In Spain brigandage was common in and south of the Sierra Morena. It reached its greatest heights in Andalusia. In Catalonia where it began in the strife of the peasants against the feudal exactions of the landlords. It had its traditional hero, Roque Guinart, who figures in the second part of "Don Quixote." The revolt against the house of Austria in 1640 and the War of the Succession (1700–1714) greatly stimululated Catalan brigandage. A country gentleman named Pedro Veciana, hereditary "balio" (military and civil lieutenant) of the archbishop of Tarragona in the town of Valls, armed his farm-servants and resisted the attacks of the brigands. With the help of neighbouring country gentlemen he formed a strong band, known as the Mozos (Boys) of Veciana. The brigands combined to get rid of him by making an attack on the town of Valls, but were repulsed with great loss. The government of Philip V then commissioned Veciana to raise a special corps of police, the "Escuadra de Cataluna", which still exists. For five generations the colonel of the escuadra was always a Veciana. Since the organization of "Guardia Civil" by the Duke of Ahumada, about 1844, brigandage has been well kept down. At the close of the Carlist War in 1874 a few bands infested Catalonia.