378 years ago today the Catalan Army crushed the Spanish Army in Montjuic

The war had its roots in the discomfort generated in Catalan society by the presence of Castilian troops during the wars between France and Spain as part of the Thirty Years' War Count-Duke Olivares, the chief minister of Philip IV, had been overusing Catalan resources in his wars against France. Catalan peasants, who were forced to quarter Castilian troops, responded on Corpus Christi day, May 1640, with an uprising known as 'Bloody Corpus', under the slogans "Long live the faith of Christ!", "Long live the king , our lord", "Long live the land, death to bad government". This 'Bloody Corpus' which began with the death of a reaper, and led to the somewhat mysterious death of Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma and Spanish viceroy of Catalonia, marked the beginning of the conflict. The irregular militia involved were known as 'Miquelets'.

The situation took Olivares by surprise, with most of the Spanish army fighting on other fronts far from Catalonia. Pau Claris, head of the Generalitat of Catalonia, turned the social unrest of the Catalans into a political cause and proclaimed a Catalan Republic.

Battle of Montjuïc

In a first reaction, Spain sent a large army of 26,000 men under Pedro Fajardo to crush the Catalan Revolt. On its way to Barcelona, the Spanish army retook several cities, executing many hundreds of prisoners. These atrocities only reinforced the determination of the defenders of Barcelona, and the Generalitat obtained an important military victory over the Spanish army in the Battle of Montjuïc (January 26, 1641).


The Battle of Montjuïc took place on 26 January 1641 during the Catalan Revolt. A Spanish force of 23,000 under Pedro Fajardo launched an attack on the Catalan army led by Francesc de Tamarit, with French cavalry support. The Catalans were 6,000.

The Catalan rebels had taken up position on the heights of Montjuïc which dominated the city of Barcelona. The Spanish launched several concerted attempts to capture Montjuïc Castle, but were continually repulsed. Finally a large force of Catalan rebels counter-attacked from the direction of Barcelona. Large numbers of Spanish troops were killed (1,500) and the remainder had to withdraw to Tarragona along the coast. The Spanish force had recently massacred hundreds of Catalans who had tried to surrender at Cambrils. Fifty Catalan died in the battle.

Amongst those killed at the battle was John O'Neill, the exiled Earl of Tyrone, who was serving with an Irish regiment in the Spanish army. A little later, the death of Pau Claris created a difficult local and international situation, which resulted in the proclamation of Louis XIII of France as sovereign count of Barcelona as Lluís I de Barcelona. For the next decade the Catalans and French fought as allies, taking the initiative after Montjuic.