Alexandre, Pierre ; Alexandre-Lamotte, Dominique

2024, Uccle, Belgium, Royal Observatory of Belgium (2074 pages)

Abstract: This book is a new critical catalogue of earthquakes in Europe from 284 to 1550, as known from the original written sources. For a long period, from the middle of the XVIth century until about 1980, research in historical seismology produced only worthless compilations, because they were prepared by authors who did not respect the rules of historical criticism. Since then, the participation of historians in the research of seismologists has allowed the birth of new publications elaborated according to these rules. The first part of the book is a critical study of the written sources that provide us with information on earthquakes. 2,489 sources have been listed. Most of them (2,117) are narrative sources (annals, chronicles, annotations, etc.), mostly of an annalistic type; the others (372) are administrative documents, reporting damage caused by the tremors. The critical study has made it possible to preserve only two types of texts: on the one hand, those emanating from original authors, contemporary with the events; and on the other hand, those coming from original lost sources copied by later authors recognized as trustworthy by historical criticism. Other second-hand texts have been eliminated, either because they are duplicates or because they provide false data or affabulations. In total, the number of original texts is 4,641, of which 1,273 (27%) come from lost sources. The second part is the actual catalogue of 1,507 earthquakes, classified in chronological order. For each earthquake, the source texts are given in their original language, except for those (12%) written in non-Latin characters and for which only translations by other authors are given. In appendix to this catalogue, a table of 4,534 macroseismic datapoints (MDPs) is presented, i.e. all the localities where each of the 1,507 seismic events have been felt. Some examples of historical seismicity maps have been added, based on this list of MDPs. The third and last part of the book is a catalogue of 1,585 false earthquakes, where the false earthquakes - and false data on real earthquakes - conveyed by the authors of "traditional" catalogues of historical seismicity, from the compilations of von Hoff (1840) and Perrey (1844-1849) to the present day, are listed. It should be kept in mind that it is an illusion to believe that medieval chronicles allow the establishment of continuous and homogeneous series; some regions and periods are not represented in the available documentation. This being the case, the aim of this book is to provide the most reliable corpus of data possible from medieval and Renaissance sources for seismologists studying seismic hazard in Europe.

Keyword(s): Historical Seismology ; Middle Ages ; Renaissance ; Sources
Note: Edited by Koen Van Noten. Printed by Archives générales du Royaume.
ISBN: 97890 83432 205
DOI: 10.24414/srvz-2k77