ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

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Quintas riots, Barcelona 1773

Synopsis
After the War of the Spanish Succession, the military conscription went from being voluntary to compulsory and by lottery ("quintas"). The imposition of this system met with a great deal of resistance both in rural areas and in the cities, where it sometimes turned into riots. From the outset, Barcelona was a difficult city for the quintas system. Disorders such as those of 1726 dissuaded the authorities from compulsory conscription until, in 1770, Charles III obliged all the territories of the kingdom to contribute to the army on an equal basis. In 1773, the year in which the Captain General ordered the list of recruits in Barcelona to be drawn up, pamphlets calling for revolt were distributed in the streets of the city. The local authorities (Ayuntamiento), who had tried to delay the conscription, advised the population not to oppose it. However, on 4 May, the day the recruitment began, riots broke out. A group of men went up to the bell tower of the cathedral and rang the somatén, that is, they rang the bells to mobilise the population. Groups of young people between the ages of 18 and 20 took to the streets to protest, while others tried to flee the city (some of them were killed). The riots ended later that day, when it was announced that the quintas were suspended. A few weeks later, it was announced that voluntary conscription was to be resumed.
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 1 day. Name in sources: Motín de las quintas (Barcelona). Location: Barcelona Country (current): Spain. Monarchy: Spanish. Main participants: Artisans, Peasants. Number of participants: >500. Main reasons & motivations: Fiscal, Freedom, Others. Leadership: Unknown. Relevance: low.

Further reading
BORREGUERO BELTRÁN, Cristina (1987). El reclutamiento military por quintas en la España del siglo XVIII. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid (PhD Dissertation). BORREGUERO BELTRÁN, Cristina (1989). “Los motines de quintas”, Cuadernos de Historia Moderna, 10: 147-159; SANTALÓ i PEIX, Jaume (1997). “L’avalot de les quintes de 1773, un exemple de resistència popular”, in R. Arnabat (coord.), Moviments de protesta i resistència a la fi de l’Àntic Règim. Barcelona: Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, pp. 81-92.
Cite this entry

(2023) "Quintas riots, Barcelona 1773", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. (accessed on ).