Notwithstanding the maladministration, the sparse population and all the impediments which stand in the way of agricultural, trade and industrial development, Sardinia is well provided with everything necessary for the nourishment and sustenance of its own inhabitants. If Sardinia, even in a state of neglect, without a government and industry of its own, and after all these centuries of misfortunes, has still so many resources, one may conclude that, if it were well managed, it would be one of the most prosperous states of Europe, and that the ancients were not wrong to paint it as a country renowned for its size, for its population, and for the copiousness of its manifacture.
From 1794 to 1796, Angioy contributed in shaping and guiding the mass revolt known as "Sardinian Vespers", which was fought to end the feudal privileges and laws that still existed on the island of Sardinia, and to declare the island to be a republic.[3] In 1796, due to persecution by the ruling House of Savoy, he had to escape from Sardinia. Angioy found refuge in France, where he sought support for a French annexation of the island.[4] He died, unsuccessful,[4] in Paris at the age of fifty-six.
His parents belonged to the Sardinian rural middle class of Bono. During his childhood both his parents died though, first his mother, at the young age of 30, and later his father.
A maternal uncle, Father Thaddeus Arras, took care of Angioy's education. His uncle Thaddeus was his first teacher, but he was also taught by the Fathers Mercedari, a monastic order. Later, Angioy was educated under the supervision of Canon Giovanni Antonio Arras in Sassari. Angioy continued his studies at the Jesuit fathers' school ("Canopoleno"), and at 21 years he had already become a university lecturer, in the law school at the University of Cagliari. Despite his young age he also became a deputy lawyer. Finally, at 39 he became a judge for the Reale Udienza (Sardinia's supreme court).[5]
The ideas of the French Revolution
On the façade of the City Hall of Bono, Sardinia, an inscription says: "To Giovanni Maria Angioy, who inspired by the 1789 Revolution started the Sardinian crusade against the feudal yoke." The ideas of the French Revolution reached Sardinia and had an influence on many intellectuals, despite limited means of communication. Angioy had read many French texts, which were a catalyst for sparking his revolutionary views. The spread of the French revolutionary theories was also favored by the fact that Jean Paul Marat, one of the leading figures of the French Revolution had Sardinian ancestry.
Anti-Feudal revolts
"Sardinian Vespers" redirects here. Not to be confused with Sicilian Vespers.
Sardinia was at the time ruled by the House of Savoy. The House of Savoy was granted control of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1718 with the Treaty of London that followed the War of the Spanish Succession: although assuming the role of King of Sardinia with this treaty, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy moved the capital of the Kingdom to Turin in mainland Italy where the parliament was also based: the parliament and government of the Kingdom was composed exclusively of men from the mainland. Similarly to other colonial domains, Sardinia was governed by a viceroy appointed by the king and only men from the mainland were appointed in the main roles of the Sardinian administration, excluding native Sardinians from any active role in government. After receiving the title of King of Sardinia Victor Amadeus II of Savoy sent his lieutenant, Baron de Saint-Rémy, to assume the role of viceroy of Sardinia.
The new viceroy asked the Sardinian parliament, the "Stamenti", to swear to observe the laws and privileges of the nobility that had been granted by the Spanish governments that ruled the Kingdom of Sardinia before the Savoy. The acceptance of long-standing laws and privileges by the Sardinian parliament also implied the continuation of the feudal system that had been introduced by the Spanish with the conquest of Sardinia in the 15th century. This was particularly controversial because in many other regions of Europe feudalism had disappeared well before the 18th century.
Feudalism had an extremely negative influence on the economy and social structure of Sardinia. It penalised the main economic activity in Sardinia, agriculture. At that time, in fact, the island was divided into fiefdoms and domains under the rule of the nobility. In these domains, taxes for farmers were very high, and annuities were due to the archbishops of Cagliari and Oristano, as well as those due to the major landowners like the Marquis Alagon of Villasor, the Marquis of Thiesi and many others. Only seven cities (Castelsardo, Sassari, Alghero, Bosa, Oristano, Iglesias and Cagliari) were exempted from paying feudal duties (a tradition established by the Spaniards, who granted these towns to be ruled directly by the King and not by the nobility).
As a consequence of the feudal system, which prevented economic mobility and entrepreneurship, town and cities were sparsely inhabited at the time, while most of the population lived in rural areas where they were hassled with harsh feudal taxation: farmers were paid a fifth of what other workers were paid. For vassals (farmers that worked the land of the landowner), taxes were innumerable: every head of the family, in addition to other charges, was to pay a fine.
After the French Revolution, French armies moved war to different countries in Europe, trying to spread their revolutionary ideas. In 1793, a French fleet carrying soldiers moved toward the Gulf of Cagliari. The French wanted to conquer Sardinia in order to use it as a base for attacks on mainland Italy. After bombarding Cagliari from the sea, the French divisions landed on the beach at Quartu, near Cagliari, and from there, moved toward the town on foot. Most of the troops of the House of Savoy were involved in other wars against the French on the mainland of Europe, so the Sardinians organised their own defence against the invading French divisions. Eventually the French were defeated both on land and at sea.
In 1793, following this failed French invasion of Sardinia, local insurgents urged relief from feudal law and excessive aristocratic control. In response, the Sardinian nobility met in their Sardinian parliament, the Stamenti, and issued five requests to the King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia to make five changes in the law to bring Sardinia more in line with the freedoms enjoyed by those in Piedmont. Known as the "five requests". These requests were:
The re-introduction of an assembly of Sardinians (Corti Generali) to meet every ten years (the House of Savoy rulers had not summoned this assembly since 1720, infringing a practice that was taken for granted during the Spanish dominion);
Ratification of the privileges, laws and customs of Sardinia;
They asked all public offices in Sardinia to be given to native Sardinians;
The establishment of a Ministry of Sardinian Affairs in the kingdom's capital of Turin (although the Kingdom was Sardinian by name, the House of Savoy ruled from the territories they held in mainland Italy and had made Turin, in Piedmont, the capital of the kingdom);
Establishment of a Council of State, with the role of giving advice and guidance to the King in important decisions for the Kingdom.
These requests were moderate concessions that the Sardinian nobility thought they deserved for demonstrating loyalty to the House of Savoy. As it can be seen, the requests were hardly revolutionary and only aimed at giving a more active role to the Sardinian nobility in the administration of the region. Nonetheless, the House of Savoy rejected all of these requests. Because of the requests, the Savoyard ruling class distrusted the Sardinia nobles and had commenced persecution of the most prominent Sardinians that had participated in the Stamenti. This, in turn, created increasing discontent in the Sardinians from all classes, not only in the nobility, which mounted into open hostility when the authorities tried to arrest two Sardinians. One of these Sardinians managed to escape and the anger at his persecution sparked an open revolt by the population of Cagliari on 28 April 1794.
During this revolt, the mob chased and killed The General Intendant Jerome Pitzolo (6 July) and the General Gavino Paliaccio, Marquis of Planargia (22 July). These were the days of "s'acciappa" ("the chase") referring to the fact that all Piedmontese were hunted and chased across the city. Eventually, all 514 Piedmontese and Italian officials were rounded up, including Viceroy Balbiano Vincent, and expelled from Cagliari on a boat. The example was followed by other cities and the revolt spread throughout Sardinia. The island was governed by a provisional Royal Audience during this revolutionary period. Since the year 1997 the rebellion of 28 April has been celebrated in Cagliari as "Sardinia Day" ("Sa die de sa Sardigna" in Sardinian).
The Post of "Alternos"
The House of Savoy tried to regain control of Sardinia on the same year. A new viceroy, Filippo Vivalda of Castellino, was installed and landed in Cagliari on 6 September, but the revolts and riots continued. Trying to use the unrest to their profit, the nobility from the north-east of Sardinia (Logudoro and Sassari), asked the king greater autonomy from the viceroy and to depend directly by the Crown.
These requests, which somehow broke the unity of the revolt, angered the revolutionaries in Cagliari and in the rest of Sardinia. The revolutionaries thus organised further uprisings against the nobility in Sassari, uprisings that were particularly popular with farmers and shepherds of the northern part of Sardinia, the Logudoro, where feudal rights and laws were not clearly defined and the landowners used this uncertainty to apply extortionate payments from the vassals. The uprising in the Logudoro climaxed on 28 December 1795, when a great mass of rebels from all over Logudoro marched toward Sassari singing the famous song of Francis Ignatius Mannu: "procurad'è moderade, Barones sa tirrannia" (in Sardinian: mitigate your tyranny, you landowners and nobles). The city was occupied by the revolutionaries, led by Gioachino Mundula and Francesco Cillocco. Having taken as prisoners the governor of Sassari and the archbishop, the rebels marched towards Cagliari.
On 13 February 1796, in order to stop the riots, the viceroy Philip Vivalda along with representatives of the Stamenti, decided to send Giovanni Maria Angioy to Sassari. Angioy was then a judge of the Reale Udienza, but in order to try calm the revolt he was given the role of "Alternos", which allowed him to act as viceroy (and he was supposed to work in conjunction with the viceroy).
Having taken the role of Alternos, Angioy departed from Cagliari to the inner part of Sardinia. During the trip, he won over many Sardinians from different classes. He also had a chance to realise the actual conditions of the Sardinian economy and society: agriculture was still archaic and underdeveloped with little innovation. The feudal oppression contributed highly to the hardship of farmers and the deep poverty of the villagers. Angioy was thus developing revolutionary and democratic ideas that he had nurtured by reading many French political and philosophical texts (he was fluent in French as well as Italian and Sardinian).
When Angioy arrived in Sassari, he was greeted as a liberator. Many saw in him the person that could help deliver the economic and political change that Sardinia highly needed. After placating the revolt [clarification needed] in Sassari and Logudoro, Angioy demanded the viceroy to free the villages and lands from the feudal system. He also refused to collect feudal taxes, as he was required to do by the viceroy. Furthermore, he angered the viceroy even more by expressing his critical views of the feudal system and Savoyard rule. With his powers, he tried to establish some reform by promulgating laws to promote collaboration between landowners and farmers, but his efforts were systemically boycotted by both the viceroy and the nobility in Cagliari.
It might seem strange that the same Sardinian nobility who contributed to starting the revolution, was so adverse to the reforms that Angioy was trying to implement; however, it must be taken into account that the goal of the Sardinian nobility was only to increase their standing in the administration of Sardinia and certainly not to start a radical revolution and change the status quo. As a matter of fact, the Sardinian nobility was deeply worried that the revolt had gotten out of their hands.
Because of the difficulties in legally implementing any kind of reform, the support Angioy enjoyed was fading little by little: some of his collaborators deserted him, while the popular revolt that Angioy hoped could topple the status-quo in Sardinia, never took place because significant portions of the population were suspicious of revolutionary ideas akin to those of the French Revolution. The majority of the population was certainly not eager to maintain the feudal system and the rule of the nobility, but many thought the revolutionary ideas that Angioy expressed were too radical and were deeply suspicious of reforms that would have changed radically the social structure of the villages.
To succeed in his plans of reform, Angioy secretly made some agreements with France: France were ready to support him in trying to stage a revolt to topple the House of Savoy and the viceroy. Angioy's goal was to proclaim a Sardinian Republic, although it is not clear from his memoirs whether he was planning to create an independent state with French protection or whether France was supposed to take a more active role in administering the new republic.
However, when in 1795 France signed in Cherasco a peace deal with the Savoy king, Vittorio Amedeo III, any plan of supporting a Sardinian revolt led by Angioy was abandoned. Angioy then faced persecution by the House of Savoy: he was stripped of his Alternos role and an arrest warrant was issued on him as well as a reward for whoever helped capture or kill him. Angioy managed to escape arrest and organised an army to carry out his plans of revolt even without any external support. However, on 8 June 1796 he was defeated near Oristano, and his army disintegrated. Angioy fled Sardinia and took a boat with the goal of going to Genoa. Apparently his plan was to go to the capital Turin and still try negotiating some measure to abolish the feudal rule in Sardinia. However, as he realised that his efforts were doomed and his own liberty and life were in danger, he fled to France. He lived in France until his death in Paris in 1808, aged 56.
Plaque on the wall in Sassari commemorating Giovanni Maria Angioy's revolutionary zeal in supporting liberty and equality for the island's people.
Sardinian or Sard is a Romance language spoken by the Sardinians on the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia and 16.45 km south of the French island of Corsica.
Archaeological evidence of prehistoric human settlement on the island of Sardinia is present in the form of nuraghes and other prehistoric monuments, which dot the land. The recorded history of Sardinia begins with its contacts with the various people who sought to dominate western Mediterranean trade in classical antiquity: Phoenicians, Punics and Romans. Initially under the political and economic alliance with the Phoenician cities, it was partly conquered by Carthage in the late 6th century BC and then entirely by Rome after the First Punic War. The island was included for centuries in the Roman province of Sardinia and Corsica, which would be incorporated into the diocese of Italia suburbicaria in 3rd and 7th centuries.
Charles Felix was the King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from 12 March 1821 until his death in 1831. He was the last male-line member of the House of Savoy that started with Victor Amadeus I, and caused the line of Victor Amadeus I's younger brother Thomas Francis to seize the throne after Felix's death.
The Judicates, in English also referred to as Sardinian Kingdoms, Sardinian Judgedoms or Judicatures, were independent states that took power in Sardinia in the Middle Ages, between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. They were sovereign states with summa potestas, each with a ruler called judge, with the powers of a king.
Sardinia is probably the most culturally distinct of all the regions in Italy and, musically, is best known for the tenore polyphonic singing, sacred chants called gosos, the launeddas, an ancient instrument that consists of a set of three single-reed pipes, all three mouth-blown simultaneously using circular breathing, with two chanters and one drone and the cantu a chiterra, a monodic song that is accompanied by guitar, widespread mainly in the center and north of the island.
The flag of Sardinia, also referred to as the Four Moors, represents and symbolizes the island of Sardinia (Italy) and its people. It was also the historical flag and coat of arms of the Aragonese, then Spanish, and later Savoyard Kingdom of Sardinia. It was first officially adopted by the autonomous region in 1950 with a revision in 1999, describing it as a "white field with a red cross and a bandaged Moor's head facing away from the hoist in each quarter".
The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom ofSardinia-Piedmont, Sardegna and Corsica or Piedmont–Sardinia as a composite state during the Savoyard period, was a country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century; officially 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of this kingdom.
The Sardinians, or Sards, are a Romance language-speaking ethnic group indigenous to Sardinia, from which the western Mediterranean island and autonomous region of Italy derives its name.
The Perfect Fusion was the 1847 act of the Savoyard King Charles Albert of Sardinia which abolished the administrative differences between the mainland states and the island of Sardinia within the Kingdom of Sardinia, in a fashion similar to the Nueva Planta decrees between the Crown of Castile and the realms of the Crown of Aragon between 1707 and 1716 and the Acts of Union between Great Britain and Ireland in 1800.
The Reale Udienza or Real Audiencia was the supreme court of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Sardinian nationalism or also Sardism is a social, cultural and political movement in Sardinia calling for the self-determination of the Sardinian people in a context of national devolution, further autonomy in Italy, or even outright independence from the latter. It also promotes the protection of the island's environment and the preservation of its cultural heritage.
This article presents a history of Cagliari, an Italian municipality and the capital city of the island of Sardinia. The city has been continuously inhabited since at least the neo-lithic period. Due to its strategic location in the Mediterranean and natural harbor, the city was prized and highly sought after by a number of Mediterranean empires and cultures.
"Su patriotu sardu a sos feudatarios", widely known also by its incipit as "Procurade 'e moderare, is a protest and antifeudal folk song in the culture of Sardinia.
Hampsicora was a Sardo-Punic political leader and landowner of Sardinia, and the leader of the major anti-Roman revolt in the province of 215 BC.
Sardinia's Day, also known as Sardinian people's Day, is a holiday in Sardinia commemorating the Sardinian Vespers occurring in 1794–96.
The Sardinian–Aragonese war was a late medieval conflict lasting from 1353 to 1420. The fight was over supremacy of the land and took place between the Judicate of Arborea -- allied with the Sardinian branch of the Doria family and Genoa -- and the Kingdom of Sardinia, the latter of which had been part of the Crown of Aragon since 1324.
Duke of Vallombrosa was a title created for the House of Manca. The present holder is disputed.
The Kingdom of Sardinia was a feudal state in Southern Europe created in the early 14th century and a possession of the Crown of Aragon first and then of the Spanish Empire until 1708, then of the Habsburgs until 1717, and then of the Spanish Empire again until 1720.
The Kingdom of Sardinia denotes the Savoyard state from 1720 until 1861, which united the island of Sardinia with the mainland possessions of the House of Savoy. Before 1847, only the island of Sardinia proper was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, while the other mainland possessions were held by the Savoys in their own right, hence forming a composite monarchy and a personal union which was formally referred to as the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia". This situation was changed by the Perfect Fusion act of 1847, which created a unitary kingdom. Due to the fact that Piedmont was the seat of power and prominent part of the entity, the state is also referred to as Sardinia-Piedmont or Piedmont-Sardinia and sometimes erroneously as the Kingdom of Piedmont.
References
↑ «Risulta che essa [la Sardegna] non-sia mai stata indipendente, e che è stata sempre oppressa, travagliata e devastata nelle guerre da Cartaginesi e da Romani, quindi da Goti, Visigoti, Vandali, Saraceni, Pisani, Genovesi, Aragonesi e Piemontesi, avendo inoltre subito tre epidemie di peste a causa dell'inadeguatezza del governo. La Sardegna quale essa è al giorno d'oggi e dopo ventiquattro secoli di disastri, vessazioni e del governo più sbagliato, ha ancora cinquecentomila abitanti, ossia grosso modo lo stesso numero che risiede nella Repubblica Ligure. Malgrado la cattiva amministrazione, l'insufficienza della popolazione e tutti gli intralci che ostacolano l'agricoltura, il commercio e l'industria, la Sardegna abbonda di tutto ciò che è necessario per il nutrimento e la sussistenza dei suoi abitanti, e inoltre fornisce agli stranieri grano, orzo, fave, ceci, vino, olio, tabacco, soda, bestiame, formaggio, limoni, sale, tonno e corallo... Se la Sardegna in uno stato di languore, senza governo, senza industria, dopo diversi secoli di disastri, possiede così grandi risorse, bisogna concludere che ben amministrata sarebbe uno degli stati più ricchi d'Europa, e che gli antichi non-hanno avuto torto a rappresentarcela come un paese celebre per la sua grandezza, per la sua popolazione e per l'abbondanza della sua produzione». G.M. Angioy (1799–2015). Memoriale sulla Sardegna. Cagliari: Condaghes. p.63.
↑ Omar Onnis (2019). Storia di Sardegna. I grandi personaggi. Giovanni Maria Angioy. Sassari: La Nuova Sardegna. p.194.
↑ De Felice, R. (1961). "Angioy, Gian Maria". In Ghisalberti, Alberto Maria (ed.). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, volume III, Ammirato-Arcoleo (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. pp.273–275.
Further reading
Angioy, Giovanni Maria (edited by Omar Onnis), Memoriale sulla Sardegna (1799), Condaghes, 2015
Diaz, Gaetano Madau (1979). Un capo carismatico: Giovanni Maria Angioy (in Italian). Cagliari, Sardinia: Gasperini editore.
Bomboi, Adriano (2014). L'indipendentismo sardo. Le ragioni, la storia, i protagonisti. Cagliari: Condaghes.
Onnis, Omar; Mureddu, Manuelle (2019). Illustres. Vita, morte e miracoli di quaranta personalità sarde (in Italian). Sestu: Domus de Janas. ISBN978-88-97084-90-7. OCLC1124656644.
Onnis, Omar (2019). Storia di Sardegna. I grandi personaggi. Giovanni Maria Angioy. Sassari: La Nuova Sardegna.
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