MIQUELETS (MIQUELETES Or MIGUELETES)  were irregular local troops in Catalonia who derived their name, it is said, from Miguel or Miquelot de Prats, a Catalan mercenary captain in the service of Cesare Borgia . They enjoyed a certain prominence in the minor wars of Spain during the 17th and 18th centuries, and in peace seem to have plundered travellers . In the War of the Spanish Succession (q.v.) the Miquelets continued the struggle against the French claimant until long after the peace . During the Peninsular War they were exceedingly successful in harassing the French invaders in the mountains of Catalonia . Sometimes they even attempted operations in large bodies, as in the operations round Gerona in 18o8 and 1809 . They were maintained by the several parishes, not by the central or the provincial governments, and as they had to turn out for duty on sound of the village alarm-bell (somaten) they are frequently called somatenes .