| A Chronology of the genocide and repression from France and Spain against Catalonia .2/4/1700: France outlaws the Catalan language: “The Sun-king” decrees the French language as the only legal language. The Catalonian peasant population remains legally unprotected because they do not know the imperial language.20/10/1700: The king of Castile and Aragon / Catalonia, Carlos II, drafts his last will in favor of the Duke of Anjou, totally violating the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) between Madrid and Paris, which explicitly excluded any rights from the French Royal Dynasty over any Spanish crowns through marriage; the Duke is Carlos II’s nephew by marriage.
1700-1713: “The Academy of the Distrusted ones” works, founded as a literary institution, made up of writers who stood out against Bourbonism, those such as P.L.Dalmases, Boixadors, Pinós, Rocabertí, etc…
1/11/1700: Carlos II dies without any direct heirs. He was the last Spanish Habsburg monarch.
N. Feliu de la Penya writes: “Carlos II…chose the Duke of Anjou… to the amazement of the Catalonians…it gave rise to the occasion for suspicion and deception” (“Anales”). Just like when the Barcelona Dynasty ended without any direct heirs and the Castilian Dynasty of the Trastamara seized the Catalonian crown (1412) in violation of signed treaties, so now does a French anti-Catalonian Dynasty seize the Spanish crowns in violation of signed treaties.
8/11/1700: News about his death arrives in Paris when the “Sun-King” is out hunting with “his ladies”. Upon finding this out, he calls upon the Duke of Anjou (the future “Felipe V”), his son, and the grandson of Felipe IV (Carlos II’s father and an enemy of the Catalonians during the Reapers’ War). From that point on, the Duke bears the title of the great medieval enemies of Catalonia, “Anjou”; he is “a man of no intelligence, unpredictable mood swings, apathetic…completely insensitive to the misery and pain of fellow human beings, and wicked. He might have been cruel, if he were not so apathetic and engrossed in his obesity and obscurity” (St. Simon). Hence, he was a lazy psychopath who never made any attempt to speak the Castilian language properly. He is the great-great-grandfather of the great-great-grandfather of Juan Carlos I, the present Spanish king.
11/11/1700: Manuel Oms de Santa Pau, ambassador from Madrid in Paris, and Marquis of Castelldosrius tell the Duke in Castilian:”…the Pyrenees have sunk”. The Duke understood nothing despite the fact that his mother is a Castilian Queen. 16/11/1700: King Louis XIV, “the Tyrant”, appoints his son “Emperor over all of Spain” [and its territories].
1700-1717: Decrees from the French absolute monarchy impose French as the only official language of the Courts and notaries in Northern Catalonia (under military French occupation since the Reapers war half a century earlier).
18/2/1701: The Duke arrives in Madrid, where he is proclaimed “King of Castile” as “Felipe V”.
1701: French traders take over control of Valencian trading (the Kingdom of Valencia is in the region of southern Catalonia). The lower-class people accuse them of getting rich at their expense. Anti-French sentiment spreads among the Valencian lower clergy.
9/1701: The Great Alliance (England, Holland, and the Austrian Empire) meets at The Hague; they nominate the Archduke Karl as pretender to King of Spain, since they feared that the French and Spanish union would cause great instability and an uneven distribution of European power.
2/10/1701: The Duke of Anjou meets with the Catalonian Parliament and swears in their laws and liberties.
10/1701: The Duke is appointed King of Catalonia as “Felip IV” in Catalonia (“Felipe V” in Castile).
At the end of 1701: France invades Holland.
3/1702: The Great Alliance declares war on France and FelipeV.
1703: Emperor Leopold proclaims the Archduke Karl as king of Spain in Vienna. Prussia, Savoy, and Portugal join the Alliance
1703-1704: Felipe V favors French monopoly over trade in his kingdoms.
- 1704: In Vienna, initial contacts take place between the British representative Mitford Crowe and Antoni de Peguera i Aimerich (lord of Foix and Torrelles and a member of the Distrusters’ Academy) and the attorney, Domènec Perera, Catalonian representatives.
5/1704: Before Barcelona, 1600 allied marines land. “Vigatans” (a small anti-Bourbon nobility from Vic, in Central Catalonia) had to open the doors for them, but the conspiracy is uncovered and they have to flee through Gibraltar. The allied Army is under the command of the prince from Hessen-Darmstadt, the last remaining Lieutenant General in Catalonia under Carlos II and very popular among the Catalonians. Bourbon repression, imprisonment.
1704: In Portugal, the Archduke lands and the war mobilizes on the peninsula. A decisive battle in Blenheim: the Alliance kicks the French Armies out of Germany, which is the beginning of the crumbling of Louis XIV’s enormous power.
4/8/1704: The Valencian Gen. Basset and Catalonian volunteers facilitate the allied occupation of Gibraltar, lead by the Adm. Rooke. In Gibraltar, there is still a “Catalonian Bay”. Expulsion of the indigenous population to Algesiras Bay.
17/5/1705: The military Moragues and other “Vigatans” and important officials grant powers to Ll.D.Domènec Perera enabling Catalonia to enter the anti-Bourbon alliance.
5/1705: The anti-Bourbon uprising starts on the plains of the city of Vic .
2/6/1705: Geneva Pact: An Alliance’s treaty between the plenipotentiaries A. De Peguera and Dr. Perera (Catalonia) and Mr. Mitford Crowe (England). London promises 8000 soldiers, 2000 cavalry, ammunition and total support to the Catalonian liberties. Catalonia promises the support of its Parliament´s members and of the “Council of Hundred”, and 6000 men.
20/7/1705: The allied fleet arrives in Barcelona. Propaganda is in favor of the Archduke.
21/7/1705: Vigatans openly march to Barcelona on his way gathering supporters.
4/8/1705: Catalonian is victorious with only 250 men against the 1000 foot-soldiers and 100 riders of the Bourbon viceroy.
10/8/1705: The Anglo-Dutch fleet lands in Altea (Valencian Kingdom or Southern Catalonia). Basset and Francesc Garcia land along with them: the first, coming from other battles, the second, exiled from a former agrarian revolt.
16/8/1705: Allies enter Alzira and nearby Valencia.
17/8/1705: Basset lands in Dénia where the Archduke is announced as the new Valencian King.
Since 8/1705: The Valencian peasantry, after being oppressed by the lordships’ abusive taxes, support the Pro-Austrians, who promise them better conditions. They take the name of “Maulets” (a diminutive of “Mawla”, slave in Arabic), a name already taken by the rebellious peasantry in the Valencian Kingdom some years prior. Basset is the brave radical military hero of these deprived peoples.
24/8/1705: Moragues and 800 men show up in Barcelona.
8/1705: Allied landing in Barcelona.
14/9/1705: Allied attack on Montjuïc.
15/9/1705: Second allied bombardment on Barcelona.
9/10/1705: Barcelona surrenders to Charles Mondaunt, count of Petersborough.
12/10/1705: Girona surrenders. Bourbon troops retreat to France.
7/11/1705: The Archduke formally enters Barcelona: he swears to grant Catalonian freedoms.
11/1705: Representatives from every Catalonian land, including Catalonian Aragon (even Monzon/Montsó) and the Valencian North come to pay homage to the Archduke. Pro-Austrian conspiracy in Northern Catalonia (under French occupation).
11 to 12/1705: Almost all Central Catalonia surrenders to the Allies. British occasionally help conquer some strongholds like Tarragona.
15/12/1705: Basset with 500 countrymen and 300 riders arrives in Valencia. Bourbon followers (“botiflers” in Catalan, from “Beautiful+flowers”) lack means to defend attacks. Prisoners riot.
16/12/1705: The lower class people go out into the streets in Valencia to jeer at the privileged ones and show their favor for the Archduke. Some prominent men imprison the Bourbon Viceroy and open the town doors for Basset to enter. In St. Mateu (Valencian North) the British General Jones arrives.
18/12/1705: Surrender of St. Mateu. The allied siege on Peníscola (Val.North) begins.
12/1705: Valencian “botiflers” are exiled. “Maulets” and Allied control most of the Valencian Kingdom, and Basset takes over the government.
12/1705 to 3/1706: The Catalonian Parliament request that the Archduke (Charles III) recover Northern Catalonia, which is still under French occupation, and reestablish American trade, which had been completely monopolized by the Castilians.
12/1/1706: The Castilian army of the Count de las Torres is defeated at St. Mateu and descends through the South. They attack Vila-real, a Maulet villa near by Castelló: they sack the town and its churches, slit the throats of civilians and set the villa on fire. 272 inhabitants die (among them 7 priests and 7 women) and they take with them more than 200 prisoners. However, more than 500 Castilian soldiers also die there on account of the brave civilian defense.
2/1706: The British Gen. Petersborough arrives in Valencia and replaces Basset, judged too radical. The new viceroy demands feudal taxation again.
3/1706: Bourbon troops attack Central Catalonia.
4/1706: Defending Barcelona, 50 Allied warships force the French fleet to retreat .
2/7/1706: Charles III triumphantly enters Madrid with Catalonian soldiers (“miquelets”), and is received with great repulsion from the Empire’s capital city’s long-standing and deep-seeded anti-Catalonian animosity
10/7/1706: Charles III has to retreat from Madrid to Aragon. Basset is accused of abuses while defending Xàtiva from the Bourbon troops, and Petersborough throws him in prison.
7/1706: Charles III is in Zaragoza. Felipe V returns to Madrid. Valencians demonstrate popular indignation for Basset’s imprisonment.
29/9/1706: The Anglo-Dutch fleet shows up in Majorca Bay .
9/1706: Popular anti-Bourbon pressure in Majorca.
10/1706: Charles III confiscates the Valencian botiflers’ properties. Expulsion of French citizens and exile of nobility from Majorca. Cartagena (in the ancient Murcian Kingdom under Castilian occupation), where Catalan was still spoken, is occupied by Botiflers. Luís Belluga, the Bishop in Cartagena, is a pro-Bourbon fanatic.
11/10/1706: Belluga’s Castilians occupy Oriola (Southern Valencian Kingdom), where they will persecute the Catalan language: now, no one speaks Catalan there).
21/10/1706: The offensive against southern Valencian continues: the Duke of Berwick sacks and overtakes Elx by force. 10/1706: Menorca and Eivissa surrender to the Allies. A “Maulet” uprising in Plana (Castelló countryside).
4/1707: Anglo-Dutch-Portuguese counter offensive against the Castilian border near the Southern Valencia.
25/4/1707: Decisive battle at Almansa (La Mancha, near the Valencian Kingdom). 25000 Allies against 25000 French-Castilians. Allies retreat with 500 dead and 12000 prisoners. This serious defeat leaves València almost defenseless facing the Bourbons. Today, there remains a popular Valencian saying that goes: “When evil comes from Almansa, it hits everybody.”
5/1707: French-Spanish troops march towards València, so Basset is finally released from the prison of Lleida (West-central Catalonia) to organize the Valencian resistance.
8/5/1707: The Duke of Berwick arrives in València. The city is declared liberated, and the surrender of Zaragoza is announced.
12/5/1707: Berwick arrives in Castelló de la Plana where he imposes an excessive war reparations tax and knocks down the city walls.
6/6/1707: Xàtiva (near València) surrenders, after a long siege.
19/6/1707: The Lieutenant General d’ Asfeld sends orders to set fire and destroy Xàtiva, a large city dating to the Middle Ages. This genocide leaves a profound psychological and significant impact along with the expulsion of more than 18000 citizens from Xàtiva and the changing of its name from its former Roman name to “San Felipe” in honor of the tyrant (until 1811). Even today, there still remains an official painting of Felipe V hanging upside down in Xàtiva .
29/6/1707: Felipe V signs the “Nueva Planta” decree against the Kingdoms of València and Aragon, which he considers “conquered”, and he declares their ancient parliamentary laws abolished “… because the just right of conquer over them my weapons have made lately”. Nevertheless, Maulets still control the Valencian North and the Alcoi-Alacant-Dénia triangle in southern Valencia.
1707: The high clergy, Botiflers, the ultra-papists, as well as the Jesuits in Catalonia are quite often Castilians, but the lower clergy are strongly pro-Austrian. They often mediate between conspiracies, prisoners and Allies, besides of inducing the people to the Archduke favor. Naples-Sicily cede to the Archduke, and Menorca cedes to the Bourbons. Scottish independence ends with the “Covenant”, a voluntary union treaty with England.
30/9/1707: Felipe V donates Llíria, Xèrica, Barracas, etc., (free towns) to the Duke of Berwick.
14/10/1707: Lleida surrenders to the invaders.
11/1707: Fall of Tàrrega, Cervera, and El Pla d’ Urgell (West-central Catalonia).
9/1/1708: After a heavy siege, Alcoi falls with many executions, reprisals, and the abolition of local laws and the local festivities to honor St. George, patron saint of Catalonia.
1708: A very unstable military situation in northern Valencia. D’ Asfeld, the arsonist of Xàtiva, controls the Audience (provincial court) of València as an instrument of foreign military occupation.
11/7/1708: Bourbon troops occupy Tortosa (south-central Catalonia).
7/1708: The Allies take over the island of Sardinia.
17/9/1708: The Anglo-Dutch fleet of Adm. Leake commanded by Gen. Stanhope easily regains the island of Menorca (East Catalonia).
17/11/1708: Spaniards occupy Dénia.
12/1708: Alacant (Alicante in Spanish) is occupied by the British who blow up part of the castle defenses. It is besieged by D’Asfeld.
7/12/1708: Spaniards occupy Alacant. Only guerillas remain throughout the Valencian Kingdom.
1709: Famine spreads throughout the Valencian Kingdom as a result of the war taxes. Valencian botiflers despise the new Castilian laws and send representatives to reinstate their ancient laws, they are imprisoned. Narcís Feliu de la Penya publishes “Anales”, a story about the war, which is confiscated by the Bourbon censorship. War breaks out in Cerdanya (Pyrenees). The Allies are victorious (Malplaquet…): Louis XIV is left so weakened that he abandons his son and almost surrenders.
1/7/1709: Salvador Feliu (Narcís’ brother) and other tradesmen (one of them a resident of Gibraltar) found the New Company of Gibraltar in Barcelona to break the Cadiz monopoly on American trade.
1710: A second demand for reestablishing Valencia’s own laws. It is overturned by a Court controlled by Castilians.
5/7/1710: An insurrectional attack failed in the city of València. 4 British warships show up and cannot land due to lack of popular support.
7/1710: Battle of Almenara (North near València), where Felipe V is about to die.
27/7/1710: Catalonian victory in Almenar (near Lleida).
8/9/1710: New Maulet uprising in northern Valencia.
28/9/1710: Charles III retakes Madrid.
23/10/1710: The Bourbon Col. Ibáñez shoots 41 “miquelets” (pro-Austrian Catalonian soldiers) imprisoned in Altura (northwest Valencian Kingdom).
29/10/1710: Pro-Austrians bombard Morella (northern Valencia).
9/11/1710: Charles III flees Madrid again.
15/11/1710: 60 Pro-Austrians die in the attack against Morella.
11/1710: Felipe V is enthusiastically welcomed in Madrid.
9/12/1710: The Duke of Vendôme defeats the British in Brihuega (Castile).
10/12/1710: The Duke of Noailles defeats the Austrians in Villaviciosa (near Madrid).
15/12/1710: While Morella surrenders, the Duke of Noailles lays siege to Girona (near Pyrenees) and Charles III returns to Barcelona.
25/1/1711: Girona surrenders.
3/2/1711: Morella falls into Bourbon hands.
1711: Josef I of Austria (Brother of Karl/Charles III) dies. Charles III is appointed as his successor (Karl VI).
The Allies reject the monopolization over the crowns, and everyone is tired [of war].
Hence forth, international diplomacy will be decisive.”
27/9/1711: Karl VI/Charles III flees Catalonia, where he leaves his wife behind.
2/1712: A peace Conference between France and Holland-England takes place in Utrecht (Holland).
1712: New negotiations mediated by the Duke of Vendôme: Valencian Botiflers want to reinstate the ancient Valencian laws.
7/1712: Felipe V formally abdicates the French Crown.
8/1712: A cease fire accord is implemented.
12/1712: The Tories, who are running England, fear a union between the German and Spanish Empires and drop out of the Alliance. Afterwards, they also sever ties with Portugal and Holland.
1712-1736: Sir Richard Kane, the first British governor in Menorca, builds up the main road, has the swamps drained, and imports cattle.
19/3/1713: The Empress, foreign diplomats, and many families of noble Pro-Austrians embark from Barcelona to Italy and Vienna.
20/3/1713: Starhemberg swears in as Lieutenant General taking the place of the Empress.
11/5/1713: The Utrecht Treaty is signed.
22/6/1713: A secret accord in L’Hospitalet is signed behind the Catalonians’ backs to hand over Catalonia to the Bourbons.
24/6/1713: Starhemberg, the first general, declares Gen. Moragues is disloyal to Charles of Austria.
25/6/1713: Starhemberg reveals the secret accord to the Barcelona Council.
26/6/1713: Moragues and the officers read Starhemberg’s letter.
1/7/1713: The Austrians abandon Catalonia leaving it to its own demise.
6/7/1713: The 3 Arms’ Committee decides to resist to the death.
9/7/1713: Catalonians call out to resist just before Starhemberg embarks: “Let the nation perish with glory!”.
12/7/1713: Declaration of the Valencian Maulets in support at the Barcelona defense.
13/7/1713: Conclusion of the Utrecht Treaty; the allied powers divide up the Catalonian Confederation’s medieval possessions: England keeps Menorca. Savoy will gain Sicily. Austria expropriates Sardinia – where rivers of Catalonian blood flowed during the XIV-XV centuries – and Naples. The homeland will remain under a tighter and more totalitarian grip : Louis XIV’s royal lineage. The “Catalonian tunic” shared out before the crucifixion .
25/7/1713: The French and Spaniards begin their siege on Barcelona.
1713: The Maulet guerillas still fight across la Marina and el Maestrat (in the Valencian countryside) against the invader. The “General Superintendency” is set up for the military occupation of Central Catalonia .
10/1713: Felipe V expells the Montserrat Monastery abbot.
1/1714: The first occupation tax is imposed in Central Catalonia (not voted on by the Catalonian Parliament) and provokes an uprising against the occupying Bourbons.
3/1714: Radstadt Peace: The Emperor “Karl VI” acquires former Catalonian territories in Italy.
6.1714: The Utrecht Peace conclusion: Felipe V signs a peace accord with Holland. Portugal still does not join it.
1714: Widowered, Felipe V remarries. His new wife is “Isabel of Farnese,” an ambitious and domineering fat woman who will control the government to provoke wars with the aim of gaining Kingdoms for her sons .Spaniards set fire to Manresa, St. Paul…(near Barcelona). Royal decree : “My wish is to subjugate each of my Spanish kingdoms into conformity…in accordance with strong, central, and absolute Castilian laws” . 5000 Pro-Austrian Catalonians are exiled to Austria. The General Council of Eivissa (Ibiza in Spanish) confirms its desire for independence (to be free )
6/7/1714: Berwick arrives in Barcelona with strong reinforcements: 35000 troops, 5000 Cavalry. Around 1485 troops, 380 Cavalry, and 5000 from “La Coronela” (the united militias commanded by Villarroel) from Barcelona. The French and Spaniards outnumber the Catalonians 10 to 1. According to Voltaire, up to 500 Catalonian ecclesiastical men fought under arms to repel the invasion.
9/1714: Villarroel delivered his last speech at a rally for independence of all Spanish Kingdoms, Catalonian freedoms aimed at France (economic competitor) and Castile (political competitor), and for all stolen lands.
11/9/1714: At 5 a.m., the Bourbon Artillery attack begins breaching 7 openings in the city wall 20,000 French-Castilian soldiers begin the attack. The Council Chief, Rafael de Casanova, falls wounded wrapped in the flag of Sta. Eulàlia, the Paleo-Christian martyr from Barcelona (patron saint before Felipe V replaced him with “the Virgin of Mercy”). Combat is street by street, and Berwick is forced to call for more reinforcement troops from the reserves. In the first hour of the afternoon, the heroic Catalonian capital has to surrender without retribution, which in the end will not be the case. The resistance of Barcelona had lasted 13 months and was greatly admired by European public opinion, comparing it to Saguntum and Numantia. Even a British officer starts a fund in Britain for “Barcelona”, in memory of Catalonian heroism. Barcelona has about 7000 homes. 6000 people die during the final siege; 4000 on the day of the attack. Almost all of the resistance and part of the civil population die.
18/9/1714: Occupation of other villages in Central Catalonia. The invaders do not keep any of the promises guaranteed upon surrender.
3/10/1714: Disarmament Mandate for the Catalonian civil population: Kitchen knives have to remain locked in chains, and the country houses are not allowed to have wooden windows, etc.
10/11/1714: Death Penalty Edict against anyone who tries to leave Catalonia without a passport, but thousands continue fleeing the country anyway.
1714: ” Considerations about the case of the Catalonians ” and ” The deplorable history of the Catalonians ,” are two books sympathizing with Catalonia and published in London; the latter printed by J. Baker and sold at the price of just one shilling.
1714: Maulet guerrillas will continue on for several years, but they will progressively turn into bandits as a result of total Bourbon repression.
10/1/1715: A graffiti states: “The whole of Catalonia is a prison”.
1715: Several chroniclers talk about the general misery in Central and Southern Catalonia.
2/1715: Portugal joins Utrecht to no advantage. It is left in English hands to be defended from Castile/Spain.
2 to 4/1715: Critical point of Bourbon repression against the Catalonian military; within 3 months, over 3800 of them are imprisoned or deported.
20/3/1715: When Moragues and other patriots try to embark to Majorca, they are betrayed and fall in the clutches of the Spanish.
27/3/1715: After brutal torturing, walking barefoot, and wearing penitence shirts, Macip, Roca, and Moragues are executed by garrote, and their bodies are dismembered. Moragues is about 40 years old, and his head is put in a cage at an entrance door in Barcelona to heed warnings that this is a lesson for the “Catalonians”. In other towns, heads or hands in cages and gallows are also left around.
1/6/1715: Felipe V sends orders to knock down the Barcelona fishermen district called “La Ribera” in order to build a Citadel: “For increased security and caution against that town…installing…artillery is critical to keep the city and people under subjection…”.
13/6/1715: Spaniards outlaw Catechism in Catalan. ” That great pride is depressed and already the preceptors of H.M. are respected…by the superior force of weapons ” (Council of Castile, speaking about the Catalonians at a plenary session).
3/7/1715: After a month of resistance, Majorca falls in the clutches of Castile.
7/1715: Eivissa also falls.
1715: In many Catalonian towns or villages, there are no Botiflers (collaborators) to form the City Councils. The population en masse is against the Spanish military occupation (report from the Royal Committee). The Vicar General in Barcelona, appointed by the invaders, commands they “obey, serve, and venerate our king of Spain”. Famished occupying troops settle around in different villages. Madrid does not even pay the members of the powerful Council of Castile. Therefore, they demand to be fed at the expense of the Catalonians. Confiscation of property to any Pro-Austrian charge from 1713 to 1715. Law to reward the delation of anti-Bourbons : they will receive part of the confiscations if they denounce any peasant who has given e.x. hurrahs to Charles III or shouted “Visca la Terra!” (similar to “God save our fatherland!”, typical jeer among the anti-feudal peasantry). The big tyrant “Sun-King,” Louis XIV, dies.
3/8/1715: (In Catalonia) “Houses full of soldiers. The rigor of the weapons is such that so a man (=Catalonians) is met in possession of a weapon, he is put to death”(Francesc Gelat).
1715-1720: Famine in Central Catalonia.
1715-1728: Escalation of Spanish taxes against the Valencians.
1/12/1715: “Everything must be taught in Castilian Spanish…” (District Attorney’s report from the Council of Castile).
7/12/1715: Majorca and Eivissa’s own governments are dissolved by Madrid.
9/12/1715: Royal Decree for a new tributary system. Initially, Royal Land Registrations are very abusive.
22/1/1716: Sequestration of the historic book written by Narcís Feliu, considered “blasphemous” by the Royal Committee.
29/1/1716: J. Rodríguez Villalpando, the Attorney General, signs the “Secret Instructions” with the intent of wiping out Catalan.
5/5/1716: The Abbot of Vivanco writes the definitive version of the “Secret Instructions”.
1716: Courts in Barcelona and Majorca are created as instruments of the military administration for the Castilian occupation. Construction of the Citadel of occupation begins. Neighbors, widows, and children have to demolish their district of 4000 inhabitants with their own hands. Today, this Citadel is the actual house of the Catalonia’s autonomous Parliament. Felipe V sends many Catalonians to Corfu on an expedition against the Ottomans.
15/10/1716: Land Registration pays for the Castilian Army of occupation: Catalonia starts to subsidize its own executioners.
20/2/1717: “The utmost care is given in introducing Castilian Spanish. In order to achieve this goal, the most demanding and drastic measures are drawn up and put into effect without considerations for anyone” (“Dictated Instructions sent to the Correctors in Catalonia”). The Correctors (“Corregidores”) act as political Commissioners to enforce the implementation of Castilian Spanish.
11/5/1717: “The tenacious Catalonian resistance against the due subjection to my legitimate domain that theis perfidy did not admit…obliged my Providence to order Universities must be closed… ” (Felipe V’s Decree, where this Antichrist names himself as “Devine Providence”). Catalonian Universities were shut down because they had been important centers of national resistance and culture. The botifler villa of Cervera (near Lleida) is awarded permission to create a new University, “catering to the Regime”. It is very mediocre and even lacks a library. Botifler professors flatter the Bourbon tyrant with the name of “Solon of Catalonia” because of the New Plant Decree .
7/1717: Catalonians mobilize to conquer Sardinia. Catalonians fight on both sides. Austria loses the island.
1717: Growing madness and melancholy of Felipe V. The Bishop of Tortosa orders that only Castilian be used on all agreements and minutes.
9/10/1717: The universities in Lleida, Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, and Vic are permanently shut down. Bourbon authorities think there is a surplus of students and that the plebeians (common folk) have no access to education.
16/3/1718: The “Honorata Bell”, which was used to call Barcelona citizens to fight against the invaders is ordered to be melted.
1718: El Carrasclet’s Anti-Spanish guerillas . Alberoni, the Queen’s right hand man, sends another army to occupy Sicily. The queen wants to make a kingdom for her sons. Several people die. Exiled Catalonians fight against the Ottomans in the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire cedes areas of Rumania and Serbia to Austria.
8/1718: Quadruple anti-Spanish Alliance: England, Austria, France and Savoy condemn the Spanish Queen’s ambitions. France invades Basque lands and Catalonian borders.
1718-1721: Catalonian Civil War: Taking advantage of the invasion, Catalonian patriots loot and set fire to the properties of those who collaborated with the Castilian occupiers.
5/1719: French troops occupy all the Catalonian Pyrenees, intentionally making false promises that the Catalonians will be given back their liberties, thus convincing 19 battalions of volunteers to give up.
6/1719: Massive uprising of “Carrasclets” throughout Tarragona and the Mountains. Guerrilla revival.
1719-1720: The Spanish Cavalry busts into the houses of those Catalonians who exported liquor and destroy them for having traded with Britain and Holland.
1720-1790: Distinctive Catalan language grammar books and eulogies appear
1721: The Duke of St. Simon visits Spain and hardly recognizes Felipe V: “His words were so slurred. His air so stupid that I was frightened” (St. Simon’s Memories). “Escuadras de Valls” are created: a nucleus of the “Mozos de Escuadra” for the Botifler repression against the anti-Spanish guerrillas.
13/7/1722: Felipe V does not change his clothes in a year. He wears unstitched trousers from the waist down, exposing his buttocks (“Feuilles d’ Histoire”, Arthur Chuquet).
1722: Misery and epidemics spread while foreign troops eat and sleep in Catalonian homes.
1723: The Baron of Huart, “Corregidor” in Girona, orders every municipal document to be written in Castilian.
17/1/1724: Felipe V abdicates to his son Luís I, who “had the wits of a child, the curiosity of a teenager, and the passions of a man” (St. Simon). He only reigns a few months. An uprising in Majorca against military conscription (“quintes”)takes place but falls apart into anti-Semitic looting.
1724-1733: When a Catalonian town (such as Valls) delays in paying the abusive taxes, it is forced to pay in kind by having Castilian troops sent to live in the town’s homes.
30/4/1725: Peace Treaty in Vienna between Felipe V and Karl VI. Two Bourbon sons marry two Austrian Archduchesses, and many Pro-Austrian patriarchs recover part of their assets, but peasants are left without any benefits.
1726: Confiscation and threats continue against towns in misery that are unable to pay land registration fees.
Disorders : all young men flee from Reus to avoid enlisting in the Spanish Army.
1726-1733: Thousands of Catalonian patriots and fugitives are sentenced to 4 or 5 years to galleys and their leaders are executed. Dubious cases are forced to serve in the Spanish Army.
1728-1729: The patriots Janet de Pira, R. Guardiola and Negre de Montornès are arrested, executed, and their bodies are torn into pieces and these pieces are distributed in cages to the main gates of Barcelona and other Catalonian towns.
1731: The umpteenth Valencian attempt to regain its own jurisdiction from part of the Botiflers.
1734: New petition from the València Municipal Council. Catalonians send a message to England reminding them of their unfulfilled obligations to Catalonia.
12.1734: Clandestine publication of the booklet “Via Fora els adormits”, a call to fight for freedom and all the lost territories
1734-1739: Some clergy-men are accused of an anti-Spanish conspiracy and are secretly expelled from the country. Andreu Garcia and other ex-friars of Santes Creus still try to arouse the oppressed peasantry against the degenerate Spanish Regime on behalf of Karl VI (who is at war in Italy).
1734-1741: Formation of Catalonian battalions against the Bavarian and Hungarian insurrections.
1736: The writing “Record de l’Aliança fet al Sereníssim Jordi Augusto, Rey de la Gran Bretanya ” ( Remembrance about the Alliance, did to the Very Calmed George August, King of Britain ), dated “in the 22nd year of our enslavement”, circulates. It invokes the treaty of Geneva left unfulfilled by England.
Felipe V’s physicians give a report of his health status: “frenzy, melancholy, morbid pleasure, obsession, and hypochondriac melancholy” (“Manifest of 100 secrets from Dr. Juan Curvo Semmedo…”).
1740: Certainly, there are Catalonian refugees within the British Army who fight against the Scottish Highland patriots.
1740-1748: War of Austrian Succession where a lot of Catalonians fight.
1741: The great guerrilla leader Carrasclet leads the battalion of exiled Catalonians into Vienna against the Bavarians. He dies in Hungary fighting at the front of the Catalonian Battalion.
1742: The Valencian Academy, a Scientist Gregori Maians’ ambitious project (he is from an Pro-Austrian family) is die young.torpedoed by circles from Madrid . The Council of Castile orders the seizure of two of his books.
1746: The genocidal Felipe V dies.
1746-1759: His successor is his 34-year old son, Fernando VI.. He is a manic depressant and dies young. |
Catalunya Catalana 