Angelets

The Angelets, or “the Angelets of the Earth” (in Catalan, “els Angelets de la Terra”), were peasants who rose up from 1667 to 1675 against the French authorities of the Roussillon province. The group of conflicts of the period is subsumed under the name of “the Revolt of the Angelets”. The cause was the instituting of the gabelle (salt tax) in 1661 — a measure contrary to traditional constitutions of the earldom (the earldom of Roussillon and Cerdanya, the lands of the crown of Majorca from 1276 to 1344).

The revolt first concerned the county of Vallespir, then it won those of Conflent and Roussillon.

The reason why the revolts are referred to as “angelets” is unknown. One of the explanations advanced is the popular belief according to which the angels know the mountains well; another is the faculty that they have of appearing and disappearing.

As for the word “miquelets,” it refers primarily to Catalan mercenaries but sometimes to armed peasants. There is thus confusion among the ancient authors, particularly in relation to the war of Holland: They designate under the name “miquelets” all those who, in the province of Roussillon, oppose the king of France — though it be angelets or Catalan mercenaries in the service of the king of Spain.

Archangel Michael is the patron saint of the miquelets and the wool-workers of Prats-de-Mollo, he who gave a sacred tint to one revolt that reclaimed liberties with the patriotic cry of “Visca la terra!” (“Long live the Earth!”)

On May 8, 1659, the Catalan Revolt came to an end, and on November 7, the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed between the Spanish and the French monarchies. The agreement notably foresaw a sharing of the principality of Catalonia between the two sovereigns. The crown of France annexed five comarques (corresponding to the two Counts, minus lower Cerdanya and Llívia):

Louis XIV engaged himself with respecting the local customs. But, since June 1660, he replaced Catalan institutions and agencies with his own political, judiciary, and fiscal structures. He created a sovereign Council at Perpignan. Then he named a steward.

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