Reapers' War
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The Uprising of Catalonia (known in Catalan as the “Guerra dels Segadors” or Reapers' War) affected a large part of Catalonia between the years of 1640 and 1659. It had an enduring effect in Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ceded the county of Roussillon and the northern half of the county of Cerdanya to France (see French Cerdagne), thereby splitting the Catalan population.
The war had its roots in the discomfort generated in Catalan society by the presence of Castilian troops during the wars between France and Spain as part of the Thirty Years' War. Catalan peasants were forced to quarter Castilian troops and responded with an uprising known as the Corpus of Blood (Catalan "Corpus de Sang"). The “Corpus de Sang” of 1640, which began with the death of a reaper and lead to the somewhat mysterious death of the Count of Santa Coloma, viceroy of Catalonia, marked the beginning of the conflict. The irregular militia were known as Miquelet.
Pau Claris, head of the Generalitat of Catalonia, turned the social unrest of the Catalonians into a political cause and proclaimed a Catalonian Republic. The Generalitat obtained an important military victory in the battle of Montjuïc (January 26, 1641). A little later, the death of Pau Claris created a difficult local and international situation which resulted in proclaiming Louis XIII of France as the count of Barcelona and sovereign of Catalonia, Lluís I de Barcelona.
The conflict extended beyond the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, with the confrontation between two sovereigns and two Generalitats, one based in Barcelona, under the control of Spain and the other in Perpinyà, under the occupation of France. In 1652 the French authorities renounced Catalonia but held control of Roussillon. This led to the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.
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