Regional code of laws of Jurisdiction of Alfonso
In the fourteenth century, after years of prosperity, the Valencian knights and bourgeois who had hoarded numerous lands came together to request from the king Alfonso IV of Aragón, the Kind, a regional code of laws which would allow them to exercise jurisdiction over the settlers.
This request was succesful in the Valencian Parliament with a law of 1329, the “Regional code of laws of jurisdiction of Alfonso” which allowed the owners of the hamlets that included at least 7 houses if they were moors or 15 houses if they were Christians, to exercise civil and part of the criminal jurisdiction over their farmers.
In this way, the hamlets of Aielo and Cairent became one of the “seigniories of Alfonso” under the authority of Xàtiva’s administrative centre.
The Jurisdiction of Alfonso constitutes a singular figure within the Valencian noble jurisdictions, a concession that sought to encourage the colonization of the territory – encouraging the lords – and maintaining the control over the multitude of small places and hamlets, thus widening the gap between social classes.
