From 1516 Catalonia was linked to the other territory belonging to the Hapsburg Austrian Empire. This was a vast European empire, which was soon to extend to America and Asia. In Spain, Castile was the leading region and Catalonia remained no more than a peripheral province, bordering France and facing the Turks across the Mediterranean, and had barely any means to intervene in general affairs.

The Catalan population scarcely reached 300,000. The medieval institutions, however, continued to guarantee the rights of the country. Catalonia maintained its own state during the time of the Austrians in spite of centralising, standardising forces. The authoritarian pressure of the monarchy was counterbalanced by the constitutional projects which arose from the country’s institutions, which, though they appeared traditionalist, were at the forefront of modern thinking.