"On June 7, 1640, the viceroy of Catalonia was stabbed to death on a Barcelona beach. By Christmas, several more royal officials of the Spanish principality had been assassinated. In the wake of these and other violent acts committed by the "people" - a term used for artisans - the Catalans severed their allegiance to the Spanish monarchy and elected Louis XIII of France their new king. The first English-language book to explore the political beliefs and behavior of early modern craftsmen, Luis R.

Corteguera's work offers a dramatically new account of the origins of the Catalan revolt, the longest rebellion in seventeenth-century Spain."--BOOK JACKET.