French departments of Spain
The French departments of Spain were territorial subdivisions of the territory conquered in Catalonia in 1812 by the First French Empire at the outset of the Peninsular War. Their annexation by France was never officially validated even by France itself and they were officially suppressed on 10 March 1814 before being returned to Spain.
Departments of 1812
The territory annexed by the Empire by a decree of 26 January 1812 was divided by the same decree into four departments:
- Bouches-de-l'Èbre (prefecture : Lérida)
- Montserrat (prefecture : Barcelona)
- Sègre (prefecture : Puigcerda)
- Ter (prefecture : Girona)
The decree, however, was never published in the Bulletin des Lois de l'Empire français and was not officialised by a Sénatus-consulte, leaving the new departments' juridical status incomplete.[1] In the museum at Figueres in the province of Girona is a reproduction of the Le Moniteur which created these four departments.
Departments of 1813
On 7 March 1813 the above four departments were merged into two:
- Bouches-de-l'Èbre-Montserrat, by merging des Bouches-de-l'Èbre and Montserrat (prefecture : Barcelona)
- Sègre-Ter, by merging Sègre and Ter (prefecture : Girona)
See also
References
External links
- (French) SPLAF : page on the départements of the First Republic and First Empire