Destabilizing the opponent. The role of the Spanish Monarchy in the first episodes of the Fronde in Bordeaux (1649-1650)

Abstract

In the middle of the seventeenth century, the French and Spanish monarchies fought each other in a long war for European hegemony (1635-1659). At the same time, they suffered serious internal revolts, caused by the domestic measures implemented on both sides to raise the resources needed to support their war efforts; in France, the revolts of the Fronde (1648-1653). This article aims to study the Fronde revolts from a perspective not yet sufficiently attended by the historiography: the significant role played by the Monarchy of Philip IV, in its attempt to destabilize its French adversary. The article reconstructs and assesses the initial stages of the revolt, as they developed in Bordeaux (1649-1650), and which paved the way for the major Spanish intervention during the later Fronde of Condé (1651-1653).