THE USE OF ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATIC

RECONSTRUCTION: A CASE STUDY F R O M CATALONIA (SPAIN)

JAVIER MARTIN-VIDE and MARIANO BARRIENDOS VALLVt~

Group of Climatology, Department of Physical Geography, University of Barcelona, 08028
Barcelona, Spain

Abstract. The use of rogation ceremonies due to environmentalcauses constitutes an important source
of information in paleoclimatic reconstructions. Their specific characteristics and full documental
records permit highly reliable series to be reconstructed with daily, monthly, seasonal or annual
resolution over periods of several centuries (3-4 centuries in the case of Catalonia). The levels of
intensity, reflected in the type of religious ceremony enacted, allows quantification. Comparative
analysis is made possible by the similarity of the mechanisms developed in different localities. The
use of these series in paleoclimatological studies is a promising line of research, particularly as regards
the "pro pluvia" rogations celebrated in the Mediterranean countries and in South America.

1. Introduction

Investigations into the climatological history of Spain have been characterised by

their sporadic nature. Very rarely have stable working teams been formed or con-
sistent lines of investigation pursued. A notable initiative, taken in around 1850 by
Manuel Rico Sinobas, was to gather climatic information from different historical
archives and create a supply of data of use to subsequent investigations.
Emili Giralt Ravent6s (c. 1950) first noticed the possibility of using different
forms of rogation ceremony as an aid to investigating climatological history. Unfor-
tunately, this initiative was not taken up by the Spanish researchers, although it
was favourably commented by Le Roy Ladurie (1963, p. 765).
The work of Fontana Tarrats served to underline the great potential for climatic
reconstruction in Spain, but unfortunately his results lack reliability because of the
uncritical way in which his compilation was constructed.
Recently, the first two doctoral theses on climatological history have been
presented to Spanish University focussing on Catalonia between the 15th and 19th
centuries (Barriendos, 1994) and Andalusia during the 16th and 17th centuries
(Sfinchez Rodrigo, 1994).

2. Documentary Records Relating to Historical Climatology

2.1. NATURE OF THE DOCUMENTARY SOURCES

Three main types of documentary sources, private, administrative and ecclesiasti-

cal, are found in Spain. Documents of private origin are much more limited than in

Climatic Change 30" 201-221, 1995.

@ 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
202 JAVIER MARTIN-VIDEAND MARIANOBARRIENDOSVALLVI~

Central and Western Europe, both in terms of quantity and quality. Administrative
sources are of a similar quality to those but one aspect meriting special note is the
abundance and state of preservation of local government documents.
Ecclesiastical sources offer a variety of interesting possibilities. The Catholic
Church, one of the fundamental elements in the societies of the Middle and Modern
Ages, was a wealthy organisation for centuries and included many technical experts
and scientists. The Church generated and preserved over the centuries a remarkable
variety of important documents: administrative papers, land use records, fiscal doc-
uments, or books of minutes from parishes, monasteries, cathedrals or dioceses.

It is greatly to be hoped that the documentary archives of the Spanish and

Italian cathedrals will some day be systematically studied for what they may
contain in the way of direct information on the climatic history of the Mediter-
ranean region. (Lamb, 1982, p. 197).

2.2. TYPES OF INFORMATION OBTAINABLE

Many types of information can be drawn from these sources. A general classifica-
tion establishes three groups (Bradley and Jones, 1992):
Weather phenomena: direct descriptions of meteorological phenomena. These
include memoirs containing pre-instrumental data on temperature, precipitation,
snowfall, days on which frost forms, and so on.
Waterphenomena: descriptions of situations directly related to meteorological
phenomena. These include serious flooding or various levels of drought.
Biological phenomena: descriptions of biological phenomena conditioned or
caused by variations in normal climatic conditions.
When paleoclimatic studies can count on documentary evidence of this kind
the results are usually excellent, owing to the level of detail achieved in the paleo-
climatic analysis, even up to the point where instrumental values can be assigned
to pre-instrnmental periods. An example of the use of this kind of information is
given by Ch. Pfister in his investigation of climatic history in Switzerland. The
comPilation of 33 documentary series of this kind allowed him to reconstruct an
uninterrupted series of data for the years between 1545 and 1863 (Pfister, 1988,
p. 27).
The characteristics of the Mediterranean climate clearly define the type of
information recorded in historical documents. As regards temperature, there is
moderate annual contrast although low-frequency cold waves with negative effects
in agricultural activities are shown. Rainfall patterns, however, demonstrate an
annual and interannual variation and contrast. This frequently causes problems and
serious damage to human communities, as much in flood periods as in droughts.
Consequently a large part of the information available is that relating to natural
hazards brought on by meteorological conditions and the resulting extremes in the
water supply.
 ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION 203

In the case of an excess of water, these phenomena are usually of a very rapid
nature and records of them concentrate, logically, on damage caused and in giving
a brief description of the main characteristics of the event.
In contrast, when water is in short supply, events develop in a more gradual way
with more general and serious consequences, leading to records 'which not only
concentrate on consistent description, but also, in the most important documentary
records, on the various "pro pluvia" rogation ceremonies which each town would
organise in an attempt to diminish the effects of the drought by means of a "pluviam
congruentem" (good rain).
The regularity with which these rogations were entered in municipal and eccle-
siastical records reflects the position of the Mediterranean dweller who, when faced
with the meteorological vagaries which threatened his harvest "could do nothing
other than pray for the favour of God and the blessing of rain" (Giralt Ravent6s,
1958).
The paleoclimatic possibilities of "pro pluvia" rogations have already been
viewed in the literature:
Voici maintenant une source primaire neuve, d'origine documentaire et "c6r6-
monielle": les Rogations pour la pluie, significatives de s6cheresses. En
Espagne les autorit6s municipales obtiennent assez souvent de l'Eglise, en
cas d'urgence, des journ6es de processions. Emili Giralt Raventos pr6sente
"en nombre de jours de pri~res", les Rogations de Barcelone au XVIe. si~cle;
elles sont compl~tement recens6es grace ~t la bonne tenue des registres "de
l'antique Conseil Barcelonais"; (...) Emili Giralt souligne lui-meme la rela-
tivit6 de sa s6rie: ~t c6t6 du d6ficit pluviom6trique facteur principal, la ferveur
religieuse, dont l'intensit6 varie (et peut-etre augment6 ~tla fin du si~cle, avec
la Contre-R6forme?) peut contribuer ~t influencer les diagrammes. La s6rie,
dans l'ensemble, ne para~t vraiment dense et objectivement reprdsentative
qu'h partir de 1520" (Le Roy Ladurie, 1965, p. 905).

3. "Pro Pluvia" Rogations and Their Application to Historical Climatology

3.1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

3.1.1. Environmental aspects

There are a number of external elements which define the framework within which
rogation ceremonies were developed. In the first place, the predominance of bread
as a staple in medieval Europe, required regular harvests of cereals. In the Mediter-
ranean basin, this need was met only with relative difficulty given the modest
precipitation which characterised the rainfall pattern and also the dramatic varia-
tions in this pattern which appeared from year to year. A bad harvest which could
not satisfy fiscal and proprietorial demands, or even the primary needs of the peo-
ple, would often lead to price increases in cereals and a general crisis of subsistence.
204 JAVIER MARTIN-VIDEAND MARIANOBARRIENDOSVALLVI~

This would be aggravated by the lack of adequate technical means for improving
agricultural efficiency, obliging even the areas which had irrigation systems to grow
dry farming cereals in order to ensure a subsistence level of production, should the
harvest be poor.

3.1.2. Social aspects

The society of the Middle and Modem Ages was characterised by a lack of
dynamism, with very little capacity for transformation over time and, consequently,
most of its typical features underwent very little change over the centuries. This is
an important advantage when carrying out paleoclimatic studies, guaranteeing as
it does, a certain level of homogeneity despite the passage of time.

3.1.3. Cultural-religious aspects

In the Iberian Peninsula the Catholic Church maintained its position as a solid,
active institution to recent centuries. Economically it formed part of the feudal
system, while socially its status was maintained as the provider of such diverse
services as health, education and social assistance. In the political field, the Church
retained the right to participate directly in government institutions.
The stability of the Church within the Hispanic Monarchy was fundamental to
the survival of rogation ceremonies and any change in religious practices could
have led to their alteration or even their disappearance.

3.1.4. Synthesis
The day-to-day life of catholic populations in Spain was conditioned almost entirely
by environmental factors and hardly any technical means at all were available to
help them limit or combat climatic hazards. In this context, therefore, the existence
of rogation ceremonies for environmental reasons is easily explained by the absence
of any alternative course of action left to the communities when they were faced
with strong environmental variation.
These activities were developed during the Middle Ages. However, it was
not until the Late Middle Ages (14th-15th centuries) that a general, broadbased
development of rogation ceremonies took place. In addition to the "pro pluvia"
rogations, other rogations arose in Spain to combat cold, excessive rainfall, storms
at sea, floods, plagues and epidemics. However, the character of the Mediterranean
climate led, primarily, to the development of "pro pluvia" rogations and these
became highly complex and widespread in almost all settlements. Their study,
therefore, is of particular value.
The limited development o f rogation ceremonies during the Middle Ages may
have had various effects. For example, the gradual development of the ceremonies
from the 16th century onwards took place over a number of generations. The
absence of rogations during the High Middle Ages may have been due to the
appearance of periods of optimum climate (Little Climatic Optimum or Medieval
 ROGATIONCEREMONYRECORDSIN CLIMATICRECONSTRUCTION 205

Warm Period), which did not provoke in communities the need to generate any
kind of defence mechanism.

3.2. CHARACTERISTICS OF "PRO PLUVIA" ROGATIONS

3.2.1. General aspects

"Pro pluvia" rogations were the most important elements of daily life in the com-
munity. That the responsibility for overseeing these activities lay with the major
ecclesiastical authorities, administrative institutions and town guilds is further proof
of their pre-eminence. One fortunate result of the institutional control exerted over
rogation ceremonies is that all documentary material concerning these has been
preserved in the official records of the different institutions. In the paleoclimatic
study of rogations, this feature of past societies is of great importance and can be
observed in all population centres irrespective of importance or number of inhab-
itants. It offers the possibility of considerably widening the field of investigation.
Moreover, successive droughts resulted in the formulation of a scale of drought
seriousness, the existence of which allowed the researcher to gain a clearer picture
of the phenomenon because of the hierarchical nature of rogation ceremonies: in
real time, without lulls and with exact data taken on a daily basis.
From the evidence studied in the Iberian Peninsula, it emerges that documentary
series begin to contain records of rogations around the start of the 15th century
and continue for, on average, four centuries until the beginning of the 19th cen-
tury. According to the circumstances under which each settlement lived, these
documentary series are in varying states of conservation.
This group of characteristics of the rogations themselves, along with the docu-
mentary material in which they were recorded, make it possible to employ this type
of information for paleoclimatic analysis, which satisfies the criteria established by
E. Le Roy Ladurie (1967) for data series: that is that they be annual, continuous,
homogeneous and quantifiable.

3.2.2. Working mechanisms

The process followed in rogation ceremonies is notable for the multiple, insti-
tutional participation involved. The mechanism was complex but coherent and
expeditious.
It would be the farm labourers of each town who would give the first warning
of any environmental conditions which might interfere with the harvest of that
year. The guild leaders would address themselves to the municipal authorities
to communicate the worries of the workforce. The municipal authorities would
ponder the issue, analysing the gravity of the situation. It was often the case that
complementary information would arrive from other sources, such as tests on
welt levels or reports on the working of hydraulic installations including irrigation
channels, water-mills and fountains.
206 JAVIER MARTIN-VIDE AND MARIAN BARRIENDOS VALLVt~

ENVTIRNMENTAL}
ELEMENTS 4,

| I Climatic
" ~ Variability

, I
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVZTY]

I I Anomalies in
the production

[ GUI~LD]~C A U T H R Z T Y J , I
4,
Solicitude
I I
for the
intervention

MUNICIPAL AUTHORZTY ], I
4,
Procedure
I I
of the
order

ECCLESIASTI[C AUTHRITY
], I
4,

[ I
Letter of
convocation

ROGATIN CEREMONY } ,

Fig. 1. Generating mechanism of "pro pluvia" rogations.

If it were decided that rogations should be initiated, a delegation would be sent to

the highest local ecclesiastical authorities. It was the responsibility of the municipal
authorities to decide upon the type of ceremony to be carried out according to
the gravity of the situation, and then to advise the ecclesiastical bodies of their
decision so that the appropriate ceremony, indicated by tradition, could be carried
out. The Church was responsible for the internal organisation of the ceremonies,
the liturgical procedure, and also for setting the ceremony dates in order that they
should fit in with the regular activities of the Church calendar.
 ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATICRECONSTRUCTION 207

TABLE I
Drought levels

Level Intensity Ceremony

I Low Simple rogation

It Medium Exhibition of intercessor
III High Procession with intercessor
IV Very high Immersion of intercessor
V Critical Pilgrimage to intercessor

When the pleas had been answered, usually in the form of rainfall sufficiently
intense or persistent to amply satisfy the agricultural needs, the guilds would advise
that the ceremonies be brought to an end and the municipal authorities would then,
in the light of this, give the Jaecessary instructions for the cancellation of any further
ceremonies that had been programmed.
This institutional procedure would be repeated when necessary, even during
periods of tension or conflict between the respective institutions, perhaps arranging
in this case for different but equivalent ceremonies to be initiated. The fact that
any irregularity in the harvest led to general and widespread problems made the
authorities aware of the need to set their disputes to one side and ensure that the
necessary rogations were carried out.

3.2.3. The system of levels according to drought intensity

The varying duration and seriousness of dry periods caused the development of
a wide range of "pro pluvia" rogations, ordered according to the intensity or
persistence of the drought. The criteria applied to each level paid particular heed
to the formal aspects of each of the ceremonies. The higher the level assigned to
each drought therefore, the more elaborate and complex were the corresponding
rogation ceremonies.
Each town had a sequence of ceremonies laid down which would be used
progressively as a drought became more severe. Difficulties would have arisen
for the paleoclimatic researcher, had each town established arbitrary scales of
severity. However, detailed research carried out in Catalonia has shown that the
only variation from town to town was in the saints or religious dedications used
as intercessors when pleading with the Almighty for rain. The type of ceremony
adopted at each level contained procedures or characteristics which were practically
identical throughout the study and five generic groupings could be distinguished:

3.2.4. Documentary recording of the rogations

The final aspect of the system of rogation ceremonies which merits special attention,
is the way in which the documentary records of each ceremony were generated and
preserved.
208 JAVIERMARTIN-VIDEAND MARIANOBARRIENDOSVALLVI~

Given that responsibility for the rogations lay with the highest civil and eccle-
siastical authorities of each town, any items of news relating to the process of
decision-making for the initiation of the ceremonies and to their subsequent cel-
ebration, were registered in the official records of each institution. This offers a
number of important advantages in the utilisation of series of rogation ceremony
records: each and every ceremony completed was recorded even though some were
repeated within a relatively short space of time. The entry was made in the most
important documentary series of each institution so gaps in the information given
or document losses are extremely rare. Finally, the staff who were responsible
for making the entry into the official records were highly qualified personnel: the
public notaries of each city. In this way, both the formal aspects and the document
content met the essential conditions of accuracy and reliability.

3.3. CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE USE OF ROGATION CEREMONIES

3.3.1. Reliability of the documentation

Evaluation of the reliability of the documentation recording rogation ceremonies
presents no problems. Historical researchers fre~xentty-g-omJe across documents
whose authenticity, dates, origin, contents, etc, are doubtful, but in this case the
reliability of documents recording rogation ceremonies is unquestionable. On the
one hand, they were always registered by public notaries, and on the other, they
were generally recorded simultaneously by two institutions: the municipal authority
requesting the rogation and the ecclesiastic institution celebrating it. For this reason,
should any doubt or difficulty of interpretation occur, the information contained in
two completely independent documentary sources can be compared.

3.3.2. Credibility of the information

It is important to ascertain whether the rogation ceremonies corresponded to real
situations of difficulty of physical origin or whether they were carried out under
the influence of some external factor.
A variety of human factors could influence the process of deciding to celebrate
a rogation ceremony: for example, it could be altered due to popular superstition,
collective panic in the face of some catastrophic situation, changes in religious
devotions or even abuse or disproportionate use of such ceremonies.
Broadly speaking, it is observed that the celebration of rogation ceremonies was
determined in accordance with a series of checks and balances at different levels. It
is therefore unlikely that alterations affecting their credibility would be produced;
on the contrary, this delicate series of balances resulted in careful responses, the
result of the mutually agreed analysis of each situation.
The attitudes of the institutions responsible balanced each other out. For the
Church, the celebration of rogation ceremonies was useful, as these performed a
service beneficial to the community and increased its prestige and influence. On
the other hand, the civil authorities, having to pay for them, had no special interest
 ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION 209

in promoting such rites. The tendency was to limit the frequency of rogations as
far as possible, commissioning only those strictly necessary, due to the many costs
involved:
- Payment of wages for cleaning, pilgrims, priests, musicians.
- Purchase of diverse materials.
- Fixed fee to be paid to the Church for celebrating the ceremonies.
- Supply of food and drink to those attending the larger pilgrimages.
A state of equilibrium also existed at the cultural level. On the one hand, the
ordinary people, illiterate for the most part, were influenced by a host of supersti-
tions whilst, on the other, the Church preached that what was supplicated for in
the rogation ceremonies could only be achieved through adherence to the Catholic
faith. The first factor, without the counterweight of the second, would have made
the rogation ceremonies degenerate into sporadic initiatives, void of any reflective
character and disconnected from reality. Fortunately, the ecclesiastical authorities
were strict on this point. There is no record of any problems, in Catalonian sources,
in which the Church's ceremonial procedures were contravened. This would have
provoked the unpleasant prospect of the intervention of the Inquisition.
It was the wish of the Church that all rogation ceremonies should be channeled
through a pre-ordained system in accordance with Catholic doctrine. This process
was discretionary, used when it was considered that the Almighty was punishing
a community of the faithful with meteorological adversities due to their public
sins.
We can conclude, then, that the testimonies recorded in the documentation
consulted show that rogation ceremonies were administered in a conscious way.
Certain institutional instruments existed to control their celebration, ensuring mod-
erate, considered use of them. The information available on rogation ceremonies
can therefore be considered to be credible.

3.4. CLIMATIC USE OF SERIES OF ROGATIONS

The intrinsic characteristics of "pro pluvia" rogations and the formal characteris-
tics of the documentation recording their celebration make it possible to make a
paleoclimatic analysis of the series of rogations. The reliability and credibility of
the information and its exact dating allow them to be analysed without requiring
extreme precautions. It is also possible to quantify the information gathered at least
minimally, for example, to obtain indices allowing comparison between series, and
the application of moving averages to obviate the climatic variability in limited
temporal scales.
There appear to be wide possibilities for the use of "pro pluvia" rogations in
palaeoclimatology, as the homogeneity and scope for comparative study of the data
allows research in other geographical areas. The existence of exact temporal dating
also allows analysis on different time scales (daily, monthly, seasonal, annual,
etc).
210 JAVIER MART[N-VIDEAND MARIANOBARRIENDOSVALLVI~

TABLE II
Documentation consulted for the research in Catalonia

Place Archives Series Volumes

Girona 4 l0 424
Barcelona 5 28 276
Reus/Tarragona 4 9 407
Tortosa 2 6 351
Seu d'Urgell 1 2 48
Vic 2 6 93
Cervera 1 4 256
Total 19 65 1855

4. Example of Application

The development of paleoclimatic research using rogation ceremonies has already

produced interesting results applied to Catalonia, on the Iberian Peninsula (B arrien-
dos, 1994). There follows a short summary of the process of gathering, processing
and interpretation of this type of paleoclimatic information.

4.1. DATAGATHERING

The construction of series which are adequately prolonged and dense requires data-
gathering campaigns lasting from two to six months. The manuscripts need to be
consulted exhaustively so as not to miss any information they may contain. This
task would be much simpler if editions of the original documentation or completed
thematic indices existed. In the case of Catalonia, seven observation points were
selected in order to cover the entire territory under study uniformly and to ensure
that the series met minimum criteria as regards quality. Particular emphasis was
placed on the continuity of the documentary series, and those containing periods
of time without data were discarded.
Due to the reliability and exactitude with which the rogation ceremonies appear
in the documents, the information obtained can be tabulated and quantified imme-
diately.
In the Catalonian study the data were considered on an annual basis, as the
objective was to obtain a general overview of the climate covering several centuries.
Much more detailed studies would be possible, however, as the information can be
assigned to the exact day, as well as month and year.
ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION 211

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Fig. 2. Localisation maps.

212 JAVIER MARTIN-VIDE AND MARIANO BARR1ENDOS VALLVt~

4.2. TYPE OF ROGATIONS - THE CASE OF BARCELONA

Data gathering carried out in Barcelona produced results similar to those of other
localities, in spite of the fact that notable differences existed in terms of population
size. The system of rogation ceremonies employed in the city of Barcelona will be
used as a detailed illustration.

4.2.1. Level I
At this level, the rogations ordered by the municipal authorities were celebrated
in the parish churches of the city, in simple ceremonies which at times were even
included within other types of ceremony. Rogations were generally effected in a
personal way, known as "mental prayer".

4.2.2. Level II
At this level, the relics of Saint Madrona, kept in a sanctuary on Mount Montjuic,
were taken and deposited on the High Altar of the cathedral for as many days as
were considered necessary (from one day to four or five months). Solemn liturgical
acts were celebrated in the presence of these relics, attended by large numbers of
the faithful.

4.2.3. Level III

When the drought began to cause even greater concern, a solemn procession was
organised with the relics of Saint Sever, patron saint of the city. The procession
took a long route, passing through all the main streets, and was attended by large
crowds.

4.2.4. Level IV
In serious situations, the Holy Cross was taken from the cathedral and was carried
in procession to the port. There, the bishop boarded a boat with the Cross and,
going out to sea facing the city, submerged it in the waters. Practically the entire
population would attend such an act.

4.2.5. Level V
In critical cases (only occurred four times in Barcelona: 1529, 1566, 1628 and
1640) a holiday of obligatory observance was declared in the city and the entire
population made a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Santa Eulalia in the nearby village
of Sarrih. Those attending often carried out some form of self-discipline.

4.3. RESULTSOBTAINED

Data gathering in Catalonia resulted in seven collections of data series, containing

information on the number and type of rogations each year at each observation
point.
 ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION 213

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214 JAVIER MARTIN-VIDEAND MARIANOBARRIENDOSVALLVt~

TABLE III
Time scales of the series

Place Period Years

Girona 1438-1881 444

Barcelona 1521-1825 305
Reus/Tarragona 1493-1874 382
Tortosa 1565-1858 294
Seu d'Urgell 1539-1843 305
Vic 1568-1906 339
Cervera 1484-1850 367
Average 348

One of the most interesting aspects of the results obtained was the high degree
of uniformity in the characteristics of the data gathered from different places.
It could be integrated through a simple arithmetical average. A single series of
data was established, intended to be representative of the entire territory under
study. In the subsequent paleoclimatic analysis, it was thus possible to eliminate
from consideration those series which were conditioned by geographic factors with
limited spatial incidence. It was therefore possible to integrate the data to give a
single series representative of the entire region studied.

4.4. INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS

The secular climatic pattern observed in this sector of the Mediterranean region
presents characteristics similar to the general climatic pattern already familiar in
Western and Central Europe latitudes, though containing certain different elements.
The perceived variations in the frequency of droughts and floods show a quite good
concordance with the climatic oscillations identified in mid latitudes.
The climatic behaviour perceived is characterised by relatively brief pulsations
(20-40 years). For example, the first pulsation in Catalonia coincides with one of the
clearest manifestations of the Little Ice Age in Europe (1580-1620). This pulsation
can be perfectly perceived with a notable decrease in the number of "pro pluvia"
rogations and a sharp increase in the frequency of catastrophic rainfalls. The same
phenomenon is perceived at the end of the Little Ice Age (1830-1860). Between
these two pulsations, behaviour is little defined, with values oscillating around
the average for each variable. A notable pulsation at the end of the 18th century
(1760-1800) involved a simultaneous increase in both droughts and floods.
These three pulsations, then, characterise the climatic pattern in the northern
Iberian Peninsula over the last 400 years. In this region, plurisecular climatic
episodes are not a continuous and homogeneous in nature, but brief and spas-
modic.
 ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION 215

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 ROGATION CEREMONY RECORDS IN CLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION 217

5. Concluding Remarks

The use of rogations in historical climatology may represent an important advance

in the reconstruction of climatic series for the last four or five centuries. The
possibilities offered by this type of data are very wide due to a number of positive
aspects which characterise them:
1. Characteristics of the documentary sources. The existence of documentary
records on rogations in the historical archives of a large number of places
in Spain allows a high spatial resolution study of this area. Moreover, the
documentation conserved is, in general, of optimum quality. It is possible
to reconstruct continuous, homogeneous series without excessive problems
regarding state of conservation or access of the document.
2. The system of rogations allows us to identify and quantify the physical phe-
nomena that they manifest directly because of the strict rules established and
the graduation of the ceremonies by level of intensity.
3. Characteristics of the series. Theformal aspects of the information gathered
allows comparative analyses to be made between different regions with scarce-
ly any problems of homogenisation. Furthermore, the series of data may offer
a detailed, reliable temporal resolution, even on a daily scale if necessary.
4. Geographic extension of the study. The use of rogation ceremonies can be
extended to any geographic area with suitable religious characteristics and
preserved documentation. In the case of the area of influence of the Catholic
Church, this research work could be extended over much of Europe and
throughout Latin America, as the legal mechanisms and cultural characteristics
were exactly the same.

Annex I

Rogation ceremony for rain in Barcelona, level I:

"Lo Sindic de la Ciutat a vingut en Capitol de part dels Illts. Srs. Consellers a
representar la necesitat tan gran y a via de Aygua y que axis estimaria y justificavan
tingues a b6 lo Capitol se fessen pregaries; per lo que oida la representacio a
determinat lo Capitol seguir lo curs ordinari en semblants casos y per so se poses
ala missa la collecta ad petendam pluviam corn en efecte se comensa als 4 de dit y
que si tornaven a instar los de la Ciutat se veuria lo que se aura de fer." (ACCB,
"Exemplaria", vol. V, fol. 96, 3/3/1691).

Translation:
"The syndic of the city (municipal authority) has arrived in the Chapter (eccle-
siastical authority) on behalf of the Council, bringing the message of the very great
need for Water and they have deemed it justified that the Chapter convoke rogation
ceremonies; after hearing this message, the Chapter has determinated to follow the
218 JAVIER MART[N-VIDEAND MARIANO BARRIENDOS VALLVt~

usual way in similar situations, and to have the prayer for rain at Mass, beginning
on the 4th of this month, and if the municipal authority insists on solicitude, we
will see how to provide for this need. (Archive of the Chapter of Barcelona, series
"Exemplaria", volume V, folio 96, March 3, 1691).

Annex II

Images of the saints utilized in Barcelona for the 'good rain'.

Level II. Saint Madrona (from a publication by Ivern, Barcelona).

 ROGATIONCEREMONYRECORDSIN CLIMATICRECONSTRUCTION 219

Level III. SaintSever (from a publication by Imp. Bassas, Barcelona, 1866).

: - ",7/

"~ - ~ '~. " .

Level IV. Exposition of the Eucharistic Sacrament (from a publication by H. de la V. Pla, Barcelona,
1898.)
220 JAVIER MARTIN-VIDEAND MARIANO BARRIENDOS VALLVt~

Level V. Saint Eulalia (from a publication by J. Batlle, Barcelona.)

Level V (officious). Pilgrimage to Sanctuary of Montserrat in critical situations of drought for

individualized initiatives (Only two cases in 305 years) (from a publication by Imp. de Valls, Vic,
1846.)
 ROGATIONCEREMONYRECORDSIN CLIMATICRECONSTRUCTION 221

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