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Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma
Dalmau de Queralt | |
|---|---|
| Error creating thumbnail: Count of Santa Coloma, lithograph by Juan Serra for the Historia de España ilustrada, desde su fundación hasta nuestros días by Rafael del Castillo, Barcelona, Heredero de Pablo Riera, 1875. National Library of Spain. | |
| Title | 2nd Count of Santa Coloma Baron of Ponts Viceroy of Catalonia |
| Term | 1638–1640 |
| Predecessor | Enrique de Aragón Folc de Cardona y Córdoba |
| Successor | Enrique de Aragón Folc de Cardona y Córdoba |
Dalmau de Queralt y Codina, Count of Santa Coloma de Queralt (?, c. 1593 – Barcelona, June 7, 1640) was a Spanish noble and Viceroy of Catalonia between 1638 and 1640, who was murdered by Catalan rebels at the outbreak of the Catalan revolt of 1640.[1]
Biography
The son of Pere de Queralt e Icart Cardona i Luyando, 1st Count of Santa Coloma, and his wife María Codina Cardona, Dalmau was appointed Viceroy in 1638 by King Philip IV after the resignation of Enrique de Aragón Folc de Cardona y Córdoba.
In 1639 and 1640 he took part in the Roussillon Campaigns against the French, during which the Spanish recovered Salses, as deputy to General Spinola, Generalissimo of the armies of the Hispanic Monarchy on the border with France, within the framework of the Thirty Years' War.
The War against France, which had begun in 1635, caused strong tensions between the Spanish Monarchy and Catalonia: the French had repeatedly threatened the fortress of Salses, and the Count-Duke of Olivares believed that the Catalans put little effort into the defense of their own territory by not contributing the necessary resources, an opinion not shared by the Catalan leaders, who felt that their collaboration was not properly appreciated.
Moreover, the presence of the tercios in Catalonia had led to incidents in the towns that had to quarter them, often against their will. When in July 1638, after the drawing of lots for the renewal of the Generalitat of Catalonia, the ecclesiastic Pau Claris was named President and Francesc de Tamarit delegate of the Catalan military Estate, everything changed radically. Both were hostile to the Spanish Monarchy, and the Generalitat immediately lodged a complaint over the prohibition of trade with France on account of the war, which harmed Catalan interests.
For his part, Dalmau de Queralt traveled to Madrid to ask the King to have the tercios leave Roussillon and Cerdanya, since the people were close to revolt. He thus tried to mediate between the King and the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Consell de Cent, without much success. The Monarch wanted the Principality to join the Union of Arms and contribute to the defense of Catalonia against France, but the Catalans asked to maintain their status.
Between September and January 1640, Dalmau de Queralt directed the siege of the Castle of Salses, which had been taken by the French in June of that year, achieving its recovery. After the conquest of the fortress, the Viceroy had the troops stationed in northern Catalonia withdrawn toward the coast, between Palamós and Barcelona, to spend the winter, but in exchange a fixed tax was created for the upkeep of the troops.
At the same time, to make an example, and by order of the Count-Duke of Olivares, the Viceroy ordered in March the arrest of the deputies most belligerent against the presence of the troops, among them Francesc de Tamarit, and the President of the Generalitat himself, Pau Claris (who managed to flee), and the confiscation of the Generalitat's property was ordered.
Shortly afterward came news of an incident in Santa Coloma de Farners (April 30, 1640), in which a bailiff who had arrived in the town to arrange the quartering of a detachment of Neapolitan soldiers had been burned alive. The Viceroy ordered the town burned completely in an attempt to maintain his authority. The popular revolt, however, was spreading across the Principality. On May 22, the rebels entered Barcelona, managing to free the deputy Tamarit, and withdrew shortly afterward.
On June 7, the day of Corpus Christi, a large number of reapers, seasonal workers, came to Barcelona to take part in the traditional procession organized on the occasion of the harvest, and organized a revolt. The reapers not only raised sentiments against the seigneurial regime, but also against the quartering of troops and against the increase in taxes by the Count of Santa Coloma.
The insurgents went to the Viceroy's house shouting Long live the King and death to bad government[2] (a rallying cry that would later be used against the French in the Reapers' War.[3]), proceeding to sack uncontrollably the houses of various figures of the nobility and the Catalan administration, causing the deaths of some twenty people.
When the disturbances moved toward the area of the Ramblas, the Viceroy escaped from his house toward the Shipyards, in an attempt to escape the city. The insurgents found out, and a manhunt began. The Viceroy managed to reach the beach, but there, wounded and exhausted, he was stabbed.
However, according to the Dietari de la Generalitat, after the events President Pau Claris ordered an investigation, in which the Consellers who had helped the Viceroy escape gave testimony. According to that testimony, the Consellers led him from the Viceroy's Palace to Drassanes, and from there, across the rooftops, they jumped the wall of Santa Madrona down to the beach of Montjuïc, where a small boat from the Royal Galley was to pick him up to evacuate him. The Consellers stated that they guarded him until the Royal Galley, anchored off the beach, launched the small boat. According to that same testimony, they offered to protect him until the boat reached the beach, but the Viceroy declined, urging them to return to the city and try to calm the revolt. The Consellers also stated that they then immediately returned to the city and the Viceroy was left alone on the beach while the boat from the Royal Galley approached.[4]
This contrasts sharply with the testimony of two of the Count's servants, Esteve and Domínguez, who were present during the murder and stated that they were unable to board a Genoese galley anchored there and had to hide among some rocks, where the mob caught up with them, recounting that:
"one of the locals came up […], a man without a hair of beard, about twenty years of age, in sailor's dress, very close to the count, and said 'cap de Déu, aso es el virrey [a thousand devils, this is the viceroy]', and drawing a dagger about a palm and a half long, he gave the said count a stab in the pit of the stomach, driving it all the way in, and then another man came up who was a reaper and was one-eyed, his face marked by smallpox, tall in stature, and gave the count three or four more stabs in the belly."
The following day Dalmau de Queralt was buried in the Church of La Merced in Barcelona. His murder marked a turning point in the rupture between Catalonia and the Hispanic Monarchy, which would end up initiating armed actions, justifying the killing of the Viceroy in the fifth cause of a decalogue called Las cargas que su magestad (Felipe IV) haze en Cataluña.
The murder of the Viceroy gave rise to "Els Segadors", the current official anthem of Catalonia, which is based on a popular 17th-century ballad. The lyrics were modified to include references that extol the murders of Dalmau de Queralt and other officials during the revolt.[5]
References
- ↑ García Cárcel, Ricardo. "Dalmau de Queralt y Codina". Real Academia de la Historia (in español). Madrid. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
- ↑ Minguez Cornelles, Víctor (2004). «Rey patria en el mundo hispánico». El Imperio sublevado. Monarquia y naciones en Espana e Hispanoamerica (Spanish Edition). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. p. 22.
- ↑ López, Victoriano Roncero (2018-01-31). "Conxita Domènech, «La "Guerra dels Segadors" en comedias y panfletos ibéricos. Una historia contada a dos voces (1640-1652)»". Anuario Lope de Vega. Texto, literatura, cultura (in español). 24: 506–512. ISSN 2014-8860. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
- ↑ El virrey hispánico es asesinado en extrañas circunstancias ElNacional.cat (in Spanish)
- ↑ Presidència de la Generalitat, «Llei 1/1993, de 25 de febrer, de l'himmne nacional de Catalunya», DOGT1715, 3-3-1993. (in Catalan)
External links
- Dalmau de Queralt y Codina at the Real Academia de la Historia (in Spanish)
- Condado de Santa Coloma (in Spanish)
- Historia sobre los movimientos y separación de Cataluña. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica (in Spanish)
