«Hi ha ocasions en les quals cal saber perdre» Claus de la negociació d’Utrecht

Abstract

The signing of the Utrecht Peace Treaty (1713), which put an end to the long international conflict which had started in 1702, established a new European balance. We will look at how the negotiations, which were conditioned by the preliminary secret agreements previously arrived at by France and Great Britain, were conducted between the plenipotentiaries of Philip V and those of Great Britain. These negotiations entailed the Spanish loss of Gibraltar, Menorca, the Netherlands, Milan, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia and Sacramento, in addition to important commercial concessions to the British (the asiento or slave-trading contract, and permission to trade with the Indies). Other issues, on the other hand, continued pending resolution such as the principality and sovereignty of the Princess of Ursinos and «the case of the Catalans», that would forcefully appear in the conversations at Rastatt.