It was called Somatén (from the Catalan som atents which means "we are attentive") to the local Catalan militias that have functioned since the Middle Ages for the purpose of public order.
Somatén is an onomatopoeic expression that evokes the spontaneous cry for help asking the neighbors for help to counteract an attack and that invokes, in its application, the collective expression of solidarity in pursuit of flagrant or stubborn crime (El Somatén in Medieval Catalonia)
After the War of Succession and the promulgation, by Philip V, of the Nueva Planta Decrees, they were suppressed.
They were reborn during the War of Independence in the fight against the French in the Catalan area.
In 1855 it was reconstituted by the large rural owners, with the name of Sometent Armat de la Muntanya de Catalunya and adopted the motto of Pau, pau i semper pau (peace, peace and always peace) consolidating itself as a militia of owners in charge of repressing banditry, but also the Carlist and Republican insurrections.
Since 1905 the Somatén was converted into an auxiliary police force, destined to repress strike movements.
In 1923, under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, it was extended to all of Spain as a complementary and subordinate organization to the Army in maintaining order.
During the Second Republic they appear and disappear.
It was established by the Franco regime in 1945, although it gradually lost its entity until it was abolished in 1978. But what is my surprise when I find El Cuerpo del Somatén of Spain, as they define themselves:
In Support of the Family, Peace, Justice and Freedom and against Terrorism, Drugs and Social Injustice, abiding by the guidelines of the Ministry of Defense.
