Els Segadors
National anthem of Catalonia
"Els Segadors" (Eastern Catalan: [əls səɣəˈðos], Western Catalan: [els seɣaˈðos]; "The Reapers") is the official national anthem of Catalonia, nationality and autonomous community of Spain.
History
The original song dates in the oral tradition to 1640, based on the events of June 1640 known as Corpus de Sang ("Corpus of Blood") during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Spain, England, France and Austria, the event that started the Reapers' War or Guerra dels Segadors, also known as the Catalan Revolt or Catalan Revolution, where Catalans fought against the Count-Duke of Olivares, the chief minister of King Philip IV of Spain, and eventually led to an open war and the establishment of a Catalan Republic under French protection.
The song describes the events, an uprising of peasants due to the large and burdensome presence of the Spanish Royal army in the Principality of Catalonia, as they were required to lodge and provision the troops, thus leading to a large tension and discomfort and the outbreak of episodes such as religious sacrileges, destruction of personal properties, and rape of women by the soldiers. The second part of the song tells the arrival of the rebel reapers in Barcelona, who kill various guards, the royal officers and the viceroy of Catalonia, Dalmau de Queralt, ending with the exhortation to Catalans to take the arms, as they are at war.
In the 19th century, the text was compiled in the Romancillero Catalán, a book of folk traditions written by Manuel Milà i Fontanals. The music was standardized by Francesc Alió in 1892. Its modern lyrics were written by Emili Guanyavents, who won a competition convened by the political party Unió Catalanista in 1899, simplifying the text to three verses. At the time, the change of lyrics caused some controversy among conservative elements, as Guanyavents, coming from sectors close to anarchism, gave them a revolutionary tone.
Throughout the first quarter of the 20th century, "Els Segadors" became one of the most relevant symbols of Catalanism and Catalonia itself, consolidating its popularity during the Second Spanish Republic and the Civil War. Despite an early attempt of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan autonomous government) in 1931 to replace it with another song, "El Cant del Poble", "Els Segadors" remained highly popular, assumed by both Catalan government and population as the de facto national anthem.
“Els Segadors” enters the record as national anthem of Catalonia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Segadors, National and anthem can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Els Segadors” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.