Carbonari

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The Carbonari ("charcoal burners"<ref name="chburners">"CARBONARI (an Italian word meaning charcoal-burners)" from the Carbonari article in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica</ref>) were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th-century Italy. Their goals were patriotic and liberal and they played an important role in the Risorgimento and the early years of Italian nationalism.

1 Organisation
2 Relations with the Church
3 History
4 Members of the Carbonari
5 Carbonari in Literature
6 Notes and References

[edit] Organisation

They were organised in the fashion of Freemasonry, broken into small cells scattered across Italy. They sought the creation of a liberal, unified Italy.

The membership was separated into two classes - apprentice and master. There were two ways to become a master, through serving as an apprentice for at least six months<ref name="appsix">"apprentice could rise to the grade of a master before the end of six months." From Carbonari in the Catholic Encyclopedia</ref> or by being a Freemason on entry.<ref name="masoninst">"Freemasons could enter the Carbonari as masters at once." From Carbonari in the Catholic Encyclopedia</ref> Their initiation rituals were structured around the trade of charcoal-selling, hence their name.

[edit] Relations with the Church

The Carbonari were anti-clerical in both their philosophy and program. The Papal constitution Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo and the encyclical Qui Pluribus were directed against them. The controversial document, the Alta Vendita, which called for a modernist takeover of the Catholic Church, was attributed to the Sicilian Carbonari.

[edit] History

Although it's not clear where they were originally established<ref name="origin">"It is not certain whether the Carbonari, as a political society, had its first organization in France or Italy." From the Carbonari article in the Catholic Encyclopedia</ref>, they first came to prominence in the Kingdom of Naples during the Napoleonic wars.<ref name="import">"The Carbonari were probably an offshoot of the Freemasons, from whom they differed in important particulars, and first began to assume importance in southern Italy during the Napoleonic wars." From the CARBONARI article in the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica</ref>

They began by resisting the French occupiers, notably Joachim Murat, the Bonapartist King of Naples. However once the wars ended, they became a nationalist organisation with a marked anti-Austrian tendency and were instrumental in organising revolution in Italy in 1820-1821 and 1831. The 1820 revolution began in Naples against King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, who was forced to make concessions and promise a constitutional monarchy. This success inspired Carbonari in the north of Italy to revolt too. In 1821, the Kingdom of Sardinia obtained a constitutional monarchy as a result of Carbonari actions. However, the Holy Alliance would not tolerate this state of affairs and in February, 1821, sent an army to crush the revolution in Naples. The King of Sardinia also called for Austrian intervention. Faced with an enemy overwhelmingly superior in number, the Carbonari revolts collapsed and their leaders fled into exile. In 1830, Carbonari took part in the July Revolution in France. This gave them hope that a successful revolution might be staged in Italy. A bid in Modena was an outright failure, but in February 1831, several cities in the Papal States rose up and flew the Carbonari tricolour. A volunteer force marched on Rome but was destroyed by Austrian troops who had intervened at the request of Pope Gregory XVI After the failed uprisings of 1831, the governments of the Italian states cracked down on the Carbonari, who now virtually ceased to exist. The more astute members realised they could never take on the Austrian army in open battle and joined a new movement, Giovine Italia ("Young Italy") led by Mazzini.

[edit] Members of the Carbonari

Silvio Pellico (1788–1854) and Pietro Maroncelli (1795–1846) were prominent members of the Carbonari; both were imprisoned by the Austrians for years, many of which they spent in Spielberg fortress in Brno, Southern Moravia. After his release, Pellico wrote a book Le mie prigioni, describing in detail his ten-year ordeal. Maroncelli lost one leg in prison and was instrumental in translating and editing of Pellico's book in Paris (1833). Other prominent members of the Carbonari included Giuseppe Mazzini, Louis Napoleon (the future French emperor Napoleon III) and French revolutionary Blanqui.