L'Exili de la Guerra de Successió

Abstract

The exile of theWar of Succession. The defeat of Catalonia in theWar of the Spanish Succession (1702-1715) led to the exile of between 25,000 and 30,000 people.Approximately half of themwere Catalans, the rest having sought refuge in the Principality from other kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula. Exiles sought refuge in territories governed by emperor Charles VI (Charles III for the Catalans) and they were especially numerous and active in Italy and Vienna. Amongst them were people from all social classes, although the roles played by politicians, high-ranking soldiers, priests, jurists and intellectuals were particularly outstanding. The exiles had their own government institution, the Council of Spain, which had jurisdiction in all the Italian territories annexed by Charles VI, and they had their own social organisations, such as the Spanish Hospital and the Monastery of Montserrat, both of which were in Vienna. In 1735 Nova Barcelona was founded in present-day Vojvodina (Serbia). Its character traits and identity remained robustly alive until the 1740s. Later on, death without issue, return and absorption into the host societies led to the progressive dissolution of the exile society.