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Daniele Manin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Republic of San Marco | |
| In office 17 March 1848 – 22 August 1849 | |
| Preceded by | Office created; Ferdinando I as king of Lombardy–Venetia; Ludovico Manin as last doge of Venice |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished; Francesco Giuseppe I as king of Lombardy–Venetia |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1804-05-13)13 May 1804 Venice,Italian Republic |
| Died | 22 September 1857(1857-09-22) (aged 53) Paris,Second French Empire |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse | Teresa Perissinotti (1824–1849; her death) |
| Children | Giorgio (1831–1882) |
| Alma mater | University of Padua |
| Profession | Teacher Lawyer |
Daniele Manin (13 May 1804 – 22 September 1857) was anItalianpatriot,statesman and leader of theRisorgimento inVenice.[1]
Daniele Manin was bornDaniele Fonseca in Ramo Astori,Venice, where his birthplace is commemorated by a plaque.
His mother, Anna Maria Bellotto, came fromPadua, while his father, Pietro Antonio Fonseca (1762–1829), came from a family that was originally fromVerona. Daniele's Veronese grandfather, Samuele Medina, wasJewish, but he converted toChristianity in 1759 and took the name Manin becauseLudovico Manin, the lastDoge of Venice, sponsored his conversion. Daniele Manin's niece was the painter and printmakerLeopoldina Zanetti Borzino.[2]
Manin studied law in theUniversity of Padua.
From an early age, he hatedAustria, which at the time ruled Venice.[3]
The failed attempt of theBandiera Brothers, Venetians who had served in theAustrian navy, against theNeapolitan Bourbons in 1844, ignited the Venetian patriotism. In 1847, Manin presented a petition to the Venetian congregation, a consultative assembly tolerated by Austria, informing the emperor of the wants of the nation. He was arrested on a charge of high treason on 18 January 1848, although his arrest only served to agitate of the Venetians.[3]
Two months later, the people of Venice forcedCount Pallfy, the Austrian governor, to release Manin (17 March). The Austrians soon lost control of the city: theVenetian Arsenal was seized by revolutionaries, and, under the direction of Manin, a civic guard and a provisional government were instituted. The Austrians withdrew from Venice on 26 March, and Manin became president of theRepublic of San Marco. He was in favour of Italian unity and was not anxious about annexation toPiedmont because he would have liked to enlist French aid. He then resigned his powers to the Piedmontese commissioners on 7 August. But after the Piedmontese defeat atCustoza, and the armistice in whichKing Charles Albert abandonedLombardy and Venetia to Austria, the Venetians attempted tolynch the royal commissioners, whose lives Manin saved. An assembly was summoned, and atriumvirate formed with Manin at its head.[3]
Towards the end of 1848, the Austrians reoccupied all of the Venetian mainland. Early in 1849, Manin was again chosen president of the Republic, and conducted the defence of the city, with the citizens fighting back the reoccupation.[3]
After the defeat ofCharles Albert's troops atNovara in March, the Venetian assembly voted to grant Manin powers.
Meanwhile, the Austrian forces closed around the city. Manin was seconded by the Neapolitan general,Guglielmo Pepe, who led the Neapolitan army to defend Venice against his king's order. On 26 May, the Venetians were forced to abandon FortMarghera; food was becoming scarce; on 19 June, thepowder magazine blew up; and in July,cholera broke out. The Austrian batteries, subsequently, began to bombard Venice, and when the Sardinian fleet withdrew from theAdriatic, the city was also attacked by sea.[3]
On 24 August 1849, Manin succeeded in negotiating amnesty to save Manin himself, Pepe and some others who were to go into exile. On 27 August, Manin left Venice on board a French ship.[3]
His wife died inMarseille, and he himself reached Paris.[3] In Paris, he became a leader among the Italian exiles. There, he became a convert from republicanism to monarchism, being convinced that only under the auspices ofKing Victor Emmanuel could Italy be freed, and together withGiorgio Pallavicini andGiuseppe La Farina, he founded theSocietà Nazionale Italiana, with the object of propagating the idea of unity under the Piedmontese monarchy.[3]
His daughter died in 1854 from her illness. Manin died on 22 September 1857 and was buried inAry Scheffer's family tomb.[3]
In 1868, two years after the Austrians finally departed from Venice, his remains were brought to his native city and honoured with a public funeral.[4][3] Thegondola carrying hiscoffin was decorated with a bow "surmounted by thelion of Saint Mark, resplendent with gold", bore "the Venetian standard veiled with blackcrape", and had "two silver colossal statues waving thenational colours of Italy".[5] The statues represented the unification of Italy and Venice.[6] His remains are interred in a sarcophagus, which is located in thePiazzetta dei Leoncini, on the north side of theBasilica San Marco.
According to theEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition,
Manin was a man of the greatest honesty, and possessed genuinely statesmanlike qualities. He believed in Italian unity when most men, evenCavour, regarded it as a vain thing.[3] For example, during the 1856Congress of Paris, Manin met with Cavour to discuss theunification of Italy. After the meeting, Cavour wrote that Manin had talked about "l'unità d'Italia ed altre corbellerie" ("the unity of Italy and other nonsense").[7] Manin's work of propaganda by means of the Italian National Society greatly contributed to the success of the cause.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Manin, Daniele".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 581. This cites:{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
