Revolt of Catalonia

Catalonia was the most prosperous and rich part of the kingdom of Aragon, equipped with a wide range of privileges and immunities that even the powerful Castilian sovereigns could not violate. It was in defense of these rights and in response to the attempt of Philip IV (1605-1665) and the Count-Duke of Olivares (1587-1645) to strengthen involvement of Catalonia in the financing of the wars that the Habsburg monarchy was fighting in Europe during the Thirty Years’ war (1618-1648), that the region revolted. Between 22 May and 7 June 1640, the situation evolved rapidly: exacerbated by years of war and the presence on the territory of the troops responsible for responding to the attacks of neighbouring France, the Catalan populace took up arms in various places in Catalonia. Faced with this unexpected turn of events and the assassination of the Viceroy Santa Coloma, the Catalan elites, led by the charismatic Pau Claris, proclaimed the Catalan Republic under the protection of Louis XIII of France. Unlike the Portuguese case however, the revolt of Catalonia was not to last: the divisions within his leadership, the death of Pau Claris and successes of the Spanish army sent by Philip IV after the end of the Thirty Years’ War (1648) led to the end of the revolt. Barcelona was reconquered by Don John of Austria the Younger on 11 October 1652.

Read more :

• J.H. Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans. A Study in the Decline of Spain (1598-1640), Cambridge 1963.
• R. García Cárcel, Pau Claris. La revolta catalana, Barcelona 1980.