Remensa

Remensa (Catalan: Remença) was a Catalan mode of serfdom. Those who were serfs under this mode are properly pagesos de remença (pagesos meaning "peasants"); they are often (though not quite correctly) referred to simply as remences (singular remença).

Plaque commemorating the 500th anniversary of the remences' acceptance of King Ferdinand II's mediation between the remences and the feudal lords. (Located in Amer monastery, where the arbitration occurred.)

The Catalan term remença derives from the Latin redementia and emphasizes the possibility of redemption from servitude.[1]

The severity of this way of life led to rebellions by the remensa peasants in 1462 and 1485 known as the War of the Remences. After the second revolt, King Ferdinand II of Aragon issued the Sentencia de Guadalupe (1486), outlawing the more severe abuses of the oppressive evil customs and allowing remensa peasants to be redeemed by a payment of 60 sous per household, leaving a rural society that was still feudal in character, but significantly reformed.[2]

See also

References
  1. Archived August 10, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Nunez, Clara, Eugenia, and Tortella, Gabriel. "Economic Development and the Problems of National State Formation: The Case of Spain". In Teichova, Alice, and Matis, Herbert, (ed.) Nation, State And The Economy In History. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2011 ISBN 9780521283137 (p.115)


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