THE INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF A COASTAL VILLAGE: MUROS BETWEEN THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE EARLY MODERN TIMES

This article aims to study the demographically semi-urban communities which dotted the Galician coastline since its medieval origins. Despite being more common than other more populated towns in Galicia (as elsewhere), scholarship has often relegated them in research due to their relatively low demographic, economic and political relevance. We will examine the village of Muros as a case study. It was originally under the jurisdictional lordship of the archbishop of Santiago. Despite attempts by the Crown to foster its urban development through a charter as a port-town, it will not reach this status until the end of the Middle Ages. Its nature as a lordship, its social make-up, maritime condition and, indirectly, the Crown are all factor which will determine the development of its institutions, officials, jurisdiction, government activity and management of resources.