You have probably heard of Spain, that southern European country that you might have gone to when you were little or during your graduation summer. But Spain is more than playa, paella, and fiesta.
Spain has more than 50 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including ancient Roman ruins and natural landscapes. Moreover, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has the Memory of the World Programme, which aims to facilitate and preserve documentary materials and enable universal access. Spain has 16 documents part of this programme, for example, the Tratado de Tordesillas or the Archives of the European War Office in Madrid.
I am from León, a small city in the north-west of Spain that borders the Cantabrian Mountains, Asturias, Galicia, and Portugal. My city is well known because it is the city in Spain with the most bars per inhabitant (5 bars per 1000 inhabitants). But it is also more than that, our Semana Santa (Holy Week) is recognised as a Festival of International Interest for Tourists, and we have two of the three buildings that Antoni Gaudí designed outside Cataluña: the episcopal palace of Astorga and the Casa Botines. Inside the Memory of the World Programme, the Decreta of León of 1188 (the oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary systems) is included.
The Decreta of León of 1188
In 1188, the Iberian Peninsula was divided into different kingdoms: León and Galicia, Castile, Aragón, Navarra, Portugal, and the Taifas kingdoms in the south. The Reconquista that started in the 9th century was not over yet, and León was also fighting against Castilla and Portugal for territory. Consequently, the Crown of León was passing through an economic crisis. All this led the Crown of León to create new taxes. The people ofLeón did not take it well, claiming compensation and regularization of the expenses of the crown.
Alfonso IX was ruling at the time. He had been crowned King of León and Galicia in January 1188, and he chose to answer the unrest by calling a Curia Regia in the cloister of the La Real Colegiata de San Isidoro in León. A Curia Regia was a medieval political council that advised the king. For the first time in the history of the crown, the king did not call only noblemen and clergy. He also called representatives from towns and cities, who were chosen by ordinary people. That unusual decision turned the Curia Regia of 1188 into a precedent for what would later be known as parliamentary courts.
From that meeting came the Decreta of León of 1188. They set out rights and liberties for citizens and required every person in the kingdom to obey the law, whatever their social rank. They also outlined a form of government in which common people took part by electing representatives from towns and cities. In the First Decree, Alfonso states that after holding court in León with the archbishop, bishops, magnates of the kingdom, and elected citizens from each city, he swore to respect the good customs established by his predecessors for all people in the realm, clergy and laity alike. Moreover, Decree II sets procedural guarantees, such as no person could be harmed because of an accusation or rumour. Additionally, divorce and private violence were banned, and subjects were told to seek justice before the king. Moreover, neither the king nor anyone else was to destroy another person’s house or cut down their vineyards or trees.
After 1188, full meetings of the Curia Regia no longer took place without the presence of city delegates. News spread quickly, and towns demanded continued representation in later assemblies held in Benavente in 1202, León in 1208, and beyond.
Recognition of the Cradle of Parliamentarism.
In February 2011, the Government of Castilla y León granted the city the title of Cuna del Parlamentarismo (Cradle of Parliamentarism). The decision followed a request from the León City Council and a favorable report from the Royal Academy of History. The title mattered because it moved the claim from local tradition into official recognition. León had long defended its place in European political history.
Two years later, León’s position gained international recognition. In 2013, UNESCO included the Decreta of León of 1188 in the Memory of the World Register and described it as “the oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary system.”
In March 2019, Spain’s Congress of Deputies hosted the presentation of “Las Cortes de León: cuna del parlamentarismo”, a book co-published by the Cortes Generales and the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies. That same day, the Pendones del Reino de León, the historic banners of the old kingdom, were paraded along the Carrera de San Jerónimo outside Congress. On 30 June 2023, León hosted the opening of the parliamentary dimension of Spain’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The programme began with an international conference marking the Day of Parliamentarism, opened by King Felipe VI and chaired by the presidents of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate.
Conclusion
León tends to be overlooked by tourists who prefer to go to Madrid, Barcelona, or the Mediterranean coast. Same, with parliamentarism, which is often taken for granted today. Voting or the idea that power should be limited by law can seem ordinary, but these principles were not always granted. Documents such as the Decreta of León of 1188 remind us that the demand for accountability, representation, and justice has deep roots in European history.
Photo via https://pixabay.com/photos/spain-castile-and-leon-cathedral-165798/
