Hermandad

( Sp. ). “Brotherhood.” An a ociation of the principal cities of Castile and Aragon, bound together by a solemn league and covenant for the defense of their liberties in seasons of trouble. The most noteworthy (called Santa Hermandad , or Holy Brotherhood) was established in the middle of the 13th century in Aragon, and in Castile about thirty years later; while in 1295, 35 cities of Castile and Leon formed a joint confederacy, and entered into a compact, by which they pledged themselves to take summary vengeance on every noble who had either robbed or injured a member of their a ociation, and refused to make just atonement for the wrong; or upon any one who should attempt, even by the order of the king, to levy an unjust tax. Isabella of Castile, seeing the beneficial effects which an extension of the institution was capable of producing, obtained the sanction of the Cortes for its thorough reorganization and extension over the whole kingdom in 1496. In 1498, the objects of the Hermandad having been obtained, and public order established on a firm basis, the brotherhood was disorganized and reduced to an ordinary police, such as it has existed, with various modifications of form, to the present century.