The incorporation of Roussillon into the France of Louis XIV, 1659-171

At the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 France formally acquired possession of Roussillon and part of the Cerdagne. Both of these had been part of Spanish Catalonia, and were completely Catalan in culture and tradition. The French combined their new acquisitions into the single province of Roussillon.;The French government had two goals in Roussillon. First, they wanted the residents of the province to accept French rule in the province as legitimate. Second, they wanted the people of Roussillon to adopt French culture and language to the exclusion of Catalan norms. Throughout the reign of Louis XIV, the French employed a variety of mechanisms in an attempt to achieve those goals. The French created new political institutions, adopted existing institutions to their needs, worked with the local elites, encouraged the growth of the economy, used their military forces, undertook clerical reorganizations, and established schools to spread French culture.;French rule was widely resisted until 1680. Before this date resistance to French rule was common, and often violent. The Angelet rebellion against the salt tax lasted for two decades, a major conspiracy designed to throw open the capital was discovered in 1674, and numerous individuals were executed throughout the 1660s and 1670s for treason. Less violent forms of resistance also occurred, including the lodging of protests, non-payment of taxes, smuggling, and the willful disregard of French edicts. After 1680, French rule in the province was secure. No significant armed resistance or conspiracy occurred from that year. Even active agitation by Spanish Catalans failed to rouse the residents of Roussillon into rebellion or protest.;The French goal of acculturation, however, was almost completely unsuccessful. The residents never accepted French culture in the reign of Louis XIV. Catalan continued to be employed for daily business, government transactions, and religious proceedings. Children did not bear French names, nor did streets, even in the capital. The French had two goals in Roussillon: assimilation and acculturation. They succeeded in politically assimilating the province, but failed to acculturate it.