In (political) love. Building social order and consensus through emotional politics in fifteenth-century urban Castile: the case of the city of Cuenca

ABSTRACT This article examines the role played by emotional references in the processes of political communication between the urban world and the nobility in fifteenth-century Castile. Chronologically, the study is framed by the succession of civil wars that shook the kingdom from the beginning of the century to Isabella I’s final victory in 1479–80, a context that greatly contributed to bringing emotional expression to the fore. The focus is the relationship between the city of Cuenca and the high and middling aristocracy that operated in its hinterland. In contrast with other Castilian cities, the archival record in Cuenca is rich, allowing detailed examination of the emotional references and the way they were manipulated by city and nobility. The article emphasises the importance of the political dimension of emotions, and their role in integrating and giving cohesion to political relations, while modulating and mitigating conflict between nobility and city.