Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE INQUISITION IN CATALUNYA
The Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, shared in the religious bigotry of their con-
temporaries, although Isabel, under the influence of her personal confessor, Tomás de Tor-
quemada, was the more reactionary of the two. In Catalunya, the
Inquisition
was estab-
lished in 1487, and aimed to purify the Catholic faith by rooting out heresy. It was directed
mainly at the secret
Jews
, most of whom had been converted by force (after the pogrom
of 1391) to Christianity. It was suspected that their descendants, known as
New Christi-
ans
, continued to practise their old faith in secret, and in 1492, an edict forced some sev-
entythousandJewstofleethecountry.TheJewishpopulationinBarcelonawascompletely
eradicated in this way, while communities elsewhere - principally in Girona, Tarragona
and Lleida - were massively reduced, and those who remained were forced to convert to
Christianity.
Habsburg rule
Charles I, a
Habsburg
, came to the throne in 1516 as a beneficiary of the marriage alliances
made by the Catholic monarchs. Five years later he was elected emperor of the
HolyRoman
Empire
(asCharlesV),inheritingnotonlyCastile,AragónandCatalunya,butalsoFlanders,
the Netherlands, Artois, the Franche-Comté and all the American colonies. With such re-
sponsibilities, it became inevitable that attention would be diverted from Spain, whose chief
function became to sustain the Holy Roman Empire with gold and silver from the Americas.
It was in this era that Madrid was established as capital city of the Spanish empire, and the
long rivalry began between Madrid and Barcelona.
Throughout the
sixteenthcentury
, Catalunya continued to suffer under the Inquisition, and
- deprived of trading opportunities in the Americas - became an impoverished region. Habs-
burg wars wasted the lives of Catalan soldiers, banditry increased, and the poverty of the
mass of the population was a source of perpetual tension.
With Spain and France at war in 1635, the Catalans took advantage of the situation and
revolted, declaring themselves an
independent republic
under the protection of the French
KingLouisXIII.This,the
WaroftheReapers
-afterthemarchingsong
ElsSegadors
(“The
Reapers”),latertheCatalannationalanthem-endedin1652withthesurrenderofBarcelona
to the Spanish army. The
Treaty of the Pyrenees
in 1659 finally split the historical lands of
Catalunya as the Spanish lost control of Roussillon and part of the Cerdagne to France.
Bourbon repression
In 1700, when the Habsburg king Charles II died heirless, France's Louis XIV saw an oppor-
tunity to fulfil his longtime ambition of putting a Bourbon on the Spanish throne. He secured
the succession of his grandson, Philippe d'Anjou, under condition that the latter renounced
