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function became to sustain the Holy Roman Empire with gold and silver from
the Americas. It was in this era that Madrid was established as capital city of the
Spanish Empire, and the long rivalry began between Madrid and Barcelona.
Throughout the
sixteenth century
, Catalunya continued to suffer under the
Inquisition, and – deprived of trading opportunities in the Americas – became
an impoverished region. Habsburg wars wasted the lives of Catalan soldiers,
banditry in the region increased as the economic situation worsened, and
emigration from certain areas followed. By the middle of the
seventeenth
century
, Spain’s rulers were losing credibility as the disparity between the
wealth surrounding Crown and Court and the poverty of the mass of the
population produced a source of perpetual tension.
With Spain and France at war in 1635, the Catalans took advantage of the
situation and revolted, declaring themselves an
independent republic
under
the protection of the French King Louis XIII.This, the “War of the Reapers”
– after the marching song
Els Segadors
(The Reapers), later the Catalan national
anthem – ended in 1652 with the surrender of Barcelona to the Spanish army.
The
Treaty of the Pyrenees
in 1659 finally split the historical lands of
Catalunya as the Spanish lost control of Roussillon and part of the Cerdagne
to France.
In 1700, when the Habsburg king Charles II died heirless, France’s Louis XIV
saw an opportunity to fulfil his longtime ambition of putting a Bourbon on the
Spanish throne. He managed to secure the succession of his grandson, Philippe
d’Anjou, under condition that the latter renounced his rights to the throne of
France. This deal put a Bourbon on the throne of Spain, but led to war with
the other claimant, Archduke Charles of Austria: the resulting
War of the
Spanish Succession
lasted thirteen years from 1701, with Catalunya (along
with England) lining up on the Austrian side in an attempt to regain its ancient
rights and in the hope that victory would give it a share of the American trade
dominated by the Castilians since the late fifteenth century.
However, the
Treaty of Utrecht
in 1714 gave the throne to the
Bourbon
(
Borbón
in Castilian,
Borbó
in Catalan) Philippe, now Philip V of Spain, and
initiated a fresh period of repression from which the Catalans took a century to
recover. Barcelona lay under siege for over a year, and with its eventual capitula-
tion a fortress was built at Ciutadella to subdue the city’s inhabitants – the final
defeat, on September 11, is still commemorated every year as a Catalan holiday,
La Diada. The universities at Barcelona and Lleida were closed, the Catalan
language was banned, the Consell de Cent and Generalitat were abolished – in
short, Catalunya was finished as even a partially autonomous region.
Throughout the
eighteenth century
, Catalunya’s interests were subsumed
within those of Bourbon Spain, and successive monarchs were determined to
Castilianize the region.When neighbouring France became aggressively expan-
sionist following the Revolution of 1789, Spain was a natural target, first for
the Revolutionary armies and later for the machinations of Napoleon. In 1805,
during the
Napoleonic Wars
, the French fleet (along with the Spanish who
had been forced into an alliance) was defeated at Trafalgar. Shortly after, Charles
IV was forced to abdicate; Napoleon installed his brother Joseph on the throne
three years later. Attempting to broaden his appeal among Spain’s subjects, the
French emperor proclaimed a separate government of Catalunya – independ-
ent of Joseph’s rule – with Catalan as its official language.The region’s response
was an indication of how far Catalunya had become integrated into Spain
during the Bourbon period – despite their history the Catalans supported the
Bourbon cause solidly during the ensuing
PeninsularWar
(1808–14), ignoring
Napoleon’s blandishments. Girona was defended heroically from the French in
CONTEXTS
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A history of Barcelona and Catalunya