From the second third of the fourteenth century, Catalonia went through a period of political and social upheaval, economic crisis and population decline. The crisis, which developed during the long reign of Peter III (the Ceremonious), continued into the reigns of the Castilian monarchs from the Trastámara dynasty. The feudal oppression finally brought about the peasant revolt, which ended with the "Sentència Arbitral de Guadalupe" (abolition of serfdom and redemption payments).
The country, already decimated by the Black Death, was destroyed by the civil war of 1462-1472 which set the crown against the institutions of the land. The reign of Ferdinand II at the end of the fifteenth century was marked by a historically low population count of only 250,000 inhabitants. The opening of new ocean-going routes meant that the trade centre of the world moved to the Atlantic: the Mediterranean lost its position and Catalonia remained on the edge of the new trade axes.
