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the 15th Century Catalonia was coveted by the European monarchies
and became the site of conflicts over the region. After the
end of the Catalan dynasty, following the death of King Marti
l’Humà, the Catalan people revolted frequently. They
had no confidence in their new monarch Joan II, King of Aragon
and of Castilian origin. In 1460 his bad management of Catalonia
meant that he required a loan of 300 000 crowns from Louis XI,
King of France. As a guarantee on the loan Joan II offered a
portion of North Catalonia – this proposition was noted in the
Treaty of Bayonne in 1462. The loan was never repaid and after
numerous clashes and the devastation of North Catalonia the
Kings of Aragon were ousted in September 1493. The years that
followed were violent and uncertain. The return of the northern
territories to the Hispanic orbit distanced the power of Madrid
after the dynastic union of Isabelle of Castille and Ferdinand
of Aragon.
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1640
: French troops opposing fortifications in Perpinyà |
In
the 1500s North Catalonia received many French immigrants, often
Occitans who were easily integrated because of their similar
sociology and linguistics. Manufacturing and commerce developed
in and around Perpignan, making it the second biggest centre
after Barcelona. The region was, however, badly affected by
the European war of thirty years from 1618 to 1648 and by a
war between France and Spain in 1635. Paris and Madrid confronted
each other in Catalonia, particularly in North Catalonia. Perpignan
and Salses were besieged in 1639. In that period during the
Revolta dels Segadors (revolt of the wheat reapers) in 1640
at Barcelona a hundred peasants assassinated the Viceroy Santa
Coloma, a representative of the Spanish throne. The Franco-Spanish
War followed until 1659 and weakened North Catalonia, where
Spanish soldiers - then French soldiers after the accession
of King Louis XIII - were barracked. Versailles quashed their
ambitions in North Catalonia and put an end to the conflict
with the Treaty of the Pyrénées in 1659. Renounced
in Barcelona, Louis XIV kept the occupied territories and annexed
Roussillon, the Vallespir, the Capcir, the Conflent and the
Cerdagne. Done without precedent and fraught with consequences,
Catalonia was split in two.
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