Settlement Change in Granada's Western Mountains: the relationship between Power and Rural Communities in the Middle Ages

Abstract

This contribution stresses the fundamental importance of understanding the aspects which have characterized the vital sphere of the rural communities. We will mainly present the elements which have affected their social components and their settlement pattern, showing the important role that the power has played on the dynamics of the medieval settlement. Thus we will show the more significant transformations generated by the relations and contacts between these two agents, state power and rural communities. The emphasis is placed upon a rural area of Granada within the Middle Ages, specifically on the Western Mountain area, placed in the so-called region of Poniente of Granada