Generalitat de Catalunya

The return of Catalonia to the Spanish Monarchy meant that the Generalitat was subordinated to the Crown by the establishment of new balloting rules and the obligation to participate in the upkeep of military garrisons based on Catalan territory, while royal taxation continued to expand. The constant risk of financial collapse and the absence of the Corts imposed extraordinary restrictions on the Generalitat, which was unable to cope with the persecution of tax fraud nor to modernise the taxation system. In general it became a largely docile instrument in the hands of the King’s delegates, although protests and complaints about the continuing infractions could not be suppressed. The decline of the Generalitat as an institution contrasts, in the second half of the 17th century, with the increased vigour and protagonism of the Barcelona Council of One Hundred, owing to the less constricted financial situation and the recovery of the urban economy.

In the final years of the century, an informal association between the Generalitat, the Council of One Hundred and the military Braç took on an increased importance in what was known as the Conference of the Three Commons, in which the Generalitat showed itself to be the part that was in general most in favour of following the indications of the Crown. Following the death of Charles II in 1700, the Three Commons accepted the interim continuity of the practising lieutenant, and they were also asked to accept Phillip of Anjou as king – and his lieutenant – before the swearing in of the constitutions, which took place in Barcelona on the occasion of the Corts of 1701-1702, the first to be held for a century. In addition to measures favouring Catalan commerce, these Corts were fruitful in constitutional matters, especially in the establishing of a Court of Infractions.

However, the practical violation of the constitutions by the viceroy Velasco and the mistrust towards the Bourbons as a result of the awful experience of 1641-1659 and Louis XIV’s military attacks on Catalonia in the final years of the century, together with the pressures applied by the British, Dutch and Austrians, who in 1702 chose Archduke Karl of Habsburg as a successor to Charles II, inclined the Catalan institutions towards breaking their allegiance to Phillip V. In the Pact of Genoa signed on June 20th 1705, the British promised to land an army in Catalonia and to respect the constitutions. The other realms of the Aragon Crown also opted for Austria and became the main support for the allies in the peninsula. Karl III of Habsburg held Corts in Barcelona from 1705 to 1706, ratifying and developing the concessions made previously by Phillip V and recognising the Three Commons organisation. After the battle of Almansa, which opened up the gates of Valencia for the Bourbon, and the occupation of Aragon in the spring of 1707, the two realms’ charters were abolished, heralding what would happen to Catalonia in the event of Phillip V being triumphant. Although in the War of Succession there would still be spectacular turnarounds on the fields of battle, Catalonia’s fortunes were sealed by a political occurrence, the accession of Karl of Habsburg to the imperial throne in 1711, since the risk of a great continental power seemed to British eyes less desirable than the bestowing of the Crown of Spain on Louis XIV’s grandson. Contacts were immediately begun which would finally lead to the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt (1713-1714).

In 1712, the allied armies withdrew from the peninsula and Catalonia was left to its own devices. In July of 1713, the Assembly of Braços decided, under pressure from the royal Braç, to resist the Bourbon armies, however these gradually occupied the territory. In April of 1714, the siege of Barcelona began, with the city defended by companies created by the guilds and under the orders of Antoni Villarroel and Rafael Casanova. The final assault on the city took place on the 11th of September: Casanova fell wounded and Villarroel called for surrender. The last pocket of resistance, Cardona, surrendered a few days later.