In February 1808 French troops arrived in Barcelona as allies of Spain. However, the goodwill and hospitality of the locals soon gave way to suspicion and then hatred of the French, which by the summer of that year had led to mass anti-French movements throughout Catalonia. The article focuses on the formation of anti-French resistance in Catalonia in 1808, the role of the religious factor in anti-French uprisings, and the specifics of the activities of irregular armed units – somatenes and miqueletes. Based on the texts of chronicles, reports, and memoirs of French and Spanish contemporaries, the author addresses the specifics of the perception of somatenes and miqueletes, as well as the assessment of their actions from the point of view of their compatriots and representatives of the enemy army. The text of the Catalan priest Raymundo Ferrer’s chronicle, reflects the Spanish view of the Catalan militias, which connected with the glorification of the somatenes and miqueletes. However, Ferrer’s chronicle does not fully reflect the problems of recruitment into the ranks of the militias, issues of discipline and desertion among the somatenes and miqueletes. The opposite assessment of the activities of the somatenes and miqueletes is reflected in French sources, which present the Catalan volunteers as armed bandits and robbers. An appeal to the phenomenon of the somatenes and miqueletes in the conditions of the Peninsular War of 1808-1814 shows that traditional types of armed detachments were successfully at the beginning of the war, but found themselves in a state of crisis in the conditions of prolonged military actions and the French occupation of Catalonia.
Catalonia against Napoleon: anti-French resistance 1808–1814
Kosykh Tatiana
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, project № 23–18–00011 «Popular Anti-Revolution in Mediterranean 1792–1814».
References:
Adzerias i Causi G. Els sometents, mite o realitat // Noves lectures de la guerra napoleònica des del Maresme 1808–1814 / Recull de la conferència inaugural, les ponències i les comunicacions de la Jornada del Bicentenari Noves Lectures de la Guerra Napoleònica 1808-1814 celebrada al Museu Arxiu de Vilassar de Dalt el 18 d'octubre del 2008. Vilassar de Dalt, 2010. P. 201–207.
Aymes J.-R. L'Espagne contre Napoléon: la guerre d'Indépendance espagnole (1808–1814). Paris, 2003.
Callahan W. J. Iglesia, poder y sociedad en España, 1750–1874. Madrid, 1989.
Gallice T. Guérilla et contre-guérilla en Catalogne (1808–1813). Paris, 2012.
Hocquellet R. Resistencia y revolución durante la Guerra de la Independencia: Del levantanmiento patriótico a la soberanía nacional. Zaragoza, 2008.
Moliner Prada A. Catalunya contra Napoleó. La Guerra del Francès (1808–1814). Lleida, 2007.
Moliner Prada A. La articulación militar de la resistencia: la guerrilla // Trocadero. Revista Del Departamento De Historia Moderna, Contemporánea, De América Y Del Arte. 2008. № 20. P. 45–58.
Moliner Prada A. La guerrilla en la Guerra de la Independencia. Madrid, 2004.
Moliner Prada A. La imagen de Francia y de su ejército en Cataluña durante la Guerra del Francés (1808–1814) // L'image de la France en Espagne (1808–1850) / ed. por J.-R. Aymes, J. Fernandez Sebastian. Paris, 1997. URL: https://books.openedition.org/psn/2196
Moliner Prada A. Las fiestas en la ciudad de Barcelona durante la ocupación napoleónica // Ler História. 2010. № 58. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/lerhistoria/1205
Moliner Prada A. Popular Resistance in Catalonia: somatenes and migueletes in the French War // Revista HMiC: història moderna i contemporània. 2003. № 1. P. 35–56.
Moliner Prada A. Popular Resistance in Catalonia: Somatens and Miquelets, 1808–14 // Popular Resistance in the French Wars: Patriots, Partisans and Land Pirates / Ed. by Ch. J. Esdaile. Basingstoke, 2005. P. 91–114.
Pascual P. Curas y frailes guerrillieros en la Guerra de la Independencia: las partidas de cruzada, reglamentadas por el cermelita zaragozano P. Manuel Traggia. Zaragoza, 2000.