La conflictividad social en el mundo rural catalán, del Antiguo Régimen a la Revolución liberal, 1720-1833

After 1720 the accommodation of the rural ruling classes into the new structures of Absolutism led to the establishment of an "orderly society" in Catalonia that put an end to the lasting general crisis of the previous century. Conflicts against the manorial system were limited to the local sphere and mainly directed to gain more room for economic growth. Until 1760, the lowering of manorial charges per inhabitant afforded scores of increasingly poorer peasants to plough increasingly poorer lands. The amount of manorial rents increased too, hence wealthier peasants took part in it by renting the coltection of them on behalf of their landlords. But during the last third of the eighteenth century the end of agrarian growth and Inflation of prices triggered a hindmost feudal reaction". The increasing peasant rebellion against this reaction brought the former "orderly" coexistence to an end, affecting all kinds of rents whether manorial or nol. Many Catalan yeomen ("hisendats") ceased their long-Iasting collaboration with their landlords and started to rule again the peasant revolt, trying to direct it towards the new liberal project which had seen the light during the first decades of the nineteenth century.