Alcalde de la Santa Hermandad
Open-knowledge reference entry
Alcalde de la Santa Hermandad (lit. 'Mayor of the Holy Brotherhood') was a term used in the Spanish colonies in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire. The term referred to judicial magistrates named in towns and villages within the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire in the Americas whose function was primarily to be informed of infractions committed in rural areas against the established order, so they could be prosecuted. In this capacity, their primary function was to help the militia of a rural region within the jurisdiction of a cabildo. This militia was organized under an institution termed Santa Hermandad. The term of service of an Alcalde de la Santa Hermandad was one year. The position was eliminated around 1835, when the Santa Hermandad force itself was disestablished.
Origins
The hermandades initially began to form in Andalusia in 1265, in towns seeking to “defend their interests” from Islamic rebels who had been taking land and proclaiming their leader king. They existed in Puerto Rico during most of the 18th century. The position of Alcalde de la Santa Hermandad was established in Ponce in the 1680s.
Nature of duties
Alcaldes de la Santa Hermandad were law enforcement / justice occupations.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alcalde de la Santa Hermandad” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.