On 17 May, starting from the small Catalan town of Santa Eulalia de Riuprimer, a group of Barcelona's "Witty Walkers" made a pilgrimage to the Ermita de Sant Sebastia. The chapel stands strategically located high on the hills overlooking the plain of Vic, covering the road up from the Mediterranean coast and the Pyrenean passes descending from France. A safe remote place for surreptitious meetings in times of conflict. 

Why that date and why surreptitious and so remote? During the turbulent Wars of the Spanish Succession, which ravaged the whole of Europe, the Pact of Vigitans (Vic) was signed at this Ermita exactly 320 years ago that day on 17 May 1705. This empowered Antoni de Peguera and Domini Perera, to act on behalf of the principality of Catalonia and meet Queen Anne of England's representative, Milton Crowe, in Genoa to ally Catalonia with England in the Wars of the Spanish Succession. This was before the 1707 Act of Union, uniting the parliaments of England and Scotland. 

The resulting Treaty of Genoa of 20 June 1705 drew Catalonia into the Hapsburg side in the Wars of the Spanish Succession against Bourbon Spain and France. Apart from England, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia and the Holy Roman Empire recognised Catalonia as an independent state, separate from Bourbon Spain.  England undertook to provide Catalonia with 12,000 muskets and ammunition to equip 6000 Catalan infantry and agreed to land a Grand Alliance force of 8000 infantry and 2000 cavalry on the Catalan Coast, later resulting in the capture of Tarragona. In turn Catalonia would recognise Archduke Charles VI of Austria as the King of Spain who in his turn agreed to uphold the laws of Catalonia.

There may have been close military Anglo/Catalan cooperation the year before the Treaty of Genoa. According to accounts of the capture of Gibraltar by an Anglo/Dutch/Portugues force in August 1704, 300 Catalan troops took part in the attack on the defending Spanish forces, possibly led by Captain Edward Whitaker commanding the Dorsetshire. Gibraltar's "Catalan Bay" remains named after this action. 

Catalonia's Senyera and England's Cross of St George still fly above the Ermita tower. Outside the Ermita are elaborate displays in English, Spanish and Catalan describing the Pact of Vic. The display includes life-size metal profiles of those who took part in the signing. Behind each metal profile is a small plaque explaining who they were. A brass plaque on the Ermita wall marks the 300th anniversary of the Pact on 17 May 2005, attended by the Mayor of Vic. I was HM Consul General in Barcelona at the time and knew nothing of this commemorative event, or indeed anything about the Pact of Vic! 

The Treaty of Genoa subsequently ended in disaster for Catalonia. Britain withdrew from the Hapsburg Alliance when the Whig government was toppled by the Tories in 1710. Catalonia was abandoned and conquered by Spain, snuffing out Catalonia's period of internationally recognised independence. Barcelona fell on 11 Sept 1714 - La Diada, commemorated annually as Catalonia's national day. Barcelona's impressive El Born museum is testament to the city's siege and conquest. Barcelona was not the last place in Catalonia to fall. The magnificent fortress at Cardona held out until 18 Sept 1714 - now a luxurious Parador.

The echoes of the Wars of the Spanish Succession still reverberate around the Iberian peninsula. The Treaty of Utrecht granted Gibraltar, captured with the help of Catalan troops, to Britain, This remains a source of continuous unease in Britain's relationship with Spain. 

And I wonder if the origins of the mysterious British Cemetery in Tarragona, visited on a previous "Witty Walk" trip and featured in the 2023 winter edition of La Revista, are rooted in the capture of Tarragona immediately following the Pacts of Vic and Genoa. More likely it was after the three year siege and capture a century later in 1813 of French Italian held Tarragona by British and (this time) Spanish forces in the Peninsular War against Napoleon.

All fascinating aspects of Britain's complex involvement in Spain and Catalonia's history.

Geoff Cowling

HM Consul General

Barcelona 2002 - 2005.

Member of the BritishSpanish Society