De fer et de laine, les vallées andorranes du XVI au XIX
The book De fer et de laine, les vallées andorranes au XIXè siècle (Iron and wool, the Andorran valleys on the XIXth century), presented on the 9th March 2006, is the PhD thesis of Olivier Codina, directed by Gilbert Larguier and edited by the University of Perpignan.
The author, Olivier Codina, has a PhD in history. He works in the historical research department of the Patrimoni Cultural d'Andorra. He participates in the programme Homes de Ferro (Men of Iron) whose goal is studying the Andorran iron and steel industry within a multidisciplinary perspective.
This thesis is the result of 10 years of research. It covers 4 centuries of the Andorran history, period that has never been studied that deeply. The author has gone through documentation unknown until that moment. Therefore, he has contributed to fill a gap, helping to make the economical and social process, that our ancestors lived, understandable.
This thesis shows, against all belives, that Andorra in the middle age was not static but faced the multiple political and social changes produced in the neighbour communities and adapted to them. Those changes refer to the organisation of the family, the society, the institutions and also the diferent ways of exploitation in constant evolution. The strong cattle raising economy of the moment helped the appearence of an oligarchy that knew how to use the possibilities that a mountain economy offered to favour a cross-border activ commerce and later to embark upon the iron and steel industry in Andorra.