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Siege of Salses (1639)
In July 1639 French Marshal La Meilleraye captured the Spanish-held fortress of Salses in Roussillon;…
Timeline
- 1639Salses fortress · RoussillonFrench Marshal La Meilleraye led his army into Roussillon and formally besieged the fortress of Salses on July 19, 1639. Outnumbered, the garrison soon fell, giving the French control of a key Pyrenean pass. This was part of Richelieu's strategy to weaken Spain through the Thirty Years' War.
- 1639Roussillon and northern Catalonia · CataloniaSpain assembled an army for a counter-siege, forcibly conscripting thousands of Catalan troops and burdening the region with garrison supplies. Large numbers of Castilian soldiers rampaged through Catalonia, provoking strong popular resentment. Olivares's policy of 'union of arms' clashed openly with Catalonia's traditional autonomy in this campaign.
- 1640Salses fortress · RoussillonIn January 1640, after months of siege, the French were forced to withdraw from Salses and Spain recovered the fortress. Yet the political consequences were far more lasting: the heavy requisitions on Catalonia directly triggered the Corpus de Sang incident and the Catalan Revolt five months later.
Sources
- The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 1598–1640 — John H. Elliott (1963)
- Spain and the Great Powers in the Seventeenth Century — R. A. Stradling (1988)