Austracist repression in the Crown of Aragon during the early phases of the War of the Spanish Succession. The case of Areny of 1707

Abstract

The War of the Spanish Succession left a deep mark on multiple peninsular localities and on the civilian population. The objectives of this work are to study the political and military reasons and motivations that led to the massacre of the Villa de Areny of 1707 by the troops of Carlos III shortly after his defeat in Almansa and understand the war dynamics in the early XVIII century and the results obtained by the rulers and their armies with these repressive acts. The documentary sources used come from the archives of the Private Archive of Casa La Torreta de Areny, the National Library of Catalunya, the Archive of the Crown of Aragon, the National Historical Archive, and the Historical Archive of the Nobility. The findings confirm the massacre in Areny and place it in a repressive warlike context in territories of constant change.