Issue date: 01 Oct, 2014
LEON, CRADLE OF DEL PARLIAMENTARIANISM
For the first time in the history of Western Europe, in 1188 King Alfonso IX of Leon called together the three Curiae Regis of the Kingdom of Leon. With this summons to council, the people were granted the right to intervene in the decisions on public matters; this consequently gave rise to the oldest European parliamentary system known.
The “Decrees” or “Magna Carta of Leon” gathers together the set of decrees that came from the meeting of the Curiae Regis held in the San Isidoro Basilica in Leon in 1188. These documents reflect a government and administration model in which the representatives of the people elected with a voice and vote participated, for the first time, in making decisions together with the king, the church and the nobility.
The initiative carried out by Alfonso IX of Leon, in the High Middle Ages, was followed by other European kingdoms, which did not take long to summon Councils of State with the participation of representatives of the people.
The international organisation UNESCO has declared the historical documents from Leon, which are over 800 years old, to belong to the Memory of the World, “The oldest documentary testimony of the European parliamentary system,” and it has recognised the city of Leon as the origin and world cradle of parliamentarianism. The international organisation further indicates that the “Decrees” “Reflect an original model of government and administration in the framework of the Spanish medieval institutions, in which the plebe participated for the first time making decisions at the highest level, along with the king, the church and the nobility, through representatives elected in villages and towns.”
Alfonso IX (1171-1230), King of Leon, achieved the height of splendour for the kingdom of Leon during his reign. Over the course of his lengthy reign, lasting more than 40 years, (1188-1230) he carried out a resettlement and council-oriented policy that helped to transform society and increase municipal resources.
In 1988 the Spanish Post Office issued a stamp to commemorate the 800 Years of the First Courts of the Kingdom of Leon.
The current issue is illustrated with a composition in which the emblem of the Leon City Council and the parliamentary seats are overlaid on the San Isidoro Basilica.
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