ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

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Carrasclets insurrection 1719

Synopsis
On 11 September 1714, Barcelona fell to the Bourbon troops and Catalonia finally came under Philip V's control. From then on, resistance to the new regime manifested itself in the form of guerrillas that claimed Archduke Charles of Habsburg as the legitimate king of Spain. The best known today is the one led by the charcoal-burner Pere Joan Barceló i Anguera, known as Carrasclet ("little holm oak" in Catalan). Carrasclet organised guerrilla parties in southern Catalonia, composed mainly of impoverished peasants who opposed the new and abusive Bourbon taxation ("catastro" tax). The insurrection of the Carrasclets, made up of some 1,000 men, reached its peak in 1719. That year, in the context of the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1717-1720), France sought support within Catalonia to weaken the government of Giulio Alberoni, Philip V's minister. To this end, it allied with the Carrasclets to carry out coordinated military actions, promising the mobilised parties the restitution of the old privileges abolished by the Bourbon authorities. The dismissal of Alberoni at the end of that year and the end of the war in 1720 led to the demobilisation of the peasants and the start of a new wave of repression in Catalonia, from which Pere Joan Barceló "Carrasclet" escaped after going into exile in Vienna in June 1720.
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 16 months. Name in sources: Insurrección de los carrasclets. Location: Catalonia Country (current): Spain. Monarchy: Spanish. Main participants: Peasants. Number of participants: >500. Main reasons & motivations: Fiscal, Food, Political. Leadership: Pere Joan Barceló "Carrasclet", el Esgarrat de Vifret, el Clavegera de Santa Coloma, el Dragó Gros, el Coxo de Gerri and el Estebanoi. Relevance: medium.

Further reading
ALBAREDA i SALVADÓ, Joaquim (1997). “L’alçament dels Carrasclets contra Felip V”, in R. Arnabat (coord.), Moviments de protesta i resistència a la fi de l’Àntic Règim. Barcelona: Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, pp. 63-80. GIMÉNEZ LÓPEZ, Enrique (2005). “Conflicto armado con Francia y guerrilla austriacista en Cataluña (1719-1720), Hispania, LXV/2 (220): 543-600. TORRAS i RIBÉ, Josep Maria (2020). Misèria, poder i corrupció a la Catalunya borbònica (1714-1808). Barcelona: Rafael Dalmau editor.
Cite this entry

(2023) "Carrasclets insurrection 1719", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. (accessed on ).