Abstract

The mid- to late tenth century has been seen as a period in which the kings of León saw their ability to project their power throughout their regnum challenged by the emergence of a magnate class increasingly disinclined to co-operate with public authority. This article aims to re-examine this premise via the following approach: first, a discussion of common problems and misconceptions related to notions of public power and government as these terms are used in an early medieval Spanish historiographical context; second, a case study which examines the roles of political actors in one relatively well-documented region of the kingdom. It argues that structures designed to deliver justice and maintain order in the region depended much more on the participation of local actors than they did on the king's official agents; the wider implications for our understanding of public authority are then considered anew.