Letter from Josep Fontanella to the councilors of Barcelona

Date: 1643

Archive: Municipal Archive of Barcelona

Document type: Textual

Reference code: CAT-AHCB-AHCB1-002-1B.X-78, f.269r-v

Link to the online document

Description: Josep Fontanella writes to the counselors in Barcelona to let them know that he has arrived in Dort (Netherlands) and is waiting to move to The Hague and then to Münster to begin negotiations. He says he will try to negotiate for the good of Catalonia and for it to become a rich land again, trying to even get it to be able to trade freely with the Indies and with the whole world. Finally, he complains about the little salary he receives and the many large expenses he has.
Fontanella, trusted by the French since 1641 and regent of the audience, was sent as a representative of Barcelona, at the behest of Louis XIII of France, to take part in the Münster conference, which had the aim of negotiating the end of the Thirty Years’ War. These talks began in 1643 and lasted until 1645, resulting in the Peace of Münster, followed by the Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück, a set of agreements known as the Peace of Westphalia (1648).
Louis XIII wanted a person who knew Catalan institutions well and the circumstances of the incorporation of the Principality into France (which happened in 1641) to be sent to advise the French representatives. Fontanella was intervening in the conversations until, it seems, he negotiated secretly with the ambassador of Felipe IV, which led to his dismissal in December 1644.
In the text of the letter, of a daily type, Fontanella explains the councilors who have already arrived in Dort (Dordrecht) and are waiting to be given accommodation and to start the talks. November 17, 1643 (1B.X-78, f.269r-v).

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