived is considered the political and historical origin of the current autonomous community.

The province of the Nine Valleys obtained privileges, among other monarchs, from Philip IV (1630), who allowed it to be governed by "ordinary mayors".^[22] This fact is the reason why 1630 is oftentimes considered the date for the creation of the province. Other times, the assumed date is 1581, the year in which the lawsuit ended.^[28] In 1645, the general ordinances of the province came into force, which were reformed in 1757.^[22]

Of the valleys

The Nine Valleys wanted to join the Carriedo lawsuit as a precedent and concentrated their arguments on the following points:^[14]

1. Justice. The dukes did not allow them to adopt mayors, merinos or other judicial positions, which forced them to always receive justice from the town of Santillana del Mar, controlled by the dukes themselves.
2. Security. The roads between the towns were not protected, which meant that travelers who had to go to Santillana were easily assaulted and even killed many times. The insecurity was increased by taking advantage of the lawsuits, so that those who had to go to Santillana died on the roads.
3. Economy. The dukes forced the peasants to pay tribute to pay for the administration of justice, which they complained about. They also imprisoned the rebellious council procurators.
4. Corruption. The dukes paid the scribes to have them at their disposal. In addition, the soldiers, to the orders of the dukes, taking advantage of the tension generated by the lawsuits, did not punish the violence, not even the murder, which caused the murder rate to increase.

Of the dukes

1. Rights. The Dukes of Infantado argued that the territories had belonged to the house of de la Vega for 100 years.^[15] They also claimed that in 1420, John II of Castile had given Leonor de la Vega confirmation of possession over the valleys, even though this was not exercised until 1448, when it was done by means of force.^[15]

Royalty

The royalty was happy to regain power in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, successively lost for three centuries. In addition to the creation of the province of the Nine Valleys, to which different kings were adding ordinances, the valley of Carriedo, antecedent of the Valleys lawsuit, received from the king the title of "Royal Valley of Carriedo."^[29]

Dukes of the Infantado

The response of the dukes was very violent. There are several testimonies about the atrocities committed by order of Íñigo López de Mendoza, his friends and followers before and during the years that the lawsuits lasted. Juan Martínez, witness in the lawsuit, assured that the duke had entered his valley surrounded by men with banners, atabals and trumpets and had made it surrender by force, making people and cattle flee to the mountains. Afterwards, he burned the houses and imposed punishments on those he could find.^[15] Pero Díaz and Juan de Matamorosa, opponents of the duke, had their houses burned and were thrown out of windows.^[14] Don Íñigo even mistreated hidalgo opponents related to the house de La Vega, and imprisoned one of them for eight months.^[15] When the Infantado finally lost the lawsuit of 1581, the contemporary duke decided to focus his attention on the last territories that were granted to him in other parts of the peninsula.^[3]

Manorial places of the valleys

The memorial of the lawsuit has been studied in reference to the history of Cantabria for including a list of the towers and fortresses that contained the eight valleys (not including Carriedo). In total there are 43 towers and 2 fortresses, in addition to the Castle of Pedraja, quite a number of fortifications for such a small territory.^[25] It is believed that in the 16th century there were in the whole of Asturias de Santillana more than 200 towers and fortresses^[34][11] along with more than 1000 hidalgo plots, as mentioned in the memorial.^[35] The following table shows the contribution of Fernando José de Velasco y Ceballos, who associated some of the towers cited to possible lineages.^[34]