Catàstrofe i societat a la Catalunya medieval: els terratrèmols de 1427-28

Catalonia, during the two-years period of 1427-1428, sufferred strong and prolonged tectonic activity. This activity caused many victims and plenty material damages in La Garrotxa and the sorrounding territories. The panic which followed after these destructive earthquakes collapsed social controls and caused unsolidary and disgregatin behavior in the people affected. As soon as the earth stopped shaking, the inhabitants of the devastated regions, who considered the catastrophe as God’s punishment for their sins, tried to abate their fears and calm themselves carrying out expiatry practices. During a later fase, civil authorities reestablished the relatimship betwen persons and properties operating prior to the cataclysm. Thus, each fellow citizen was reisntalled in his own rank. During the Middle Ages natural calamities turned out as social cohesion factors, given the interpretation made by the existing powers.