Establece una relación entre lo que dice el apartado correspondiente sobre los

1. The Monarchy. In the Peninsular states, kings governed. This power belived to be assigned to them by God. In theory their power was unlimited, but in some cases it was restricted by the autonomy of the cities, dominions or parliaments, so the extent of their power varied according to territory.

In Castilla the monarchy was unitarian, this mean that the territory was a single entity and the power was centralised in the king.

In the Crown of Aragon, the monarchy was federal, this means that it was composed of several kingdoms (Aragón, Catalonia, Mallorca and Valencia), and they had their own institutions, laws and traditions. The theory in these territories was that the God gave power to the King through his subjects: thus the King had less power tan in Castilla, for exemple.

2. Government institutions: the Cortes. Kings were help in government by the Curia Regis, an assembly of lords and clergy whose function was to advise the King. From the late 12 th

century on kings started calling city representatives to attend the Curia Regis as well. This is the origin of the Cortes, assemblies that were formed by representatives of the three estates: the clergy, the nobility and the common people.

In Castilla the Cortes represented the whole kingdom and their role was limited to imposing taxes and controlling the value of the currency. In the Crown of Aragon each kingdom, except Mallorca, had their own Cortes and the King had to give the laws and new taxes to them for approval. To supervise agreements a commission was created, the Generalitat.

With the development of the Cortes (parliament), the function of advising the King was transferred to other bodies called councils.

3. Dominions and municipalities. Territorial administration was very complex. The King only controlled his territories, called realengos (crown lands) and the nobles and clergy had great Independence in the government and administration of their manors. The cities had considerable autonomy and their own government. In Castilla it was composed of the livestock-rearing nobility (commom knights) and in Catalonia of the rich merchants and craftspeople.

Translate the Key Words: through, subjects, thus, whole, currency, agreements, councils, manors, livestock-rearing nobility.

13.-Who had the political power in the Peninsular states?. Why?.

14.-Explain the difference between the monarchy in Castilla and in the Crown of Aragon.

15.-Compare the Cortes of Castilla and the Cortes of the Crown of Aragon. Why they were so different?

16.-¿What limited the power of the King in the administration of the kingdom?.