Four trials of infractions by agreements in Catalonia sent to the kings of France (1642-1647)

Abstract

In 1641, the representative institutions of Catalonia were considered a protectorate of the French Crown subject to several conditions agreed with Louis XIII, mainly regarding the rights and freedoms of the Catalan people. To ensure this respect or observance, a sui generis mechanism was implemented of a mixed and representative nature: a series of commissions of thirteen judges, half of which would be officials of the monarchy and the other half chosen from among the three social stratum. They were thus called agreements — as a reflection of the pact between rex and regnum. But with the peculiarity that, being an uneven total number of judges, they alternated seven and six — in the first trial, six and seven — in the second — and so on. It thus decreased the risk of partiality if an action undertaken by a royal official constituted an infraction, that is, having breached one of the country’s regulations. Despite the contextual difficulties — the power and authoritarian character of the French crown, the fragility of Catalonia before the Hispanic Monarchy from which it had separated and in the context of international war — the mechanism was used on four occasions between 1642 and 1647. Just a few occasions, but with a massive political significance.