Voltaire on Catalonia (1751): "Catalonia can dispense with the whole universe but its neighbors can not do without it"

Premonitory as in other issues and issues, Voltaire praises Catalonia in 1751 with an aphorism that remains contemporary and gives title to this post. Coming up next the original text...


"Catalonia is one of the most fertile countries in the world and the best located. It is irrigated by beautiful rivers, streams and fountains, as much as the old and new Castile are deprived of them, produce everything necessary for the needs of man and all what can flatter your wishes. trees, grains, fruits and vegetables of all kinds Barcelona is one of the most beautiful harbors in Europe, and the country provides everything . necessary for the construction of vessels its mountains are full of quarries of marble, jasper, rock crystal, and even stones are also many precious mines iron, tin, lead, alum, sulphates are. plentiful; the east coast produces coral.Catalonia, in short, can dispense with the entire universe, and its neighbors can not do without it.


Far from the abundance and delights they have softened, the inhabitants have always been warriors, and the mountaineers, above all, ferocious.But, in spite of their valor and their extreme love of freedom, they have been subjugated in all times: they were conquered by the Romans, the Goths, the Vandals, the Saracens.


They shook the yoke of the Saracens and placed themselves under the protection of Charlemagne. They belonged to the house of Aragon and later to that of Austria.


We have seen that under the rule of Philip IV, irritated by the Count duke de Olivares, the prime minister, they surrendered to Louis XIII in 1640. All their privileges were respected to them , being rather protected than subjects; they again became Austriandominion in 1652; and in the war of succession they took sides with Archduke Charles against Philip V. Their stubborn resistance proved that Philip V, though he had escaped from his competitor, could not reduce them alone. Louis XIV, who in the last days of the war had not been able to provide his grandson with soldiers or ships to fight against Charles, his rival, was then sent to fight against his rebellious subjects. A French squadron blocked the port of Barcelona, ​​and the marshal of Berwick besieged it by land.


The Queen of England, more faithful to her treaties than to the interests of her country, did not help that city, which angered the English, who were making the reproach that the Romans had done for having left to destroy Sagunto. The German emperor promised useless help. The besieged defended themselves with a value doubled by fanaticism; the priests, the monks ran to arms and trenches as if it had been a war of religion. The phantom of freedom made them deaf to the propositions of their sovereign. More than five hundred ecclesiastics died in that place with their weapons in their hands; we can imagine to what extent his speeches and his example will have encouraged the people.


They raised a black flag over the gap and held more than one assault.Finally , having penetrated the besiegers, the besieged continued fighting from street to street; and, retired to the new city, while the old one was taken, still asked the capitular that all their privileges be preserved (September 12, 1714).They were only allowed to respect life and property. They took away most of the privileges; and of all the monks who had revolted the people and fought against their king, there were only sixty punished; even had the indulgence of condemning them only to galleys. Felipe V dealt more harshly with the small town of Játiba in the course of the war; he had destroyed it to the ground to make a mark; but if a small town of small importance is destroyed, a great one, owner of a beautiful sea port , is not destroyed , and whose maintenance is useful to the State.


This fury of the Catalans , which had not encouraged them when Charles VI was among them, and who seized them when they were without help,was the last flame of the fire that devastated for so long the most beautiful part of Europe , by the will of Charles II, king of Spain "


Voltaire, The Century of Louis XIV (1751) Cap.XXIII