State of the Presidi
The State of the Presidi (
The Presidi encompassed about 300 square kilometres (120 sq mi). They were effectively attached to the
Origins
The Presidi were originally certain strategic coastal territories of the
History
Spanish period (1557–1708)
Control of the Presidi allowed the Spanish to monitor maritime traffic between
In the 16th century, the Presidi also provided pasture for Tuscan shepherds, who brought their flocks of sheep to the warm coastal grazing lands during the winter. The Tuscan authorities even taxed the head of sheep as their shepherds brought them to the coast,[d] an act which provoked some complaints to the Spanish authorities.[8] In 1603 King Philip III decided to make use of the clause of the treaty of 1557 that allowed Spain to fortify any part of the Island of Elba and on 22 October of the following year he ordered his viceroy, Juan Alonso Pimentel de Herrera, to build a fortress on the island. Construction of Fort San Giacomo at Porto Longone began in March 1605.[6] It had barracks for 2,000 men.[9] The Prince of Piombino,[e] who shared territorial sovereignty over Elba with the Duke of Tuscany, ceded his authority over the thirteen square kilometres of Porto Longone to the Spanish. This was the only case of territorial expansion in the history of the Presidi.[6]
From May to July 1646, Orbetello successfully resisted a siege by troops sent by the French royal minister
Naples managed to meet this obligation, keeping the Tuscan fortresses fully garrisoned, even during the
In 1678, Grand Duke
Austrian period (1708–1733)
During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Presidi were claimed by the Emperor Charles VI, who also claimed the Spanish throne. Between 1708 and 1712, he conquered all of them save Porto Longone. In Article 30 of the Treaty of Rastatt of 7 March 1714, France recognised Charles' claim, but no peace with Spain was forthcoming. The chief opponent of that peace was Elisabeth Farnese, queen of Philip V of Spain, who hoped to create an Italian principality for her son.[2] In 1718, the Emperor, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands signed the Quadruple Alliance against Spain. Article 5 of the alliance proposed to grant to Elisabeth Farnese's eldest son, Don Carlos, the future Charles III of Spain, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany with Porto Longone when the ruling House of Medici died out, as it was soon expected to.[f] This presumed that Philip V would formally renounced Porto Longone, which he held, and recognised it as an imperial fief like the other Presidi.[16]
A final treaty of peace between Charles VI, who held the coastal Presidi, and Philip V, who retained Porto Longone, was not signed until the Treaty of Vienna of 30 April 1725. In this treaty, Charles agreed to enfeoff Don Carlos with the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza when he came of age.[g] The emperor would retain the coastal Presidi and Spain its rights in Piombino and Elba, including Porto Longone.[2] In a draft treaty submitted by Spain on 5 April 1724, Philip would have received the return of the coastal Presidi (Article 4), but this demand was roundly mocked.[17]
Bourbon period (1733–1801)
This situation was revised in 1733 by the
On 21 March 1801, by the
Government and military
Under the Spanish, the Neapolitan treasury paid for the upkeep of the Presidi, rotating troops in and out and reinforcing the garrisons in times of danger.[13] It normally maintained five infantry companies there.[24] This was equivalent to one third of the Spanish forces deployed by Naples, which had 31 fortresses of its own. This emphasis on the Presidi was due to the primacy of France in Spanish defence planning.[25] Under the viceroy, there were three governors (governatori): one commanding a company of infantry in Porto Ercole and two commanding a two companies of infantry each in Orbetello and Piombino. Prior to 1571, when the garrisons were increased, these last commanded only one company each.[26]
The highest civil authority in the Presidi was the auditor (auditore), who was nominated by the viceroy. His task was the administration of civil and criminal justice. An inspector (veditore) was in charge of financing work on the fortifications and the wages of the garrisons, as well as supervising leaves of absence and supplying artillery and munitions. The inspector was assisted by a comptroller (scrivano di razione) and a payer (pagatore). A harbourmaster (mastro portolano) was in charge of the ports and collecting duties on imports and exports, but he was only occasionally resident in Orbetello. His functions were often performed by a contractor (arrendatore).[26]
Notes
- ^ Or Stato degli Presidii, from Spanish: Estado de los Reales Presidios. In French: État des Présides. Dhondt uses "Tuscan presidia".
- ^ In Latin, in feudum nobile, ligium, et honorificum.
- ^ In Latin, Nec compraehensa videantur, sed omnino exclusa, et expresse excluduntur, Oppida, Castra, Portus, loca ac terrae agri senensis, videlicet et Portus herculis, Orbitellum, Thelamonium, mons Orizentalius, et Portus Sancti Stefani...
- ^ See transhumance.
- ^ The lordship of Piombino had been elevated to a principality in 1594.
- Gian Gastonedied heirless on 9 July 1737.
- Antonio Farnese, would soon die; which he did in 1731.
- ^ In English, "Right of the Crown of Naples over Piombino".
References
- ^ a b Paoletti 2012, p. 69.
- ^ a b c d e f g Menning 1995, pp. 421–22.
- ^ a b c Angiolini 2006, p. 171.
- ^ a b c Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 280.
- ^ Tratado de Londres (1557)
- ^ a b c Angiolini 2006, p. 172.
- ^ a b Braudel 1995, p. 105 and n. 14.
- ^ Braudel 1995, p. 85 n. 290.
- ^ a b c Hanlon 2002, p. 126.
- ^ Hanlon 2002, p. 133.
- ^ Corretti 2012, p. 360.
- ^ Sabatini 2013, pp. 100–102.
- ^ a b Storrs 2006, p. 213.
- ^ Storrs 2006, pp. 3 and 68.
- ^ Storrs 2006, p. 129.
- ^ Dhondt 2015, p. 113, n. 365.
- ^ Dhondt 2015, p. 309, n. 272.
- ^ Armstrong 1909, p. 152.
- ^ Dhondt 2015, p. 546.
- ^ Dhondt 2015, p. 548.
- ^ Abulafia 2010, pp. 154–55.
- ^ Berte-Langereau 1955, pp. 375–77.
- ^ Maunder 1860, p. 240.
- ^ Marino 2007, p. 416.
- ^ Astarita 2006.
- ^ a b Martinelli 2006.
Bibliography
- Abulafia, David (2010). "The Mouse and the Elephant: Relations between the Kings of Naples and the Lordship of Piombino in the Fifteenth Century". In Paton, Bernadette; Law, John Easton (eds.). Communes and Despots in Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Ashgate. pp. 145–60.
- Alcalá-Zamora y Queipo de Llano, J. (1976). "Razón de estado y geoestrategia en la política italiana de Carlos II: Florencia y los presidios, 1677–1681". Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia. 173: 297–358.
- Angiolini, Franco (2006). "I presidios di Toscana: cadena de oro e llave y freno de Italia". In García Hernán, Enrique; Maffi, Davide (eds.). Guerra y sociedad en la monarquía hispánica: política, estrategia y cultura en la Europa moderna (1500–1700). Vol. 1. pp. 171–88.
- Armstrong, Edward (1909). "The Bourbon Governments in France and Spain II (1727–46)". In Ward, A. W.; Prothero, G. W.; Leathes, Stanley (eds.). The Cambridge Modern History, Volume VI: The Eighteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. pp. 145–67.
- Astarita, Tommaso (2006). Between Salt Water and Holy Water: A History of Southern Italy. W. W. Norton and Company. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
- Berte-Langereau, Jack (1955). "L'Espagne et le royaume d'Etrurie". Hispania. 15 (60): 353–460.
- Braudel, Fernand (1995) [1966]. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Volume 1. University of California Press.
- Caciagli, Giuseppe (1992). Lo Stato dei Presidi. Pontedera: Arnera.
- Corretti, Alessandro (2012). "Le fortezze d'altura dell'isola d'Elba: lo stato della questione". Aristonothos: Scritti per il Mediterraneo antico. 5: 347–70.
- Demaria, Giacinto (1898). "La Guerra di Castro, e la Spedizione de' Presidii (1639–1649)". Miscellanea di Storia Italiana. Series 3. 4: 191–256.
- Dhondt, Frederik (2015). Balance of Power and Norm Hierarchy: Franco-British Diplomacy after the Peace of Utrecht. Leiden: Brill.
- Hanlon, Gregory (2002). The Twilight of a Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats and European Conflicts, 1560–1800. Taylor and Francis.
- Mallett, Michael; Shaw, Christine (2012). The Italian Wars, 1494–1559. Pearson Education.
- Marino, John A. (2007). "The Rural World in Italy under Spanish Rule". In Thomas James Dandelet; John A. Marino (eds.). Spain in Italy: Politics, Society, and Religion 1500–1700. Leiden: Brill. pp. 405–32.
- Martin, Miguel A. (1976). "The Secret Clause: Britain and Spanish Ambitions in Italy 1712–31". European History Quarterly. 6: 407–25. .
- Martinelli, Simone (2006). "L'arsenale bellico dei presidi spagnoli di Toscana nella seconda metà del Cinquecento" (PDF). Rivista di storia finanziaria. 17: 89–108.
- Maunder, Samuel (1860). Inman, John (ed.). The History of the World, Volume II. New York: Henry Bill.
- Menning, Ralph (1995). "Stato dei Presidi". In Frey, Linda; Frey, Marsha (eds.). The Treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession: An Historical and Critical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 421–22. ISBN 978-0-313-27884-6.
- Paoletti, Ciro (2012). "Italy, Piedmont and French Anti-Habsburg Strategy, 1690–1748". In Schneid, Frederick C. (ed.). The Projection and Limitations of Imperial Powers, 1618–1850. Leiden: Brill. pp. 68–82.
- Romero García, Eladi (1986). "El señorío de Piombino: Un ejemplo de influencia institucional hispánica en la Italia del siglo XVI". Hispania. 46 (164): 503–18.
- Sabatini, Gaetano (2013). "Economy and Finance in Early Modern Naples". In Tommaso Astarita (ed.). A Companion to Early Modern Naples. Leiden: Brill. pp. 89–108.
- Storrs, Christopher (2006). The Resilience of the Spanish Monarchy 1665–1700. Oxford University Press.