The people of Guipúzcoa claimed to be of noble rank, and this status was legally recognized for most of them by laws enacted before, during, and after this period. Nevertheless the customs of the land itself amounted to a denial of their claim, and the familiar social differences existed, even though the majority of the people were legally nobles. There was a seigniorial class of the usual variety, with dependents in a more or less servile relation. A middle class nobility existed, composed of small proprietors or the industrial laborers and merchants of the towns. This element was very insistent on its noble rank (which indeed carried with it special privileges, such as the exclusive right to hold public office and certain exemptions from taxation), and enacted laws excluding those who were not of noble blood from a right to live in the towns. These laws were not enforced, however, and a popular class grew up, composed of Guipuzcoans whose noble rank was not recognized and of foreigners, many of whom settled in the land. Politically Guipúzcoa was a _behetría_ subject alternately to the kings of Navarre and Castile, until in 1200 the overlordship became fixed in the Castilian crown. At first the king was represented by an _adelantado_, who was customarily ruler at the same time of Álava or of the county of Castile; later a _corregidor_ for Guipúzcoa alone was named, while there were a number of royal _merinos_ as well. There was no other organization for the entire province until the fourteenth century, but each region dealt separately with the royal government. Gradually, through the formation of groups of settlements, a general league and at length a general assembly developed, with much the same powers as the assemblies of Álava and Vizcaya. The municipalities continued to be the principal centre of regional autonomy, however, especially the more important towns, which protected the lesser settlements through an institution similar to the Catalonian _carreratge_. Like the other Basque provinces Guipúzcoa enjoyed a number of privileges, of which the most prized was the exemption from general taxation, although certain specified tributes were regularly collected. More than once the province rose in arms to resist the imposition of taxes of Castilian origin. [Sidenote: Inter-relations of the Basque provinces.]