The Habsburgs and the Golden Age of Spain

Catalonia’s position within the Spanish Empire shifted through the new world, leading to increasing marginalization

After the late Middle Ages, Catalonia lost much of the influence it had enjoyed in the Crown of Aragon. Several forces pushed it to the margins:

• Atlantic trade replaced Mediterranean trade after 1453 (Fall of Constantinople) and especially after 1492. Castile controlled access to the New World, so ports like Seville and Lisbon boomed, not Barcelona.
  
  

• Catalan merchants were excluded from American commerce, which was restricted to Castilian ports.
  
  

• Repeated warfare (Ottoman raids, Franco-Spanish conflict) further weakened Catalonia’s coastal trade network.
  
  

• Madrid became the political center under the Habsburgs, limiting the role of older Catalan institutions like the Corts, Generalitat, and Consell de Cent.
  
  

Together, these shifts reduced Catalonia’s economic and political weight, leaving it more vulnerable to royal centralization.

The Reapers’ War (1640–1652): causes and consequences

Causes

• Over-taxation and military burdens: Philip III and Philip IV demanded money and soldiers to fund Spain’s wars, ignoring Catalonia’s historic fiscal exemptions.

• Quartering of troops: Catalans were forced to house and feed soldiers marching to fight France. Abuse by troops triggered rural anger.

• The Union of Arms (1626) attempted to force all regions to contribute equally to a common army, undermining Catalonia’s autonomy.

• Local autonomy vs. Madrid’s centralization: Catalan institutions wanted to preserve their constitutional system; Madrid wanted uniform authority.
  
  

Course

• 1640: Peasant laborers (reapers) in Barcelona killed royal officials (Corpus de Sang).

• The Generalitat switched allegiance and recognized Louis XIII of France as Count of Barcelona.

• Spain reconquered Catalonia by 1652.
  

Consequences

• Catalonia was devastated economically.

• The Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) ended the wider Franco-Spanish War and ceded Roussillon to France, splitting historic Catalonia in two.

• The region’s autonomy survived for the moment—but its relationship with Madrid was permanently strained.
  
  

The Habsburg dynasty and the centralization of power in Madrid

Under the Habsburgs—especially Philip II—royal authority became concentrated in Madrid:

• Madrid became the political and financial capital of the empire.

• The crown increasingly bypassed regional institutions (like the Catalan Corts and Generalitat) on matters of taxation, justice, and military recruitment.

• The monarchy moved toward uniform, centralized administration, contrasting with the older Crown of Aragon model, which had been a composite monarchy with strong regional autonomy.

By the end of the 1600s, Catalonia felt politically sidelined and burdened by imperial demands—conditions that shaped the wars and revolts of the era.

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