Historical context
On this day as today in the year 1462, 562 years ago, in Zaragoza and in the context of the Catalan Civil War (1462-1472) and the Remença Revolution (1462-1485); King John II of Catalonia and Aragon signed the confirmation of the treaty that the representatives of the chancelleries of Barcelona and Paris had signed two weeks earlier (May 9, 1462) in the Basque-French town of Bayonne. According to this treaty, King Louis XI of France undertook to provide military aid to John II to defeat the Catalan aristocracy, which had rebelled against the royal estate due to authoritarian policies (contrary to traditional culture Catalan pactista with feudal roots) implemented by the Trastàmaras since their arrival on the throne of Barcelona (Ferran I, 1412).
The treaty and its consequences
The cost of this military aid was quantified at 200,000 gold shields plus interest, calculated at 33%, which made the final debt 300,000 gold shields (the equivalent of 900 million euros) . The negotiating parties agreed that, as a guarantee of payment of that aid, John II ceded to Louis XI the sovereignty and temporary rents over the counties of Rosselló and Cerdanya. Once the agreement was ratified by the two monarchs, the French army, led by Gastó de Foix—captain general of Languedoc and son-in-law of John II—; occupied Roussillon and Cerdanya (August, 1462). But the population of Roussillon and Ceretan did not accept it and they started a scenario of permanent rebellion that would enormously wear down the occupying troops.
The scrapping of the feudal regime
The alliance between John II and the Remences defeated the Catalan landed aristocracy, and Catalonia was the first country in Europe to begin dismantling the feudal regime. However, John II never paid that debt and the French occupation of Roussillon and Cerdany lasted until after his death, when his son and successor Ferdinand II – the Catholic – agreed to reinstate of the north-Pyrenean counties in Catalonia (Treaty of Barcelona, 1493); in return that the Spanish monarchy would not intervene in the French occupation and the dethronement of the Neapolitan Trastàmara. Ferdinand II did not respect that pact either, and occupied and expelled from Naples (1504) Louis XII of France (the son and successor of the usurer of Bayonne).
