Although the Napoleonic kings were officially styled King of Naples and Sicily, British domination of the Mediterranean made it impossible for the French to gain control of Sicily, where Ferdinand had fled, and French power was confined to the mainland Kingdom of Naples alone while Ferdinand continued to reside in and rule the Kingdom of Sicily.
In the modernising spirit of the French Revolution, the regimes of Joseph and Murat implemented a programme of sweeping reforms to the organisation and structure of the ancient feudal kingdom. On 2 August 1806, feudalism was abolished, and all the rights and privileges of the nobility suppressed.[1] The practice of tax farming was also ended. The collection of all taxes slowly brought under direct central control as the government brought out the contractors and compensated those who had lost their feudal tax-collecting privileges with bonds.[2] The first public street-lighting system, modelled on that of Paris, was also installed in the city of Naples during Joseph's reign.
Continuing the anti-clerical sentiment of the Revolution, church property was confiscated en masse and auctioned off as biens nationaux (in compensation for the loss of feudal privileges, the nobles received a certificate which could be exchanged for such properties). However, not all church land was sold immediately, with some retained to support charitable and educational foundations.[3] Most monastic orders were also suppressed and their funds transferred to the royal treasury; the Benedictines and Jesuits were dissolved, but Joseph preserved the Franciscans.[4]
Murat joined Napoleon in the disastrous campaign of 1812 and, as Napoleon's downfall unfolded, increasingly sought to save his kingdom. Opening communications with the Austrians and British, Murat signed a treaty with the Austrians on January 11, 1814 in which, in return for renouncing his claims to Sicily and providing military support to the Allies in the war against his former Emperor, Austria would guarantee his continued possession of Naples.[5] Marching his troops north, Murat's Neapolitans joined the Austrians against Napoleon's stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy. After initially opening secret communications with Eugène to explore his options of switching sides again, Murat finally committed to the allied side and attacked Piacenza.[6] Upon Napoleon's abdication on 11 April 1814 and Eugène's armistice, Murat returned to Naples. However, his new allies did not trust him, and he became convinced they were about to depose him.
Upon Napoleon's return in 1815, Murat struck out from Rimini at the Austrian forces in northern Italy in what he considered a pre-emptive attack. The powers at the Congress of Vienna assumed he was in concert with Napoleon, but this was, in fact, the opposite of the truth, as Napoleon was then seeking to secure recognition of his return to France through promises of peace, not war. On 2 April, Murat entered Bologna without a fight. Still, soon he was in headlong retreat as the Austrians crossed the Po at Occhiobello, and his Neapolitan forces disintegrated at the first sign of a skirmish. Murat withdrew to Cesena, then Ancona, then Tolentino.[7] At the Battle of Tolentino on 3 May 1815, the Neapolitan army was swept aside. Though Murat escaped to Naples, his position was irrecoverable, and he soon continued his flight, leaving Naples for France.
Ferdinand IV & III was soon restored, and the Napoleonic kingdom came to an end. The Congress of Vienna confirmed Ferdinand in possession of both his ancient kingdoms, Naples and Sicily, which were united in 1816 as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which would survive until 1861.
The Army of the Kingdom of Naples, active during the French period, or the decade when the Bourbon kingdom was conquered and ruled by the Napoleonids, was an armed land force that took part, alongside the Grande Armée, in many of the major campaigns of the Napoleonic wars. With the Napoleonic occupation and the creation of the new kingdom in 1806, the Neapolitan throne was initially entrusted to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother. In 1808, until 1815, the Neapolitan throne was occupied instead by Joachim Murat, one of the most brilliant military commanders of the Napoleonic empire. Following the execution of Murat, this army was not dissolved, but amalgamated with the other army that the Bourbons had kept during their exile in Sicily.
The House of Bonaparte is a former imperial and royal European dynasty of Corsican origin. It was founded in 1804 by Napoleon I, the son of Corsican nobleman Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Buonaparte. Napoleon was a French military leader who rose to power during the French Revolution and who, in 1804, transformed the French First Republic into the First French Empire, five years after his coup d'état of November 1799. Napoleon and the Grande Armée had to fight against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories during the Napoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, expanding the power of the dynasty.
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), and then King of Spain (1808–1813). After the fall of Napoleon, Joseph styled himself Comte de Survilliers and emigrated to the United States, where he settled near Bordentown, New Jersey, on an estate overlooking the Delaware River not far from Philadelphia.
Ferdinand I was King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand IV and King of Sicily as Ferdinand III. He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799, and again by a French invasion in 1806, before being restored in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory. The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état, overthrowing the Directory, establishing the French Consulate, and ends during the Hundred Days and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. The Congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days. Napoleon brought political stability to a land torn by revolution and war. He made peace with the Roman Catholic Church and reversed the most radical religious policies of the Convention. In 1804 Napoleon promulgated the Civil Code, a revised body of civil law, which also helped stabilize French society. The Civil Code affirmed the political and legal equality of all adult men and established a merit-based society in which individuals advanced in education and employment because of talent rather than birth or social standing. The Civil Code confirmed many of the moderate revolutionary policies of the National Assembly but retracted measures passed by the more radical Convention. The code restored patriarchal authority in the family, for example, by making women and children subservient to male heads of households.
The Kingdom of Naples, also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302), when the island of Sicily revolted and was conquered by the Crown of Aragon, becoming a separate kingdom also called the Kingdom of Sicily. This left the Neapolitan mainland under the possession of Charles of Anjou. Later, two competing lines of the Angevin family competed for the Kingdom of Naples in the late 14th century, which resulted in the death of Joanna I by Charles III of Naples. Charles' daughter Joanna II adopted King Alfonso V of Aragon as heir, who would then unite Naples into his Aragonese dominions in 1442.
Joachim Murat was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the Empire and Admiral of France. He was the first Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples as Joachim-Napoleon from 1808 to 1815.
The Battle of Maida, fought on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a French force outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,236 Anglo-Sicilian troops to victory over about 5,400 Franco-Italian-Polish troops under the command of French general Jean Reynier, inflicting significant losses while incurring relatively few casualties. Maida is located in the toe of Italy, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Catanzaro.
The Neapolitan War, also known as the Austro-Neapolitan War, was a conflict between the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire. It started on 15 March 1815, when King Joachim Murat declared war on Austria, and ended on 20 May 1815, with the signing of the Treaty of Casalanza. The war occurred during the Hundred Days between Napoleon's return from exile and before he left Paris to be decisively defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. The war was triggered by a pro-Napoleon uprising in Naples and ended with a decisive Austrian victory at the Battle of Tolentino, after which Bourbon monarch Ferdinand IV was reinstated as King of Naples and Sicily. However, the intervention by Austria caused resentment in Italy, which further spurred on the drive towards Italian unification.
Guglielmo Pepe was an Italian general and patriot. He was brother to Florestano Pepe and cousin to Gabriele Pepe. He was married to Mary Ann Coventry, a Scottish woman who was the widow of John Borthwick Gilchrist, linguist and surgeon to the East India Company.
The Battle of Tolentino was fought from 2–3 May 1815 near Tolentino, Kingdom of Naples in what is now Marche, Italy: it was the decisive battle in the Neapolitan War, fought by the Napoleonic King of Naples Joachim Murat to keep the throne after the Congress of Vienna. The battle occurred during the Hundred Days following Napoleon's return from exile and, like the Battle of Waterloo, resulted in a decisive victory for the Seventh Coalition, leading to the restoration of the previous Bourbon king, Ferdinand I.
The siege of Ancona took place during the Neapolitan War. It took place beginning on 5 May 1815 and persisted until 30 May 1815. The battle took place mere days after the Battle of Tolentino on 3 May 1815.
The Treaty of Casalanza, which ended the Neapolitan War, was signed on 20 May 1815 between the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples on the one hand and the Austrian Empire, as well as the Great Britain, on the other. The signature occurred in a patrician villa, owned by the Lanza family, in what is now the commune of Pastorano, Campania, southern Italy.
The Battle of Mileto took place during the War of the Third Coalition on 28 May 1807 in Calabria. The Bourbon Kingdom of Sicily attempted to re-conquer its possessions in continental Italy, known as the Kingdom of Naples. The battle ended in a victory for French forces under general Jean Reynier.
Gennaro Spinelli, prince of Cariati was an Italian politician and diplomat. He served as president of the council of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He belonged to an aristocratic family from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and was also marquess of Fuscaldo, prince of Sant'Arcangelo, duke of Caivano and of Marianella.
The Rimini Proclamation was a proclamation by Joachim Murat, King of Naples, calling for the establishment of a united, self-governing Italy ruled by constitutional law. Its text is widely attributed to Pellegrino Rossi, later Papal Minister of Interior under Pope Pius IX. While it is primarily considered as a desperate attempt from Murat to retain the Neapolitan throne, the Rimini Proclamation was among the earliest calls for Italian unification.
The Army of the Kingdom of Naples was the primary land defence and offence force of the Kingdom of Naples. It served alongside Napoleon’s Grande Armée in various campaigns and wars across Europe, until its final demise in the Neapolitan War of 1815. It was in service from 1806 to 1815, reborn from the Army of the Two Sicilies after the annexation of Naples. The Army was more known for the splendour of its uniforms rather than the achievements of its troops.
The Neapolitan Regiment of Honour Guards was a royal bodyguard unit of the Royal Neapolitan Guard, and was in turn part of the wider Neapolitan Army. The regiment was formed following the succession of Joachim Murat, and would continue to act as the official bodyguard under different designations until its eventual disbandment in 1815 following the disastrous Neapolitan War.
The Treaty of Naples of 11 January 1814 was a treaty that was signed between the Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire.
The Italian Campaign of 1813-1814 was the series of military operations fought during the War of the Sixth Coalition, mainly in northern Italy between the French Empire and the Coalition led by Austrians and British. It represented the last time of the so-called "French period", precisely from the campaign of 1796-1797, in which a French and an Austrian army confronted each other for control of the Italian peninsula. The Austro-Neapolitan War of 1815 was essentially a clash between only Italians and Austrians.
Nunzio Otello Francesco Gioaccino was a soldier and servant during the Napoleonic Wars. Born to an Egyptian family in Ottoman Egypt, Otello was taken by French officials during their expedition to Egypt in 1798 under general Napoleon Bonaparte. Otello was a gift to Joachim Murat and became his servant when he was 6 years old. He later became an aide and bodyguard of Murat, and a servant to Caroline Bonaparte, serving as Caroline's personal assistant in the Schloss Frohsdorf estate after her marriage to Francesco MacDonald.
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