Catalonia remained a state within the Habsburg Empire, which stretched across Europe and elsewhere in the world. A phase of economic growth began in Catalonia, though the struggle between the Hispanic monarchy and France led to constant border conflicts. The sea also became a border with other powerful enemies: the Barbary and Ottoman pirates. Social unrest in the country also resulted in the spread of banditry.

At a time when the modern state was being built, the increasing authoritarianism of the monarchs came into conflict with constitutionalist doctrines drawn up by the Catalan institutions.
This context provided the setting for the Reapers' War (1640–1659) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1705–1715). In 1716, at the end of this second war, Felipe V, the first king of the Spanish branch of the Bourbons, issued the Decree of the New Plan, abolishing the constitutions and institutions of Catalonia.

This period also witnessed the spread of the Baroque style, which was characterised by a language that was both pessimistic and exuberant, as well as by its determination to promote the dogma of the Counter-Reformation.