Violence and rural society. Tierra de Campos in Palencia (1917-1923)

In this article, we study the violence practiced by Tierra de Campos' peasants in Palencia (a Castilian province) between 1917 and 1923, a booming period in political and sociolabour disputes within the Spanish rural society. We focus on the interpersonal and everyday violence, actions reported in the criminal sentences of the provincial court and in the provincial press. Also, features of the execution (causes, places and times in which criminal actions were committed) and of executors (sex, age, profession, and neighbourhood) have been analyzed. Finally, a reflection on the presence and meaning of weapons in the region is accomplished. Our objective is to show that peasant violence (the most common and bloody one) was incorporated into daily relationships within the small rural communities, in which ordinary cultural values and mental beliefs of the Old Regime, such as honor and reputation, were still very important.