Catalan Republic (1641)

Catalan Republic (1641)
The Catalan Republic was a short-lived independent state under French protection proclaimed in 1641 by the Junta de Braços of the Principality of Catalonia led by Pau Claris, during the Reapers' War (1640-1652).
As the conflict with the Spanish Monarchy escalated, the Junta de Braços (States-General) of Catalonia, headed by the President of the Deputation of the General of Catalonia (or Generalitat) Pau Claris, proclaimed the Catalan Republic on 17 January 1641. On 23 January 1641 the Braços Generals led by Pau Claris proclaimed Louis XIII of France as Count of Barcelona, putting the Principality of Catalonia under French sovereignty. Louis XIII was succeeded upon his death in 1643 by Louis XIV, who remained Count of Barcelona until 1652, when Catalonia was reincorporated into the Spanish Monarchy.
History
During the Reapers' War which started in 1640 (and included as a part of the Franco-Spanish War) the States-General of Catalonia (or ), an extraordinary council of representatives of the Catalan Courts without the king, summoned by the Generalitat, sought support in France and was appointed plenipotentiary of the King of France on 29 August 1640. On 27 October an agreement was finally reached with du Plessis-Besançon to obtain supplies against the army of the King of Spain directed by Pedro Fajardo, Marquis of los Vélez.
With the victory of the army of the Marquis of Los Vélez in Tarragona on 23 December it continued its advance towards Barcelona, while the French army of d'Espenan proceeded to leave Catalonia to France at the beginning of January 1641. Negotiations with the French intensified, on 3 January a delegation of three Catalans met with Cardinal Richelieu who assured them protection if they were an independent republic like Genoa. On 14 January du Plessis-Besançon went at the residence of the president of the Deputation of the General of Catalonia or Generalitat, Pau Claris, to still conferring.
As a result of the negotiation, on 16 January, Pau Claris presented a proposal before the Junta de Braços by which the King of France agreed to put the Principality under his protection if Catalonia changed its government to a republic. On 17 January 1641, the Junta de Braços proclaimed for the first time in history the Catalan Republic under French protection. However, a week later, following the defeat of the Catalan armies in the , near Barcelona, du Plessis-Besançon managed to convince the Catalan authorities that the help they needed could only be obtained from France if they recognized Louis XIII of France as sovereign. Pau Claris appealed on 23 January to Louis XIII, recognizing him as Count of Barcelona (as Louis I) and placed the Principality of Catalonia under French sovereignty.
On 26 January 1641, at the end of the Battle of Montjuïc, the army of Philip IV was defeated by a Franco-Catalan army and had to withdraw. Pau Claris died a month later. The formal agreement of personal union between Catalonia and France was ratified by the Treaty of Peronne on 19 September 1641.
Louis XIV was titled as Count of Barcelona (as Louis II) in succession to his father in 1643. Finally, the dismissal of the Count-Duke of Olivares, the ravages caused by the famine and the plague, the commitment made by Philip IV to respect the Catalan constitutions and institutions, and the retaking of Barcelona by Philip's army put an end to the war in 1652, and the Principality of Catalonia was reincorporated into the Monarchy of Spain.
References
External links
First Catalan Republic
States and territories established in 1641
History of Catalonia
Politics of Catalonia
Former republics
Reapers' War
Thirty Years' War
Former countries in Spanish history
Former countries in French history
1652 disestablishments
1641 establishments in Spain