Pau Claris,
President of the
Generalitat of Catalonia, summoned on 10 September the
Junta de Braços or (assembly of Estates or States-General) of Catalonia, an extraordinary body made up of the representatives of the three Estates of the realm in the
Catalan Courts (the parliament), presided by the Generalitat. The summit of the Junta de Braços was a success and an important improvement of representation by standards of the time, as it was also attended by representatives of cities which usually weren't invited to the Courts, as well as members of various feudal towns and, in addition, it mostly worked under the basis of individual vote instead of the traditional single vote per Estate. The new assembly began to assume the sovereignty, enacting a series of revolutionary measures, such as the establishment of a Council of Justice in replacement of the
Royal Audience of Catalonia (the royal judges were also assassinated during the
Corpus de Sang), the Council of Defense of the Principality in order to raise an army to respond the expected Royal counter-attack, as well as the Council of Treasury which began to issue debt and a special tax to the nobility (the
Batalló), while the tension with the monarchy grew. At the same time, the Generalitat maintained diplomatic contacts with the Kingdom of France, in order to establish an alliance between the Principality of Catalonia and this country. was appointed
plenipotentiary of the King of France to Catalonia on 29 August 1640. By the pact of Ceret (September 1640), the French monarchy promised to help the Principality. The massacre perpetrated by the Spanish armies
in Cambrils on 16 December, a method similar to those carried out in the fight against the
Dutch Republic, convinced Catalan leadership that they could not expect any pardon or negotiated solution with the Spanish king. As a result of the negotiation, on 16 January, Pau Claris presented a proposal before the Junta de Braços by which the King of France agreed to put the Principality under his protection if Catalonia changed its government to a
republic. On 17 January 1641, the Junta de Braços accepted the establishment of the
Catalan Republic under French protection. However, a week later, following the defeat of the Catalan army in the
Battle of Martorell, close to Barcelona, du Plessis-Besançon managed to convince the Catalan authorities that the help they needed could only be obtained from France if they recognized Louis XIII of France as sovereign. Pau Claris appealed on 23 January to Louis XIII, recognizing him as
Count of Barcelona (as Louis I) and thus beginning the process to place the Principality of Catalonia in a personal union with the Kingdom of France. The threat of the French enemy establishing a powerful base south of the Pyrenees caused an immediate reaction from the Habsburg monarchy. The Habsburg government 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 hundreds of prisoners, and a rebel army of the Catalan Republic was defeated in
Martorell, near Barcelona, on 23 January. In response the Catalans reinforced their efforts and the Franco-Catalan armies obtained an important military victory over the Spanish army in the
Battle of Montjuïc (26 January 1641). Pau Claris died a month later, probably poisoned by Spanish agents. His successor,
Josep Soler, prepared the formal agreement of personal union between Catalonia and France, which was ratified by the
Treaty of Peronne on 19 September 1641. After the military success, the Junta de Braços was able to establish its own Judiciary throughout Catalan territory with the help of French armies, despite the persistence of some class war in the form of local uprisings of peasants. For the next decade the Catalans fought in French personal union, taking the initiative after Montjuïc. Meanwhile, increasing French control of political and administrative affairs despite the agreements reached in Peronne (maritime ports, taxes, key bureaucratic positions, etc.) and a firm military focus on the neighbouring Spanish kingdoms of
Valencia and
Aragon, in line with
Cardinal Richelieu's war against Spain, gradually undermined Catalan enthusiasm for the French. A Franco-Catalan army under
Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt moved south and gained several victories against the Spanish, but the sieges of Tarragona (1644),
Lleida and
Tortosa finally failed and the allies had to withdraw. In the north of Catalonia in Roussillon, they were more successful. Perpignan was taken from the Spanish after a
siege of 10 months, and the whole of
Roussillon was under French control. Shortly after, Spanish relief armies were defeated at the
Battle of Montmeló and
Battle of Barcelona. Due to the ravages caused by the famine and the plague, the commitment made by Philip IV to respect the Catalan constitutions and institutions in 1644, and the outbreak of
the Fronde conflict in France, the Spanish offensive was able to
capture Barcelona in 1652 after a year of siege, bringing the Catalan capital under Spanish control again. Then, the French armies and officers, as well as Catalans loyal to them, retreated to the northern side of the Pyrenees, retaining control of the
Roussillon while maintaining the claim over the entirety of Catalonia. Resistance continued for several years afterwards and some fighting took place north of the Pyrenees but the mountains would remain from then on the effective border between Spanish and French territories. ==Resolution==