Battle of Barcelona

For other uses, see Battle of Barcelona (disambiguation).

Battle of Barcelona
Part of the Franco-Spanish War (1635)
Date June 29 – July 3, 1642 Location Off Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé	Juan Alonso Idiáquez
Strength
44 sailing vessels, 25 galleys, 14 fireships	36 sailing vessels, 10 galleys, 6 fireships, 35 barcos longos
Casualties and losses
1 galleon and 1 fireship	2 galleons and 4 fireships

The Naval battle of Barcelona happened between 29 June and 3 July, 1642, was a naval engagement of the Franco-Habsburg War fought off the Catalan city between a Spanish fleet commanded by Juan Alonso Idiáquez, Duke of Ciudad Real, and a French fleet under Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, Duc de Fronsac. In a three-day battle, Brézé defeated the Spanish fleet, which was attempting to relieve some Spanish garrisons isolated along the Catalan coast, and forced the Duke of Ciudad Real to retreat to Majorca for repairs. As usually in most of the battles involving Maillé-Brézé, the French fleet made an extensive use of her fireships. This time, however, a large French vice-flagship, the Galion-de-Guise, fell victim to one of his own fireships and went down enveloped in flames. The victory, in any case, was for the French fleet, and its main long-term effect was the fall of Perpignan in hands of the Franco-catalan army.

Background

The outbreak in 1640 of the Reapers' War, or the Catalan Uprising against the Spanish Monarchy, left most of the Principality in hands of the rebells and their French allies by mid-1641. The Spanish forces were restricted to the area around Tarragona and Tortosa in the south and the County of Roussillon in the north, besides a series of isolated ports along the coast. The French viceroy of Catalonia, Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt, attempted to conquer Tarragona between May and August, but failed, as a French blockading fleet under Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis was not big enough to prevent the entrance into Tarragona of a large Spanish relief convoy. Sourdis had been never very enthusiastic of blockading Tarragona and prefered focuss all the efforts in capturing Collioure to starvate the Spanish army in Perpignan. Cardinal Richelieu replaced him by his nephew Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, but for the 1642 campaign he followed his plans and commited most of his forces to conquer Rousillon.

Marshall Charles de La Porte gained Collioure on 13 April and, together with Frederick Schomberg, laid siege to Perpignan. The French fleet would blockade the coast between Tarragona and Collioure, and battle with the Spanish fleet if was necessary. The fleets of Ponant and Levant were concentrated at Barcelona. The squadron of Brest, composed of 21 sailing vessels, 2 fluyts and 6 fireships, doubled the Cabo de Gata on 10 June. The Toulon squadron, of 19 sailing vessels, 4 fluyts and 6 fireships under Chevalier de Cangé, arrived to Barcelona on 8 May. The flotte des galères led by the bailli de Forbin, composed of 25 units, arrived on 21 June. The fleet was completed with a small squadron under Abraham Duquesne which had been left to cruise off the Catalan coast, and ten English and Dutch chartered vessels, thus increasing its strenght to nearly 60 ships.