Parthenopean Republic
Parthenopean Republic | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1799–1799 | |||||||||
Motto: Libertà e Uguaglianza ( directorial republic | |||||||||
Director | |||||||||
• 1799 | Carlo Lauberg | ||||||||
• 1799 | Ignazio Ciaia | ||||||||
Legislature | Legislative Council | ||||||||
Historical era | French Revolutionary Wars | ||||||||
• French invasion | 21 January 1799 | ||||||||
• Sicilian invasion | 13 June 1799 | ||||||||
Currency | Tornesel, Neapolitan carlino | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Today part of | Italy |
The Parthenopean Republic (Italian: Repubblica Partenopea, French: République Parthénopéenne) or Neapolitan Republic (Italian: Repubblica Napoletana) was a short-lived, semi-autonomous republic located within the Kingdom of Naples and supported by the French First Republic. The republic emerged during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops. The republic existed from 21 January to 13 June 1799, collapsing when Ferdinand returned to restore monarchial authority and forcibly subdued republican activities.[1]
Etymology
The Parthenopean Republic is named after
Origins of the Republic
On the outbreak of the
In 1796, peace with France was concluded, but in 1798, during
The King hurried back to Naples. Although the
The wildest confusion prevailed, and the lazzaroni massacred numbers of persons suspected of republican sympathies, while the nobility and the educated classes, finding themselves abandoned by their King, began to contemplate a
When the news of the surrender to the French reached Naples and the provinces, the lazzaroni rebelled. Though ill-armed and ill-disciplined, they resisted the enemy with desperate courage. In the meantime, the Jacobin and Republican parties of Naples surged, and civil war broke out. On 20 January 1799, the Republicans under General Championnet[4] conquered the fortress of Castel Sant'Elmo, and the French entered the city the next day. The casualties were 8,000 Neapolitans and 1,000 French.
Republic
On 21 or 23
Meanwhile, the court at Palermo sent Cardinal
Ruffo, supported by Russian and Turkish ships under the command of
On 13 June 1799. Ruffo and his troops reached Naples, and after a desperate battle at the Ponte della Maddalena, entered the city. For weeks the Calabresi and lazzaroni continued to pillage and massacre, and Ruffo was unable, even if willing, to restrain them. However, the Royalists were not masters of the city, for the French in Castel Sant'Elmo and the Republicans in Castel Nuovo and Castel dell'Ovo still held out and bombarded the streets, while the Franco-Spanish fleet might arrive at any moment. Consequently, Ruffo was desperately anxious to come to terms with the Republicans for the evacuation of the castles, in spite of the Queen's orders to make no terms with the rebels. After some negotiation, the parties concluded an armistice and agreed on capitulation (onorevole capitolazione), whereby the castles were to be evacuated, the hostages liberated and the garrisons free to remain in Naples unmolested or to sail for Toulon. The capitulation was signed by Ruffo, and British, Russian and Turkish officers, as well as, for the Republicans, the French commander.[5]
While the vessels were being prepared for the voyage to Toulon all the hostages in the castles were liberated save four; but on 24 June 1799, Nelson arrived with his fleet, and on hearing of the capitulation he refused to recognise it except insofar as it concerned the French.[5]
Cardinal Ruffo indignantly declared that once the treaty was signed, not only by himself but by the Russian and Turkish commandants and by the British captain Edward Foote, it must be respected, and on Nelson's refusal, he said that he would not help him to capture the castles. On 26 June 1799, Nelson changed his attitude and authorised Sir William Hamilton, the British minister, to inform the cardinal that he (Nelson) would do nothing to break the armistice; while Captains Bell and Troubridge wrote that they had Nelson's authority to state that the latter would not oppose the embarcation of the Republicans. Although these expressions were equivocal, the Republicans were satisfied and embarked on the vessels prepared for them. However, on 28 June, Nelson received despatches from the court (in reply to his own), in consequence of which he had the vessels brought under the guns of his ships, and many of the Republicans were arrested.[5] Caracciolo, who had been caught whilst attempting to escape from Naples, was tried by a court-martial of Royalist officers under Nelson's auspices on board the admiral's flagship, condemned to death and hanged at the yard arm. The last jacobin stronghold, Pescara, surrendered on June 30.
Aftermath
On 10 July 1799, King Ferdinand entered the
Of some 8,000 political prisoners, 99 were executed, including Prince
The subsequent censorship and oppression of all political movement was far more debilitating for Naples.After news of these events arrived in Britain, Charles James Fox made a speech in the House of Commons on 3 February 1800 criticising what he alleged to be British acquiescence to Ferdinand's repression of Neapolitan republicans.[5]
Gallery
-
The flag of the Parthenopean Republic was the French tricolor with a yellow stripe in the place of the white one
See also
- Naples Lazzaroni
- Giuseppe Abbamonte
- Altamuran Revolution
References
- ISBN 9780198207559.
- ^ ISBN 9780571249015.
- ^ Between Salt Water And Holy Water: A History Of Southern Italy, Tommaso Astarita, p. 250
- ^ a b Rose, John Holland (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 44. . In
- ^ ISBN 978-1445679372.
Further reading
- Acton, Harold. The Bourbons of Naples (1731–1825) (2009)
- Davis, John. Naples and Napoleon: Southern Italy and the European Revolutions, 1780–1860 (Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780198207559)
- Gregory, Desmond. Napoleon's Italy (2001)
- North, Jonathan. Nelson at Naples: Revolution and Retribution in 1799) (2018)