The Treaty of the Pyrenees

Our department had become a permanent strategic issue and favourite battlefield of the heads of the north and the south from the time of the reign of Louis XI to that of Louis XIII because of the deterioration in relations between Catalonia and Castille.

This friction between Catalans and Castilians took an unexpected turn.

Following the Thirty Years’ War which involved the whole of Europe between 1618 and 1648, France and Spain declared war in 1635.

In 1640, infuriated by economic pressures and the abuse of power by the army, the Catalans rebelled against Castille. This was the famous rebellion which became the Reapers’ War led by Pau Claris, the Canon of Urgell called for help to France in 1641 and offered to recognize King Louis XIII as Count of Barcelona.

Not surprisingly the war re-doubled in intensity between France and Spain and, primarily in the Eastern Pyrenees. The Prince of Condé made his headquarters at Elne and his troops took Collioure and then on the 29th August 1642 they took Perpignan.

It was after these events that an act was passed that definitively sealed the character of the Catalan people: strong and somewhat eccentric; totally integrated into France yet at the same time deeply attached to their roots.

This act was the Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed in 1659 between Philip IV, king of Spain and Louis XIV, king of France.

The region of Roussillon, comprising Le Conflent and 33 villages in the Cerdagne, were to become part of France, except Llivia, the Spanish enclave on the French side of the border.

However, the inhabitants of the new "Province of Roussillon" were not happy with the new arrangement. The stewards put in place by Louis XIV, Louis XV then Louis XVI developed the region and tried hard to get the economy back on its feet, and, above all, to encourage people from other French provinces to come and live in Roussillon. Soldiers, priests and peasants came first and craftsmen followed.

On the eve of the French Revolution, a little more than a century after the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the population of Roussillon had almost doubled with over 100 000 inhabitants.

Some words on the history

Some important dates...  Pre-History  Ancient Times  The middle Ages  The Kingdom of Majorca  The Treaty of the Pyrenees  Once upon a time... Vauban