Pietro Giannone

Pietro Giannone
Born	(1676-05-07)7 May 1676
Died	17 March 1748(1748-03-17) (aged 71)
Occupations	Philosopher historiar jurist

Pietro Giannone (7 May 1676 – 17 March 1748) was an Italian philosopher, historian and jurist born in Ischitella, in the province of Foggia. He opposed the papal influence in Naples, for which he was excommunicated and imprisoned for twelve years until his death.^[1][2]

Early life

Arriving in

hierarchy.

Conflict with the Church

Giannone was the first to deal systematically with the question of Church and State, and the position taken by him, and the manner in which that position was assumed, gave rise to a lifelong conflict between Giannone and the

.

Despised by the mob of Naples, and

.

Vienna

In Vienna the favour of the Emperor Charles VI and of many leading personages at the Austrian court obtained for him a pension and other facilities for the prosecution of his historical studies. Of these the most important result was Il Triregno, ossia del regno del cielo, della terra, e del papa.

Venice

On the transfer of the Neapolitan crown to

had exemplified in previous centuries, was offered to him, as well as that of professor of public law in Padua. He declined both offers. Unhappily there arose a suspicion that his views on maritime law were not favourable to the pretensions of Venice, and notwithstanding all his efforts to dissipate this suspicion, the distrust of Giannone together with clerical intrigues, led to his expulsion from the Republic.

Geneva

On 23 September 1735 Giannone was seized and conveyed to Ferrara. He wandered under an assumed name for three months through Modena, Milan and Turin, he at last reached Geneva, where he enjoyed the friendship of the most distinguished citizens, and was on excellent terms with the great publishing firms.

But he was induced to visit a Catholic village within Sardinian territory, in order to hear mass on Easter day. Giannone was there kidnapped by the agents of the Sardinian government, conveyed to the castle of Miolans and transferred to Ceva and Turin.

Turin

In the fortress of Turin he remained imprisoned for the last twelve years of his life, although part of his time was spent in composing a defence of the Sardinian interests as opposed to those of the papacy. He was also forced to sign a retraction of statements in his books that were most obnoxious to the Vatican.

After his recantation his detention was made less severe and he was allowed many alleviations. In spite of his stay in a Turin prison he endured the sufferings in the manner of a confessor and martyr in the cause of what he deemed historical truth. A putative autobiography, published in 1905 in Naples and almost certainly only a biography, was annotated by Fausto Niccolini, with Luigi Pierro editor.

Style

Giannone's style failed miserably to rise to the contemporary standards of literary style; he is often inaccurate as to the facts, for he very seldom made use of original documents (see A. Manzoni, Storia della colonna infame), and he was often guilty of unblushing plagiarism. But his staunch anticlericalism has helped to make his volumes more popular than many works of much greater value during the Age of Enlightenment. In England the appreciation of his labours by Edward Gibbon, and the ample use made of them in the later volumes of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, early secured him an undeserved place in the estimation of English scholars.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

• Istoria civile del regno di Napoli
  • Giannone, P (1821). Istoria civile del regno di Napoli, Volume 1. Nicolo Bettoni, Milan. pietro giannone Volumen.
  • Giannone, P (1723). Volume 2, In cui contieni la Polizia del Regno sotto Normanni e Svevi. Niccolo Naso Stampatore, Naples.
  • Giannone, P (1723). Volume 3, In cui contieni la Polizia del Regno sotto Angioini ed Aragonesi. Niccolo Naso Stampatore, Naples.
  • Giannone, P (1821). Volume 4, In cui contieni la Polizia del Regno sotto Angioini ed Aragonesi. Italia.
  • Giannone, P (1847). Italia (ed.). Volume 5, In cui contieni la Polizia del Regno sotto Angioini ed Aragonesi. Borroni e Scotti Tipografia, Milan.
  • Volume 7, 1822 Nicolo Bettoni. Milan [2]
  • Volume 9, 1812 Capolago Cantone Ticino Tipografia Elvetica [3]

External links

Istoria civile del regno di Napoli, Italia, 1821

• Vol. 1 at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 2 at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 3 at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 4 at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 5 at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 6 at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 7 at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 8 at the Internet Archive

Il Triregno, Italia, 1940

• Vol. 1: Del regno terreno at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 2: Del regno celeste at the Internet Archive
• Vol. 3: Del regno papale at the Internet Archive

Vita scritta da lui medesimo, Italia, 1960

• Pietro Giannone, Vita scritta da lui medesimo

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Giannone, Pietro". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 925.