Editing Mequinenza (section)

=== Modern and contemporary age ===
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Between the 15th and 16th centuries, a time of misery and hunger happens with several revolts due to the oppression of some gentlemen. In the year 1697 Fray Miguel de Salas wrote the book "Vida de Santa Agathoclia, virgin and martyr, patron of Mequinenza". During the reign of Carlos II, silkworm farming industries were developed that would continue active until the arrival of the [[War of succession]] in 1705. Different wars such as the [[Catalan Civil War]] (1462–1472) and different Spanish internal battles in also devastated the town and the castle during the 16th and 17th centuries.

[[File:Castillo00002.jpg|thumb|Castle of Mequinenza]]

In 1810 during the Napoleonic invasion, [[Louis-Gabriel Suchet|General Louis-Gabriel Suchet]] -as [[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona|Ramon Berenguer IV]] did in 1149- conquered Mequinenza, [[Fraga]] and [[Lleida|Lerida]]. This facilitates the conquest of the whole of the Bajo Cinca and the Segriá regions, and as a result of this figure "Mequinenza" in the [[Arc de Triomphe]] of Paris was one of the great victories of [[Napoleon]]. In 1812 Mequinenza became part of the French Department of the Bouches of the Ebro. Mequinenza was recovered for the Spaniards by troops of General Copons in 1814 thanks to an audacious stratagem of the adventurer [[Juan Van Halen]]. In 1831 the town and the castle already belonged to the [[Duke of Medinaceli|Dukes of Medinaceli]].

Once again under the rule of the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]], the strategic [[castle of Mequinenza]] and its surroundings were transformed and conditioned again to adapt to new forms of warfare with artillery and infantry equipped with rifles. The [[Duke of Orléans]] also ordered to expand and strengthen the road parallel to the Ebro river that connected Mequinenza with Tortosa. In the [[Enlightenment in Spain|enlightened]] environment of the mid-18th century in Spain, [[José Ferrer Beltrán]] was born in Mequinenza, a priest who stood out for his role as a musician as an organist for the [[Old Cathedral of Lleida|cathedrals of Lérida]], [[Pamplona Cathedral|Pamplona]] and [[Oviedo Cathedral|Oviedo]]. He also became a close friend of the Asturian politician [[Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos]]. The old undiscovered city of ''Octogesa'' also attracted many adventurers as the French diplomat and writer [[Jean-François de Bourgoing]] that evoked the possible link between the Mequinenza town and the Roman ''Octogesa'' of Julius Caesar.

At the dawn of the 19th century, the economic situation of Mequinenza had not changed substantially and agriculture continued to be the main economic source. [[Mudéjar|Mudejar]] irrigation techniques and large treadmills were still used close to the Ebro river. In 1802, [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]] granted consent for the construction in Mequinenza of a new parish church, designed by the architect [[José de Yarza]] in the [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Neo-Renaissance style]]. The works began in 1802 and lasted until 1808.