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The needs of trade between ports of the Cantabrian Sea, Castilla, the Court and Cádiz obliged to maintain open bridges, large and small ones. The cost of the works falls on usually poor villages, causing countless problems and protests. All this within the framework of the Decade at the end of the 17th century, particularly adverse, so the Council of Castile tries to balance high costs by distributing them evenly among the neighbours. This forces to make continuous counts of residents in affected areas.

RESUMEN: A partir del gasto de los ayuntamientos de la Corona de Castilla a finales del s. XVII se intenta discernir algunos de los valores, motivaciones y sentimientos de las poblaciones, especialmente rurales. Tales pueden ser, entre otros: la estima de la salud a través de la captación de buenos médicos; el valor y la universalidad de la limosna, se hace sentir en pleno Mediterráneo bajo dominio turco, la preocupación por disponer de buenos maestros y, finalmente, Xa fiesta, profana, religiosa y política al mismo tiempo. Los ayuntamientos que financian todo esto están superendeudados, pero el Consejo de Castilla acepta y valida estas inversiones.ABSTRACT: This paper is an attempt to show that from the expenses of Town halls in the Kingdom of Castile at the end of the 17th century, some of the valúes, motivations and feelings of the population, especially in the rural áreas, can be inferred. Among the most significant are the following: the concern shown for health in the desire to attract good doctors; the valué and universality of charity, which is felt in the Mediterranean under the authority of the Turks, the concern for having good teachers and finally the importance of the fiesta: profane, religious and political at the same time. The Town Halls which provided the funds were heavily under debt but the Council of Castile accepted and sanctioned all these expenses.

RESUMEN: Las elecciones municipales en los pueblos de la Corona de Castilla hacen aflorar las tensiones propias de cualquier comunidad organizada. A finales del siglo XVII estas tensiones parecen agudizarse, o mostrarse por primera vez allí donde no eran patentes. Tal es el caso de Carrascosa del Campo (provincia de Cuenca). La pugna por el control del ayuntamiento y sus recursos enfrenta a dos familias, pero la realidad se encarga de redimensionar la pugna familiar convirtiéndola en una pugna política entre dos bandos, mucho más complejos que los entramados familiares. La violencia individual se recubre de política y provoca la intervención del Consejo de Castilla.ABSTRACT: Municipal elections in the villages of the Crown of Castile bring out the usual tensions of any organised community. Towards the end of the XVIIth century these tensions seem to become more acute, or else they surface for the first time in places where they had been latent. Such is the case of Carrascosa del Campo, in the province of Cuenca. Two families compete there for the control of the village council, but this dispute between families develops eventually into a political fight between factions of a complexity which goes considerably beyond that of family networks. Individual violence acquires a political colouring and provokes the intervention of the Council of Castile.