This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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The Origins of Modern Catalonia

Code: 100354 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
History OT 4

Contact

Name:
Maria Gemma Rubi Casals
Email:
mariagemma.rubi@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

Optative subject included in the mention of “Història de Catalunya” of the Grade of History. In order to take this subject, it is recommended that students should previously have studied subjects like  “Història Contemporània d’Espanya,” or  “Història Moderna de Catalunya.”

 


Objectives and Contextualisation

This is an optional subject that forms part of the credits leading to the degree in "History of Catalonia". The main objective of this course is to analyse the foundations of the construction of Catalan history from the origins of the contemporary period, from the beginnings of the society of the Ancien Règim to the end of the Revolution of September 1868. It explores the foundations of contemporary Catalan society between the French War and the Democratic Sixties, taking into account a variety of lines of development that can be grouped into two main axes. The first axis focuses on the political and cultural aspect: the end of the Ancien Règim and the long process of liberal revolution, as well as the different political and intellectual responses to the institutionalisation of the new centralised state and the new liberal society. The second strand focuses on social and economic aspects, and places the emphasis on the characteristics that the process of industrial revolution adopted in Catalonia, the emergence of the class society and the fractures it provoked, and the evolution of the different forms of work, association and production. It will also seek to work on transversal lines linked to forms of leisure, sociability and the role played by women in the historical processes analysed. Finally, it will give an account of the internationalisation of historiography on Catalonia at that time.


Competences

  • Applying the main methods, techniques and instruments of the historical analysis.
  • Critically assessing the fonts and theoretical models in order to analyse the different historical periods.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Mastering the basic diachronic and thematic concepts of the historical science.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
  2. Critically assessing the various current approaches to the study of the history of Catalonia.
  3. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  4. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  5. Organising and planning the search of historical information.
  6. Organising and summarising different explanations about the causes of social change in the different historical stages of the Catalan society.
  7. Recognising diversity and multiculturalism.
  8. Solving problems autonomously.
  9. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  10. Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.
  11. Using the characteristic investigation sources of the history of Catalonia.

Content

 

I- THE END OF THE OLD REGIME AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE LIBERAL REVOLUTION AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION (18TH CENTURY - 1833).
1- Economic growth in the 18th century and the foundations of industrial take-off. The Enlightenment in Catalonia. The Catalan elites at the beginning of the 19th century.
2- The Napoleonic invasion in the summer of 1808. Power struggle and revolt against the authorities. The battles of El Bruc and the forging of the Catalan resistance movement.  The participation of women in the patriot movement.
3- Napoleonic Catalonia and the pretensions of annexation.
4- The actions of the Catalan deputies in the Cortes de Cadis: projects and frustrations.
5- The liberal revolution during the Constitutional Triennium. The instruments of liberal citizenship. The origins of republican political culture.
6- The origins of the counterrevolution in Catalonia: from the crusade against ungodly France in the Seven Years' War. The political culture of Carlism.
 
 
II- THE TIME OF THE BULLANGUES: INDUSTRIALISATION, WORKERISM AND LIBERALISM (1833-1843).
7- The start and consolidation of the first industrial revolution in Catalonia. 
8- The defence of the Catalan industrial project: associationism and parliamentarianism. The political representation of liberal Catalonia.
9- The bustle of the 1930s and 1940s, and the beginning of the demorepublican tradition.
10- The emergence of a class society. Forms of work and leisure. The situation of women in the textile sector and in domestic work. Conflict and workerism.
 
III- THE POLITICAL CONSOLIDATION OF THE LIBERAL STATE IN CATALONIA (1843-1868)
11- The response of the state: repression and militarisation. The Matiners' War.
12- The Catalan cultural rebirth. From double patriotismto the beginnings of political Catalanism.
13- The crisis of the Elizabethan regime. Les conspiracions progressistes i les causes de la revolució de setembre de 1868.
14- Urban planning and forms of leisure in Catalonia in the 1960s.
 
IV- THE DEMOCRATIC SIXTIES (1868-1874): A LABORATORY OF EXPERIENCES.
15- The 1868 September Revolution. El posicionament dels partis, la revolta popular i els aixecaments federal i carlí.
16- The evolution of political and electoral behaviour.
17- Federal republicanism and internationalist workers' rights.
18- Catholic mobilisation and the Third Carlist War.

 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Seminars and practices 5 0.2 5, 6, 9, 11
Theoretical classes 35 1.4 2, 5, 7, 11
Type: Supervised      
Evaluation 10 0.4 8, 2, 4, 3, 9
Tutorials 15 0.6 8, 5, 6, 9, 7, 10, 11
Type: Autonomous      
Personal study 45 1.8 8, 5, 6
Reading and writting texts, preparation of oral commentaries and seminaries. Search of blibliographic information. 33 1.32

Master classes and group discussions.
 
 
 
Debate sessions on the compulsory readings: introduction to the session, oral presentation of the text, evaluation and collective discussion. Individual and/or group presentations and round of assessments.
 
 
 
Autonomous activity: comprehensive reading of texts, writing assignments, preparation of oral commentaries and seminars. Research of bibliographical information. Personal study with a view to integrating knowledge.
 
We recommend that you carefully read the guidelines on the website http://antalya.uab.es/gab-llengua-catalana/web_argumenta_obert/, which has been drawn up by all Catalan-speaking universities. Here you will find everything from how to prepare for the exams to how to prepare an essay or write an article.
 
Note: teachers will have to allocate approximately 15 minutes of a class to allow their students to answer the evaluation questions on their teaching performance and the evaluation of the subject or module.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Participation and active monitoring 20% 0 0 2, 4, 5, 3, 7
Seminars and practices 30% 3 0.12 8, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 3, 9, 10, 11
Theorical written tests 50 % (25% + 25%) 4 0.16 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7

The continuous assessment system will consist of three sections:
 
 
 
1- Two written tests (25+25): (50%).
 
2- Work on a dossier of lectures (30%).
 
3- Participation in debates, discussion of compulsory lectures, oral presentation of lectures, and continuous monitoring of the course (20%).
 
 
 
The single assessment system for students who have applied within the time limit established by the Faculty:
 
1- Written exam: 60%.
 
2- Paper on the compulsory lectures: 20%.
 
3- Written work: 20%.
 
 The three assessment sessions will take place on the day set for the second partial exam of the continuous assessment. In order for the exam mark to be weighted with the rest of the marks, the exam must be passed with at least a 5. The recovery will be possible as long as the final mark is at least 3.5 and the two thirds of the evaluation evidences have been presented. The grade of "Not assessable" will be applied to those students who have taken at most one third of the assessment tests. 
The activities of the continuous assessment will be programmed during the first day.  The teacher will establish a specific timetable for tutorials to comment on the assessment activities carried out.
carried out. The work and the continuous monitoring of the course may include the writing of essays, book reviews, commentary on historical documentation, oral presentations, debates and participation in class, etc. The specific method of the work to be carried out will be explained on the first day of class and will also be displayed in the moodle classroom. Late papers will not be accepted, without adequate academic presentation (index, page layout, footnotes, bibliography cited correctly, etc.), that are a mere copy in any kind of support, that continue to plagiarize partially or totally.

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items, and will not be able to sit the make-up exam.

 
The final mark will be obtained from the average of the marks obtained in the written tests and the remaining marks. The average mark in the written tests must be at least a 4 so that the average can be calculated with the rest of the assessment acts.
 
Any irregularity committed by a student during a test (copying, plagiarism) will result in a mark of zero in the specific section of the assessment. Various irregularities committed will result in an overall mark of zero.
The recovery will consist of an exam of the theoretical subject of the course and will be held on the official dates established by the Faculty. In no case may the make-up exam be considered as a means of improving the qualification of students who have already passed the subject in the normal continuous assessment process.
Only written tests, corresponding to 60% of the total mark, can be recovered. In any case, the maximum mark that can be obtained in the total of the recovery is 5.0 (Pass), and at least a minimum of 3.5 must have been failed.
 
Classical spelling, syntactic and morphological correction, inappropriate use of punctuation marks, and written expression in general: penalty of up to one point on the final mark.
 

This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as bibliographic or content-based searches or text correction or translations.

(I) The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these haveinfluenced the
process and final outcome of the activity.

Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero.
In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.

 

Bibliography

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

 

AA.DD; Història. Política, Societat i Cultura dels Països Catalans, 12 volums, Barcelona: Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1999.

BALCELLS, Albert (dir), Història de Catalunya, Barcelona, L’Esfera dels Llibres,2004.

FERRER, Ll.; RODO, J.; RUBÍ, G.; TORRAS, M., Història de l’autogovern de Catalunya, Barcelona, Generalitat de Catalunya, 2006. Spanish edition in 2007.

FONTANA, Josep, La fi de l’Antic Règim i la industrialització (1787-1868), Barcelona, Edicions 62, 1998.

FONTANA, Josep, La formació d'una identitat. Una història de Catalunya, Barcelona, Eumo editorial, 2015

GABRIEL, Pere (dir), Història de la Cultura Catalana, 10 vols., Eds. 62, Barcelona, 1998-1999.

HURTADO, Víctor, MESTRE, Jesús i MISERACHS, Toni, Atles d’Història de Catalunya, Barcelona, Edicions 62, 1995.

MALUQUER DE MOTES, Jordi, Història económica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 2008.

MESTRE, Jesús (dir.), Diccionari d’Història de Catalunya, Edicions 62, Barcelona, 1992.

RIQUER, B. (dir.), Història mundial de Catalunya, Barcelona, Ed. 62, 2018.

RISQUES, Manuel (dir.), DUARTE, Àngel, RIQUER, Borja de, ROIG ROSICH, Josep Maria, Història de la Catalunya contemporània. De la guerra del Francès al nou Estatut, Barcelona, Mina Editorial, 2006.

SOBREQUÉS I CALLICÓ, Jaume (director), Història contemporània de Catalunya, vols. I i II, Barcelona, Columna, 1997-1998.

VICENS VIVES, Jaume, Industrials i polítics delsegle XIX, Barcelona, Vivens Vives, 1961.

VILAR, Pierre, Catalunya dins l'Espanya moderna , Barcelona, Edicons 62, 1966-1968, 3 vols.

 

 The specific bibliography of each block will be provided through the "campus virtual,"  as well as some references will be directly discussed in class. 


Software

This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as bibliographic or content-based searches or text correction or translations.

(I) The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the
process and final outcome of the activity.

Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero.
In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed