Faith, Famine, and Resilience: The 1817 Subsistence Crisis during the Megadrought in Catalonia

The article analyses the social consequences of the subsistence crisis and water scarcity in 1817, one of the most severe years of the megadrought (1812–1824) that affected northeastern Spain. Drawing on municipal records from Barcelona, Tarragona and Girona, ecclesiastical documentation and commercial correspondence from a grain trading company, it examines how hydrological stress disrupted food supply, intensified conflicts over water access and shaped relations between rural communities and urban authorities. Harvest failure contributed to rising grain prices and increased migration in a post-war context marked by institutional fragility. In response, authorities and local institutions promoted charitable initiatives, public works and regulatory measures to secure water and grain supplies. Evidence from Urgell, an agricultural region of Catalonia, illustrates the scale of agricultural losses and peasant displacement. The study conceptualises drought as a socially embedded crisis shaped by prolonged environmental stress, governance constraints and unequal resource access.