Pro serenitate public prayers during the floods of the Guadalquivir in the 17th century: A study using relaciones de sucesos

Abstract

In 1684, a relación de sucesos printed in Madrid reported the following news from Seville: "Amigo y señor mío, no puedo dejar de participar a v.m. las calamidades y trabajos que Dios ha sido servido de embiarnos, assí en esta Ciudad, como entoda la Andaluzía, causados de las continuas y repetidas aguas por el discurso de tres meses, que en esta Ciudad creímos quería la Magestad de Dios con otro general diluvio, en pena de nuestros graves pecados, assolarnos." The author made reference to the important floods that the city of Seville suffered that year. The fact is that, in the early modern era, the population of Seville had to deal with many floods that affected the city’s social, political, cultural, religious and, of course, economic life, as the hub of trade with the Indies. This unique characteristic turned the floods in Seville into a major problem, in political and economic terms as well as from a health perspective. Over time, it characterised and modified the relationship between the city and its river, which was simultaneously a source of wealth and destruction. The period known as the Little Ice Age, which lasted between approximately 1550 and 1850, was a phase of climatic cooling that manifested in strong meteorological variability. One of the most characteristic expressions of this period was the increase in the frequency of torrential rain, which was reflected in an increase in catastrophic flooding, as the rain was also often accompanied by long periods of drought. In the case of the Iberian Peninsula, the most important intervals of rainfall occurred between 1580 and 1620 and between 1840 and 1870. The Guadalquivir basin, together with certain parts of the Duero basin and the Levante, were those that suffered the most intense effects of these floods throughout the 17th century. During that time, floods occurred with a frequency of at least one per decade, as shown by the historical flood distribution series created by Benito, Machado and Pérez-González. As a result, the city of Seville suffered these events with notorious severity due to its particular geographical position, which was very beneficial from a commercial point of view, but vulnerable in climatic terms. It was not the only locality affected: Cordoba and Écija, on the upper course of the Guadalquivir, also felt the effects of the floods.