I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 448 Before the War - Catalonia (Part 1)

  It stands to reason that Mrs. Christina should voluntarily retire, but for some reason, she stood there, as if she was hesitating, wondering if she should say the next words.

   "Anything else, ma'am, please go ahead," said Louis.

"The one who wanted to kidnap me and take me away..." Christina said, not paying attention when she stabbed the man in the carriage, but then the French took them together into a brightly lit room and she saw To the face of the leader: "That's John Oxensheiner."

   "It's him, the leader of the anti-French alliance in Sweden." Louis nodded: "You remember him, no, it should be his father Axel Oxensena."

   "Yes," said Christina, "although I don't have any capital to trade with you, I would like to ask, will you hang him in France?"

   "Since he is the son of the Oxenscheiner," Louis said, "I won't, after all, there are still many people in Sweden who remember Axel's life for Sweden."

Axel Oxenscheiner is an old-fashioned statesman and a very tough military figure, and he is also the spokesperson of the Swedish aristocracy. At times even a supporter of Christina, until the Queen did not hesitate to sing against him on the most important things - Christina hated war and prayed for peace (Axel, however, believed that war would bring Sweden benefits); Christina promotes civilians in large numbers to become officials, officers and even nobles, but Axel has been strictly limiting the number of nobles and officials, especially the kind that climbs up from the bottom; Christina cannot accept Brother Carl's marriage (to be precise, with no one), and he doesn't want to have children, Axel thinks this is an obligation the queen must fulfill...

Even so, when Christina made the decision to abdicate, Axel was said to have quarreled with the queen, and as a result died of weakness, his son and friends could not help but blame the queen and Her supporters were turned into enemies, but the ambiguous attitude of the subsequent King Carl X towards France and the intimacy of Carl XI made these people who wanted to make Sweden the hegemon of the north stuck in their throats - after all, France is such a The behemoth, especially after it got the North Holland area, was too close to Sweden.

The two territories that Karl XI and Louis XIV exchanged during the marriage negotiation, that is, Livonia, which Sweden obtained from Poland, and the eldest Princess Elizabeth brought to Groningen, Sweden as a dowry, a territory with a port— This kind of thing is very common in this day and age - but for those die-hard Swedes, the deal is more than worth the money for Sweden, and there is a danger of introducing wolves into the house.

This kind of remarks continued until the eldest princess gave birth to the heir of Karl XI, who rightfully had the title of father and mother's territories and titles. Some people who were worried about France's backtracking finally felt a little more at ease - because this child was legally and religiously Both have been recognized by Karl XI of Sweden and Louis XIV of France. In the future, it will be difficult for France to deny the legality of this marriage and let the eldest princess carry the territory back to France or marry another.

   But there are always some people who are stubborn, or are seduced and bought by the messengers of Leopold I, but others don’t care, and the children of Axel have different meanings.

   "John Oxenscheiner, I will write to Karl XI about this man," said Louis. "Wait for him to reply to me."

Christina smiled: "Then I'll be fine." It was impossible for Karl XI to extradite John back to Sweden without paying any price, but in the same way, he could recover the loss from those old-fashioned aristocrats. , at least it will be difficult for them to continue to criticize Karl XI for being too inclined towards the queen in the court in the future.

Christina withdrew easily, and when she was leaving, she was walking down the spiral staircase on the right and saw someone walking up the spiral staircase on the left. They glanced at each other hurriedly from afar. Judging from their appearance, Christina could not determine the identity of the other party, but the other party wore a conspicuous red hat, which immediately reminded Christina of a noun.

   Catalonia.

  Anyone who has been a king or queen is bound to be required to be familiar with the special dress, characteristics, customs and taboos of each region and nation. This is the most basic requirement of being the supreme ruler. Christina turned her head quickly after only one glance, but there was still a slight smile on her lips. Habsburg intends to use her to contain Bourbon's ally Sweden, and Bourbon can also use Catalans. against the Habsburgs.

  ———

Catalonia and Brittany have many similarities - the same has a long history, the same is merged into another country through marriage, the same is because of being oppressed and extorted, and various uprisings have broken out. seek independence. But unlike Brittany, the Catalans used to be quite pro-French, a situation that lasted until the Catalan uprising that began in 1939.

  Because in this great uprising, France could be said to be a perfidious vile.

The existence of Catalonia can be traced back to the period of the Greek city-states. Later, it was occupied by the Carthaginians. After the Romans defeated the Carthaginians, they were torn apart under the attack of the barbarians, and the owners of Catalonia changed again. Became a Visigoth, and when the Moors (Muslims) invaded Catalonia, the Catalans as Catholic parishes asked France for help, and after that, although they remained independent, they were Submissive and close to France.

In the 11th century, Catalonia and Aragon were two independent and equal kingdoms. Later, the two countries were married. In this way, Aragon and Catalonia were combined into one - at first even the Catalonia Catalonia had the upper hand until Aragon and Castile were united. The consequence of the two kings' reign was that Castile unified Spain, and Catalonia not only lost its right to speak, but also Being strongly marginalized, by the time of the Thirty Years' War, Catalonia was used as a battlefield between France and Spain.

Ladies and gentlemen, if there is anything sadder than a country at war, there is nothing more than a third-party area opened up by two countries as a battlefield. It can be seen that the Spanish court with Castile as the main leader did not take Catalan. Nia as a part of itself - although nominally the Castilian army will be combined with the Catalan legion into a combined army, in fact those Castilian armies and their hired The Italians, no different from the usual occupying forces, occupied villages, plundered civilians, extorted money from cities and merchants, and the King of Spain repeatedly demanded increased military service and taxes in Catalonia.

But that's not to blame. Before Louis XIV, all kings thought it was a matter of course to squeeze occupied territories, colonies, or regions that insisted on autonomy like Catalonia. Like Louis XIV, even if the other party is required to submit, corresponding preferential treatment terms will be given. When the tax is increased, the weight that the people can afford will be measured, and a time limit will be given. People are often not afraid of heavy loads. Rather, the load will never end, and they and their descendants will be like Sisyphus who rolls a stone up a mountain, with no hope in sight. (Note 1)

But kings and queens rarely condescend to look down at the toiling people, let alone those Catalans who are always rebellious - of course, the so-called rebellious are their words, in fact, the Catalans The Talonians endured for six years before the great uprising broke out!

During these six years, the once prosperous Catalans were like a verdant wheat field gnawed by locusts, devastated and mourning everywhere, from nobles to peasants, every one of Castilian People and Italian mercenaries are full of hatred, and it is rare that the advocates and organizers of the great uprising turned out to be Catalan priests - it can be seen that, for Castilians, Catalan There isn't a place in Nia that doesn't belong to their enemies!

During the Catalan uprising, it was not without reason that the French were selected as vassals. The first was that France had once sheltered them from the Moors and was willing to give them autonomy. The second reason was that To fall to the merchants of Catalonia, although the Queen of Castile won a new route, a new continent and maritime hegemony because of her sponsorship of Columbus, Catalonia was blocked from this golden mountain. Yes - they are not allowed to participate in trade. For a long time, Catalonia's business has completely relied on France's West Langlock and Provence to sell goods in exchange for food. They do not want to go to war with France.

To Louis XIV's deep regret, the minds of King Louis XIII of France and Bishop Richelieu were almost all on the Thirty Years' War, even if the Catalans were willing to make Louis XIII Count of Barcelona, It is equivalent to giving Roussillon to the Grand Condé, who also defeated the Flemish Legion that the Spaniards were proud of in the later war - Louis XIII and Bishop Richelieu still failed to capture This opportunity, perhaps because they did not think that they could swallow Spain, which is still a powerful country.

Although they gave support, they did not take the life and death of the Catalans to heart, nor did they control the French troops stationed in Catalonia, so that the Catalans found that the French The people were no different from the Spaniards—they were deeply disappointed. However, for Bishop Richelieu and his successor, Bishop Mazarin, the expectations of the Catalans were worthless. Bishop Mazarin even nearly signed the Pyrenean Treaty in 1958. The ownership of Catalonia was fully returned to Spain - because Spain promised to divide Roussillon to Spain forever.

After that, Spain repeatedly mentioned this matter, even in the marriage negotiations between Louis XIV and Queen Teresa... Of course Louis XIV would not make such an obvious mistake - just like dealing with Queen Teresa's fifty Wanli Fuer's dowry... He always avoided talking or diverted the topic, and never gave up the title of "Count of Barcelona" inherited from his father.

Later, Philip IV of Spain died and the stupid Carlos II came to the throne. The Spaniards were busy with civil strife and fighting, and because Catalonia is still occupied by the Spanish army, this seems to be a fait accompli - Catalonia Ronia belongs to Spain, no doubt, what is there to question?

   Catalans and French kings don't think so.

In the court of Louis XIV, red hats of Catalans are not uncommon, because there are some Catalans who migrated from Spain to France near the Pyrenees in France. Their lives are in Louis X. It was much better after the four-parent rule, so even with the betrayal of Louis XIII and Richelieu before, after the persuasion of the French Catalans, the Spanish Catalans were willing to trust the French king again.

This is also because after the 39-year uprising, the Catalan people were almost killed and wounded, not to mention that in recent years, although Spain has been expelled from the ranks of the powerful countries, the supervision of Catalonia has become more and more Harsh - Spain has lost almost all of its colonies after all, and there isn't much to **** blood from.

  And, in all fairness, Louis XIV and now France are also in their prime, and with such a king and state asylum, Catalonia may be free from the shackles of Spain.

   Carlos II died without heirs, which makes people feel that this may be the will of God, Catalonia, and even the whole of Spain, will eventually belong to Bourbon.

   (end of this chapter)