Jaén - History Lab

Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

The plague epidemic had an early manifestation in Spain. There is evidence of outbreaks of plague along the Mediterranean strip of the peninsula as early as the 6th-8th centuries. During the 14th century, the Black Death appeared in Europe, an epidemic which, interspersed with others such as influenza and typhus, reappeared in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1596 the plague reached the peninsula via Santander, a port area. It spread virulently through the territories of Extremadura and the two Castiles, especially the area around Madrid. The Cantabrian coast and Andalusia were also affected, as well as the area between Alicante and Valencia. It was in the latter city that another plague epidemic broke out years later, in 1647. From Valencia it spread to the northern part of the Crown of Aragon: Catalonia and the Aragonese territories themselves were affected. Andalusia was also hit again, with the city of Seville suffering significant human losses, where it is estimated that 45% of the population died. It was in Seville that another epidemic appeared in 1676. With no time to recover, cities such as Seville, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz and Jaen were the protagonists of the horror. They were joined by Cartagena, in the Kingdom of Murcia. These were the last large-scale epidemics to occur in the peninsular territories of the Hispanic Monarchy. Once the epidemic, demographic and food crises of the 17th century were overcome, the 18th century ushered in a period of generalised growth.

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Evolution of prices per bushel of wheat (1700-1714)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

The Modern Age was marked by numerous food, economic, climatic, epidemiological and even war crises. In the latter case, the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) left its mark on the price of a bushel of wheat. Between these years, we can see how in Murcia, Cuenca and Jaén the price per bushel of wheat fell at the beginning of the war and increased progressively as the battles reached the territories analysed. Murcia and Cuenca are the main exponents of the graph, with sharp rises between 1708 and 1710, while the north of Castile and Jaén increased to a lesser extent. The price of wheat directly affected bread, a basic product in the Spanish diet. In Cuenca, the corregidor declared an end to the bread shortage in 1714 due to the abundant harvest of that year. During this period, the general increase in prices, together with the military levy and mortality, the demographic structure was affected; fewer baptisms and the accentuation of social imbalances.

The post Evolution of prices per bushel of wheat (1700-1714) first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the population of Siles between 1480 and 1646

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:07 +0000

When analysing the population and society of Siles, which belonged to the Encomienda de Segura (formerly the Kingdom of Murcia and now Jaén), from the end of the 15th century to the mid-17th century, it is a good idea to use unpublished documentary sources in addition to the always useful Relaciones Topográficas de Felipe II, as the author of this article does. Adding those already mentioned above to the books of visits of the Order of Santiago, the Census of Dairy Farmers, the neighbourhood for the service of the Cortes and the list of neighbours of 1649, gives as a sample this table which can be used at the Baccalaureate and University levels, also introducing several of the primary sources available in this territory.
The resulting computation shows that the well-known demographic crisis at the end of the 15th century is quickly overcome, causing a regular growth until the plague epidemic in the middle of the 16th century, which causes an almost constant fall in the population until 1646, culminating in five decades of attraction towards the kingdom of Granada, the strength of the Council of Segura and the pressure on these lands to have more exploitable and less exploited areas in their vicinity.

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