ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

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Barcelona riots 1640

Synopsis
On 22 May 1640, a week after the destruction of Santa Coloma de Farners by the Spanish tercios, a crowd of peasants burst into the city of Barcelona and took up arms against the viceroy. They were reapers protesting against the consequences of the billeting of the royal soldiers in Catalonia. The crowd stormed the royal prisons and freed the prisoners, including members of the Catalan government imprisoned by order of the viceroy. On 7 June, Corpus Christi Day, the reapers stormed the city again and rose up, this time with the city’s inhabitants. On this occasion, they raided the houses of the royal ministers and assassinated the viceroy of Catalonia (the Count of Santa Coloma) and a judge of the Royal Council of Catalonia (Gabriel Berart). Some twenty soldiers and reapers also lost their lives. After that day, many of the royal ministers went into exile. Others, however, remained in Barcelona and tried to hide. On 15 September, one of them (Jeroni Grau) was discovered with his son and killed by a group of women. The last major outbreak of violence took place in December. On Christmas Eve, a new persecution was unleashed against the few remaining royal ministers hiding in the city. Women, men and children searched churches and convents and killed three judges of the Royal Council: Lluís Ramon, Joan Baptista Gori and Rafael Puig.
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 7,5 months. Name in sources: Motines de Barcelona. Location: Barcelona Country (current): Spain. Monarchy: Spanish. Main participants: Artisans, Peasants. Number of participants: >500. Main reasons & motivations: Anti-seigneurial, Fiscal, Political. Leadership: Sebastià Estralau and el Negre de Sant Andreu. Relevance: high.

Further reading
ELLIOTT, John H. (1963). The Revolt of the Catalans. A study in the Decline of Spain (1598-1640). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. GRACIA-ARNAU, Ivan (2022). “Barcelona, 1640: popular violence and the use of urban spaces during the revolt of Corpus Christi Day”, eHumanista/IVITRA 21: 544-555. SIMON i TARRÉS, Antoni (2019). 1640. Barcelona: Rafael Dalmau editor.
Cite this entry

Gracia-Arnau, Ivan (2023). "Barcelona riots 1640", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. http://atlas.cidehusdigital.uevora.pt/revolt/catalan-revolt-1640/barcelona-riots-1640/ (accessed on 03 August 2025).

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