The Comunero Revolt and Luther’s Impact on Castile: Rebellion, Heresy, and Ecclesiastical Reform Impulses, 1520–1521

Abstract

In the Antijovio (1567), explorer and conqueror of the Colombian territories Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada described the number of revolts and riots in the kingdoms of Charles V and globally at the time of the Comunidades of Castile in 1520–1521. He employed a “cosmological” explanation, asserting that the movement of the planets or another celestial phenomenon was the cause of such upheavals.1 Seeing causal relationships between the uprisings occurring during the early 1520s was not unique to Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. This article analyzes primary sources that linked Martin Luther to the Comunero Revolt of 1520–1521 in Castile. First, the article will examine the early impact of news about Luther on Spain and its possible relationship to the revolt of the Comunidades. Then, it will discuss certain sources that made a posteriori comparisons or established a direct relationship between Luther and the comuneros. I argue that the inaccuracies likely involved in making these assumptions should be contextualized within a traditional discourse on heresy and rebellion. As is often pointed out, the falsehoods or fictions of a culture can tell us as much about this culture as its “truths” can.2 Finally, the article will discuss the