Riot of the reapers
The reaping of the reapers (in Catalan Guerra dels Segadors ) hit much of Catalonia between 1640 and 1659 . Its effects were reflected in the Peace in the Pyrenees , which struck Roussillon and the northern half of Cerdanya's France , dividing Catalonia.
The unrest was triggered by the stationing of Castilian troops during the Franco-Spanish clashes in the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659) . The Catalan population suffered from billeting. The mood turned more and more against the Castilian supremacy in Catalonia. The death of a reaper led to an uprising in Barcelona on Corpus Christi day 1640, later called the Blood Corpus Christi , in which the Catalan viceroy, the Count of Santa Colomna, was killed. This incident marked the beginning of the conflict.
Pau Claris , the president of the Diputació del General de Catalunya of Catalonia, knew how to steer the social unrest towards a political goal and proclaimed a Catalan republic. The Catalans won an important victory against the troops of King Philip IV in the Battle of Montjuïc (January 26, 1641) . A little later, however, Pau Claris died and the Diputació del General de Catalunya elected Louis XIII. from France to Count of Barcelona and thus ruler of Catalonia.
The conflict continued beyond the end of the Thirty Years War, with clashes between the two rulers and governments, one under Spanish control in Barcelona and one under French control in Perpignan . In 1652 the French government withdrew its claim to (all of) Catalonia, but kept Roussillon. This cleared the way for the Peace in the Pyrenees, in which Catalonia was divided between France and Spain.
The current Catalan national anthem Els Segadors is a historical romance that is rooted in the events described.
literature
- Article Segadors, guerra dels . In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana , 2nd edition, Volume 20, Barcelona 1988, ISBN 84-7739-021-5 , page 505 f.
- Guerra dels Segadors. guerra de Seperació. In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana. Retrieved August 3, 2015 (Catalan).