THE REGISTER OF EPIDEMICS IN THE NARRATIVE SOURCES OF THE CROWN OF ARAGON (LATER 13^TH CENTURY TO END OF 16^TH CENTURY)¹

O REGISTRO DE EPIDEMIAS NAS FONTES NARRATIVAS DA COROA DE ARAGÃO (FINAL DO SÉCULO XIII AO FIM DO SÉCULO XVI)

Abstract

This article examines a provisional compilation of diverse narrative sources from the western territories of the Crown of Aragon – namely Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, and Majorca – with the aim of tracing records of epidemics from the late 13^th to the 16^th century. It analyzes how these episodes are described, specific events are highlighted, and whether there was a deliberate effort to construct a historical memory of plague outbreaks and other diseases.

Keywords
Epidemics; second plague pandemic; written memory; Crown of Aragon; 13^th-16^th centuries

Resumo

Este artigo explora uma compilação provisória de diversas fontes narrativas dos territórios ocidentais da Coroa de Aragão – Catalunha, Aragão, Valência e Maiorca – com o objetivo de rastrear registros de epidemias do final do século XIII ao século XVI. Ele examina como esses episódios são descritos, quais eventos específicos são destacados e se houve um esforço deliberado para construir uma memória histórica sobre surtos de peste e outras doenças

Palavras-chave
Epidemias; Segunda pandemia de peste; memória escrita; Coroa de Aragão; Séculos XIII - XVI

At the end of the 15^th century, Melcior Miralles, a cleric based in the cathedral of Valencia and connected to the household of the king Alfonso the Magnanimous of Aragon, recorded in his diary that in the year 1474 a severe shortage of cereals (“gran carestia dels blats”) affected the kingdom of Valencia. In the following year, starting in April, the city of Valencia experienced an exceptional surge in deaths, prompting most of its inhabitants to flee to rural areas. The city center was left almost entirely deserted. This extraordinary level of mortality was not confined to Valencia; other regions within the Crown, such as the island of Majorca, were similarly affected. In its capital, Palma, the death toll reached as high as 270 per day. In the Kingdom of Valencia, the devastation extended beyond the capital, with significant fatalities reported in smaller towns like Xàtiva and Gandia. Indeed, as the chronicler asserts, nearly every settlement in the kingdom experienced an abnormally high mortality (Rodrigo Lizondo ed., 2011, p. 433).

Certainly, it is a rich testament to the impact of one of the most important epidemic outbreaks registered during the second half of the 15^th century. The source even suggests potential links between famine and plague-related mortality crises, indicating that a shortage of grain led to feeding difficulties, and months later, the outbreak of contagion. Unfortunately, such detailed figures are rare. Chronicles and other narrative sources preserved in Late Medieval and Early Modern Crown of Aragon do not typically provide such detailed descriptions of the successive epidemic waves that took place during this period.

This article focuses precisely on a provisional compilation of the diverse bulk of sources related to the Western territories under the control of the kings of Aragon (that means Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia and Majorca) from approximately the later 13^th century to the end of the 16^th century. This period spans from several decades before the Black Death to the first half of the so-called second plague pandemic (BIRABEN, 1976, I, p. 48-129; GREEN, 2022; COHN, 2008). The corpus currently comprises around 40 distinct sources and 300 references. In addition to some published examples, it includes a substantial number of unpublished texts. This, coupled with the limited scholarly literature offering a comprehensive census or global analysis of the available narrative sources in northeastern Iberia, makes exhaustive coverage challenging.

Accordingly, the study begins by describing the various types of sources analyzed, emphasizing their production contexts – an aspect that inherently involves certain biases – and the key information they offer. The second section examines what these sources reveal about epidemic episodes, occasionally linked to other mortality-related crises, and how these events are portrayed. The final section investigates the potential motivations behind documenting these events and whether there was an intentional effort to construct a specific memory of epidemics within the broader context of crises in the Principality of Catalonia and the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, and Majorca during the period under consideration.

Annals, chronicles and narrative sources in general in Late Medieval Crown of Aragon: a broad classification based on context

The study examines a set of sources for the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods that can be classified as chronistic or, more broadly, narrative sources. These sources, ultimately, derive from a historiographical tradition dating back to 10^th century primarily associated with monastic scriptoria in the oldest parts of Catalonia and Aragon. However, the early part of the examined period, the 13^th century, marks a turning point. During this time, the emerging power of urban governments derived in the appearance of a new family of annalistic works which evolved, broadly speaking, into the institutional dietary genre of the 15^th century and, finally, into the personal dietaries consolidated in the following century (Coll i Alentorn, 1991; Cingolani, 2006; Toldrà, 2015). In other words, the forms ordinary writing (“écriture de l’ordinaire”), such as diplomas (even some dating back to the 11-12^th centuries contain certain annalistic information), notarial records from the 13^th century or registers resulting from administrative procedures in jurisdictional courts or public institutions, are not taken into account. In any event, it is difficult to delineate specific branches in the evolution of the historiographical literature or narrative sources in a broad sense, within the area under investigation. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a classification scheme for the body of texts based on the place or context in which they were produced, which invariably entails the adoption of a particular perspective or even a certain bias.³

Firstly, we must consider the sources originating from ecclesiastical institutions such as monasteries and cathedral chapters. In this category , there is a collection of annalistic sources including three texts produced in the Cathedral of Girona,⁴ and another from the Benedictine monastery of Ullà, in l’Empordà, both in north-eastern Catalonia, whose origins are closely linked to two chronicons Barcinonenses (FLÓREZ ed., 1774, tome 28, p. 342-4; COLL I ALENTORN, 1991, p. 37); and, finally, there is the Chronicon denominated by Mascaró, a clergyman beneficiary at the cathedral of Barcelona at the last quarter of the 14^th century (MARTÍN-IGLESIAS ed., 2017).⁵ Similar sources can also be found at the cathedral of València (the so-called Llibre d’Antiquitats de la Catedral de València: MARTÍ MESTRE ed., 1994), in addition to more isolated works preserved only through later transcriptions, such as one produced in Santa Maria de Solsona (VILLANUEVA, ed. 1821, p. 240). A noteworthy example, albeit from a period later than the chronology under consideration, is the chronicle of the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Murtra in Badalona, composed in the early 17^th century (DÍAZ ed., 2013).

It is also important to highlight the evolution of the chronicles dedicated to the counts of Barcelona (GARRIDO-VALLS, 2003), which eventually gave rise to the so-called “Four Great Chronicles.” These chronicles focused on the reigns and figures of three of the most pivotal kings of the 13^th and 14^th centuries: James I the Conqueror, Peter the Great, and Peter the Ceremonious (SOLDEVILA 2008-14). In contrast, the chronicles of their successors were shorter and less detailed, offering only brief accounts compared to those of their predecessors (SIMON 2003, p. 388-90). Generally, economic events or natural disasters, such as epidemics, are mentioned in these extensive works only as incidental elements within broader political narratives that focus on the kings’ lives, military achievements, and everyday activities.⁶

More notably, other centers of written production gained prominence from the late 13^th century and, especially, from the mid-14^th century onward. Among these were the offices led by notaries serving municipal governments, an aspect that is part of the urban historiography fully studied in other parts of Western Europe (DUMOLYN & VAN BRUAENE, 2019). In most important cities throughout the Crown of Aragon municipal clerks produced texts aimed at recording the activities of their towns and institutions “ad habendum memoriam”, to keep memory (RODRIGO LIZONDO, 2019). The case of Barcelona stands out from the rest in this respect (Grau, 1995). Within the office of the controller of the local finances, the racional, the scribes working under him (VERDÉS, 2022) produced three “series” of records: a chronicle in Latin (Crònica del racional, 1334-1417: “CRÒNICA”, 1921), a book documenting the festivities and ceremonial acts connected with the municipality (Llibre de solemnitats, 1383-1719: DURAN & SANABRE eds., 1930) and, finally, an institutional diary (Manual de novells ardits, 1390-1839: Schwartz, CARRERES & VOLTES eds., 1892-4). Later works further complemented this corpus. First, the Memorial Històric by the clerk Joan Francesc Boscà (died in 1480), that includes a list of the municipal representatives and other political officers, combined with historiographical and annalistic notes covering the period from 1249 to 1480 (SOBREQUÉS ed., 1977) and the so-called Annals consulars de la ciutat de Barcelona, produced at the end of the 16^th century which, also according to the annalistic model, gather various information in a chronological order following the renewals of the municipal executive.⁷ As early as the 17^th century, several archivists from the same city compiled news, drawing partly from the 14^th and 15^th century narrative sources mentioned above, as well as institutional records such as council minutes. Among these compilations are the renowned Rúbriques de Bruniquer (CARRERAS CANDI ed., 1912-6; SIMON, 2003, p. 260-1) and the Llibre de coses assenyaladas by Pere Joan Comes (PUIGGARÍ ed., 1878; SIMON, 2003, p. 359-60).

Other Catalan cities such as Perpignan and Lleida also preserve narrative sources. In the case of Perpignan, these sources they are limited to annotations in one of its municipal cartularies or book of privileges, specifically, the so-called Llibre verd menor (Montsalvatje ed., 1902, doc. 1879),⁸ while in the latter there is an unpublished compilation of notes written by clerks serving the municipal government from the second half of the 14^th century.⁹ In this context, by contrast, isolated and typically indirect references to mortality or unspecified depopulation caused by epidemics – often included in privileges, concessions, or confirmations of petitions benefiting local communities and commonly found in municipal cartularies – will not be considered, except for a few isolated instances .¹⁰

In the case of the kingdom of Valencia, there also sources that are more or less related to the municipal government of the capital city, especially the so-called Llibres de memòries municipals of the city of València, an institutional diary starting in the year 1306 similar to that of Barcelona. It is parallel to a family of annalistic works, the archetype of which is considered to be the aforementioned diary by the chaplain of the king the Magnanimous (RODRIGO LIZONDO, 2019, p. 61-72, Rodrigo Lizondo ed., 2011). In the kingdom of Aragon the best example of this historiographical genre, albeit with much more sporadic and laconic news compared to Catalonia and Valencia, is the text called the chronicles of the judges of Teruel, Crónicas de los jueces de Teruel (1176-1532) (LÓPEZ RAJADEL ed., 1994).

In a transitional phase between institutional diaries and the more personal accounts of the Early Modern period, the diary of the scribe of the Diputació del General of Catalonia (the permanent commission of the estates gathered in the Parliament) stands out. This institution maintained its own institutional daily record from the 1411 onwards (SANS TRAVÉ ed., 1994-2007). However, beginning in the same year, the institution’s clerk, Jaume Safont, started his own diary with a more personal view on the most important political and other events of his time (SANS TRAVÉ ed., 1992).

Certainly, notaries, clerks and other writing professionals played a leading role in producing the earliest memorial texts. Some contributions consist of isolated notes in ordinary registers, such as that written by the notary Bernat Olives from Majorca on the Black Death in 1348 (ORTEGA, 2015, p. 94), while others were concise compilations of notes. Among the latter are the collections by Mateu Salzet, a notary from Mallorca in the early 15^th century (VILLANUEVA ed., 1851, vol. 21, p. 22), and Gaspar Eiximeno, a notary from Valencia at the end of the same century (ESCARTÍ ed., 1995). In strictly chronological order, the earliest examples of a relatively consistent compilation of news were those by Joan Torralles, a clerk of the jurisdictional court of Vic, produced in 1428 (MOLINÉ, ed., 1916; RIERA MELIS, 2003) and, six decades later, in 1486 the book with memories by the priest of Sant Iscle de Colltort, a rural parish close to the city of Girona (VILLANUEVA ed., 1850, vol. 14, p. 208-09, 300-4). It is worth noting that both compilations make explicit their purpose of recording facts to be remembered, thus with a distant echo of the Ciceronian sentence “historia est magistra vitae” and reflecting the role of “speculum historiale” traditionally attributed to medieval historiographic literature. Even more interesting is the precision of Joan Torralles that his main focus will be great tribulations, necessities and miseries, as he himself points out, that means famines, wars, earthquakes, deaths and other arduous hardships (“grandíssimes tribulacions, necessitats e misèrias” and “fams, guerres, terratrèmols, morts e altres arduas conguxas”).

Memories and diaries tend to differ from annalistic or chronistic texts by progressively including a greater proportion of accounts written by the authors themselves, either as direct witnesses or contemporaries of the events. This evolution, however, was never linear or unidirectional over time. Apart from a second section of the aforementioned chronicle by Mascaró, it is primarily in diaristic texts – ranging from institutional records like Barcelona’s Manual de novells ardits to personal notes by professional scribes – that the presence of such firsthand accounts increases. Even so, the hybrid nature of these sources often results in a blend of recollections on past events, extracted and reworked from earlier texts, alongside contemporary observations. As mentioned earlier, a significant challenge lies in conducting a comprehensive study of all these sources, systematically analyzing the information they contain, and clarifying the precise relationship between the note’s author and the events described. The methodology proposed by Pierre Alexandre in his study on reconstructing the historical climate of medieval Western Europe could be particularly valuable in this context. His framework categorizes accounts into four types: original reports contemporary with the events; information copied from unidentified sources; information copied from known sources; and material that was copied and later re-elaborated (ALEXANDRE 1987, p. 25-34, 39).

Nevertheless, while assessing the temporal distance between written accounts and the events remains important, later diaries tend to offer richer descriptions and, notably, more detailed reflections on the experiences of plague cycles than the more succinct notes found in chronistic or annalistic texts. To date, fewer than ten sources of this type have been identified for the 16^th century, most of which have been edited. The number of such sources increases in the following century. This small collection of personal memoirs includes the writings of a knight from Flix in southern Catalonia, who resided in Barcelona (1551–1573); another knight (cavaller) from the Catalan capital, whose text covers the last third of the 16^th century; a citizen of Girona (1572–1602); and the unedited notes of a notary from Girona, referring to the period 1545–1579 (SIMON, 1991; JANÉ, 2021).¹¹

Mortality and daily deaths as evidence of epidemic episodes

This research aims to navigate the documentary landscape formed by these sources. Indeed, it represents an extensive, diverse, and heterogeneous collection that demands tailored approaches for each case, depending on the specific questions pursued. A fundamental initial inquiry concerns the primary content of these sources and how they address epidemics. In the absence of a defined corpus of narrative sources that would enable, for example, the quantification of references to epidemic events relative to other phenomena, one clear observation emerges. Across both Latin and vernacular sources – regardless of their production context or precise chronology – references to epidemics frequently include terms such as deaths (morts, mortes), sometimes explicitly described as grans or grandíssimes morts (great or very great deaths), or mortality (mortaldat, mortandad), all terms are broadly equivalent to mass death.¹²

In so doing, these references frequently aim to convey the degree or intensity of mortality, employing expressions such as maxima mortalitas. In more specific instances, some texts provide exact death tolls for the entire epidemic cycle, or more commonly, record peak daily death rates. For example, sources describe the outbreak in Majorca in 1348 as a maxima mortalitas (ORTEGA, 2015, p. 94), while the 1375 epidemic is referred to as a magna et crebra mortalitas (MONTSALVATJE ed., 1902, doc. 1890). Similarly, the outbreak of 1388 in the island is characterized as a crebis et maxima mortalitas puerorum (widespread and severe mortality among children), according to the notes of the contemporary notary Mateu Salzet (VILLANUEVA, 1851 ed. 21, p. 22). Similarly, the year 1397 was considered in Catalonia a year of maximae mortalitates (FLÓREZ ed., 1774, tome 28, p. 342-4). In later sources written in Catalan, equivalent expressions are used. Moreover, these texts, compared to earlier annalistic or chronological notes, tend to provide more precise dates for the onset of events rather than merely associating them with a specific year. For example, in 1490, a notary in València reported “grandíssimes morts” (RUBIO VELA ed., 1994–5, p. 1184). Similarly, a municipal record from Lleida described the outbreak of an epidemic in August 1441 with the phrase “començaren morts” (the deaths began).¹³

The Black Death, widely regarded as the greatest demographic catastrophe of the late Middle Ages, occurred between 1347 and 1351 (BENEDICTOW, 2021, p. 176–615) and remains a defining event in the collective memory of both the Crown of Aragon and Europe as a whole. It is also the first mortality crisis to be documented with numerical estimates of deaths. Several sources from the area under study, produced at least three or four decades after the event – sometimes even in the 15^th century or later – frequently cite the clearly exaggerated claim that approximately 90% of the population perished. However, other sources provide more tempered estimates, suggesting that the death toll ranged from one-half to two-thirds of the total population. These disparities underscore both the devastating impact of the plague and the challenges of reconstructing its demographic consequences with precision.¹⁴

However, after a general silence that lasted almost a century, during the latter part of the 15^th century, some narrative sources began to provide more specific and realistic figures regarding epidemic-induced mortality. Most of these texts originate from Valencia. For example, Gaspar Eiximeno, a notary settled in 7,262 victims an important episode recorded in the capital of the homonymous kingdom between October 1489 and August 1490 (ESCARTÍ ed., 1995, p. 164). Indeed, rather than the total number of deaths during an epidemic cycle or event, local officials most commonly use the daily death toll over a specific period as the reference point for officially declaring or acknowledging an outbreak.¹⁵ This approach clearly permeates documents produced by notaries and other contemporaries reporting on epidemic cycles. It is evident, for example, in the aforementioned note on the 1475 episode recorded in the diary by the cleric in Valencia linked to king Alfonso the Magnanimous (Rodrigo Lizondo ed., 2011, p. 433). In Valencia, the plague episode of 1489–1490, previously mentioned, was also documented by Pere Font, a notary like Eiximeno. Font described the event as causing extraordinary mortality and provided a level of temporal precision characteristic of many 15^th century sources. He specifically dated the outbreak from All Saints’ Day in 1489 to St. Anne’s Day (26^th July) in 1490. Unlike Eiximeno, however, Font did not provide a general death toll. Instead, he noted that during several days within this period, the number of deaths exceeded 140, particularly in March, April, and May. Remarkably, he recorded that by Corpus Christi Day in June, the daily death toll had dropped to just 24 – a surprising development, as mortality typically increased with the onset of summer. This anomaly left a strong impression on contemporaries (RUBIO VELA, 1994-5, p. 1184). In the 16^th century, there are similar references to specific deaths figures such as in the episode of 1529. In the Annals consulars of the city of Barcelona it is noted that the highest number of daily deaths (160) was reached on the day of Saint George (23rd April).¹⁶

These numerical references to the victims of plague or other diseases provide, at best, a rough approximation of an epidemic cycle’s magnitude and should not be accepted uncritically when assessing the impact of the successive waves of the second pandemic. Nonetheless, the emphasis on death counts in many narrative sources reflects a concern expressed by authorities and a clear intent to monitor local mortality. This concern prompted municipal officials or other agents to record the daily number of deaths during periods of contagion, often with efforts to identify those who had died from plague or other diseases. Such practices are documented in cities like Barcelona and Valencia from the early 15^th century, and, somewhat later, in Zaragoza (by 1468) and the City of Majorca (with a clear reference emerging in 1475).¹⁷

The Catalan capital stands out as in 1457, coinciding with one of the century’s most significant pestilential episodes, the mechanism known as the “cerca de morts”, attested at least since 1429, was recorded in writing for the first time. In that year, the results of the searches carried out by the municipal courier who contacted the clergymen in the city’s parishes began to be recorded in the volumes of the municipality’s institutional diary, the aforementioned Manual de novells ardits. This operation was repeated in the years 1475-6, 1483, 1489-90, 1494, 1497, 1501, 1507, 1515, 1520, 1530, 1558 and 1589-90.¹⁸ Consequently , this source, comparable to death registers of some Northern Italian cities such as Milano (from 1452),¹⁹ served as the basis for most of the compilations of events and news produced by archivists of the 16^th and 17^th centuries such as Bruniquer or Pere Joan Comes.²⁰

The most important epidemic episodes after the Black Death (1347-8) and some insights to their features and impact according to narrative sources

On balance, one of the most common ways to reference past disease episodes was to highlight the extraordinary mortality they caused. This approach enabled various authors to compare the severity of different outbreaks while also contributing to the development of a chronological framework for major pestilential cycles. Concerning possible comparisons, the note devoted to the outbreak of 1507 in the Annals consulars of the city of Barcelona can illustrate it: the outbreak registered that year is considered the worst in a decade up to that point, as recorded by the clerk.²¹ Similarly, two authors of personal diaries from the 16^th century, the notary from Girona Miquel Martí Abric and the jurist Perot de Vilanova, reported in their respective texts that the episode of 1564 had been a small thing (“poca cosa”) compared previous outbreaks . Vilanova even suggested that some people claimed it was not an outbreak of plague but rather of some other disease.²²

As is generally assumed, the extraordinary plague cycle between 1347 and 1351 was the greatest mortality known by Late Medieval society. As in other parts of Western Europe, sources from the Crown of Aragon refer to it as mortalitates magnae, maxima mortalitas or gran mortalitat, as well as sometimes as the idea of the first ones (“primeres mortalitats”). Unfortunately, all evidence indicates that most of the preserved sources do not midst of the lethal outbreak that devastated the Crown of Aragon during in 1348. Perhaps the only exception is the account of the episode recorded by the Majorca notary Bernat Olives, who died in the same year 1348 (PLANAS 2017, p. 81), in one of his books of wills (ORTEGA, 2015, p. 94). Additionally, a note introduced in a municipal cartulary from the town of Perpignan called Llibre verd menor may also be more or less coetaneous to the great epidemic disaster, but the manuscript deserves more insightful research (Montsalvatje ed., 1902, doc. 1879). Equally, in the absence of a comprehensive study of the chronistic texts from various ecclesiastical institutions, those texts dating close to the catastrophe were either composed shortly thereafter or originated three or four decades later. In any rate, references to significant mortality can be found, for instance, in a 15^th century legal volume from the cathedral of Girona (COBOS ed., 2001, p. 48) and in a chronistic text from the same cathedral of unknown chronology (VILLANUEVA ed., 1850, tom 12, p. 282), as well as in the so-called Cronicó by Mascaró, a priest in the cathedral of Barcelona at the end of the 14^th century (MARTÍN-IGLESIAS ed., 2017). Overall, it is worth noting that references to the Black Death that are not confined to sources from a single context, but are spread across a wide range of writing centers.

As a sample, there are sparse mentions in municipal registers, manorial rolls or notarial records from various parts of Catalonia.²³ Some of these more sporadic allusions may have been written quite close to 1348 or even during the second half of the same year as exemplified by a note in the register of proceedings of the municipal council of Girona in 1348. By contrast, in subsequent decades references appear in documents such as a 1379 list of rents paid to the lord of Sant Hilari Sacalm situated between the bishoprics of Vic and Girona or in a notarial protocol dated 1394 in a manor near Blanes.²⁴ These sources underscore the widespread recognition of the Black Death as the first major mortality even among 14^th century contemporaries. Furthermore, evidence suggests that this awareness endured over time; texts written a century later, as well as those from the 16^th century, continued to reinforce this narrative.

From another perspective, as noted, the plague of 1348 was the first mortality crisis recorded in the sources under scrutiny that provided approximate victim figures. ²⁵ Some of these sources support the perhaps unrealistic notion that 90% of the total population perished.²⁶ In particular annalistic texts from different parts of Catalonia contribute to this tradition like the note of the municipal cartulary Llibre Verd menor from Perpignan that states that, due to the plague, “de decem personis una remansit” (Montsalvatje ed. 1902, doc. 1879). A 15^th century chronicon from the small town of Reus, in the south-west of the Principality, also indicates that “apenes romàs la .X. part de les gents” (GORT ed. 1994, p. 63). Two other known sources, both produced after the mid-15^th century, a martyrology preserved in Santa Maria de Solsona and a legal volume from the cathedral of Girona, suggest lower mortality figures estimating that between 30-60% of the population perished. For instance, the martyrology asserts that one third of the people did not survive (“non remansit tercia pars populi vivens in mundo”: VILLANUEVA ed., 1821, p. 240) and the latter that of two thirds (“perierunt (…) duae ex tribus partibus hominum et mulierum”: MONTSALVATJE ed., 1902, doc. 1880).²⁷

After the Black Death, chronological ordering also gains a certain consensus in some sources (Günzberg, 2010, p. 65-74). For instance, in Catalonia several chronistic texts produced by ecclesiastical institutions generally agree on the sequence of plague outbreaks that followed the outbreak of 1348 during the last third of the 14^th century. In addition, these texts provide an important qualitative detail. In relation to various epidemic cycles of this period, age groups especially affected by the disease are indicated. In this regard, the pestilential outbreak of 1362, the generally considered “pestis secunda” in many parts of Western Europe (Glénisson 1968-9, SLAVIN 2024) is presented primarily as an epidemic that predominantly afflicted children. Two Latin chronicles previously mentioned, the chronicon by Mascaró, beneficiary of the cathedral of Barcelona at the end of the 14^th century, and another anonymous text (with accounts not necessarily coetaneous) explicitly refer to this phenomenon using the Catalan term: “mortedat dels infants” (MARTÍN-IGLESIAS ed., 2017; VILLANUEVA ed., 1850, tom 12, p. 282). The studies conducted thus far have only begun to compile evidence of this possible impact on the child population in 1362 and, more importantly, of the contemporary awareness that this group was particularly threatened. For example, among the wealthy families of Castelló d’Empúries (in northeastern Catalonia), it is noted that during the summer of that year, they sent their children to Requesens, a castle located about a day’s walk from the urban center and located in the mountains that border the northern edge of the Empordà plain, to avoid infection.²⁸

The subsequent significant epidemic event, occurring in 1371, is identified in parts of Western Europe as the third plague between 1369 and 1371. However, in other regions, this designation is attributed to the outbreak around 1374 (BIRABEN, 1975, I, p. 118-129). Known as the mortality of medium-age or subadults (“mortalitat dels mitjans”), it is considered to have primarily affected teenagers and young people. This terminology appears in an anonymous chronicle from the Cathedral of Girona, which also recounts the epidemic of 1362 (VILLANUEVA ed., 1850, vol. 12, p. 283). A more detailed account by a clerk from Vic, who may have been a direct witness, includes a description of symptoms, noting that the disease initially afflicted young people and children while also exhibiting a seemingly random impact on households (MOLINÉ ed., 1916, p. 213-4). In València, the outbreak of 1375 – considered the third plague there, unlike the 1371 outbreak referenced in Catalan chronicles – was similarly marked by an unusually high number of child fatalities (CABANES ed., 1983, p. 14).²⁹

By contrast, the collected narrative sources include only one reference that explicitly indicates possible differences between men and women in the experience of epidemics, though it stops short of suggesting a gender bias in their impact (CURTIS & ROOSEN 2017). This reference comes from the notary Mateu Salzet of Majorca, regarding the 1396 outbreak on the island. Salzet ambiguously categorizes those affected by the disease, distinguishing among boys, girls, male and female adolescents, and undifferentiated youth (“plures pueri et puellae, adolescents et adolescentulae ac juvenes”) (VILLANUEVA ed., 1851, vol. 21, p. 228). Such phrasing likely reflects a common practice among legal professionals, who often used detailed gender and age distinctions to ensure all possible categories of individuals were accounted for. This approach aimed at preventing anyone from claiming exemption or being excluded from the scope of a legal clause.

More interestingly, the exceptional note written by the Majorcan notary Bernat Olives in 1348 points out that the lethal episode considered the beginning of the second plague pandemic, which started in Majorca in February of that year, first claimed the death of humble people and later that of relevant sectors, concretely the wealthiest strata (“primo morta gens minuta et subsequenter gens grossa, scilicet, diuitis”). In parallel, the epidemic spread from the City of Majorca to the entire island (ORTEGA, 2015, p. 94). This is the only indication gathered so far regarding the possible dynamics of contagion within the society (particularly urban society) of the late medieval Crown of Aragon, but it connects with an issue of enormous importance in the study of the epidemics, such as the socio-economic selectivity of different outbreaks (for instance: SLAVIN, 2024, p. 466-467).

Beyond insights into the predominant age groups affected by the epidemics and potential social biases in late 14^th century episodes, the narrative sources from València offer the clearest example of an official sequence of episodes beginning with the Black Death. Unlike accounts from various Catalan writing contexts, this sequence extends beyond the initial ordering, which typically concludes with the so-called third plague of 1371. The diary of a cleric associated with King Alfonso the Magnanimous (RODRIGO LIZONDO ed., 2011, p. 150-151), along with an anonymous annalistic work, establishes the following list of epidemic waves (RUBIO VELA 1994-5, p. 1182-5) (figure 1).

Figure 1
Generally admitted epidemic sequence from the Black Death to the end of 15^th century in narrative sources from Valencia

Year	Order
1348	1st mortality (“primera mortaldat”)
1362	2nd mortality
1375	3rd mortality
1384	4th mortality
1395	5th mortality
1401	6th mortality
1428	7th mortality
1439	8th mortality
1450	9th mortality
1459	10th mortality
1475	11th mortality
1478	12th mortality

Contribution by narrative sources to our understanding of epidemic cycles

The available corpus of narrative sources from the Western territories of the Crown of Aragon is not particularly detailed regarding the demographic or economic impact of pestilence outbreaks. Moreover, most of sources offer only limited information on the etiology or symptoms of the diseases, especially when compared with records preserved from other contexts. Based on the current dataset, the earliest registered mention to pestilentia is by the 15^th century chronicler from Barcelona Joan Francesc Boscà, who refers to the episode of mortality in 1334 when many people in the Catalan capital died from pestilence, possibly plague (“moriren de pestilència i altres malalties”) (BENITO & MALTAS, 2017, p. 518-9). We do not know which source Boscà could access during the third quarter of the 15^th that enabled him to rework texts from the previous century using the vocabulary of his own time.

Apart from the aforementioned case related to 1334 and excluding later chronicles that refer to earlier episodes, such as the references to 1230 or 1323 found in Majorca annalistic texts, or those by 16^th - 17^th centuries authors like Bruniquer or Zurita, the more widespread references to pestilence are linked to the Black Death in 1348. This is evident in the chronistic sources produced during the 15^th century in the cathedral of Girona and in the small town of Reus. These texts, respectively, mention the “maxima mortalitas hominum et mulierum” due to plague (“ex peste perierunt”) and the “gran pestilència de mortalitat” (MONTSALVATJE ed., 1902, doc. 1880; GORT ed., 1994, p. 63).

The use of the term plague in 15^th century sources to describe epidemic cycles, such as those of 1334 and 1348, should not be taken as evidence that contemporaries were developing new perceptions of the disease. The term pestis had already appeared in earlier sources, often in contexts unrelated to disease. As some scholars demonstrate, 15^th century authors frequently drew upon linguistic forms preserved in Latin annalistic sources from the 11^th and 12^th centuries, originating from various regions of Western Europe (BENITO, 2022, p. 19-24). This supports the broader assertion that historical disease terminology is often unreliable for conducting so-called retrospective diagnoses in the history of medicine (ARRIZABALAGA 2002).

However, despite the necessary caution in interpretation, several sources refer to specific symptoms during the disease outbursts, beginning with the most known one of plague, the buboes (“glànoles” in Catalan). An exceptional note by Majorca notary Bernat Olives, probably produced in the same year 1348, already referred to “glanolas vel vertuas” (ORTEGA 2015, p. 94). The first term (“infirmitatas (…) de glanolis”) reappears in a detailed annalistic note regarding the same of 1348 plague, as recorded in a martyrology from Santa Maria of Solsona (VILLANUEVA ed., 1821, p. 240). A chronicle by the racional (financial controller) of Barcelona explains that in 1362 many people were dying in the Catalan capital because of illness characterized by buboes or other subitaneous disease (“CRÒNICA”, 1921, p. 134). The compilation of news by a clerk of Vic already cited, apart from precising that the episode of 1371 specially afflicted youth and children, also presents the event as a mortality of buboes (“glànolas”) and pustules or small skin tumors (MOLINÉ ed., 1916, p. 213-4). The description of the symptomatology of the diseases does not usually go further regarding the evolution of patients. One of the only notes of great detail is the aforementioned text by the notary Bernat Olives made in Majorca in 1348, which states that after developing buboes, the sick died immediately or at most within three days (ORTEGA 2015, p. 94). A similar timeframe is cited by the clerk from Vic reporting the outbreak of 1371. He indicates that during this episode of “glànoles” (buboes) and, as said, at least in Catalonia, especially afflicting young people but with an uneven age impact depending on each household, all kind of patients commonly died within three or four days (MOLINÉ ed., 1916, p. 213-4).

In the 15^th century, a new symptom began to appear in several sources: fevers. These were cited as the cause of numerous deaths (1,300 people) in Tortosa in 1434.³⁰ Similarly, the chaplain’s entry in the Magnanimous’s diary records the phenomenon of “great fevers” in Valencia 1451. The writer distinguishes between a “great mortality” in 1450 and the “great fevers” of the following year, noting that the latter resulted in even higher death tolls. According to the source, the fevers persisted from September to December 1451, affecting both the capital of the kingdom and its surrounding areas (within a 10-15 kilometers radius). The account emphasizes the scale of the outbreak, stating that the number of sick individuals far exceeded the health, with many succumbing to the illness (RODRIGO LINZONDO ed., 2011, p. 236-7, 328). Another narrative source based on Teruel (in Aragon) also reports an episode of fevers in 1474 that were particularly lethal for elderly people and peasants (“lavradores”), resulting in more than one hundred victims (LÓPEZ RAJADAL ed., 1994, p. 281). Finally, referring again to the diary of the chaplain of the Magnanimous, in Valencia, between the years 1475 and 1476, there was a change in the epidemic pattern. Apparently, the plague practically disappeared at the beginning of the second year and a new pneumonic disease emerged possibly in combination with the plague. This new illness was pleurisy (“malaltia de pleusisis”), affecting the pleura of the lungs. Consequently, contemporaries also described it as flank pain or flank disease (“mal de costat”) (RODRIGO LIZONDO ed., 2011, p. 444; RUBIO VELA, 1994-5, p. 1212-3).

Despite occasional geographical details such as the references to Tortosa or Valencia, the geographical aspect of the analyzed descriptions generally offers limited spatial specificity. Most reports on the Black Death of 1348, in line with what is known for other western European territories (BENEDICTOW, 2021, p. 277, 520, 536, 555), emphasize the universal nature of the event and the global scope of mortality. They assert that the epidemic affected people universally, or even the entire world. This universal framing appears in sources of diverse origins, whether they are annalistic texts produced by ecclesiastical institutions or records associated with urban governments. For instance, a compilation of events in Teruel (Aragon) refers to a great mortality of people all over the world (“mortaldat de gentes por todo el mundo”). Or the same source also presents the plague outbreak of 1362 as mortality all around the globe (“mortaldat por toda la tierra”) (LÓPEZ RAJADEL ed., 1994, p. 151, 173). With respect to the 1348 plague, the so-called chronicon by a beneficiary of the cathedral of Barcelona died at the beginning of the 15^th century and a chronicon produced in Reus during this century present it as an event “uniuersalium per totum mundum” or “universal per tot lo món” (MARTÍN-IGLESIAS ed., 2017; GORT ed., 1994, p. 63). Similarly, the clerk linked to the entourage of the king Alfonso the Magnanimous describes it as a mortality “general per tot lo món” (Rodrigo Lizondo ed., 2011, p. 150). A municipal cartulary from Perpignan refers in a more diffuse sense to the great mortality that affected the land of that town (“fuit in ista terra magna mortalitas gentium”: MONTSALVATJE ed., 1902, tom XIII, doc. 1879). In contrast, while a volume from the cathedral of Girona offers more precision explaining that, due to plague (“peste”), many people died in the bishopric of Girona as well as the ecclesiastical province of Tarragona, regions that coincide with whole Principality of Catalonia and the northern tip of the kingdom of Valencia (MONTSALVATJE ed., 1902, tom XIII, doc. 1880).

The most exceptional report, also in terms of geographical precision, regarding the great catastrophe of 1347-1348, is found in the note by the Majorcan notary Bernat Olives (ORTEGA, 2015, p. 94). It states that the “maxima mortalitas in mundo” started in Tartary and then spread to Romania and the castle of Pera (Constantinople), then to Sicily, Pisa and Genoa, before reaching Avignon and Montpellier and, finally, Marseilles and Collioure, from where it suggests that it went to Majorca. As indicated above, it also notes that the contagion began in the City of Majorca before spreading throughout the island.

In any case, the extensive range of Catalan texts produced by municipal institutions provides a particularly clear blend of local and broader perspectives in describing epidemic episodes. Naturally, as these are primarily local sources, they focus on diseases that directly impacted their communities. This is evident in the previously mentioned description of the fevers in Valencia in 1450, which considers only the city’s immediate surroundings (RODRIGO LINZONDO ed., 2011, p. 236-7, 328). Similarly, the chronicle by the racional of Barcelona regarding the 1410 plague outbreak details its impact on Barcelona and, in a general form, “aliis locis Cathalonie” (“other places in Catalonia”) (CRÒNICA, 1921, p. 172). Likewise, the 16^th century Annals focused on Barcelona note that the 1507 outbreak caused significant mortality both within the city and its outskirts without providing further details. However, some texts, despite their local perspective, also offer insights into nearby populations. For instance, during the epidemic wave of 1434, the municipal clerk of Lleida – while noting a relatively healthy situation in his own city – reported extraordinary mortality in Tortosa, located approximately 120 kilometers (a two-day walk) to the south. This suggests that information about the epidemic likely spread along the Ebro River and its tributaries, an important fluvial communication route.³¹

By contrast, other sources theoretically conceived with a broad territorial perspective such as the historiographic work Geografia de Catalunya by the Jesuit Pere Gil are less influenced by the author’s immediate environment. Apparently writing from the order’s convent in Barcelona between the years 1598 and 1602, the work reports several outbreaks from the early 16^th century, specifically those of the years 1515, 1518 and 1522 and emphasizes that they affected the city of Vic and its surrounding areas, although he precises that the episode of 1518 was general in the Iberian Peninsula, including the kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia, leaving many settlements uninhabited.³² Concerning another important outbreak in 1530, it presents it as universal across Spain, while also noting that the degree of mortality varied from one location to another if they were “better” or not or depending on the efficiency of the remedies employed (IGLÉSIES ed. 2002, p. 288-9).

Overall, only in later sources, such as the chronicler Jerónimo Zurita (who wrote his reference work between 1562 and 1580), can we find certain details about the territorial impact of some epidemic episodes. With regard to the 1348 plague , which he insists was the greatest mortality recorded in all the sources he consulted, Zurita notes that it had a special incidence in the maritime areas starting in Majorca, island that claims to become uninhabited in less than a month (CANELLAS ed., 1967-77, book 8 chapter 27). Certainly, this statement would be exaggerated compared to the balance provided by the rich note of the notary Bernat Olives already alluded and which extends the plague cycle in Majorca between 5^th February and 12^th May of the year 1348 (ORTEGA, 2015, p. 94).

In view of this general lack of precision in specifying the geographic scope of most phenomena, indications of the routes by which certain diseases are extremely rare apart from the last Majorcan witness on the Black Death already commented. With somewhat less precision, the chronistic note in a 15h-century martyrology from Solsona explains that the great mortalities of 1348 began in the East and moved to the West and lasted one year “per universum mundum” (VILLANUEVA ed., 1821, p. 240). Similarly, a note by a clerk from Vic at the end of the 14^th century tells that the disease of buboes registered in 1371 in Catalonia and other territories, originated in the East –“de vers orient” (MOLINÉ ed., 1916, p. 213-4).

Although only a few detailed references are available, the examined collection of narrative sources does provide evidence suggesting a possible correlation – or even causation – between epidemics and subsequent shortages or famines. The case of the years 1374-5 is well known among scholars and deserves further attention (FRANKLIN-LYONS, 2022, p. 147-178). There is not a single account of the succession of phenomena that occurred during these two complex years and references vary a lot. In fact, among the sources analyzed, only the chronicle of Mascaró, clergyman of the cathedral of Barcelona at the end of the 14^th century, explicitly notes that mortalities began after Easter in the kingdom of France and elsewhere, while also reporting extraordinary increases in the price of wheat and barley, that led to a severe famine lasting 8 months or more (MARTÍN-IGLESIAS ed., 2017). In general, the year 1374 is referred to as a “famine year” marked by high mortality (“ultimi anni famis, in quo etiam uiguerunt mortalitates”). In the denominated Annals Consulars de la ciutat de Barcelona, the year 1375 (which actually began the previous year) is associated with the simultaneous occurrence of armed men from the kingdom of France, famine and plague.³³ In contrast, other sources such as the personal memories by Joan Torralles from Vic do not mention any epidemic disease but the serious dysfunctions in the food markets that led many people to feed on wild fruits, others to steal from other people’s land or mills, or women who sold their bodies to feed themselves. And this is in addition to reporting many deaths by starvation. (MOLINÉ ed., 1916, p. 214).

Another interesting episode occurred a century later, in 1475. Specially sources from Valencia such as the detailed account by the so-called chaplain of the king Alfonso the Magnanimouss offer details on the coincidence that in 1474, a severe grain shortage devastated many families struggling to feed their children. In the following year, an epidemic broke out, coinciding with this critical shortage. (RODRIGO LINZONDO ed., 2011, p. 433). Two 16^th century epidemic waves, one in 1530 and another in 1599, are described as being connected to famine and pestilence, specially the former one with witnesses recalling having seen people dying for both reasons (IGLÉSIES ed. 2002, p. 289, 304-5). It is also interesting to consider some detailed descriptions that include another variable to disruptions in food production or markets and epidemics: meteorology. It is worth noting in this regard the description given by a municipal clerk of Lleida on an episode of extraordinary mortality that started in this city in April 1440 and lasted until August coinciding with the sterility of the wheat crops in the nearby territory of Urgell. According to his description, Autumn rains eventually returned, but by January the dominant meteorological influence was the west wind, which persisted three months. Rainy days beginning in April led to a great abundance of grain. Certainly, a relationship is attributed between the poor harvests and the spread of the disease, this connection appears to be one of temporal coincidence rather than a specific causal link.³⁴

Another suggesting detail regarding crops is provided by a 15^th century chronicle from Reus when describing the Black Death. It notes that the year 1348 was very fertile, but that, as a consequence of the enormous mortality caused by the plague, left the crops unharvested and ultimately lost (GORT ed., 1994, p. 63). This observation implies that epidemic mortality can directly affect agricultural production potentially leading to future scenarios of famine. Nonetheless, this complex issue will require cross-referencing a wide range of sources to be fully understood.

One final check involves reviewing the specific episodes mentioned in the compilation of narrative sources under examination. Figure 2 charts the sequence of epidemic waves based on the references collected from the later 13^th century to the late 16^th century. In absolute terms, the most frequently cited epidemics in these sources are these ones specified in the figure 3, where those mentioned less than four times have been excluded.

Figure 2
Sequence of epidemic episodes cited by the set of narrative sources under study (c. 1230-c.1600)

Figure 3
Most mentioned episodes by the set of narrative sources under study (c. 1230-c.1600)

Year with epidemic episodes	Number of mentions by different sources
1348	21
1410	10
1375	10
1589	9
1362	8
1475	8
1507	8
1515	8
1476	7
1558	7
1494	6
1371	5
1450	5
1457	5
1466	5
1483	5
1490	5
1493	5
1401	4
1439	4
1441	4
1448	4
1478	4
1486	4

• Source: Own preparation based on the dataset of narrative sources under study within the project EPIDEMED

When comparing figures 2 and 3 with the ongoing sequence (BENITO et al., 2025) derived from a wide range of sources – including direct evidence (death counts from Barcelona, burial registers, and a significant sample of rural communities) and indirect evidence (will series, municipal records, and other documents from various Catalan observatories) – no major contradictions are observed. However, there is no precise correlation between the frequency with which certain episodes are mentioned and the actual impact of each event, as inferred from the wider range of sources. For example, numerous records identify the 1490 epidemic as one of the most lethal in 15^th century Catalonia, with a significantly higher direct mortality rate compared to other episodes frequently referenced in narrative sources, such as those of 1475 or 1494. Similarly, while the 1530 outbreak is regarded as the most significant epidemic of the first half of the 16^th century (BETRÁN 1996, p. 30), it is mentioned less often in the records under study than other outbreaks, such as those of 1507 or 1515. Finally, the notable attention given to the epidemic episode of 1375 is likely linked to the complexity of the broader context during 1374–1375, when famine coincided with multiple plague outbreaks across various parts of the Crown of Aragon and beyond (FRANKLIN-LYONS, 2022, p. 147-178).

Is there a conscious process to create a written memory on epidemics?

Another critical point that remains unresolved concerns the process of constructing a memory of epidemics. The first question in this regard is the extent to which the narrative sources in the studied corpus focus more on epidemics compared to famines or other natural disasters that led to mortality crises. In other words, this issue relates to the varying degrees of sensitivity exhibited by the sources toward different catastrophes or events. As previously mentioned, the absence of a comprehensive dataset of narrative sources cataloging all historical references or accounts poses a significant challenge. This limitation hinders our ability to quantitatively assess the prominence of diseases mentions compared to those of shortages, famines, dearth, floods, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena, as well as wars and similar events. Compounding this difficulty is the problem of disparate chronologies among the sources, particularly the scarcity of narrative sources for the latter half of the 14^th century, and the gaps in the study of several key documents. Further analysis is needed to clarify the precise relationship or temporal proximity of the events reported in these narratives, as well as the potential chain of reinterpretations from earlier sources that predate those currently preserved and consulted.

Nevertheless, some qualitative observations can be drawn. For instance, one of the most extensive annalistic texts on the city of Barcelona, the Annals Consulars de la Ciutat de Barcelona, written in the late 16^th century, provides a detailed account of the significant famine of 1333, particularly highlighting the ensuing social unrest and food riots (BENITO & MALTAS, 2017, p. 511–518). The source also gives considerable attention to the intense political factionalism within the city government during the mid-15^th century, known as the conflict between the Biga and the Busca. Surprisingly, however, the Annals remain almost entirely silent on the major epidemic cycles of the late 14^th and early 15^th centuries. Most notably, there is no mention of the Black Death of 1348, one of the most devastating events in late medieval Barcelona as in many other parts of the world. This omission raises questions about the priorities and focus of the text’s authors.³⁵

From another perspective, a review of the sources reveals only isolated, deliberate efforts to document institutional responses to the plague and the measures implemented by municipal governments. Notably, these measures included the management of corpses and, later, the introduction of well-developed and practical strategies, such as restrictions on the movement of people and goods during outbreaks of contagion. These latter initiatives were introduced in the 1420s and 1430s in various Catalan towns and in Majorca (ROCA, 2018; AGRESTA, 2022; REIXACH, 2023b; REIXACH, 2025).

The exceptional note by the Majorca notary Bernat Olives on the Black Death in 1348 already discussed refers to the first set of strategies concerning corpses management. It explains the need to create new cemeteries in the Majorcan capital by dividing the city into four districts. Specifically, parishioners of the cathedral and the church of Santa Eulalia were to be buried in a new cemetery in the orchard of the convent of Santa Clara, those of the Santa Creu suburb in a space near the Portopí gate, those of the parish of Sant Miquel next to the Esvaidor gate, and those of the parish of Sant Jaume in an orchard adjoining the Riera (ORTEGA, 2015, p. 93-94).

Among the few notable cases reporting later practical responses by governments to epidemics, there is the following. In October 1482, in Barcelona, several individuals in a household succumbed to “glànola.” In response, the royal lieutenant ordered the eviction of the house, prohibited the removal of any belongings, expelled the residents from the city, and had the doorway bricked up. The decisiveness of the authorities left a significant impression. Jaume Safont, a notary who witnessed the events, recorded in his personal diary that was the first time doors were sealed and individuals expelled from the city, for sanitary reasons (SANS TRAVÉ ed., 1992, p. 287-8).

Certainly, recent research on urban government measures highlights the rarity of such references. It can be complemented by insights from the diary of the chaplain of the Magnanimous in Valencia. Unlike many other sources, this comprehensive account reveals a notable effort to document the actions taken by municipal governments and other authorities. For instance, it records that in June 1459, the cathedral chapter of Valencia ordered a mass at the altarpiece of Saint Sebastian, seeking divine intervention to eradicate the epidemic affecting both Valencia and the wider Christendom. The source also notes that in 1475, processions were organized across all parishes. Notably, in 1476, it reports that the municipal authorities of Valencia implemented measures to prevent individuals from areas of contagion from entering the city. This initiative effectively mitigated mortality caused by buboes but did not prevent the spread of pleurisy (RODRIGO LIZONDO ed., 2011, p. 151, 269, 444). These reference to increasingly stringent measures aimed at controlling the mobility of people and goods in times of epidemics are interspersed with much other evidence of the atavistic reaction of many social sectors, especially the more affluent, to flee urban centers when the disease threatened (REIXACH 2023a). Indirect allusions to these flows are found, for instance, in the account of the plague of 1371 by Joan Torralles from Vic (ed., 1916, p. 213-4).

As mentioned, from the mid-15^th century onward, more pragmatic strategies to curb contagion began to emerge alongside traditional approaches rooted in the divine interpretation of epidemics. These new measures are increasingly documented in narrative sources, particularly in personal diaries that first appeared in the 15^th century and proliferated more extensively from the 16^th century onward. In contrast, institutional records, such as the dietary of the municipal government of Barcelona starting in the 1390s, rarely mention these strategies, focusing instead on basic metrics like death counts. Broader developments in epidemic response during the latter half of the 15^th century are typically preserved only in later compilations of news, such as the Rúbriques de Bruniquer. These compilations, created by 16^th and 17^th century archivists, draw from council deliberations and local ordinances to provide retrospective accounts of the measures implemented.

By the 16^th century – a period that has garnered significant attention in the study of plague responses across contexts ranging from Italy to the Crown of Aragon (BETRÁN, 1996; ROCA, 2020) – several diaries document notable anti-plague measures. Among them, the notary of Girona, Miquel Martí Abric, provides a particularly detailed account. He describes actions such as the relocation of government bodies to avoid contagion, including the tribunal of the Inquisition moving from Barcelona to Girona in 1557, and the vicereine and her daughter departing the Catalan capital in 1560. The diary also records spiritual interventions, including prayers dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Narcissus, the patron saint of Girona, as well as the dispatch of two pilgrims to the sanctuary of Saint Mary of Montserrat in 1560, with detailed descriptions of both their departure and return ceremonies. On the practical front, the diary mentions efforts to control access to Girona’s city walls beginning in 1558, a measure that helped limit the spread of plague until its first cases appeared at the city hospital in 1563. However, by the following year, the disease had spread throughout many of the city’s neighborhoods, According to the notary, a critical misstep was the decision to convert the hospital into a lazaretto, which ultimately led to the institution’s collapse. Similarly, another contemporary account, the diary of the knight Perot de Vilanova, highlights how Barcelona declared a state of alarm in late spring 1564, prompting a mass exodus. Interestingly, Vilanova notes that this reaction may have been unnecessary, as the plague outbreak during those years was far less severe than previous epidemics (SIMON ed., 1991, p. 56-57).

Concluding remarks

Overall, the sources examined from Catalonia and the kingdoms of Aragon, Majorca, and Valencia include references to most of the recorded epidemic outbreaks between the late 13^th and late 16^th centuries. However, significant challenges remain in studying these narrative sources, particularly regarding their classification, dating, original production contexts, and authorship. As has been noted, there are important gaps concerning many examples associated to cathedrals such as that of Girona or other religious institutions. In this regard, it is crucial to better identify potential references in later sources to emblematic episodes like the Black Death. This would enable a more accurate evaluation of the lexicon they employ and the data they provide, such as information on victims or broader demographic impacts. A deeper understanding of the circumstances surrounding the production of these texts is essential for accurately interpreting the information they contain.

Despite these limitations, the sample confirms the significance of death – particularly daily mortality rates – as a key metric through which contemporaries recognized the presence of epidemic outbreaks. This was already evident in various institutional responses to plagues and other diseases, such as the registers promoted by several urban governments of the most important towns of the Crown. Furthermore, the most detailed examples within the examined narrative sources provide insights into symptoms such as buboes, observations on the spread of contagion, patterns of seasonality, and the territorial scope of outbreaks. They also offer general perspectives on demographic impacts and potential age biases associated with disease episodes. In contrast, references to the possible socioeconomic selectivity of these outbreaks are extremely rare. Notably, as specially transmitted by several connected sources produced in 15^th century Valencia, there appears to be a certain consensus on the most lethal epidemics of the period, or at least those that left the strongest impression on contemporaries. These include not only the plague of 1348 but also other significant epidemic cycles, such as those of 1362, 1375, 1410, 1475, 1507, 1515, and 1589.

However, the studied sources do not provide a precise chronological sequence of events. Focusing primarily on the sequence derived from contemporary Catalonia, it becomes evident that this narrative cannot be fully aligned with the timeline established through a broader combination of direct evidence and other more indirect sources. There is a noticeable imbalance between the attention given to certain events and the magnitude of their impact as revealed through cross-referencing different sources. Additionally, some texts mention possible links between plague and famine, along with other observations that hint at the perceptiveness of direct witnesses to the epidemic phenomena discussed in this article.

Nevertheless, as demonstrated, the corpus under construction, which currently comprises around 40 different sources, is likely to expand with new findings. In addition, a thorough systematization of all the events or news reported by these sources should make it possible to refine the analyses of key points beyond the relative parsimony found in the majority of texts beyond a few exceptional cases and the limited range of formulas used to describe the episodes of plague and other epidemics in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Crown Aragon.

At any rate, a tentative concluding remark is that the sources under study reveal a notable continuity (or the lack of notable developments), during the Late Medieval and Early Modern period, of lexical resources is observed in the sources under study with respect to European annalistic and chronicles of the 11^th and 12^th centuries. Along with other cited elements discussed, this suggests that, within the deliberate project undertaken by various powers in the Western Crown of Aragon – beginning with the monarchy and eventually involving municipal governments – the task of creating a historical memory through chronicles or institutional diaries relegated the recording of epidemics to a rather secondary role, at least until the 16^th century. From the mid-15^th century onward, the deaths caused by plague outbreaks led to the recording of mortality in times of contagion by the urban government of Barcelona and the Diputació del General. However these sources – as well as other urban chronicles (or annalistic texts of royal or ecclesiastical origin), there is no systematic record of all the epidemic cycles documented since the end of the 13^th century or later. Similarly, there is no clear indication of a deliberate effort to preserve a written memory of the practical measures that many urban governments in Catalonia, Majorca, or Valencia began to develop from the mid-15^th century onward to cope with plague and other diseases.

During the following century, significant and potentially relevant changes appear to have taken place. In the regions under examination, these changes coincide with an explosion in narrative sources, a proliferation attributable to various factors, including the growing number of personal accounts and memoirs (ESCARTÍ, 2021). Furthermore, it is essential to investigate whether this diversification of sources and the emergence of a collective memory around disasters, such as epidemics, were accompanied by a parallel dynamic that remains underexplored in the context of Catalonia and other Aragonese territories: namely, the potential development of material commemorative elements. Recent studies shed light on this phenomenon beginning in the late 16^th century (FONTCUBERTA 2023). However, many artistic manifestations from the mid-15^th century – such as chapel constructions, commissions for altarpieces, and similar works – remain understudied. These earlier initiatives may represent the initial stages of a commemorative tradition that is more fully documented in later periods.

• 1
  Unpublished paper in preprint platform. Every source and bibliography used are referenced in the paper.
• This article has been prepared within the grant RYC2022-036326-I, funded by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and FSE+, the research project EPIDEMED (PID2020-117839GB-I00) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and the research project MORTALITAS (PID2023-151785NB-I00) funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and FEDER, UE, as well as the research group ARQHISTEC (Economies alimentàries i dinàmiques de població a la Mediterrània occidental: grup d’arqueologia i história de les societats premodernes) 2021 SGR 01607.
  This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Nível Superir - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001
• Organizer of the Dossier The memory of crisis in the Middle Ages
  Marcelo Cândido da Silva
  Alexis Wilkin
  Pere Benito i Monclús
  Dominique Castex
• 3
  Other possible ways to classify similar sources are those adopted, for instance, to trace the epidemic outbreaks in the Low Countries by W. Blockmans, adopting a three-category division of quantifiable, contemporary description, and later histories or memories (BLOCKMANS, 1980).
• 4
  There are several texts edited by different authors that would deserve specific research to determine their current location (if preserved), sources, stages of production, their links and possible different attributions by successive publishers. One of them is the so-called anonymous chronicle of Girona, also known as Diversa Kalendaria de gestis retroactis temporibus factis maxime in Episcopatu Gerundensi, that was part of a 15^th century codex entitled Estatuts according to Villanueva (1850, tom 12, p. 185-382) and also previously edited by Flórez (t. 44, 1826, p. 394).
• 5
  Of lesser scope there is also the chronicon by the Dominican friar Pere d’Arenys covering the period between 1395 and 1415: HINOJOSA ed., 1975.
• 6
  For instance, in the chronicle by Peter the Ceremonious is reported that in April 1362 the king left Valencia to navigate to Perpignan through Cotlliure because of the contagion seizing Valencia and Barcelona and taking advantage of the fact that at the time the deadliness had already passed in Roussillon (SOLDEVILA, 2014, p. 362). In the same chronicle there is also a general allusion to plague in 1374 when it is said that, apart from armed men prepared in France to enter the Aragonese dominions, there were also mortalities and famines around them –“en nostres regnes havia mortaldats e fams” (SOLDEVILA, 2014, p. 398).
• 7
  Biblioteca de Catalunya, Ms. 173/1-3, Annals consulars de la ciutat de Barcelona.
• 8
  In the capital of the Roussillon there is also a book of memoirs from the church of Saint Jacques of this town, but with no references to the subject examined in this work: MASNOU, 1911.
• 9
  Biblioteca Nacional de España, Ms. 18496.
• 10
  Among many other examples, with regard to a privilege granted by the king Peter the Ceremonious to the small town of Figueres in October 1362 that asserts that at that moment it was needed to favor the permanence of men in this place given the low number of residents due to ongoing mortalities: COBOS ed., 2004, doc. 35 (1362/10/21).
• 11
  Concerning the latter unedited source: Arxiu Històric de Girona, Notarial records, Girona-06, vol. 639, d.s.
• 12
  Indeed, it is a trend in world-wide contemporary sources: GREEN 2022, p. 151.
• 13
  BNE, ms. 18496, f. 33r.
• 14
  See the beginning of section 3 for the specific sources on these figures.
• 15
  It has been well studied in the case of the city of Valencia: IRADIEL, 2005, p. 171-23.
• 16
  Biblioteca de Catalunya, Ms. 173/1-3, f. 198v-199r.
• 17
  For the latter, successively: RUBIO VELA, 1994-5, p. 1198, 1212 and 1214; IRADIEL, 2005, p. 167-8; FALCÓN, 1980, p. 188; CAMPANER, 1881, p. 185.
• 18
  A literature review on this subject and the parallel existence, from the same year 1457 and during some later waves, of a count promoted by the deputies of the General (a permanent commission of the estates gathered in the parliaments with the king) settled in Barcelona in REIXACH, 2023a, p. 972.
• 19
  Among many others: CARMICHAEL, 2016.
• 20
  See, for instance, the descriptions of the outbreaks of 1475 and 1490 by P. J. Comes (PUIGGARÍ ed., 1878, book 2, p. 265 and 313) or that of 1530 by Bruniquer (CARRERAS CANDI ed., 1916, vol. 4, cap. 70, p. 322).
• 21
  Biblioteca de Catalunya, Ms. 173/1-3, f. 124.
• 22
  Respectively: Arxiu Històric de Girona, Notarial records, Girona-06, vol. 639, d.s., 73; SIMON, 1991, p. 56-7.
• 23
  Some sparse examples from Reus in 1368 and Valls in 1392 in SABATÉ 2024, p. 178.
• 24
  AMGi, I.1.2.1., lligall 5, register 1, f. 171r, 1348; Mallorquí, 2020, p. 156-159; SOLDEVILA, 2020, p. 172.
• 25
  A comprehensive state of the art of the demographic impact of the Black Death in Catalonia mainly based on testamentary evidence and other primary and secondary sources: MALTAS, 2022, p. 297-303. More general figures for the whole of western Crown of Aragon: FURIÓ, 2016-7, p. 54-66, 76-80.
• 26
  On exaggerations by sources on it: CASTÁN, 2020.
• 27
  Similar figures are also reported by chronicles in Italy (for instance, Matteo Villani, from Florence, refers to a mortality rate around 60%), France (with a lower figure of one third of the whole population given in a chronicle on Lyon) and Germany (also one third reported by chronicles on Bavaria): BENEDICTOW, 2021, p. 277, 703-704, 722, 782. On estimates on the impact of the Black Death across Europe based on more or less direct documentary evidence, see, for instance, equally BENEDICTOW, 2021, p. 869-875, or SLAVIN, 2024.
• 28
  Arxiu Històric de Girona, Notarial records, Castelló d’Empúries, vol. 302, s.f. 1363/10/12. I must thank Dr. Josep Maria Gironella Granés for this reference.
• 29
  On this episode, also considered the third mortality in some Castilian and Tuscan sources: RUBIO VELA 1979, p. 35-39; AMASUNO 1994, p. 39-43.
• 30
  BNE, ms. 18496, f. 52v.
• 31
  BNE, ms. 18496, f. 52v.
• 32
  It is not possible to justify the emphasis on the case of Vic, a city that does not form part of the geography of the reconstructed ecclesiastical career of the author and with which no family ties have been identified. However, it is possible that it was information shared with other members of the order in the convent of Barcelona in which he dwelled most part of his life or arising from the use of previous sources, possibly also elaborated within the same Jesuit community, which have not been identified so far.
• 33
  Biblioteca de Catalunya, Ms. 173/1-3, f. 55r.
• 34
  BNE, ms. 18496, f. 33r.
• 35
  Biblioteca de Catalunya, Ms. 173/1-3

Research data availability

all data are available in the text

Bibliography

• BOSCÀ, Joan Francesc. Memorial Històric Ed Jaume Sobrequés Callicó. Barcelona: Associació de Bibliòfils de Barcelona, 1977.
• CABANES CATALÀ, Maria Luisa (ed.). Anales valencianos Zaragoza: ANUBAR, 1983.
• Chronicon de Petrus de Arenys Ed. José Hinojosa Montalvo.Valencia: ANUBAR, 1975.
• COMES, Pere Joan. Llibres d’algunes coses assenyalades succedidas en Barcelona i altres parts Ed. Josep Puiggarí. Barcelona: La Renaixensa, 1878.
• “Crònica del Racional de la ciutat (1334-1417)”. Recull de documents i estudis Vol. 1, fasc. 2, 1921.
• Crónicas de los jueces de Teruel (1176-1532) Ed. Fernando López Rajadel. Teruel: Instituto de Estudios Turolenses, 1994.
• “Cronicó de Guillem Mascaró”. Ed. Jose Carlos Martín-Iglesias, El denominado Cronicón de Guillem Mascaró (+ 1405) y sus continuaciones: introducción, edición y traducción Paris, e-Spania books, 2017. Available at: <http://books.openedition.org/esb/1084>
  » http://books.openedition.org/esb/1084
• “Cronicó d’Ullà”, Ed. Enrique Flórez. España Sagrada…, tomo XXVIII, Madrid: Imprenta de D. Antonio de Sancha, 1774, p. 342-4.
• “Cronicó del segle XV de Reus”. Ed. Ezequiel Gort Juanpere. Un Cronicó del segle XV. Historia et documenta Vol. 1, 1994, p. 57-66.
• “Cronicón de la catedral de Mallorca”. Ed. Francesc Montsalvatje. Colección diplomática del condado de Besalú, tome 13 (3r Colección Noticias Históricas). Olot: Impremta de J. Bonet, 1902, doc. 1890.
• “Cronicó de la església de Girona”. Ed. Francesc Montsalvatje, Colección diplomática del condado de Besalú, tome 13 (3^r Colección Noticias Históricas). Olot: Impremta de J. Bonet, 1902, doc. 1880.
• Eiximeno, Gaspar, Notícies de Ed. Vicent Josep Escartí. Edició de les notícies de Gaspar Eiximeno (1489-1492). Saitabi Vol. 45, 1995, p. 157-68.
• Diversa Kalendaria de gestis retroactis temporibus factis maxime in Episcopatu Gerundensi Ed. Jaime de Villanueva. Viage literario á las iglesias de España, tome 12. Madrid: Imprenta de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1850 p. 282-286; also ed. Enrique Flórez, España sagrada…., tome 44. Madrid: A. Martin, 1826, p. 394.
• La primera crónica del Monestir de Sant Jeroni de la Murtra (1413-1604) de Francesc Talet, Ed. Carles Díaz Martí. Barcelona: Fundació Noguera, 2013.
• Les Quatre Grans Cròniques Ed. Ferran Soldevila, Jordi Bruguera, M. Teresa Ferrer Mallol. Barcelona : Institut d’Estudis Catalans 2008-14, 4 vols.
• Llibre d’Antiquitats de la Catedral de València Ed. Joaquim Martí Mestre. València : Institut Universitari de Filologia Valenciana, 1994.
• Llibre de privilegis de Figueres (1267-1585) Ed. Antoni Cobos Fajardo. Barcelona: Fundació Noguera, 2004.
• MIERES, Tomàs. Costums de Girona Ed. Antoni Cobos Fajardo. Girona: CCG edicions – Associació d’Història Rural de les Comarques Gironines, 2001.
• Miralles, Melcior. Crònica i dietari del capellà d’Alfons el Magnànim Ed. Mateu Rodrigo Lizondo. Col·lecció Fonts Històriques Valencianes. València: Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2011.
• MOLINÉ BRASES, Ernest. Noticiari català dels segles XIV y XV. Butlletí de l’Ateneu Barcelonès Vol. 1, 1916, p. 211-220.
• Note in Llibre Verd menor of Perpignan. Ed. Francesc Montsalvatje. Colección diplomática del condado de Besalú, tom XIII (3^rd Colección de Noticias Históricas). Olot: Imprenta J. Bonet, 1902, doc. 1879.
• SAFONT, Jaume. Dietari o llibre de jornades (1411-1484) Ed. Josep M. Sans i Travé. Barcelona: Fundació Noguera, 1992.
• Dietaris de la Generalitat de Catalunya Ed. Josep M. Sans Travé. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, 10 vols, 1994-2007.
• GIL, Pere. Geografia de Catalunya Ed. Josep Iglésies. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 2002.
• Llibre de les solemnitats de Barcelona Ed. Agustí Sanpere Duran, Josep Sanabre. Barcelona: Institució Patxot, 1930, 2 vols.
• Llibre de remembrança by Joan Boada, priest of Sant Iscle de Colltort. Ed. Jaime Villanueva. Viage literario á las iglesias de España, tome 14. Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1850, p. 208-209, 300-304, doc. 17.
• Martyrology from Santa Maria de Solsona. Ed. Jaime Villanueva. Viaje literario…tome 9. Valencia: Impremta de Oliveres, antes de Estevan, 1821, p. 240.
• Les Mémoires de l’église Saint-Jacques de Perpignan Ed. Paul Masnou. Perpignan: Imprimerie de J. Comet, 1911.
• Memorial notes by the notary Miquel Martí Abric from Girona. Arxiu Històric de Girona, Notarial records, Girona-06, vol. 639, d.s., 73.
• Memòries by Perot de Vilanova. Ed. Antoni Simon Tarrés. Cavallers i ciutadans a la Catalunya del cinc-cents Barcelona: Curial, 1991, p. 25-88.
• Notes by notary Pere Font. Ed. Agustín Rubio Vela. Las epidemias de peste en la ciudad de Valencia durante el siglo XV. Nuevas aportaciones. Estudis Castellonencs Vol. 6, 1994-1995, p. 1179-1221, concretely p. 1184.
• Rerum apud Maioricas by Mateu Salzet. Ed. Jaime de Villanueva. Viage literario á las iglesias de España, tom. 21, Madrid: Imprenta de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1851, Madrid, p. 218-247.
• Rúbriques de Bruniquer. Ceremonial dels magnífichs consellers y regiment de la Ciutat de Barcelona Ed. Francesc Carreras Candi. Barcelona: Impr. d’Henrich, 1912-6. 5 vols.
• SIMON TARRÉS, Antoni. Cavallers i ciutadans a la Catalunya del cinc-cents Barcelona: Curial, 1991.
• Manual de novells ardits vulgarment apellat dietari de l’antich consell barceloní Ed. Frederic Schwartz i Luna, Frances Carreres Candi, Pere Voltes i Bou. (1892-1894). Barcelona: Impremta de Henrich y companyía, vols. I-III.
• ZURITA, Jerónimo. Anales de Aragón, 1562-1580. Ed. Ángel Canellas López. Zaragoza: Institución Fernando el Católico, 1967-1977.
• ALEXANDRE, Pierre. Le climat en Europe au Moyen Âge, contribution à l’histoire des variations climatiques de 1000 à 1425, d’après les sources narratives de l’Europe occidentale Paris : Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales, 1987.
• AMASUNO, Marcelino V. Cronologías de la peste en la Corona de Castilla durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIV. Studia historica. Historia medieval Vol. 12, 1994, p. 25-32.
• AGRESTA, Abigail. From Purification to Protection: Plague response in Late Medieval Valencia. Speculum Vol. 95, no. 2, 2020, p. 371-395.
• ARRIZABALAGA, Jon. Problematizing retrospective diagnosis in the history of disease. Asclepio Vol. 54-1, 2002, p. 51-70.
• BENEDICTOW, Ole J. The Black Death 1346-1353, The Complete History Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2021.
• BENITO I MONCLÚS, Pere. El cicle de mortalitat epidèmica i fam de 1093-1095 a Europa: anatomIa d’una crisi-frontissa. Estudis d’Història Agrària Vol. 34, 2022, p. 13-37.
• BENITO I MONCLÚS, Pere, MALTAS MONTORO, Joan. Fams immortalitzades. El “mal any primer” (1333-1334) dins l’annalística catalana de la baixa edat mitjana. In : CASTELNUOVO, Guido, VICTOR, Sandrine (eds.) ; L’Histoire à la source : acter, compter, enregistrer (Catalogne, Savoie, Italie, XIIe-XVe siècle), Mélanges offerts à Christian Guilleré Chambery : Université Savoie Mont Blanc, 2017, vol. 1, p. 503-520.
• BENITO I MONCLÚS, Pere, Reixach Sala, Albert, BARBER BLASCO, Alberto, MAS CRAVIOTTO, Adrià, ROCA CABAU, Guillem. Assessing the differential impact of epidemic outbreaks in Late Medieval Catalonia (1347-1530): from communities to family units. The History of the Family Vol. 30:3, 2025, p. 371-412. DOI: 10.1080/1081602X.2025.2532437
  » https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2025.2532437
• BETRÁN MOYA, José Luis. La peste en la Barcelona de los Austrias Lleida: Milenio, 1996.
• BIRABEN, Jean-Noël. Les hommes et la peste en France et dans les pays européens et méditerranéens Paris-La Haye: Mouton, 1976, 2 vols.
• BLOCKMANS, W. The social and economic effects of plague in the Low Countries, 1349–1500. Revue Belge De Philologie Et D’Histoire Vol. 58, 1980, p. 833–863.
• CAMPANER FUERTES, Álvaro. Cronicon Mayoricense: noticias y relaciones históricas de Mallorca desde 1229 a 1800 Palma: Juan Colamar y Salas, 1881.
• CAMPS CLEMENTE, Manuel, CAMPS SURROCA, Manuel. La pesta del segle XV a Catalunya Lleida: Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 1998.
• CARMICHAEL, Ann G. Registering deaths and causes of death in Late Medieval Milan. In: ROLLO-KOSTER, Joelle (ed.). Death in Medieval Europe: Death Scripted and Death Choreographed Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, p. 208-236.
• CASTÁN LANASPA, Guillermo. La construcción de la idea de la Peste Negra (1348-1350) como catástrofe demográfica en la historiografía española Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 2020.
• CINGOLANI, Stefano M. Historiografia, propaganda i comunicació al segle XIII: Bernat Desclot i les dues redaccions de la seva crònica, Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 2006.
• COLL I ALENTORN, Miquel Historiografia Barcelona: Curial-Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat,1991.
• COHN, Samuel K. The Black Death Transformed. Disease and Culture in Early Renaissance Europe Londres: Arnold, 2003.
• COHN, Samuel K. Epidemiology of the Black Death and Successive Waves of Plague. In: NUTTON, Viviane (ed.). Pestilential Complexities: Understanding Medieval Plague, Supplement Medical History 27, 2008, p. 74-100.
• CURTIS, Daniel, ROOSEN, Joris. The sex-selective impact of the Black Death and recurring plagues in the Southern Netherlands, 1349-1450. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Vol. 164(2), 2017, p. 246-59.
• DUMAS, Geneviève. Montpellier face aux mortalités à la fin du Moyen Âge: discours, prise en charge et matérialité des victimes. In : LABBÉ, Thomas, SCHENK, Gerrit Jasper (eds.) ; Une histoire du sensible: la perception des victimes de catastrophe du XIIe au XVIII siècle Turnhout: Brepols, 2014, p. 103-125.
• DUMOLYN, Jan, VAN BRUAENE, Anne-Laure. Introduction. Urban Historiography in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. In: CAERS, Bram, DEMETS, Lisa, VAN GASSEN, Tineke (eds.); Urban History Writing in North-Western Europe (15^th - 16^th centuries) Turnhout: Brepols, 2019, p. 7-26.
• ESCARTÍ, Vicent Josep. Memòria privada: Literatura memorialística valenciana del segle XV al XVIII València: Eliseu Climent, 1998.
• ESCARTÍ, Vicent Josep. Notícia sobre la literatura memorialística al País Valencià, del segle XIV al XIX. Manuscrits Vol. 28, 2010, p. 181-205.
• ESCARTÍ, Vicent Josep. La memòria de les pestes a l’antic Regne de València: de la nota marginal a la centralitat (s. XV-XVII). Mirabilia / MedTrans Vol. 13, 2021/1, p. 45-74.
• FALCÓN PÉREZ, María Isabel. Sanidad y beneficencia en Zaragoza en el siglo XV. Aragón en la Edad Media Vol. 3, 1980, p. 183-226.
• FONTCUBERTA FAMADAS, Cristina. Art i pesta: justicia divina, retrats i santedat en la Barcelona moderna. Matèria: Revista internacional d’Art Vol. 22, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1344/Materia2023.22.3
  » https://doi.org/10.1344/Materia2023.22.3
• FRANKLIN-LYONS, Adam. Shortage and Famine in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon. Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press, 2022.
• FURIÓ, Antoni. La gran depressió baixmedieval. Una mirada des dels Països Catalans. Recerques Vol. 72-73, 2016-17, p. 45-103.
• GARRIDO-VALLS, Josep-David. Cronicons Barcinonenses. In: SIMON TARRÉS, Antoni (ed.). Diccionari d’historiografia catalana Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2003, p. 390-392.
• GLÉNISSON, Jean. La seconde peste : l’épidémie de 1360-1362 en France et en Europe. Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de France 1968-9, p. 27-38.
• GRAU FERNÁNDEZ, Ramon. La historiografía de Barcelona abans de la institucionalització. Barcelona quaderns d’història Vol. 1, 1995, p. 11-23.
• GREEN, Monica H. A New Definition of the Black Death: Genetic Findings and Historical Interpretation. De Medio Evo Vol. 11/2, 2022, p. 139-155. doi: 10.5209/dmae.83788
  » https://doi.org/10.5209/dmae.83788
• GÜNZBERG, Jordi. Epidemias y mortalidad en la Cataluña medieval: 1300-1500. In: CAVACIOCCHI, Simonetta (ed.). La interazione tra economia e ambiente biologico nell’Europa preindustriale. Secc. XIII–XVIII (Atti della XLI Settimana di Studi. Prato, 26–30 aprile 2009). Firenze: Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” & Firenze University Press, 2010, p. 57-80.
• JANÉ, Òscar. The personal memoir in the Catalan lands (16^th - 19^th centuries). Catalan Historical Review Vol. 14, 2021, p. 35-49.
• IRADIEL MURUGARREN, Paulino. Consecuencias demográficas y económicas de las epidemias del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón. In: Le epidemie nei secoli XVI-XVII: Atti delle giornatte di studio (Fisciano/ Università degli Studi di Salerno, 13-14 maggio 2005. Salerno: Laveglia, 2006, p. 159-87.
• MALLORQUÍ GARCIA, Elvis. “Totes aquestes montayes són vuy desabitades”. Les crisis demogràfiques del segle XIV al terme del Castell de Solterra (Sant Hilari Sacalm i Osor). In: PUIG, Neus, VIADER, Montse (eds.); Les crisis a l’Edat Mitjana: Actes del VI Seminari d’Estudis Medievals d’Hostalric (15-16 de novembre de 2018) Hostalric: Ajuntament d’Hostalric, 2020, p. 152-170.
• MALTAS MONTORO, Joan. Caresties, fams i epidèmies a Catalunya: de la conquesta de Sicília a la Pesta Negra Barcelona: Fundació Noguera, 2022.
• MIQUEL MILIAN, Laura, REIXACH SALA, Albert. Enregistrer la prise de décision dans les conseils municipaux de la Catalogne du Bas Moyen Âge. In : OTCHAKOVSKY-LAURENS, François, VERDON, Laure (dirs.). La voix des assemblées: quelle démocratie urbaine au regard des registres de délibérations? Méditerranée-Europe XIIIe-XVIIIe siècle Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence, 2021, p. 35-49.
• ORTEGA VILLOSLADA, Antonio. La marina mercante medieval y la casa de Mallorca: entre el Mediterráneo y el Atlántico Lleida : Pagès, 2015.
• PLANAS ROSSELLÓ, Antonio. Los notarios mallorquines del siglo XIV. Memòries de la Reial Acadèmia Mallorquina d’Estudis Genealògics, Heràldics i Històrics Vol. 27, 2017, p. 47-103.
• REIXACH SALA, Albert. Huir de la ciudad en tiempos de pestilencia: de reacción atávica a indicador histórico (Cataluña, siglo XV). Anuario de Estudios Medievales Vol. 53/2, 2023, p. 985-1020. https://doi.org/10.3989/aem.2023.53.2.16
  » https://doi.org/10.3989/aem.2023.53.2.16
• REIXACH SALA, Albert. Frenar el contagio por tierra y por mar en Cataluña y Mallorca en el siglo XV: en los albores de los cordones sanitarios. Reti Medievali Rivista Vol: 24/2, 2023, p. 51-87. https://doi.org/10.6093/1593-2214/10211
  » https://doi.org/10.6093/1593-2214/10211
• REIXACH SALA, Albert. Fighting the plague in the Crown of Aragon (mid-fourteenth to early sixteenth centuries). Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, January, 1–21, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/17546559.2024.2422034
  » https://doi.org/10.1080/17546559.2024.2422034
• REIXACH SALA, Albert. Urban diplomacy, information management and epidemics in Late Medieval Crown of Aragon (c. 1350- c. 1500). In: VIÚLA DE FARIA, Tiago et al. (eds.); State-Making and Diplomacy in Europe, 1050-1550 Coimbra: Coimbra University Press, 2025, forthcoming.
• RIERA MELIS, Antoni. Joan Torralles. In: SIMON TARRÉS, Antoni (ed.). Diccionari d’historiografia catalana Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2003.
• ROCA CABAU, Guillem. Medidas municipales contra la peste en la Lleida del siglo XIV e inicios del XV. Dynamis Vol. 38/1, 2018, p. 15-39.
• ROCA CABAU, Guillem. “Ferits o infectes de pesta”: la gestión de las epidemias en Lleida y Barcelona durante el siglo XVI.” Revista de la CECEL, vol. 20, 2020, p. 7-38.
• RODRIGO LIZONDO, Mateu. Dietarios y libros de memorias en los reinos de la Corona de Aragón (siglos XIV-XV) In BAUTISTA, Francisco; LALIENA, Carlos; TOMÁS FACI, Guillermo (eds.). Cultura y poder del Estado en la Corona de Aragón: historiadores e historiografía en los siglos XIII-XVI Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias Zaragoza, 2019, p. 61-72.
• RUBIO VELA, Agustín. Peste Negra, crisis y comportamientos sociales en la España del siglo XIV: la ciudad de Valencia (1348-1401) Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1979.
• RUBIO VELA, Agustín. Las epidemias de peste en la ciudad de Valencia durante el siglo XV. Nuevas aportaciones. Estudis Castellonencs Vol. 6, 1994-1995, p. 1179-1221.
• SABATÉ CURULL, Flocel. Quina edat té l’Arbert Sescorts? Memòria, fama pública i alletament. In: BERJOAN, Nicolas ; PASSARRIUS, Olivier (eds.); Histoire et archéologie en Pays catalans. Mélanges offerts à Aymat Catafau, Perpignan : Trabucaire, 2024, p. 173-184.
• SIMON TARRÉS, Antoni (dir.). Diccionari d’historiografia catalana Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2003.
• SLAVIN, Philip. Plague Strikes Back: The Pestis Secunda of 1361-62 and Its Demographic Consequences in England and Wales. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies Vol. 54, 3, 2024. Doi: 10.1215/10829636-11333361.
  » https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-11333361
• SOLDEVILA TEMPORAL, Xavier. Els masos rònecs a les baronies de Palafolls i Montpalau (1350-1500). In : PUIG, Neus, VIADER, Montse (eds.) ; Les crisis a l’Edat Mitjana: Actes del VI Seminari d’Estudis Medievals d’Hostalric (15-16 de novembre de 2018) Hostalric: Ajuntament d’Hostalric 2020, p. 171-180.
• TOLDRÀ, Maria. La prosa histórica. In: BADIA, LOLA (ed.). Història de la literatura catalana, III, Literatura medieval. Segle XV. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana-Barcino, 2015, p. 163-190.
• VERDÉS PIJUAN, Pere. Hacia un estudio crítico de la contabilidad municipal en Cataluña a fines de la Edad Media. In: Lafuente Gómez; Mario, Iranzo Muñío; María Teresa (coords.); En pro del común: la fiscalización de las cuentas públicas en la Corona de Aragón en la Baja Edad Media Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, 2022, p. 301-335.
• VIÑAS CUSÍ, Ferran. La peste bubónica: epidemia de Porto (1899) y epidemias de peste ocurridas en Barcelona/ Datos históricos sobre las epidemias de peste ocurridas en Barcelona. Medidas adoptadas por el Consell de Cent para prevenirlas y dominarlas Barcelona: Ayuntamiento, Instituto Municipal de Historia, 1907 (edition of 1965).

Edited by

• Responsible Editors
  Miguel Palmeira and Stella Maris Scatena Franco

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  12 Jan 2026
• Date of issue
  2025

History

• Received
  25 Aug 2024
• Accepted
  14 Feb 2025