 | It has been suggested thatRepublic of Pescara bemerged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since October 2025. |
Parthenopean Republic | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1799 | |||||||||
| Motto: Libertà e Uguaglianza (Italian) Freedom and Equality | |||||||||
| Anthem: La Nazionale (Inno alla Repubblica Partenopea) "Hymn to the Parthenopean Republic" | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Status | client state ofFrance | ||||||||
| Capital | Naples | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||
| Director | |||||||||
• 1799 | Carlo Lauberg [it] | ||||||||
• 1799 | Ignazio Ciaia [it] | ||||||||
| Legislature | Legislative Council | ||||||||
| Historical era | French Revolutionary Wars | ||||||||
• French invasion | 21 January 1799 | ||||||||
• Sicilian invasion | 13 June 1799 | ||||||||
| Currency | Tornesel,Neapolitan carlino [it] | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Italy | ||||||||
TheParthenopean Republic (Italian:Repubblica Partenopea,French:République Parthénopéenne) orNeapolitan Republic (Italian:Repubblica Napoletana) was a short-livedsister republic inSouthern Italy established during theFrench Revolutionary Wars following the defeat of the armies ofFerdinand IV. The republic existed from 21 January to 13 June 1799, collapsing when theSanfedists returned Ferdinand to power, after which he harshly subdued republican activities.[1]
The Parthenopean Republic is named afterParthenope, an ancient Greek settlement now part of the city ofNaples.
On the outbreak of theFrench Revolution KingFerdinand IV of Naples and QueenMaria Carolina did not at first actively oppose reform; but after the fall of the French monarchy they became violently opposed to it, and in 1793, joined thefirst coalition against France, instituting severe persecutions against all who were remotely suspected of French sympathies.Republicanism, however, gained ground, especially among thearistocracy.
In 1796, peace with France was concluded, but in 1798, duringNapoleon's absence inEgypt and afterNelson's victory at theBattle of the Nile, Maria Carolina induced Ferdinand to go to war with France once more. Nelson himself arrived atNaples in September 1798, where he was enthusiastically received. The Neapolitan army had 70,000 men hastily summoned under the command of theAustrian generalKarl Mack. On 29 November, this army entered Rome,[2] which had been evacuated by the French, wishing to restorePapal authority. However, after a sudden French counter-attack, his troops were forced to retreat and were eventually routed. A contemporary satirist said of the King's conquest of Rome: "He came, he saw, he fled".[3]
The King hurried back to Naples. Although thelazzaroni (the lowest class of the people) were devoted to theBourbon dynasty and ready to defend it, he embarked on Nelson'sVanguard and fled with his court toPalermo in a panic. PrinceFrancesco Pignatelli Strongoli took over the city and the fleet was burned.
The wildest confusion prevailed, and thelazzaroni massacred numbers of persons suspected of republican sympathies, while the nobility and the educated classes, finding themselves abandoned by their King, began to contemplate arepublic under French auspices to avoidanarchy. On 12 January 1799, Pignatelli signed inSparanise the surrender to the French generalJean Étienne Championnet. Pignatelli also fled to Palermo on 16 January 1799.
When the news of the surrender to the French reached Naples and the provinces, thelazzaroni rebelled. Though ill-armed and ill-disciplined, they resisted the enemy with desperate courage. In the meantime, theJacobin andRepublican parties of Naples surged, and civil war broke out. On 20 January 1799, the Republicans under General Championnet[4] conquered the fortress ofCastel Sant'Elmo, and the French entered the city the next day. The casualties were 8,000 Neapolitans and 1,000 French.
On 21 or 23[4] January 1799, the Parthenopean Republic was proclaimed. The name referred to an ancientGreek colonyParthenope on the site of the future city of Naples. The Republic had no real domestic constituency and existed solely due to the power of the French Army. The Republic's leaders were men of culture, high character and birth, such asGennaro Serra, Prince ofCassano Irpino but they were doctrinaire and impractical, and they knew very little of the lower classes of their own country. The new government soon found itself in financial difficulties, owing to Championnet's demands for money (he was later relieved forcorruption); it failed to organise an army (and was therefore dependent on French protection) and met with little success in its attempts to "democratise" the provinces.
Meanwhile, the court at Palermo sent CardinalFabrizio Ruffo, a wealthy and influential prelate, toCalabria to organize a counter-revolution. He succeeded beyond expectation with his "Christian army of the Holy Faith" (Esercito Cristiano della Santa Fede). A British squadron approached Naples and occupied the island ofProcida, but after a few engagements with the Republican fleet commanded byFrancesco Caracciolo, an ex-officer in the Bourbonnavy, it was recalled to Palermo, as the Franco–Spanish fleet was expected.
Ruffo, supported by Russian and Turkish ships under the command ofAdmiral Ushakov, now marched on the capital, whence the French, except for a small force underLouis-Joseph Mejan [fr], withdrew. The scattered Republican detachments were defeated, only Naples andPescara holding out.
On 13 June 1799. Ruffo and his troops reached Naples, and after a desperate battle at thePonte della Maddalena, entered the city. For weeks the Calabresi andlazzaroni 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 inCastel Sant'Elmo and the Republicans inCastel Nuovo andCastel 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 forToulon. 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 captainEdward 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 SirWilliam 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 lastJacobin stronghold,Pescara, surrendered on June 30.
_e_San_Martino%2c_Napoli%2c1799.jpg)
On 10 July 1799, King Ferdinand entered theBay of Naples on a Neapolitan frigate, theSirena. At four o'clock that afternoon, he went aboard the BritishFoudroyant, which was to be his headquarters for the next four weeks.[2]
Of some 8,000 political prisoners, 99 were executed, including PrinceGennaro Serra, who was publicly beheaded, the intellectualMario Pagano, who had written the republican constitution; the scientist,Domenico Cirillo;Luisa Sanfelice;Gabriele Manthoné [it], the minister of war under the republic; Massa, the defender of Castel dell'Ovo;Ettore Carafa, the defender ofPescara, who had been captured by treachery; andEleonora Fonseca Pimentel,court-poet turned revolutionary and editor ofil Monitore Napoletano, the newspaper of the republican government. More than 500 other people were imprisoned (222 for life), 288 weredeported and 67exiled.[2] The subsequent censorship and oppression of all political movement was far more debilitating for Naples.
After news of these events arrived in Britain,Whig statesmanCharles James Fox made a speech in theBritish House of Commons on 3 February 1800 criticising what he alleged to be Britain's acquiescence to Ferdinand's repression of Neapolitan republicans.[5]
The flag of the Parthenopean Republic was the Frenchtricolor with a yellow stripe in the place of the white one.svg)
Variant flag..svg)
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![Emblem [it] of Parthenopean Republic](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aEmblem_of_the_Parthenopean_Republic.svg)
