Revolt of the Comuneros

Two men and a priest stand in the center, overseeing the proceedings. A dead body lies on the ground; a man triumphantly lifts up his severed head in the background. A bearded man with hands bound is being brought forward to be executed next.

Execution of the Comuneros of Castile, by Antonio Gisbert (1860)

Date	April 16, 1520 – October 25, 1521¹
Location	Crown of Castile
Result	Decisive royalist victory

Belligerents

Comuneros rebels

Royalist Castilians

Commanders and leaders

Juan de Padilla,
Juan Bravo,
Francisco Maldonado,
Antonio de Acuña,
Pedro Girón,
María Pacheco

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor;
Adrian of Utrecht, regent of Castile;
Íñigo Fernández, Constable of Castile;
Fadrique Enríquez, Admiral of Castile

¹February 3, 1522 is also used as an end date; see 1522 revolt.

The Revolt of the Comuneros (Spanish: Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla, "War of the Communities of Castile") was an uprising by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles V and his administration between 1520 and 1521. At its height, the rebels controlled the heart of Castile, ruling the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas, and Toledo.

The revolt occurred in the wake of political instability in the Crown of Castile after the death of Queen Isabella I in 1504. Joanna the Mad, Isabella's daughter, inherited the throne with her Burgundian husband King Philip I. However, Philip died two years into their reign, and their son Charles was only six years old. Due to his youth and Joanna's mental instability, Castile was ruled by the nobles and her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, as a regency. After Ferdinand's death in 1516, the sixteen-year-old Charles was proclaimed king of both Castile and Aragon. Charles had been raised in the Netherlands with little knowledge of Castilian. He arrived in Spain in October 1517 accompanied by a large retinue of Flemish nobles and clerics. These factors resulted in mistrust between the new king and the Castilian social elites, who could see the threat to their power and status.

In 1519, Charles was elected Holy Roman Emperor. He departed for Germany in 1520, leaving the Dutch cardinal Adrian of Utrecht to rule Castile in his absence. Soon, a series of anti-government riots broke out in the cities, and local city councils (Comunidades) took power. The rebels chose Charles' own mother, Queen Joanna, as an alternative ruler, hoping they could control her madness. The rebel movement took on a radical anti-feudal dimension, supporting peasant rebellions against the landed nobility. On April 23, 1521, after nearly a year of rebellion, the reorganized supporters of the emperor struck a crippling blow to the comuneros at the Battle of Villalar. The following day, rebel leaders Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo, and Francisco Maldonado were beheaded. The army of the comuneros fell apart. Only the city of Toledo kept alive the rebellion, until its surrender in October 1521.

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