From distraint of property to distraint of persons. Reprisals against French Merchants in Cadiz during the Franco-Spanish wars (1793-1814)

Arnaud BARTOLOMEI From distraint of property to distraint of persons. Reprisals against French Merchants in Cadiz during the Franco-Spanish wars (1793-1814) During the winter of 1808-1809, French merchants, who had been authorised to remain and continue trading in Cadiz having renounced their status as foreign nationals and having agreed to swear an oath of loyalty to Fernando VII following the dos de mayo, were arrested and incarcerated on the pontones, prison ships moored in Cadiz Bay. They were held in deplorable conditions throughout the war and many of them died there. This article seeks to highlight the unusual nature of such a measure which, in striking at foreign avecinados and in targeting their persons and not only their property, marks a break with two centuries of Spanish tradition in matters of reprisals. The article further inquires into the reasons for such increased severity in the treatment meted out to enemy civilians: does it reflect the climate of hatred that characterised Franco-Spanish conflicts during the revolutionary period? Or was it a casual consequence of the turn of events in these wars?