Francesc de Castellví i Obando

Francesc de Castellví i Obando (1682 – 15 September 1757)

Biography Francesc de Castellví was born in 1682 in Montblanc, Spain ,in the Principality of Catalonia. Raised in a small but distinguished family, Castellví received a good education, studying science and literature during his youth. On the 14 of August, he was wounded while fighting at the Sant Pere bastion. During the September 11 battle, while he and his men were performing a counterattack on the Bourbonic forces, Barcelona capitulated, thus ending the conflict. Once Philip V's troops occupied Barcelona, Castellví was sentenced to surveillanced liberty, and had all his territorial possessions confiscated.

In 1726, a peace treaty was signed between Philip V and Charles VI. The treaty provided amnesty for political prisoners, and Castellví exiled himself to Austria, where he wrote Narraciones Históricas desde el año 1700 hasta el año 1725. He used Bourbonic and Austriacist sources in order to complete his work, as well as accounts from other figures who emigrated to Austria after the war and his own personal experiences. He then returned to Vienna, where emperor Charles VI granted him an annuity, for being an ex-participant of the War of Succession. He remained in Austria until his death in 1757.