602

DISTURBANCES IN SPAIN.

[BOOK IV. Romish Church and of absolute power, to be the supporter from political motives of heretics and rebels, adopted the same line of conduct in Spain as he pursued in England. The affairs of the Spanish peninsula were now assuming a threatening aspect; Biscay and Catalonia, the only provinces which continued to retain any independence, were ripe for revolt; while the kingdom of Portugal was meditating the expulsion of the Spanish House and the restoration of the line of Braganza; a revolution accelerated by the intrigues of Richelieu.10 Biscay and Catalonia shared neither the burthens nor the advantages of Castile; they were exempt from the heavy taxes of that country, but they were also excluded, as "foreign," from the commerce of the East and West Indies. Catalonia, with its dependencies Rousillon and Cerdagne, recognised the King of Spain only as the successor of the Counts of Barcelona, and even required that its envoys at Madrid should be treated on the same footing as foreign ambassadors. Philip IV. and his minister, the Count-Duke Olivarez, resolved to put an end to this anomaly. In the French campaign in Rousillon in 1639 the Catalans had at first displayed some zeal and alacrity. Salces having been taken by Condé, the States of Catalonia had levied an army of 12,000 men to co-operate with the Spaniards under the Marquis de los Balbases for its recovery, which was ultimately effected. But this success was to cost Spain dear. During the long siege-the French commandant did not surrender till January 1640-the Catalan ranks were thinned by desertion, and the municipal bodies were negligent in furnishing the military supplies. Olivarez seized the occasion to assert the authority of Spain. The Count de Santa Coloma, viceroy of Catalonia, was directed to make the men proceed to the wars, even if it were necessary to send them bound hand and foot; the very women were to be compelled to carry on their backs corn, oats, and straw, for the use of the army. Articles required for the soldiery were seized without scruple; even the beds of the gentry were carried off. Matters became still worse after the recapture of Salces. The royal army was distributed in winter-quarters in Rousillon and Catalonia, and the soldiers, a mixture of Castilians, Neapolitans, and Irish, were permitted, nay encouraged, to oppress the inhabitants in every possible way. As if they had been in an enemy's country, the women were outraged, the villages and even the churches were plundered.

It was not likely that such things should be tamely borne by a

10 Weiss, L'Espagne depuis Philippe II. t. i. p. 376.

CHAP. VII.]

REVOLT OF CATALONIA.

603

people in so rude a state of civilisation as the Catalans, among whom it was then a common practice for a man who had got into any difficulties to turn bandolero, or brigand; such a step was called "going to the mountains," and was far from being regarded as a disgrace. Olivarez, at the very moment when the population were thus exasperated, ordered the Viceroy to levy 6000 soldiers in Catalonia, who, contrary to the privileges of that country, were to be sent abroad; they were to be taught that they must serve his Catholic Majesty in all quarters, like other subjects of the monarchy. At this order the amusements of the Carnival were suspended at Barcelona; the Bishop of Gerona excommunicated the perpetrators of the violences and sacrileges which prevailed in his diocese; remonstrances were addressed to the cabinet of Madrid, but received with coldness and contempt. The Viceroy seized a sum of money belonging to the city of Barcelona wherewith to pay his troops, and imprisoned the magistrates who expostulated with him. But the day of vengeance was at hand. Annually, towards Corpus Christi day, it was customary for large bands of mountaineers to repair to Barcelona and its neighbourhood to hire themselves for the harvest; a rude half-savage race, with knives at their girdles and huge horns depending from their shoulder-belts. As is usual in large gatherings, fury spreads as by contagion; one man animates another; they enter Barcelona, the burgesses join them, and every Castilian and foreigner that can be found is massacred. The Viceroy himself, while hastening to the port to embark on board ship, falls by the hand of an assassin (June 7th 1640). All the towns of Catalonia and Rousillon followed the example of the capital; the royal army was dispersed, and of all the great towns succeeded only in retaining Perpignan.

The Court of Madrid was naturally filled with alarm; especially as symptoms of insubordination were manifesting themselves, not only in Portugal, but even in Aragon, the Balearic islands, and Naples. Olivarez resorted to negociation and finesse. The Duke of Cardona, who succeeded Santa Coloma as viceroy, was instructed to conciliate the Catalans; but he speedily died of fear and vexation. The Bishop of Barcelona was then appointed, and in conjunction with Olivarez endeavoured to divide and amuse the Catalans. But the three deputies-general of the Catalan States, who formed the executive government of the province, were not to be duped. In August 1640 they entered into negociations with the French Court, through D'Espenan the governor of Leucate, respecting the establishment of a Catalan republic under the protectorate of France. As a last step the Brazos, or Cortés of

604

TREATY OF FRANCE WITH THE CATALANS. [BOOK IV.

Catalonia, assembled at Barcelona in September, intreated Philip IV. to recall the troops which occupied Rousillon, and to countermand those that were on the march to the Lower Ebro; and they declared that they would defend their liberties to the death. But, instead of listening to the envoys of the Cortés, Philip caused them to be arrested; and the Catalans forwarded to all Christian states and princes a manifesto setting forth the injuries they had received. The war had begun in Rousillon, where the insurgents were assisted by D'Espenan, the French governor of Leucate. Du Plessis Besançon, the envoy of Louis XIII., in a public audience with the Catalan deputies at Barcelona, alluded to the bonds which had anciently united their principality to the crown of France; and on the 16th of December 1640 a formal treaty was entered into, and hostages given for the due execution of it by the Catalans. Louis XIII. engaged to find officers to command the Catalan troops, and to provide, at the expense of, that province, an auxiliary corps of 8000 men. Catalonia and its dependencies bound themselves never to participate in any attack upon France, and to open their ports to the French fleets."1

At the same time was consummated another event of still greater importance to the Spanish monarchy-the Portuguese revolution. Sixty years of union with Spain had only rendered Portugal more dissatisfied, because by the House of Austria she had been systematically oppressed, humiliated, and impoverished. None of the promises made by Philip II. were observed. The commerce of Portugal with the East had suffered enormous losses through the disasters of the Spanish monarchy; her military and commercial marine had been almost annihilated in the wars provoked by the Spanish cabinet; while taxes raised on the first necessaries of life were applied to the building of the palaces of Buen Retiro and Galinero near Madrid. Nevertheless, Portugal had long suffered in silence, till the strife commencing between France and the House of Austria opened a prospect of redress. Relations had been established between the French Court and some leading Portuguese as early as 1630; and the revolution would probably have broken out long before but for the feeble and irresolute character of John Duke of Braganza, whom the Portuguese patriots destined for the throne, as the representative of their ancient kings. An insurrection had actually occurred in 1637, when the insurgents proclaimed the Duke of Braganza, the grandson of him who had contended with Philip II. for the throne

"Dumont, t. vi. pt. i. p. 196.

CHAP. VII.]

REVOLUTION IN PORTUGAL.

605

of Portugal', for their sovereign; but John, who had no inclination to risk his life and the large possessions still left to him, fled to escape the crown that was thrust upon him.

The rebellion in Catalonia was the immediate cause of the Portuguese revolution. Portugal was governed by Donna Margaret of Savoy, grand-daughter of Philip II. and duchess-dowager of Mantua, as Vice-Queen; but it was her secretary, Michael Vasconcellos, who actually directed the government. He and Diego Suarez, another Portuguese, who resided at Madrid with the title. of Secretary of State, both men of infamous character, had disgusted the Portuguese by their insolence and extortion. Towards the end of 1640 an order had arrived from the Spanish Court, directing the Duke of Braganza and the principal nobles of Portugal to march against the Catalans. The Portuguese resolved to imitate them instead. Pinto Ribeiro, major-duomo of the Duke of Braganza, a man of courage and talent, was the principal leader of the insurrection. Ribeiro had for some time been endeavouring to incite the nobles, and he organised the revolt almost without his master's knowledge. He was well seconded by the Duke's wife, Donna Luisa de Guzman, sister of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a lively, enterprising, and courageous lady. Ribeiro gave the signal for the insurrection by firing a pistol in the royal palace at Lisbon at eight o'clock in the morning (December 1st 1640). The confederates, who had flocked to the palace at an early hour, now began the work of liberation, and being assisted by the townspeople, soon overpowered the German and Spanish guard. In the tumult none distinguished himself more than a priest, who, with a crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other, now exhorting his friends, now cutting down his foes, cleared the way wherever he appeared. Several of the Spanish ministers were slain. Vasconcellos, who had concealed himself in a closet under a heap of papers, was despatched with a pistol shot and some sabre cuts, and his body thrown out at window. The cry then arose: "The tyrant is slain! Liberty and Don John IV. for ever!" The Vice-Queen, who was arrested and kept as a hostage, was compelled by threats to order the Spanish commandant of the citadel to surrender; and the success of the insurrection being thus assured, a message was despatched to the Duke of Braganza at Villaviciosa to require his presence at Lisbon. He entered that capital December 6th in the very same equipage as had been provided for his journey to Madrid, whither he had been invited by Philip IV. Never was a revolu

19 The Duke of Braganza had married one of the nieces of King Henry of Por

tugal, and the present duke was her grandson.

606

JOHN IV. ASCENDS THE PORTUGUESE THRONE. [Book IV.

tion of equal importance conducted more quietly, speedily, and successfully. It seemed as if John IV. ascended the throne of his ancestors in the regular course of succession. He was immediately proclaimed in the other towns of the kingdom; the Portuguese colonies, where the small detachments of Spanish troops could offer no effectual resistance, followed the example of the mother-country, and Ceuta in Morocco was the only settlement which Spain succeeded in retaining. The Portuguese Cortés, which assembled at Lisbon in January 1641, confirmed the title of King John IV., and echoing the voice of liberty raised by the Dutch half a century before, asserted the inherent right of mankind to depose a tyrannical sovereign, even were he legitimate, and not, like the King of Spain, a usurper.

13

John IV. hastened to contract alliances with France and Holland, each of which powers promised to furnish him with twenty ships of war. England and Sweden also recognised the new king of Portugal, but contented themselves with entering into commercial treaties.1 The rebellion in Catalonia caused the success of that in Portugal. The whole disposable force of Spain, consisting of some 20,000 men under the Marquis de los Velez, the new viceroy, had been despatched towards the frontiers of Catalonia; and as the disturbances in that country, on account of its vicinity to France, were considered the more important, the troops were not recalled. The progress of Los Velez was marked by fire and massacre. Xerta and Cambril were taken and destroyed, together with their inhabitants; Tarragona was then invested, and as the Catalan army had been dispersed, D'Espenan, who had marched to its relief with 4000 French, was glad to save his own force as well as the town by a capitulation. The Catalan revolution would have been crushed in the bud, but for the energy of Claris, canon of Urgel, and of the French envoy, Du Plessis Besançon. When the Spanish forces appeared before Barcelona, Claris exhorted the citizens rather to bury themselves under the ruins of the town than submit to the butchers of their brethren; while the French envoy organised the means of defence with wonderful quickness and ability, and sustained the courage of the Barcelonese by the promise of speedy and abundant succour from France. In the minds of the Catalans the dejection of fear had been succeeded by the fury of despair. Everybody, even the monks, flew to arms; and the insurgents cut

13 On this Revolution see Giov. Batt. Birago Avogaro, Hist. della disunione del Regno di Portogallo dalla corona di Castiglia; Vertot, Révolutions de Portugal;

Weiss, L'Espagne depuis le règne de Philippe II. jusqu'à l'avènement des Bourbons. Dumont, t. vi. pt. i. pr. 202 sqq. 214 sqq.