At the beginning of the Reapers' War which started in 1640 (part of the wider Franco-Spanish War of 1635–1659) the President of the Generalitat, Pau Claris, summoned the 10 September the Junta de Braços or Braços Generals (assembly of Estates or States-General) of Catalonia, an extraordinary body made up of the representatives of the three Estates of the realm in the Catalan Courts (the parliament), presided by the Generalitat.

On 27 October an agreement was finally reached with du Plessis-Besançon to obtain supplies against the army of the King of Spain directed by Pedro Fajardo, Marquis of los Vélez.

Negotiations with the French intensified, on 3 January a delegation of three Catalans met with Cardinal Richelieu who assured them protection if they were an independent republic like Genoa.

As a result of the negotiation, on 16 January, Pau Claris presented a proposal before the Junta de Braços by which the King of France agreed to put the Principality under his protection if Catalonia changed its government to a republic.

However, before the French king agreed to swear to the Catalan constitutions, almost a whole year passed, during which Catalonia was still governed without depending on any monarch, thus maintaining the republic in which the Junta de Braços and the Generalitat retained the real power.