The black death in the late middle ages (AD 1348-1351) in the Tiétar valley (sierra de Gredos, Ávila): Economic and palaeoenvironmental aspects

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effects of the Black Death of the Late Middle Ages (AD 1348-1351) on the forests and economic activities in an intra-mountainous valley within the Central Iberian Meseta based on high-resolution pollen records. To better understand the effects of that pandemic, the article delves into the palaeoenvironmental record of five peat bogs over a broad chronological span from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. This shows that the Black Death caused a slowdown in economic activities -agriculture, tree cultivation, livestock raising- and the consequent recovery of forests, except in mountain areas where less control of livestock passes led to degradation of woodlands.