Parthenopean Republic
파르테노페 공화국
A short-lived sister republic established at Naples in southern Italy in 1799, during the French Revolutionary Wars, after the army of Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples was defeated. It proclaimed nominal independence but depended heavily on French protection. Its name derives from Parthenope, the ancient Greek settlement on whose site Naples later arose. In Italian it is also called Repubblica Napoletana (Neapolitan Republic).
In depth
Origins
After the Bourbon monarchy's reactionary repression of the French Revolution from 1793, republican ideas spread, and the Kingdom of Naples joined the First Coalition against France in 1793, punishing those suspected of sympathizing with France. In 1798, at Maria Carolina's initiative, the kingdom again went to war with France; a 70,000-strong army under Karl Mack entered Rome but was routed by a French counterattack. After the king fled to Palermo aboard Nelson's ship, the lazzaroni (the poorest strata) massacred suspected republicans, and nobles and intellectuals began to conceive of a republic under French sponsorship.
On 12 January 1799 Pignatelli surrendered to General Championnet at Sparanise, and the French entry into Naples triggered a lazzaroni revolt and civil war (about 8,000 Neapolitans and 1,000 French killed or wounded).
Foundation and government
With the approval and support of the French commander, the Neapolitan Republic was proclaimed and a provisional government of 20 members (later 25) was formed, with Carlo Lauberg as its first president and Mario Pagano, Domenico Cirillo and Melchiorre Delfico among its members; it had six committees. On 2 February 1799 the official gazette, the Monitore Napoletano, was founded under the editorship of Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel, and on 12 February a republican catechism for civic education was published.
On 29 January 1799 the provisional government enacted laws abolishing fidecommessi (entailed trusts) and primogeniture; on 1 April Mario Pagano submitted a constitutional draft modelled on the French constitution of 1795, including an original institution called the eforato, but it was never implemented as planned. On 25 April 1799 a law abolishing feudalism passed on relatively radical terms, but the republic's rapid collapse prevented its enforcement.
The republic survived on the strength of French arms without any real domestic support base; its leadership was highly educated and of high status but doctrinaire and barely acquainted with the common people, and financial difficulties and an unorganized army left it dependent on French protection. In Pescara a supreme council chaired by Melchiorre Delfico was established in January 1799, and Gabriele Manthoné served as the republic's minister of war.
Counter-revolution and collapse
Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, dispatched by the Palermo court, landed in Calabria on 7 February 1799 and organized the Army of Holy Faith (the sanfedisti), while off the Naples coast Nelson's British fleet occupied Procida before withdrawing under pressure from the republican fleet commanded by Caracciolo. The reconquest of the republic by Ruffo and the sanfedisti was supported by a Russian and Turkish fleet under Admiral Ushakov.
When the French were defeated by Austro-Russian forces in northern Italy in April 1799, they withdrew from the provinces and then, on 7 May, from Naples, leaving the republicans to face the sanfedisti alone. On 13 June 1799 Ruffo's army entered Naples after the Battle of Ponte della Maddalena; in the following weeks Calabresi and lazzaroni plundered and massacred, while the French (Sant'Elmo) and the republicans (San Nuovo and San Dell'Ovo) continued to resist. Pescara, which surrendered on 30 June 1799, was the last Jacobin stronghold. On 8 July 1799 Ferdinand IV declared the republic abolished.
Against the queen's opposition, Ruffo concluded a capitulation with the republicans (the onorevole capitolazione) allowing them to evacuate the forts and sail to Toulon, and British, Russian and Turkish officers signed it. On 24 June 1799, however, Nelson arrived with the fleet and refused to recognize the agreement except as it concerned the French, and on 28 June, after receiving orders from the court, he arrested the republicans. Caracciolo was sentenced to death by court-martial and hanged from the yardarm of Nelson's flagship.
Repression and legacy
After the restoration, of about 8,000 political prisoners 99 were executed (including Prince Gennaro Serra, Mario Pagano, Domenico Cirillo, Luisa Sanfelice, Gabriele Manthoné, Ettore Carafa and Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel), more than 500 were imprisoned (222 for life), 288 were exiled and 67 emigrated. Other sources record that of about 8,000 captives 124 were sentenced to death (6 pardoned), 222 to life imprisonment, 322 to lesser penalties, 288 to exile and 67 to emigration. The British MP Charles James Fox, speaking in the House of Commons on 3 February 1800, criticized Britain for acquiescing in Ferdinand's repression of the republicans.
Dating
Some sources record the proclamation of the republic on 23 January 1799 (21 or 23 January). The period given above follows the 21 January account.