Catalonian Civil War
Encyclopedia
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
in the Principality of Catalonia
Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia , is a historic territory in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain and with an adjoining portion in southern France....
between 1462 and 1472. The two factions, the royalists who supported John II of Aragon
John II of Aragon
John II the Faithless, also known as the Great was the King of Aragon from 1458 until 1479, and jure uxoris King of Navarre from 1425 until his death. He was the son of Ferdinand I and his wife Eleanor of Alburquerque...
and the Catalan constitutionalists (Catalanists, pactists, and foralists), disputed the extent of royal rights in Catalonia. The French
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France was one of the most powerful states to exist in Europe during the second millennium.It originated from the Western portion of the Frankish empire, and consolidated significant power and influence over the next thousand years. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, developed a...
entered the war at times on the side on John II and at times with the Catalans. The Catalans, who at first rallied around John's son Charles of Viana
Charles of Viana
Charles, Prince of Viana , sometimes called Charles IV of Navarre, was the son of King John II of Aragon and Queen Blanche I of Navarre.- Background :...
, set up several pretender
Pretender
A pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
s in opposition to John during the course of the conflict. Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
remained their stronghold to the end: with its surrender the war came to a close. John, victorious, re-established the status quo ante
Status quo ante bellum
The term status quo ante bellum is Latin, meaning literally "the state in which things were before the war".The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses...
.
Background
When the war started, John II had been King of Navarre since 1425 through his first wife, Blanche I of NavarreBlanche I of Navarre
Blanche I was Queen of Navarre from 1425 to 1441. She became queen regnant upon the death of her father King Charles III of Navarre...
, who had married him in 1420. When Blanche died in 1441, John retained the government of her lands and dispossessed his own eldest son, Charles (born 1421), who was made Prince of Viana
Prince of Viana
The Prince of Viana is one of the titles of the heir of the Crown of Spain. Other associated titles originate from the rest of the kingdoms that formed Spain: Prince of Asturias, Prince of Girona, Duke of Montblanc, Count of Cervera and Lord of Balaguer....
in 1423. John tried to assuage his son with the lieutenancy of Navarre, but his son's French upbringing and French allies, the Beaumonteses, brought the two into conflict. In the early 1450s they were engaged in open warfare in Navarre. Charles was captured and released; and John tried to disinherit him by illegally naming his daughter Eleanor
Eleanor of Navarre
Eleanor of Aragon , Regent and the queen regnant of Navarre in 1479...
, who was married to Gaston IV of Foix, his successor. In 1451 John's new wife, Juana Enríquez
Juana Enríquez
Juana Enriquez de Córdoba, 5th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte , was a Castilian noblewoman who became Queen of the Kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon.-Biography:...
, gave birth to a son, Ferdinand
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...
. In 1452 Charles fled his father first for France, later for the court of his uncle, John's elder brother, Alfonso V
Alfonso V of Aragon
Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica , and Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416 and King of Naples from 1442 until his death...
at Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. From 1454 John governed his brother's Spanish realms—the Crown of Aragon
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
—as lieutenant.
When Alfonso died in 1458, Charles was arrested and brought to Majorca. John succeeded Alfonso as ruler of the Crown of Aragon. In his will John named Charles as his heir. Among John's early unpopular acts was to quit the war against Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
, upsetting the merchants of Barcelona. He also refused to aid his nephew, Ferdinand I of Naples
Ferdinand I of Naples
Ferdinand I , also called Don Ferrante, was the King of Naples from 1458 to 1494. He was the natural son of Alfonso V of Aragon by Giraldona Carlino.-Biography:...
, in securing his throne.
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, where he was welcomed by the two chief factions, the Busca, which were merchants, artisan, and laborers, and the Biga, which were honored citizens and landlords. John did not initially react to the situation, but he called Charles to his court at Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
to discuss the proposed marriage of Charles to Isabella
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...
, infanta of Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
. He still refused to recognised Charles as his "first born", probably seeking to reserve that title for Ferdinand, but arousing opposition in the meantime. Charles opened negotiations with Henry IV of Castile
Henry IV of Castile
Henry IV , King of the Crown of Castile, nicknamed the Impotent , was the last of the weak late medieval kings of Castile...
, his father's inveterate enemy. At Lleida on 2 December 1460 he was arrested and imprisoned in Morella. This caused an uproar in Catalonia, where Charles was immensely popular, and the king was forced to suspend court. The Generalitat
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
and the Diputació, the municipal council of Barcelona, created a Consell del Principat ("Council of the Principality") to settle the matter of the rightful succession. A parliament was called for 8 January 1461.
At the parliament, Joan Dusai, the noted doctor of laws, ruled that the king had violated four of the Usatges de Barcelona, four of the Constitucions de Catalunya
Catalan constitutions
The Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of Barcelona . The first constitution was promulgated by the court of 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the court of 1702...
, and the Furs de Lleida. The parliament then demanded that John name Charles as his first-born son and heir. This he refused, and the parliament assembled an army under the Count of Modica
County of Modica
The County of Modica was a semi-independent feudal territory within the Kingdom of Sicily from 1296 to 1812. Its capital was Modica, on the southern tip of the island, although the cities of Ragusa and Scicli housed some government offices for a period...
. The army quickly captured Fraga
Fraga
Fraga is the major town of the comarca of Bajo Cinca in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. It is located by the river Cinca.King Alfonso I of Aragon died at its walls in 1134 while trying to conquer it...
and John capitulated in February. He freed Charles on 25 February and, on 21 June, signed the Capitulation of Vilafranca, whereby Charles was recognised as his first-born son, lieutenant in perpetuity, and heir in all his realms. The king also surrendered his right to enter the Principality of Catalonia without the permission of the Generalitat. He was also forced to surrender royal prerogatives. The appointment of royal officials was to be done only on the advice of representative bodies. The treaty was a victory for the Catalanists (who stressed Catalan independence and preeminence), pactists (who stressed the relationshi between monarch and Catalonia as a mutual agreement), and the foralists (who stressed the ancient privileges, the fueros, of Catalonia).
Charles died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in Barcelona on 23 September, a fact which threatened the treaty of June. While Charles had inspired unity, his death sparked the reemergence of factionalism. Though the treaty allowed for the young Ferdinand, only nine years old, to succeed John, Ferdinand's mother was conspiring with the Busca against the Biga to have the treaty overturned.
Revolt of the remences
Civil war broke out with the peasant revoltPeasant revolt
Peasant, Peasants' or Popular is variously paired with Revolt, Uprising and War and may refer to :*Daze Village Uprising 209 BC*Yellow Turban Rebellion 184...
of the remences led by Francesc de Verntallat in February 1462. The peasant revolted against the Consell del Principat with the hope of receiving royal support: Juana worked hard to stoke anti-Busca sentiment in Barcelona. In April a plot by some former Busca in support of the queen had been publicised and the deputy leader of the Consell, Francesc Pallarès, along with two former leaders, was executed in May. On 11 March, Juana and Ferdinand left unsafe Barcelona for Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
, hoping to receive protection from the French army there.
John signed two treaties at Sauveterre
Sauveterre
Sauveterre is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Sauveterre, Gard, in the Gard département* Sauveterre, Gers, in the Gers département* Sauveterre, Hautes-Pyrénées, in the Hautes-Pyrénées département...
(3 May) and Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
(9 May) with Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
whereby the French king would lend 700 lances
Lances fournies
The Lances fournies was a medieval army squad that would have surrounded a knight in battle, consisting of a small team built of squires, men-at-arms , archers, attendants and the knight himself...
(4,200 knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s plus their retainers) in military aid to John in exchange for 200,000 écu
ECU
ECU may refer to:Automotive terms* Electronic control unit, a generic term for any embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical systems or subsystems in a motor vehicle...
s and, as surety of payment, the cession of the counties of Roussillon
County of Roussillon
The County of Roussillon was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the Counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees.-Visigothic county:...
and Cerdagne
County of Cerdagne
The County of Cerdanya was one of the Catalan counties formed in the last decades of the 8th century by the Franks in the Marca Hispanica. The original Cerdanya consisted of the valley of the upper Segre. Today Cerdanya is a Catalan comarca.-Origins:...
, and the right to garrison Perpignan
Perpignan
-Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the...
and Cotlliure. In April, at Olite
Olite
Olite is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain....
, the French king had already agreed to acquiesce in John's plan to make Eleanor and her husband his heirs in Navarre and dispossess his eldest daughter, Blanche II of Navarre
Blanche II of Navarre
Blanche II of Navarre , titular queen of Navarre, was the daughter of John II of Aragon and Blanche I of Navarre. She was also Princess of Asturias by marriage....
, who was given over to Eleanor and Gaston's custody. She was poisoned in prison in 1464.
At the same time the Consell del Principat formed an army to put down the rebellion of the remences. The army of the Consell was placed under the command of Hug Roger III, Count of Pallars Sobirà, commander of the army of the Generalitat. After besieging and capturing Hostalric
Siege of Hostalric
The Siege of Hostalric was the first major action of the War Against John II. It took place on 23 May 1462.-Background:In 1460, after John II imprisoned Charles of Viana, the Catalans at the Corts de Lleida formed the Consell del Principat in opposition to the government of John in Catalonia...
on 23 May, Hug Roger marched on Girona, where he was received warmly on 6 June while the queen and the prince took refuge in the citadel, the Força Vella ("old fort"), throughout June. Gaston of Foix, leading a French army, took Girona on 23 July and rescued the queen and prince.
Throughout the summer the Generalitat and the municipal council of Barcelona worked with the peasant leaders and various noble factions to draw up an agreement and bring and end to the revolt. The king, however, intrigued against it and negotiations were scuttled before a treaty could take effect.
War against John II
John II took his first major offensive against the Principality by occupying BalaguerBalaguer
Balaguer is the capital of the comarca of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain.It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebre....
on 5 June. On 9 June 1462 the Consell declared him an enemy of the people and deposed. In August the Generalitat offered the crown to Henry IV of Castile, who accepted and sent John de Beaumont as his lieutenant. John II meanwhile marched on Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
, which he did not besiege. He then defeated an army of the Consell near Cervera
Cervera
Cervera is the capital of the comarca of Segarra, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. The title Compte de Cervera is a courtesy title, formerly part of the Crown of Aragon, that has been revived for Felipe, Prince of Asturias....
at Rubinat on 21–22 July, and proceeded to take Tàrrega
Tàrrega
Tàrrega is a village and municipality located in the Urgell comarca, province of Lleida, Catalonia. According to the 2009 census , the village has a population of 16.539 inhabitants....
. After the victory he joined his forces with Gaston's at Montcada in September and marched towards Barcelona. The city was besieged until Hug Roger III could arrive with relief troops by sea in October.
John II then marched on Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, where the Archbishop Pere d'Urrea urged surrender. With the fall of Tarragona (31 October), Henry IV, who was approaching Barcelona by sea, opened negotiations with John and Louis XI. Throughout the winter of 1462–63, both armies were plagued with desertions and neither side could call on more than a few hundred, mostly demoralised, troops. John, though, was supported in Aragon
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
and Valencia
Kingdom of Valencia
The Kingdom of Valencia , located in the eastern shore of the Iberian Peninsula, was one of the component realms of the Crown of Aragon. When the Crown of Aragon merged by dynastic union with the Crown of Castile to form the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Valencia became a component realm of the...
, and especially in Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica
The Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica was a constituent country of several States through six centuries...
and Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
. Major concessions to the Sicilian nobility in 1460 ensured that Sicilian grain and money to feed and finance the royalist cause in Catalonia after 1462.
In April 1463 John II ceded Estella in Navarre to Castile and in June Henry formally renounced the Aragonese throne. In October the Consell offered the throne to the constable of Portugal
Constable of Portugal
Constable of Portugal or Constable of the Kingdom was a title created by the King of Portugal Ferdinand I in 1382, to substitute the title Alferes Mór do Reino. The constable was the second most powerful person in the kingdom, after the King of Portugal...
, a grandson of James II of Urgell
James II of Urgell
James II was the Count of Urgell , Viscount of Àger, and lord of Antillón, Alcolea de Cinca, and Fraga...
, who was acclaimed as Peter V
Peter V of Aragon
Peter V of Aragon , Infante of Portugal, Constable of Portugal and Grand Master of the Order of Aviz.He was son of Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra, and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel, and grandson of John I of Portugal.During the War Against John II, between 1463 and 1466 Peter was King of...
. In November a delegation of Catalans approached Louis of France at Abbeville
Abbeville
Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and northwest of Amiens...
to seek his arbitration, but he loudly proclaimed himself a Catalan dynast and mused that "there are no mountains" between Catalonia and France. The Catalan legates wisely decided to return without his arbitration.
Peter took ship to Barcelona, where he landed in January 1464. He lifted the siege of Cervera, but failed to duplicate the feat at Lleida, which John captured in July, and several smaller towns. Vilafranca del Penedès
Vilafranca del Penedès
Vilafranca del Penedès, or simply Vilafranca, is the capital of the comarca of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia, Spain. The Spanish spelling of the name, Villafranca del Penedés, is no longer in official use...
, where the Capitulation had been signed three years earlier, fell to the king in August. Cervera, Amposta
Amposta
Amposta is the capital of the comarca of Montsià, in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.It is located at 8 metres above the sea, by the Ebre river, not far from its end. Population 18,841 ....
, and Tortosa
Tortosa
-External links:* *** * * *...
fell to John and the count of Praderas. Peter suffered a major defeat at Els Prats del Rei on 28 February 1465, where the count of Pallars Sobirà was captured. Peter died at Granollers
Granollers
Granollers is a city near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and most densely populated city of the comarca of Vallès Oriental.Granollers is a bustling business centre, and many industries are located there...
in June 1466. Tortosa
Tortosa
-External links:* *** * * *...
capitulated shortly after his death, as did some other small places. The king had offered to pardon his enemies and respect the Constitucions and the municipal privileges, so that the Generalitat was debating submission, but a minority on the Consell was deadset against it.
On 30 July 1466 the Consell elected René the Good, the Count of Anjou and Provence and failed claimant to several crowns, as their new king. His election—he was a grandson of John I of Aragon
John I of Aragon
John I , called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance , but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of...
—was designed to fracture the French alliance. René sent as his lieutenant his blind son John II, Duke of Lorraine
John II, Duke of Lorraine
John II of Anjou was Duke of Lorraine from 1453 to his death. He inherited the duchy from his mother, Duchess Isabelle, during the life of his father, Duke René of Anjou, also Duke of Lorraine and titular king of Naples...
, with much needed reinforcements. Speedily John besieged Girona, captured Banyoles
Banyoles
Banyoles is a city of 17,309 inhabitants located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain.The town is the capital of the Catalan comarca "Pla de l'Estany"...
, occupied the Empordà
Empordà
Empordà is a historical region of Catalonia divided since 1936 into two comarques, Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà....
, and entered Barcelona in August 1466. The entire Empordà, however, did not remain occupied for long.
In October John of Lorraine defeated Prince Ferdinand at Viladamat
Viladamat
Viladamat is a village of Alt Empordà, 6 kilometers to the north from l'Escala, a municipality in Catalonia, Spain....
. The prince sustained heavy losses and John II, who had recently landed at Empúries
Empúries
Empúries , formerly known by its Spanish name Ampurias , was a town on the Mediterranean coast of the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. It was founded in 575 BC by Greek colonists from Phocaea with the name of Ἐμπόριον...
, fled with his son to Tarragona. When the Duke of Lorraine was shortly forced to return to France to raise troops, Ferdinand campaigned northwards. All the while the king was working to foment a baronial rebellion against Louis XI of France and to foster a tripartite alliance between England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
, Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
, and Aragon. When, in 1468, the brother of the childless Henry IV of Castile, Alfonso de Trastámara y Avís, died, John rushed to propose a marriage between his son Ferdinand and Henry's half-sister Isabella
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...
, formerly the proposed wife of Charles of Viana.
In September 1468 Ferdinand took Berga
Berga
Berga is the capital of the comarca of Berguedà, in Catalonia, Spain.- History :Berga derives its name from the Bergistani, an Iberian tribe that lived in the area before the Roman conquest. The Bergistani were first subdued by Hannibal in 218 BC...
. His proposed marriage won the approval of the Aragonese and Castilian magnates and was celebrated in Valladolid
Valladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
in October 1469. The Duke of Lorraine had returned to Catalonia in May that year and in June took Girona, which he had been holding out through 1467–68, and several smaller places. The Duke died in December 1470, before an attack on the mountainous redoubt of Francesc de Verntallat could be carried out. At a general cortes at Monzón
Monzón
Monzón is a small town in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It has a population of 17,050. It is located in the northeast and adjoins the rivers Cinca and Sosa.-Historical overview:...
in 1470 the king received the subsidy he requested to carry on the war until the expulsion of the French from Catalonia.
John II campaigned in the Alt Empordà
Alt Empordà
Alt Empordà is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain, one of two into which Empordà was divided by the comarcal division of Catalonia in 1936.- Municipalities :Populations are as of 2001.*Agullana - pop. 668*Albanyà - pop. 99*L'Armentera - pop. 742...
until June 1472 and then against Barcelona. A naval and land siege lasted from November 1471 to 16 October 1472. By the Capitulation of Pedralbes, Barcelona surrendered to John, John agreed to let John of Calabria leave peacefully and a general pardon was granted. The Count of Pallars, however, was not pardoned. The acts of the Consell and the other organs of Catalan government since the death of Charles of Viana were approved and John swore to uphold the Constitucions. The Capitulation of Vilafranca, however, was rejected.
Aftermath
The last action of the war was on the part of the Catalan barons of Roussillon and Cerdagne, which had been assigned to France as surety for war subsidies. The French were only slowly expelled. On 1 February 1473, John entered PerpignanPerpignan
-Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the...
to the joy of its citizens. He placed Catalan garrisons in the castles of Bellegarde
Bellegarde
Bellegarde may refer to:In communes in France:* Bellegarde, Gard* Bellegarde, Gers* Bellegarde, Loiret* Bellegarde, Tarn* Bellegarde-du-Razès, in the Aude département* Bellegarde-en-Diois, in the Drôme département...
, Collioure
Collioure
Collioure is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies on the Mediterranean and was a part of the ancient Roussillon province....
, and Salses. The French, angered by the abridgement of the treaty of Bayonne, counter-attacked a few weeks later, but some Castilian troops under Prince Ferdinand successfully resisted. John began negotiations that led to a truce in July and a treaty at Perpignan on 17 September. John recognised the treaty of Bayonne in return for French recognition of his sovereignty in the disputed provinces. John agreed to pay 300,000 écus, and Roussillon and Cerdagne were proclaimed "neutral" until the payment was made.
John returned to Barcelona triumphant, but failed to raise the necessary funds. In the summer of 1474 the French conquered Roussillon and March 1475 Perpignan fell to them. The French raided the Empordà as far as Girona in 1476, and John, his allies tied up by their own wars, could not even oppose them. In October 1478 he ceded the two provinces to France until he could redeem them with cash. Revolts against his authority flared in Aragon and Valencia, which had stayed out of the civil war, and he failed to put them down. He did succeed in quashing a revolt in Sardinia.
External links
- Henry John Chaytor (1933), A History of Aragon and Catalonia, Chapter 16: Juan II. Union of Aragon with Castile (London: Methuan Publishing).
- Catalonia: History — The War Against John II. HiperEnciclopèdia.
- Guerra contra Joan II. Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
- Map of the revolt of the remences.
