Print featuring the military siege of Barcelona in 1714

The Fall of Barcelona and the Abolition of the Generalitat (1714-1716)

In March 1713, Philip V’s troops laid siege to Barcelona. Catalonia, now reduced to the two fortified areas of Barcelona and Cardona, had to choose between surrendering and continuing the struggle in its own defense. In mid-1713, the Braços Generals– the Corts without the King – were convened to take a decision. In the light of the imbalance between the Catalan forces (now bereft of the support of the Great Alliance troops) and those of Philip V, the military and ecclesiastic representatives together with the deputies of the Generalitat were in favour of accepting the Bourbon king. But the representatives of the civil estate won the vote in favour of resistance. Respecting this decision, the Generalitat once more called the people to defend the city.

The siege was started by the Duke of Berwick, the French General imposed by Louis XIV on his grandson Philip V. General Antoni Villarroel was placed at the head of the Catalan troops. In Philip V, the Catalans saw the definitive establishment of an absolutist and centrist power over all the subject territories. The siege of Barcelona was seen by contemporary observers as an aggression against a people who had made freedom the basis of their institutions. The writers of the time described the defense of Barcelona as a heroic gesture which was admired throughout Europe.

After eighteen months of siege and fierce battle the city was finally forced to capitulate on 11 September 1714. The most distinguished defenders of Barcelona, Rafael Casanova, Head Councillor of the City Assembly, and General Antoni de Villarroel, supreme commander of the military forces, wished to save the city and its defenders from total defeat.

On 15 September 1714, the Duke of Berwick officially appointed the Supreme Royal Council of Justice and Government under the presidency of Philip’s minister José Patiño, to replace the Generalitat and the Consell de Cent. The following day, José Patiño read the decree of dissolution before the President of the Generalitat: “The representation of the Diputació and Generalitat de Catalunya having ceased to exercise its function as a result of the entrance of the arms of the King into this fortified city, His Excellency the Marshall Duke of Berwick and Liria has charged me to order the deputies and oïdors de comptes of the General de Catalunya as well as all of their subordinates to take down all emblems, to completely cease the exercise of their positions, posts and offices, and to hand in their keys, books and all other elements related to this Diputació and its premises...” Valencia and Aragon had already fallen to the Castilian Crown. Mallorca and Ibiza surrendered the following year. As a result of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Minorca was ceded to England. The other territories of the former Crown of Catalonia and Aragon were dismembered: Naples and Sardinia came under Austrian sovereignty, and Sicily was handed over to the Duke of Savoy.

The Generalitat and the Consell de Cent had been abolished, the Catalan military forces disarmed and disbanded or exiled, the leaders of the resistance imprisoned or condemned to death, their castles destroyed, the Mint closed, the University of Barcelona and the Estudis Generals del Principat abolished, and the official use of Spanish instead of Catalan was decreed. Catalonia lost all political power and was submitted to a long process of “Castilianisation”.

The new system of government of Catalonia, provisionally established in 1714, was definitively established by the Royal Decree of Nueva Planta (Reorganization) approved by the Council of Castile on 16 January 1716. The Decree of Nueva Planta entrusted maximum power of government to a military officer, the captain general, who was assisted by the Royal Tribunal. The territorial division of the Principality into vegueries, which had already existed at the time of James I and had been formally institutionalised since 1304, was replaced by twelve corregiments and one district (the Vall d’Aran). It is interesting to note that neither the corregiments nor the vegueries which came before them or the later provinces actually reflect the human and geographical realities of the land. More than two centuries would have to pass before the territorial organisation into counties would finally be restored by the 20th-century Generalitat.

During the reigns of the successors of Philip V, Ferdinand VI (17461759) and Charles III (1759-1788), the attention of the Catalans was focused on cultural and economic resurgence, partly a result of Charles III’s decision to allow the Catalan ports direct commerce with the Americas for the first time. This was a time of industrial development for Catalonia.

Political life was centred on the Madrid Court from whichcame all decisions affecting the government of Catalonia. Philip V had banished the official use of Catalan, and in a Royal Letter Patent of 1768 Charles III eliminated the language from primary and secondary education. Obviously these measures did not result in the total disappearance of the Catalan language, which even then continued to serve as a vehicle for notable literary works. Likewise Catalonia, despite its official submission to the new monarch, had not entirely lost its national awareness. When the Madrid Courts met in 1789 to swear in the heir Prince Ferdinand, the Catalan representatives presented themselves as the Diputació del Principat de Catalunya, in memory of the now-abolished Generalitat.

In some sectors of Catalan society, the French Revolution was received as a breath of fresh of air. When France declared war on Spain in 1793, giving way to the so-called “Great War”, Catalonia organised its defense against the French, who ultimately lost. In 1795, the Peace of Basel was signed formalising the reciprocal restitution of occupied territories.

With the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and the start of his army’s conquest of Europe, Catalonia was once again embroiled in a defensive war, just thirteen years after the end of the Great War. Charles IV (1788-1808) was incapable of dealing with the situation. Napoleon skilfully took advantage of the King’s weakness and the inexperience of Ferdinand VII to expand his empire. The defense of Catalan territory was thus motivated by hatred of the invader and religious convictions. The Higher Council of the Principality, an independent body charged with organising the military defence forces, was constituted in mid-1808. Thus opened a devastating period of war which left the country ravaged and impoverished. Napoleon tried to win over Catalonia by offering it a form of self-government independent of the Crown of Joseph Bonaparte (1810) and by decreeing the official status of the Catalan language. Nonetheless, the Principality refused to accept occupation. With the war against Napoleon still raging, the Cortes in Cadiz gave constitutional force to centrist and uniformist policies which placed Catalonia in an position which was even more unfavourable than that which Napoleon was willing to grant.

The Higher Council of the Principality, which had acted as a government in times of emergency, was abolished and replaced by a new body established by the Constitution of Cadiz: the Provincial Council, presided by the Captain General, who was the highest authority in the Principality. The War against French occupation had ushered in a new period characterised by the predominance of the military. Under the Constitution of Cadiz (1812), Catalonia was divided into provinces. Later, under the absolutist rule of Ferdinand VII, who recovered the Spanish Crown from Napoleon in 1813, the corregiments were reestablished. Ten years later, the provincial divisions were reinstated.

During the 19th century, the history of Catalonia was punctuated by civil unrest, the Carlist wars and confrontations between political parties. The short-lived Spanish First Republic of 1873 featured two Catalans as Presidents: Figueras and Pi i Margall. In 1874, a military coup brought down the Republic and restored the monarchy with Alfonso XII, who was succeeded by Alfonso XIII under the regency of Maria Cristina in 1885.