This is a list of participants and notable figures of the Revolt of the Comuneros, a rebellion from 1520 to 1522 in Castile.
The Royalist side fought to uphold the existing government of King Charles I (Carlos I). Along with Charles, the government was led by the regent,
Charles's departure for Germany to take up his recently-acquired position as Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (there were four Charles before him as Holy Roman Emperor but none as King of Castile and Aragon) helped provoke the revolt. He was seen as having broken his promise to leave a Castilian in charge of the country since Adrian was Flemish.
Despite being in Germany for the duration of the revolt, Charles played an important role in quelling it via communication and orders to Regent Adrian. One of the most influential decisions Charles made was to appoint two new Spanish co-regents to govern Castile:
The Royal Council had functionally run the country during the period following King Philip I. However, it was not well regarded among the common people since the government often ineffectively stood by while nobles illegally expanded their domain through threats of force. Corruption ran rampant, and the government fell into debt. The Council's President, Antonio de Rojas Manrique, was widely hated.
Still, disrespect of the Royal Council paled next to the distaste of the retinue of Flemish advisers that Charles brought with him into Spain.
William de Croÿ, sieur de Chièvres (Guillermo de Croÿ, señor de Chièvres) had managed much of Charles's upbringing in Flanders and had not taught him overly much statecraft. By doing so, he forced Charles to rely on him for advice. Many of the Flemish advisers proceeded to enrich themselves with funds from the Castilian treasury. William de Croÿ became Treasurer of Castile, a position which he later sold to Alvaro de Zúñiga, duke of Béjar, for 30,000 ducats. William had full control over who was appointed to administrative positions to Spain's fledgling colonies in the West Indies, and appointed friends of his to high positions, like Jan de Witte as Bishop of Cuba . He promised rich fiefs to Laurent de Gorrevot, another prominent Flemish adviser, in Cuba and the Yucutan (later annulled), and permitted him the right to import 4,000 African slaves to the Indies, which Gorrevot sold to a syndicate for 25,000 ducats. William also managed to get his 20-year-old nephew (named William de Croÿ as well) appointed Archbishop of Toledo, an extremely-unpopular act of nepotism. Jean Le Sauvage served as chancellor and controversially presided over the Cortes of Valladolid in 1518. Le Sauvage obtained in December 1517 the right to collect duties on the export of almonds and dried fruits, a position formerly held by the ruler of Granada. Le Sauvage leased the privilege to Fernando de Córdoba for nine years for 168,000 ducats.
The comuneros were the rebels who tried to overthrow the Royal Council and set up their own government. Their firmest base of support was the middle and the upper-middle classes. The monied elite had been treated well under the regime of Ferdinand and Isabella but then saw its standing decay under the Royal Council to the most powerful nobles. Some nobles, especially "low" ones, threw their lot in as well since they were jealous of the foreigners who occupied many of the prestigious positions of government under Charles. The rural peasants generally had conflicted loyalties.
In the second phase of the rebellion, the revolt took a strongly antiseigneurial turn under Bishop Antonio de Acuña and others. That helped make the peasants more supportive to the cause of the comuneros but repelled powerful nobles, who worried about their privileges.
. Stephen Haliczer . The Comuneros of Castile: The Forging of a Revolution, 1475-1521 . 1981 . . Madison, Wisconsin . 0-299-08500-7 . Hal81 .