mm ! i HN'S STANDARD LIBRARY. MAINS OF THE REV. ROBET OES LIFE ANp PONTIFICATE OF LEO X.. Kdited ly l.is Son, lib. -CGELS LECTURES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. Translated KKTSON, Ksq. Portrait. 5 8t 6. SISMONDI'S HISTORY OF THE LITERATURE OF THE SOUTH OF EUROPE. Tr.m< r ''iU- 7. ROSCOES LIFE OF LORENZO DE MEDICI, with the Copyright Notef, 8tc. 8. SCHLEGEL'S LECTURES ON DRAMATIC LITERATURE. / & 11. BECKMANNS HISTORY OF INVENTIONS. DISCOVERIES, ANO .. Portraits. " ORIGINS. ' : 'iJ ' I 10. SCHILLERS HISTORY THE THIR'i . : ^S' WAR AND REVOLT OF THE NETHERLAf JS. i'r.uislated by i MORIUSON. Portrait. 3 12. SCHILLER'S WORKS. Vul II. Revolt of the Netherlands;" : . outh of Wallcuateiu;" and : ,tk Portn of * 13. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF COLONEL r! , :SON. By Ui Widow: aunt of the v.i h 14. MEMOIRS OF BENVENU-O C<- L _,r-'. I" H ! I.. liy ROSCOK. Pi-trait. 15, 18, & 22. COXES HISTOt -1 O r AUSTRIA, from the niitl. 18, 19, fc23. LANZIS HISTORY OF PAI'.TIUG. 1 . Campaigns, (being all tbocc iJ In tht oriflaAl - 10. i 1J Ui.) 4to. 01. tln Destruction of the sedile of the people iiniler Alphonso I. of Arragou lievival of the popular element under the French dominion Comparison between the nobility and the people in the year 1495 Position of the people under the last Arragonese Claims of the people for an equal share of representation with the nobility under Ferdinand the Catholic Form of the municipal government of the sediles under the vice- Mode of election Deputies The municipal government (tribunal of the Eletti) in San Lorenzo Spanish policy with reference to the sediles as substitutes for the general parliaments Form of the parliaments under the viceroys The locality of the parliameut in Sun Lorenzo The opposition of the sediles to the <>ys The nobilitj iu the sediles Opposition Spain's endea- vour to oppress the great nobility Apparent contradiction in its position Feudalism and the communities Privileges of the com- munities to redeem themselves from feudal ties, the so-called pro- clamation of liberty He-alienation of the communities by the government The right of rebellion in the name of the king Delations of the barons to their vassals Actual and assumed rights of the feudatories Political condition of the nobility Granting of titles Disadvantageous position of the communities with regard to the tribute-securities Money transactions Farming tolls Hanks The Genoese Money-market Exchange Agio Loans on the banks System of coinage Usury False coinage Con- ditions of admission into the sediles Foreign sovereigns and great families Neapolitan feudatories Difficulties in being enrolled amongst the sediles in the time of the Spaniards Deputations ; CONTENTS. ix rejection of their claims Different lines of the system of titles Spanish families in the kingdom Orders Judicial relations Jurisdiction of the nobility The second, or new nobility The people Description of Camillo Porzio Page 58 CHAPTER III. THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. XV th AND XVI th CENTURIES. Castle and village of Maddaloni The family of Carafa Malizia Carafa Diomed Carafa, first Count of Maddaloni The war of the barons Coppola and Petrucci The Count of Maddaloni, with reference to Ferdinand I. His monument in San Domenico Activity about the sciences Palace of Maddaloni, now St. Angelo The bronze horse's head Posterity of Diomed Carafa The Carafas of Mon- torio Giau Pietro Carafa, afterwards Pope Paul IV. Paul IV. opposed to Spain Alva's march against Home Alva before the gates of the city Retreat Peace at Cave The nephews of the pope The Cardinal of Carafa The Duke of Pagliano Fall of the Carafas Death of Paul IV. Insurrection of the Roman people Complication of the catastrophe of the Carafas Murder of the Duchess of Pagliano Pius IV. Trial and condemnation of the Carafas Letter of the Duke of Pagliano to his son Final destiny of the Carafas of Montorio ~ Cardinal Alphonso, Archbishop of Naples Cardinal Olivieri Carafa . ....... 108 BOOK II. CHAPTER I. THE VICEROYS UNDER PHILIP IV. TILL THE YEAR 1647. The Spanish monarchy under Philip II. and III. Idea of a universal Christian monarchy Condition of Spain Disunion of its indi- vidual parts Centralization of policy Philip II. 's foreign policy Decline of Spain under Philip III. Change of system under Philip IV. War in the Netherlands, Germany, and France Insurrection in Catalonia and Portugal War in Lombardy Political condition of Italy Don Antonio de Toledo, Duke of Alva, Viceroy at Naples Great distress in the country The viceroys : CONTEXTS. Duke of Alcalk, Count of Monterey, Dnke of Medina Share of Naples in the Spanish wars Military service of the nobility Increasing pressure, and increasing distress Quarrels between the'sediles and the viceroys The donative^ and general system of taxation The arrendameuti, or monopolies The composizioni, or money indemnities Compulsory loans, tributes, sale of places System of robbery, squadra di campagna, bisogni Administration of justice Kight of asylum Disputes between the secular and clerical authorities Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino Courts of the viceroys The Admiral of Castille, Viceroy of Naples Misery and immorality The Duke of Arcos in the admiral's place Attempts of the French against the Spanish presidencies on the shores of Tuscany Ineffectual siege of Orbetello Second attempt Conquest of Piombino and Porto Lungone Warlike preparations at Naples Want of money Fruit-tax Excessive pauperism . . Page 142 [CHAPTER II. THE YOCTHFDL LIFE OF DIOMED CABAFA. THE KOBILITY IN THE xvji" 1 CKN rrisY. Don Marzio Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni Warlike fame and splendour of the family Diomed Carafa's birth and youth Military sen-ice of the nobility Social relations and position of the great families Their pride Inability to resist the viceroys Attempt to attract the feudal nobility to the capital Magnificence of the viceroys Hi the seventeenth century The royal palace at Naples Count of Lemos Domenico Fontana Festivities Masquerades, theatres, tournaments Feats of horsemanship Pleasure excursions Play, and gambling-houses Courtesans ^ Donna di Libera Vita) The Prince of Conca and his family Corruption of the morals of die higher classes Duels Insecurity of the streets liravoes Quarrels with the police Deeds of violence done by the nobles Murder of Camillo Soprano Proceedings against the murderers Debts of the nobility Oppression of vassals Domestic life Women Disputes about rank Halls and quadrilles Convents Feasts in them Presence of the Infanta Maria Diomed Carafa's way of life Anna Carafa, Princess of Stigliano, Duchess of Medina The palace of Donna Anna The ill-fated house Story of Anna Acquaviva's marriage Nuptialsof Diomed Carafa The Caracciolos of Avellino Avellino and its neighbourhood 183 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER III. THE CITY OF NAPLES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE XVII th CENTURY. Situation aud first impression Earliest settlement Normans Hohen- staufens Period of the House of Anjou San Lorenzo and Santa Maria la Nuova The Cathedral San Domenico Maggiore Sta. Chiara Connexion of Naples with Tuscan art and poetry L' Incoronata Giotto S. Martino Buildings of the Durazzo race Antonio Bamboccio of Piperno S. Giovanni de' Pappacoda S. Giovanni a Carbonara Palaces and houses of the last Angevin period Corporations and streets named after them Aragonese era Triumphal arch of Alphonso I. Principal gate of the Castelnuovo Wall of Ferdinand I. Palace upon the Poggio Reale Pietro and Polito del Donzello Villas of Alphonso II. Cardinal Pompeo Colonna Montoliveto Modanino's group of the Pieta San Severino Palaces of private individuals: Carafa, San Severino, Orsini Pontano's chapel Santa Maria del Parto Sannazzaro Increase of the city since 1 530 Consumption Number of inhabitants Trades Commerce Enlargement under Don Pedro de Toledo General view of Spanish Naples San Giacomo degli Spagnoli Tomb of Toledo Art of painting in the 14th and 15th centuries Zingaro The Donzello Art of painting in the 16th century Andrea del Salerno Earlier sculpture Agnolo Aniello Fiore Giovanni da Nola Girolamo Santa Croce, Domenico d' Auria, and others Changes in the last half of the 16th century Art in the 17th century M. A. Naccarino General condition of the town Palaces of the nobility, and their establishments Magnificence of the churches Carthusian mo- nastery of S. Martino Cosimo Fansaga Chapel of St. Januarius in the Cathedral Pictures in the chapels Contention of Neapo- litan artists with those of Rome and Bologna Cav. d* Arpino Guido Reni Belisario Correnzio Domenichino Lanfranco Michelangelo da Caravaggio Lo Spagnoletto G. B. Caracciolo The Painter-knights II Cavalier Calabrese . . . Page 237 xii COXTF.vi . BOOK III. CHAPTER I. MASANIELLO. The years 1547 and 1647 and their consequences Insurrection at Palermo The gabelles. The fruit-tax Tommaso Aniello In- creasing discontent of the populace Giulio Genuine. Festival of Our Lady of Carmel Beginning of the dispute on the morning of the 7th of July The deputy of the people Naclerio's interview with the Duke of Arcos Attack upon the palace. Danger and flight of the viceroy Cardinal Filomarino as peacemaker The viceroy in the Castle dell' Uovo and in Castelnuovo Disturbances in the night from the 7th to the 8th of July Progress of the rebellion, 8th July The Duke of Maddaloni as an officer with a flag of truce The privileges of Charles V. Destruction of the toll-houses and of private houses Maddaloni detained by the rebels His flight to Torella Filomarino again a mediator. Monsignor Altieri Storming of San Lorenzo Masaniello's great influence Attack of the banditti upon Masaniello and his followers Murder of Don Giuseppe Carafa Destruction of the dwellings of the Carafas Negotiations of the viceroy with the rebels Treaty of the Duke of Arcos with the people Masaniello in the royal palace Continuation of the rebellion. Masaniello's acts of violence. The captain-general of the people Aniello Falcone and his death-troop. Salvator Hosa Solemn convention in the cathedral, 13th July The beginning of Masaniello's delirium Senseless rage. The palace of Maddaloni Plot of the Duke of Arcos against Masaniello Murder of Masaniello in the Carmelite convent His funeral Page 299 CHAPTER II. \V.\Il DUBrxo THK TEARS 1647-1648. A:i imperfect and only apparent tranquillity after the death of Masa- niello Flight of Genuino The gabelles Open war Advantages gained by the troops of the people Francesco Toraldo captain- general of the people New treaty of the 7th of September The Carafaa of Maddaloni outlawed by the people Giovann' Angelo Harile Arrival of the Armada of Don John of Austria CONTENTS. Xlll Measures taken against many of the leaders of the people Attack of the Spaniards upon the town Victory of the people Don John retires to Bajae Destruction of the pictures and arms of the king The Nuncio Altieri French intrigues Attack of the people upon the posts garrisoned by the Spaniards Murder of Toraldo Gennaro Annese captain-general Siege of Castelnnovo Pictures of Salvator Rosa Condition of the provinces Extension of the rebellion in the feudal principalities and in the royal cities The Count of Conversano in Nardo Deceitfulness of the Duke of Arcos Persecution of the Duke of Maddaloni Rising of the nobility in behalf of Spain Battles in the vicinity of Naples Skirmish at Scafati Conquest of Acerra and Aversa Successes of the barons at Castellammare, &c/ Don Vincenzo Tuttavilla undertakes the command of the royal and baronial troops Defence of the bridge of Scafati Don Francesco Capecelatro's description of the state of the neighbourhood of the capital Want of union amongst the royalists Blockade of Naples Don John's ineffectual negotiations with the rebels Henry of Lorraine Duke of Guise Landing of Guise at Naples the 16th of November Naples a republic Homage performed in the cathedral Conference with the nobles Advantages of the rebels in the provinces The fleet of the Duke of Richelieu on the coasts Deplorable condition of the town at the beginning of the new year, 1648 Dissensions between Guise and Gennaro Annese The Duke of Arcos resigns his office Don John of Austria takes his place provisionally Rapid change in the fortunes of war in the provinces The Count of Onate viceroy, the 2nd March, 1648 Guise's attack upon the island of Nisida Onate's negotiation with the leaders of the people Re-conquest of the town on the 5th April Guise's flight and imprisonment Ineffectual attempts of the French, later, against Naples . Page 340 CHAPTER III. LAST TEARS OF DIOMED CARAFA. Condition of Naples after the return of the Spaniards Activity and policy of the Count of Onate Measures against the disturbers of the peace Corn-law system and laws Abuses of the corn-trade Measures of finance Expedition against Piombino and Elba Re-conquest of Porto Lungone Departure of Don John of Austria Disposition of the Neapolitan people Conduct of the viceroy towards the nobility Secret motives Rumour of a conspiracy XIV CONTENTS. Imprisonment of the Prince of Montesarchio and the Prior of Roccella Transactions with the banditti New proceedings against the nobility Measures against the Count of Olano, the Princes of Avellino and Forino, and the Duke of Maddaloni Persecution of Dionu'd Carafa Vain attempts at reconciliation The Duchess of Maddaloni and the viceroy Diomed Carafa presents himself, and is pardoned Condition of the provinces Don Francesco Capecelatro in Calabria Family life of Diomed Carafa Caspar Homer Construction of the palace of Maddaloni Festivities under the Count of Onate The influence of Spain upon Italian literature, morals, and the way of life Marini, Gongora, Salvator Rosa The Spanish power during the second part of the 17th century Recall of the Count of Onate The Count of Castrillo viceroy in 1653 Donatives and feast Maddaloni and Cardinal Filomarino Renewal of the robbery system The Count of Con- versano Imprisonment of Diomed Carafa His departure for Spain, and his death, 1660 The Carafas of Maddaloni in later times Results of the Neapolitan revolutions Subsequent viceroys Weakness and decline of the aristocracy Extinction of the Spanish line of Hapsburg Attempt at an insurrection by the Prince of Massa Charles III., King of Naples, 1734 His system of government Bernardo Tanucci The nobility during the re- volutions of the year 1 799 Dissolution of the sediles and of the old constitution The Spanish era with reference to the present time Page 382 APPENDIX Page 423 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Vis imperil virtus. CAPECELATBO. BOOK 1. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. THE ARRAGONESE AND THE VICEROYS TILL THE DEATH OF PHILIP HI. The Normans in Salerno Foundation and growth of the Norman Power The Hohenstaufens Charles of Anjou and his successors Alphonso of Arragon King of Naples and Sicily Ferdinand I. The "War of the Earons March of Charles VIII. to Naples Alphonso II. Condition of Italy in the year 1494 The last Arragonese, Ferdinand and Frederick Division of Naples between Ferdinand the Catholic and Lewis XII. Departure and death of King Ferdinand The Spaniards in sole possession of 'Naples French and Spanish war Charles V. Naples besieged by Lau- trec Causes which led to the establishment of the Spanish Power Don Pedro de Toledo : condition of Naples from the beginning of his government Reform of justice New laws Restoration of the public security Undertakings and works of Toledo Financial relations The hearth-tax The Donative Attempt to introduce the Spanish Inquisition Insurrection of the Neapoli- tans The municipality The nobility Embassy from the town to the Emperor Decree of Charles V. End of the disturbances Last years of Toledo Intercourse with the Emperor Trans- formation of Naples into a Spanish province The Consiglio-colla- terale The Council of Italians The Secretaryships of "War and Justice The great courts of justice : the proceedings of the court The later Viceroys under Philip II. and III. General relations Disputes about jurisdiction with Rome Military system Description of the Viceroys : their position Don Pedro Giron, Duke of Ossuna "War against Venice Ossuna's plans and depo- sition The Cardinals Gaspar Borgia and Zaputa Famine and insurrection Death of Philip IIL " A THOUSAND years after our Saviour's birth there appeared in the world forty valiant Pilgrims. They came from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, whither they had been to 2 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL worship Jesus Christ. They reached Salerno, which was invested by the Saracens, and so distressed that it was on the point of surrender. Before this the town had been tri- butary to the Saracens, but, as the inhabitants were careless and did not pay their tribute regularly every year, the Saracens came upon them suddenly in numerous vessels, plundering, de- stroying, and laying waste the country. As soon as this was known to the Norman Pilgrims, they would not bear such enormities, nor endure that Christians should be subject to Saracens. So the Pilgrims went to Guaimar, the illustrious prince who then ruled the land with much justice, and begged him to allow them horses and arms. They would fight against the enemy, not for the sake of the hire or of the money, but because they could not endure the insolence of their adver- saries. So they asked for horses ; and after they had received both them and arms, they assaulted the Saracens, killed many of them, put others to flight, driving some to the sea-shore, and others to their camp. And thus did these brave Normans conquer, and the Salernians were freed from their slavery to the infidels."* It was in the year 1017, according to common reckoning, that the valiant Normans, who at first acquired a domicil in France, appeared in the south of Italy. In the country which is bounded by the Tronto and the Liris, and the chain of the Apennines from the Adriatic, the Ionian, and the Tuscan Seas, there had existed for centuries two conflicting principles ; two hostile races had struggled one against another, till both the spirit of the Greek and of the Lombard civilization were exhausted, and could with difficulty ward off the attacks of their vigorous enemy, Mahometanism, which seemed invin- cible till the West roused all its vigour and set a limit to its progress. The Normans brought to the south a new principle of life. They drove back the Saracens from the shores of Southern Italy, and took from them their con- quest of Sicily. The Norman feudal monarchy raised itself on the ruins of the small, weak States of the southern con- tinent, adopting many of the local elements and incorpo- rating with it many others. The success of these knights- * L'Yrtoire di Nonnant, etc., par Aiin, moinc du Mont-Cassia, pub- Ii6e par M. Champollion-Figcac. Paris, 1835. P. 15. CHARLES OF ANJOU. 3 errant before Salerno stimulated other of their countrymen to make similar attempts. Tancred of Hauteville, a nobleman of Cotentin, sent many of his sons to Italy. Kobert Guiscard, born at Coutances, first established, as well by strength of arms as by dexterity, a solid power. In the year 1059 Pope Nicholas II. gave him the investiture of Apulia and Calabria, to which possessions he united those of Amalfi and Salerno, whilst Roger, Tancred's youngest son, conquered Sicily, and took the title of Great Count of that beautiful island. Through Roger's son the royal dignity passed into the Norman race. Naples submitted to this first King Roger in 1 1 30, Naples which was destined to become the principal city of the southern Italian kingdom, as it had been the last seat of east Roman civilization. Two kings of the name of William, the Wicked and the Good, and Tancred of Lecce, an illegitimate scion of the house, wore the crown, which by right of inheritance belonged to Constance, the last legitimate descendant of Tancred of Hauteville. " Appulus et Calaber, Siculus mihi servit et Afer," King Roger had caused to be engraved on his sword. Now the do- minion, as beautiful as it had been rapidly acquired, passed from the stem of the Northern Franks to a mighty race in the south of Germany. The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had betrothed his eldest son Henry to the heiress of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily : it was a rich and precious inheritance, but it led to the ruin of the splendid house of Hohenstaufen. The Emperors Henry VI. and Frederick II., and the Kings Conrad and Man- fred fought, conquered, and were subdued ; the crown came again through the papal investiture upon a French head. Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence, overcame the last of the Hohenstaufens, and founded the monarchy which was main- tained 174 years by his posterity. Frederick II. did the most towards moulding the kingdom ; Charles I. adapted the work of the greatest of his predecessors, according to the exigences of his day and the traditions of the country in which his heredi- tary states were situated. The settlement of the Swabians first, and then that of the Provencals, in the southern portion of the peninsula, the establishment of a feudal state upon the soil which had for centuries been fertilized by the Grecian element of civilization, the contrasts which had been elicited by these different fundamental principles warring against one another, B 2 4 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL and only at last imperfectly intermixed, have necessarily led to characteristic differences between the kingdom of Naples and the northern parts of the peninsula, as well as to the eccentric phenomena in this kingdom. The blood-gnfitfanH as well as the injustice of the proceeding were fearfully avenged on the house of Anjou. Even the first of them lost Sicily, and with it one of the principal causes of its glory, as well as of its power and stability. He died of grief at the failure of his daring plans, and at his death left his son and successor in prison. If Charles I. during eighteen years go- verned by fear and not by love, erecting with a firm hand an edifice of government, which he sought to finish in its various parts, Charles II., who succeeded his father in the year 1284, pursued a milder course. His dominion lasted for a quarter of a century, and that of his second son Robert lasted still longer, that is, thirty-four years. The house of Anjou, in consequence of the means of its elevation, represented in Italy the Papal or Guelphic principle. Charles I., whose strong hand grasped with vigour all relations, had done this with an energy so consistent, that the Papacy itself perceived its danger ; because the authority of the King of Naples ex- tended itself over Rome, where he was a senator, to Florence where he was lord protector, and even to Upper Italy ; and so the Popes liad again before their eyes the image of terror which they had struggled against with such tenacity of purpose in the race of Hohenstaufen. Even King Robert, who ascended the throne in the year 1309, assumed a similar position, and stood at the head of the Guelphic party in opposition to the two last Emperors, who instinctively took up the great battle of the middle ages, though in different ways Henry of Luxem- bourg and Lewis of Bavaria. But the Italian relations assumed practically other forms, and Robert's later years were devoted to cherishing efforts of peace, and to the cultivation of the arts and sciences, which has made his name so famous, and connected it so indissolubly with the history of Italian art in its most flourishing period. After the death of King Robert, which happened in 1343, bad times followed. His son Charles, Duke of Calabria, called by the Italian chroniclers Tlttustre, though he had not exactly acquired a just fame in the affairs of Tuscany, died about fifteen years before, and the crown devolved upon the head of a girl of seventeen, Joanna, the eldest granddaughter SUCCESSORS OF CHAKLES OF ANJOU. of Robert. According to the strict law of inheritance, it ought to have descended to his great-nephew, the grandson of his eldest brother, Charles Martel, King of Hungary. If Pope Clement V., who, like his predecessors, feared from a sort of natural instinct the too great power of the house of Anjou, had by his decree altered the usual course of suc- cession, the King sought a means of adjustment by uniting in marriage his great-nephew, Andrew of Hungary, with the heiress. But that which seemed likely to strengthen the union of the family produced incurable divisions, and to Naples many years of war and of intestine commotions, the wounds of which centuries have not sufficed to heal over. The murder of Andrew in Aversa, the second marriage of the young Queen, the march of the Hungarian army against Naples, the flight of the Queen to Provence, and her return later, the claims on the crown of the collateral line of Anjou- Durazzo, the adoption of Prince Lewis, Count of Anjou, the brother of Charles V. of France, from whom the younger race of Anjou descended, the pretensions of which passed to the Valois as well as to the Guises, Joanna's murder at the command of Charles Durazzo all this happened during the thirty-five years that immediately followed. Nor was the time which succeeded it happier ; the period of government which comprises the dominion of the line of Durazzo pos- sessed few or none of the brilliant qualities of the elder branch, but only their weaknesses, faults, and vices. The short and unquiet reign of Charles III., whose chief interests lay in Hungary, where he met with his death ; the regency of his widow during the minority of her son Ladislaus ; the first suc- cesses and later discomfiture of the Anjou faction, who fought for the rights of the French pretender to the throne the com- plete victory of the Durazzi and the reign of Ladislaus rich in fruitful deeds of war, occupied the years from 1381 to 1414. Then another Joanna ascended the throne, the last of the Anjou-Durazzi, and her reign, scarcely less eventful and variable than that of her unhappy namesake, extended longer than the duration of her house, and beyond the struggle for the throne, as she first selected Alphonso of Arragon for her successor, then the French Prince Lewis of Anjou, after whose early death she chose the " bon roi Rene," the knight- errant of the fifteenth century, who forgot his lost kingdoms in his passion for painting and poetry. It was this inconstancy 6 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL of Joanna which* gave up the kingdom as the prize of new conflicts and inveterate hostilities, and which in its conse- quences provoked the claims and interference of foreign powers, which deprived Naples for two centuries of its inde- pendence, and brought upon it the dominion of strangers, the most terrible calamity by which a country can be visited. Queen Joanna died on the 2nd of February, 1435. Seven years elapsed before the representative of the house of Arragon could entirely subdue his rival and conquer the capital. Naples now formed part of a great kingdom, for Sicily, the Balearic Islands, and Arragon were all comprised under Alphonso's dominion. But the King took up his settled residence at Naples, and clung both to the town and country with an especial preference. After a peaceful pos- session of sixteen years he bequeathed the crown, which he separated from his hereditary dominions (which went to his brother), to his natural son Ferdinand, whose birth was shrouded in a mysterious obscurity. As early as the year 1443, a year after he had taken possession of Naples, he (Mii-cd Ferdinand to be recognised as his successor and as Duke of Calabria. The parliament, consisting of the barons and the deputies of the towns and communities, had hastened to comply with the wishes of the King, and Ferdinand was confirmed in his newly acquired rights by the Pope as lord paramount of the kingdom, as well as by treaties with Flo- rence, Milan, and Venice. When King Alphonso, the most able and meritorious of the rulers of Naples since the days of Frederick of Hohenstaufen, died in the year 1458, the line of the illegitimate house of Arragon began with Ferdinand, who governed the land for almost half a century. Once more there succeeded a period fruitful in crime and revolutions, like that of the Durazzi, though more favourable to the prosperity of the country in a material and intellectual point of view. After his father's death, Ferdinand had mounted his horse and ridden through the city of Naples, and the people had greeted him as king : but this did not allay the opposition which threat- ened to deprive him of his throne. It rose against him from all sides. Pope Calixtus III. declared the escheat of Naples for the want of lawful heirs. The mightiest of the barons took the side of John of Anjou. King Rene's son, and titular Duke of Calabria. Now again did Apulia and Terra di Lavoro, FERDINAND I. 7 the most fruitful and flourishing provinces of the kingdom, become the theatre of a desolating war ; now again, as in the time of the second Joanna, did the heavy armed troops of the condottieri in the service of the Pope and of the Sforzas of Milan, the two rivals for the throne, spread themselves over the land south of the Tronto and Liris. Almost the whole kingdom rose in favour of Anjou, and Duke John's victory in the plain near the mouth of the Sarno, a few miles from Na- ples, on the 7th of July, 1460, appeared to decide the question. But four years after this, Ferdinand was in undisturbed pos- session of the whole kingdom. Pope Pius II. had contributed as much to the success of the arms of the house of Arragon, as his predecessor Calixtushad to the conflagration of the kingdom. It would have been well if a solid internal peace had been so won ; but the divisions of party remained. King Ferdinand meanwhile, who had, either by himself or by his eldest son Alphonso Duke of Calabria, taken a part in all the wars of Italy, in that of Florence which was followed by the con- spiracy dei Pazzi, in that of Ferrara against Venice, and that of Rome against Sixtus IV., assisted as well with as against his will in fomenting this hostility. In the year 1485 civil war broke out again in the kingdom. The first occasion that offered was a treacherous attack of the Duke of Calabria's on Aquila, the capital of the Abbruzzi, the government of which, although it was subject to the crown of Naples, was, as often happens, almost independent and republican. There- upon the chief nobles of the Angevin party assembled, to take counsel upon the means of defending themselves from the attacks of the house of Arragon. The conference took place at Melfi : the barons had adherents amongst the familiar friends of Ferdinand. They sought to draw the young prince Don Frederick, Count of Altamura, to their side : he was as much beloved as his brother Alphonso was hated. The King prevailed by violence and fraud. To judge of him with the utmost lenity, and to make every allowance for the position in which he found himself, in the midst of a restless nobility inflamed with hereditary hatred towards him ; still does his device (impresa), which is even now sometimes to be seen at Naples, of an ermine with the inscription " Malo mori quam foedari," sound like the most bitter irony. In his en- deavours, wherein he found in Lorenzo dei Medici, his old 8 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL opponent and afterwards steady ally, a firm support, there was as much subtlety, calculation of means, and consistent policy cou>i>icuous as was deficient in the conduct of the barons and their ally Pope Innocent VIII. On neither side could a trace of honesty, or a regard to plighted faith, be found. The King conquered. But his victory, of wliich he availed himself with a revolting cruelty, did not turn out to his ad- vantage. Ferdinand of Arragon was a man endowed with those rare mental qualities of great resolution and strength of will. He perceived, and in this he did not deceive him- self, that the position which the great nobility had assumed must entail a weakening of the royal power, which only re- tained the shadow of supreme authority. He knew that he must look to the people for support, and he sought to obtain this by governing the country with a stricter order and a better administration of justice, and by promoting trade and industry. But he failed in both his ends ; this was partly owing to the unhappy tendencies of the whole period, partly to his own greedy and imperious character. The class through whose assent and co-operation Alphonso of Arragon had left the fair inheritance to Ids illegitimate- son, this still powerful feudal nobility, was more exasperated than destroyed. The masses, if they could even havs forgotten their old griev- ances, were ruined, partly by the augmentation of taxes, partly by the excesses of the feudal system, and were not bound by any tie of dependence to their ruler or his heir presumptive. The foundations of the throne were undermined. There was only wanting a storm for its overthrow. The storm came. The desire of Lodovico Sforza, sur- named II Moro, to secure to himself the dukedom of Milan, which rightly belonged, after his nephew, to his son-in-law the Duke of Calabria, and the discord into which he was plunged thereby with the House of Arragon, which was doubly allied with that of Sforza, was the immediate cause of drawing Charles VIII. of France into Italy. It was rather the consciousness of guilt, and the hatred of all classes, than the power of the enemy, which lowered the spirit of the House of Arragon, and palsied its arm. ]Sot long before, Ferdinand had concluded a new league with the Pope Alex- ander VI. at Rome. Standing on the rampart of the castle of St Angelo, he had pointed out to this Pope, who was of a ALPHONSO IL 9 congenial spirit with his own, what direction he must give to the street opposite the bridge, on the left bank of the river, in order to allow full sweep to the artillery of the castle. What avail was it now to this grey-haired ruler, his much- boasted policy, what availed his cruelties and intrigues, what his league and friendship with the accursed Borgia? Even before the French king set his army in motion, the old Fox of Arragon was prostrate, never again to rise. Ferdinand I. died on the 24th of January, 1494, at the age of seventy-one. He had spent thirty-five years upon the throne ; the united reigns of his three successors, two sons and a grandchild, lasted only seven years. Had he established a dynasty and a lasting kingdom, the means he employed, like that of many others, would have been overlooked. But what he had established fell to pieces with him. The marrow in this diseased body shrivelled up, as the reed before the blast of the desert wind. King Alphonso II. had at one time passed, according to Italian ideas, for an experienced warrior, but his warlike skill was as the policy of his father ; nothing came of it. Without his father's talents, he possessed his vices and evil qualities, and, as his father's political tool, was in later years more hated even than him. He knew it. His fancy was so excited that he was heard to cry out through whole nights " The French are here, and the stones and the trees cry out ' France ! ' ' Many measures of defence were taken : Rome was to be kept by the successor of Don Ferdinand, and the pope's relations with the Orsini faction ; nowhere was there any resistance : " God allows things to happen," says Philip de Commines, " which are beyond human comprehen- sion." * Not quite a year after that he had ascended the throne, viz. on the 22nd of January, 1495, Alphonso II. abdicated in favour of his son. On the following day the young king rode through the town in solemn procession. Before him was borne the banner of Arragon, by Lancillotto Annese, one of the members of the confederacy of the nobles of Portanova, behind him the sword in the hand of Andrea of Altavilla. Thus did the procession move towards the cathedral, where Alessandro Carafa gave the benediction, in the presence of the Cardinal of Genoa, of the house of Fregoso, the Venetian * Memoires de Philippe de Commines, chap. xi. 10 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL ambassador, and others of high rank.* Seldom has a prince ascended the throne under circumstances and presages of deeper melancholy. Thus did Alphonso H. of Arragon quit Naples and the kingdom. In the morning of his birthday in the year 1448 a fiery meteor had appeared in the heavens, and the king his grandfather observed to the bystanders that " this child would bring ruin upon his house, and kindle a dangerous war in Italy." " He considered himself no longer worthy to be king," said the French chronicler, of the march of Charles VIII., " he had been guilty of such great crimes and cruelties. There never was a man more savage or worse than him, or more vicious and corrupt, or more abandoned to debauchery. Ills father was more dangerous, for none understood him or his anger ; whilst he assumed a smiling countenance, he seized and betrayed people. There was in him neither graciousness nor compassion, as his near relations and friends have informed me ; lie never had any pity or forbearance for his people when money was concerned. He turned everything in his country into articles of sale and merchandize, and did not even despise the breeding of pigs. The people were obliged to take care of his pigs for him : if fat, he sold them to his profit ; if otherwise, they were obliged to pay for them. In the dis- tricts productive of much oil, as Apulia, he and his son bought it at the price they fixed, likewise corn before it was ripe. Then they drove an usurious traffic with the oil and wheat, and when the prices fell they compelled the people to buy theirs ; and so long as they had any in store, no other was allowed to be used in the market. If a gentleman or baron was a good housekeeper, and had saved something, they sent to him for a loan, and took it either by his consent or else procured by violence. Thus they took away the stallions and kept them for themselves, so that at last they had an excessive stock of horses, stallions as well as mares and colts, which they had kept upon the pastures of their vassals, to their great detri- ment. Both of them seized with violence upon several women ; and, in short, it is not possible to perpetrate deeds of greater wickedness than they both did." | Alphonso left the country with a haste that astonished * Cronaca di Xotar Giacomo, pubbli da P. Garzilli. Naples, 1845. f Comminca. ITALY IN 1494. 1 1 every one. It was as if the ghosts of the victims sacrificed in the Barons' War haunted him. " My opinion," says Commines, " is, that he fled out of real cowardice, for no cruel man was ever brave."* His stepmother, the sister of Ferdinand the Catholic, besought him to remain only three days longer, that he might have spent one year in his kingdom. He said, " No he would throw himself out of the window ; did she not hear how all France called after him ? " So the galleys pushed off from the castle of Uvolo. He took away with him many sorts of wine, which he loved above everything, and many seeds for the gardens that he meant to lay out ; otherwise he did not dispose of any of the rest of his property, of which the most part remained in the castle. The fleet made for Messina, where he remained, and lived exclusively with the monks of Mount Oliveto, for which order he had always che- rished an especial preference, and to which in Naples he had dedicated an extensive convent, with a beautiful church and endowed it with many rich foundations, where he even in his father's time had lived a good deal, and where a remarkable monument of the House of Arragon is preserved. With these Olivetans he lived like a monk, took a share in their prayers by day and night, fasted, gave abundant alms, and declared that he would not again belong to this world. He thought of going to Valencia, there to enter into a convent, when he was sur- prised by his last illness, an attack of stone. He bore acute pain with great patience. Alphonso II. died on the 18th of December, 1495, at the age of forty-seven. The panegyrists of Italian events before the invasion of the year 1494 are too apt to leave out of consideration the deep moral decline of the Peninsula at this time. They take too literally the testimony of those who were placed in the midst of the ensuing confusion ; and who, of the consequences arising from the intervention of foreigners, only saw, and only could see, the very worst. The misery of Italy was not to be found in the tempest brought over the Alps by Lodovico il Moro : her true misery was this, that the body was without sufficient strength to struggle through the crisis. If we look at this second part of the fifteenth century, the boasted time of Italian independence, what a fearful mass of corruption * Commines. 12 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL forces itself "upon our notice ! In politics the increasing growth of that system of treachery and perjury which seemed to make treaties only to break them ; treason and perfidy towards equals, cunning and violence towards inferiors, dis- trust towards all : the policy of which Ferdinand and Al- phonso of Arragon, the Popes Sixtus IV. and Alexander VI., Francesco and Lodovico Sforza were masters ; and which appears in Lorenzo de' Medici in a less hideous shape, perhaps on account of his peculiar position at the head of a republic. In war nothing but the exorbitances of the condottieri system ; in the people the cessation of all military spirit : in the leaders of the mercenary troops, the mere calculation of their pecuniary advantage ; in the mercenaries themselves, no trace of that which elevates and ennobles war no valour, but only a cer- tain dexterity in evolutions, no struggle for honour, no defence of home, of rights, of kindred and their dependants ; but only fighting for wages, to-day for this man, to-morrow for his enemy. No advantage of standing armies for the security of the frontiers, but the full burden of them, especially on the peasant, threatened by the incessant plunder and the devastation of the harvest and of the soil. No important war during many years, but perpetual disquiet and the incessant vexation of a petty struggle, the disturbances on the frontier, the sur- prises by single condottieri, who wished to procure pay and food for their lawless squadrons ; a thirty days' siege of wretched villages ; battles, in which the loss was that of a single man suffocated in his heavy armour. No war, and no true peace : perpetual suspicion, because one party knew the nature of the other, and knew what he had to guard against. In all private relations want of security and predominant ca- price ; in criminal proceedings the most frightful cruelty, which fell still more heavily upon the nobles than upon the populace. In all matters of finance a total disregard to the fiscal interests, against which, even the corporations of the re- publics, rapidly diminishing in number, were not always an adequate security. It is true that many of these evils were common to the majority of the other European states, but no- where had these excesses been raised with so much art into a system as in Italy, never had the old liberties of the people been so annihilated as under the Visconti of Milan, and the Durazzi and Arragonese of Naples. FERDINAND IL 13 A storm was necessary to dissipate the pestilence which brooded over the stagnant waters, and to substitute fresh air for such malignant exhalations. But to the whole political development of Italy since the time of the Hohenstaufens must be ascribed the fault that nothing great or rational unfolded itself out of the chaos which began with the year 1494 ; that the year 1530, and its consequence, the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis in the year 1559, which gave another di- rection to French policy, stamped itself upon the new form of things, which combined with many evils of its earlier condition the greatest of all i.e. foreign dominion and even in its impo- tence and servitude flattered itself with the idea of glory. It was the misfortune of Italy that her internal divisions were at their height precisely at the moment when France, by a last- ing incorporation of Provence, Brittany, and Burgundy ; Spain, by the destruction of the last kingdom of the Moors, and the union of Castille and Arragon, had acquired a strength which placed such overwhelming power in the reach of monarchs like Ferdinand the Catholic and Lewis XI. and XII. None could resist the storm which now approached, least of all the guilty House of Arragon. Fernandino, as the young king was wont to be called, must take possession of the me- lancholy inheritance of his father and grandfather. He was twenty-eight years old, but without experience. His depend- ents lost their faculties, the old enemies of the Arragonese started up in all directions. At the moment no help could be expected from the Italian princes the unfortunate young man had even applied to the Turks for assistance. " Messer Camillo," he wrote, even at the last moment, when the enemy was at the gates, on the 27th January, 1495, to his ambassa- dor Camillo Pandone, famous for his great experience in diplomatic business, " in a former letter we have given you information of the events that have actually taken place, and endeavoured to accelerate the march of the Sandschah. Now we inform you that Aquila has raised the banner of France, also Salmona and Popoli, and (in the Abbruzzi) everything is lost up to Celano. The enemies collect in greater num- bers to overrun Pescara, and gather the taxes in Apulia. The King of France left Rome on the 22nd of this month, and marches towards Gennano, where we have men, whilst a third part of his troops have taken the road over Fondi. 14 TUE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXL With him is the Cardinal of Valenza, son of the Pope (Cae- sar Borgia), and the brother of the great Sultan (the unfor- tunate Dschem), whom the King has in his power and means to keep in custody until he has accomplished his present undertaking then he will march against the Sultan. You see, then, how matters stand, and in what a state of distress we find ourselves. Hasten matters, then, that the Sandx-liali may come. Jf the troops march, see that they do it quickly. If a delay happens, do you have a personal interview with the Saiulschah, or even with the great Sultan. Haste is neces- sary, as we cannot resist on so many points ; if the succour is delayed it will be too late. You know now the state of things ; so take heed, make ready, hasten, go, no, fly ! " * All was in vain. The resistance was weak at the frontiers : all who resisted both there and at Capua were cut to pieces. The King, in a parliament summoned on the 16th of Febru- ary, required the capital to hold out of itself, only for a short time ; he was answered that it had neither food nor artilU-ry. When, on the 18th, the news came that Capua had done homage to the French king, the alarm at Naples was un- bounded. The Jews were plundered : even the nobility took a share of the spoil. The pillage reached the Castle Capuano and the royal stables ; many of the ships in the arsenal were in flames ; the fire burst out in many places of the town. Fernandino, who had at first sought refuge at Castelnuovo, went by sea to Casteluovo, and on the 21st of February his galleys reached the island of Procida. Scarcely had he departed when the French occupied Naples. On the evening of the 20th many of the nobles, Messer Cesare Bozzuto, Lodovico Caraeciolo, Antonio Maramoldo, and others, opened the Capuan gate. The Bastard of Burgundy rode first into the town with his troop, and immediately re- paired to the castle of Capuano. Giovanni Pontano. the private secretary and confidential friend of the fugitive Sove- reign, delivered up to him the keys. Charles VIII. passed the night in the palace of Poggioreale, without the gates, and on the following Sunday, the 22nd, made his solemn entry into the capital. * Giovan Vincenzo Fusco, Intorno alle Zecche ed alle Monete battute nel Reame di Napoli. Da Re Carlo VIII. di Francia. Naples, 1846. P. 132. THE FRENCH IN NAPLES. 15 Almost the whole kingdom fell into the hands of the French king. One part of the nobility and of the people saw in him only the lawful heir of the House of Anjou, for Charles Count of Maine, of this race, whom the old King Rene had declared his heir, had, on the day before his death, transferred his claims to Lewis XI., the young king's father. Those of the opposite party fell off from the fugitive prince, as has hap- pened a hundred times on similar occasions. Only the Marquis of Pescara, Alphonso d' Avales, the father of the conqueror of Pavia, who had been brought up with King Fernandino, pre- served an inflexible fidelity, and he was, during the siege of Cas- telnuovo, treacherously shot by a Moorish servant. The hand of the Arragonese had weighed too heavily on the land to leave scope for spontaneous affection, even if it had had to deal with a less fickle people. The truth of Pope Alexan- der's saying became more and more verified : " The French are come with wooden spurs, with chalk in their hands like a quartermaster, without further trouble." That they lost Na- ples almost as rapidly as they won it, may be attributed as well to the character of the French King, and to the blun- ders of those who surrounded him, as to the actual relations of France itself. Never has an important conquest been treated with more wanton levity, and the same disease tainted all the subsequent campaigns of the French in the south. The Memoirs of Philip de Commines show us in the clearest manner how it came to pass that Charles VIII. and the French, though welcomed with so much joy, could gain no solid footing in Naples. " The King said he showed his new subjects much favour, and lowered the taxes very consi- derably. The people, I believe, would not have turned against him, variable as it is, if he had taken any trouble to satisfy the nobility, but nobody paid any attention to the nobles, and at the gates they were rudely treated. Those who were best treated were of the family of Carafa, zealous Arragonese ; but even from these however some property was taken away. None were left in station and dignity, but the Angevins were still worse off than the Arragonese. For whoever was in possession was kept in it by a royal decree, and so the An- gevins saw themselves prevented from recovering their own again, unless by litigation. Where, however, any one had 16 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI taken possession of his own property by force, as the Count of Celano, force was again used to dispossess him. All places of profit were granted to Frenchmen, and the King bestowed tin 1 \ast provisions, which were to be found in the castle, to anybody who asked him for them." * On the 20th of May, 1495, King Charles, with the greatest part of his army, began bis retreat. Gilbert of Montpensier, of the House of Bour- bon, remained as Viceroy. Fernandino, meanwhile, had made preparations for war in Sicily. On the 6th of June his fleet appeared, numbering fifty sail, including galleys and vessels of transport, at the Cape of Minerva, the extremity of the promontory towards Capri. The nobles of the Angevin party persuaded Montpensier that they would defend the town, and the French went through the streets exclaiming " France, France !" Nevertheless, on the following day the people re- volted. At the cry of " Ferro, Ferro ! " every one flew to arms. At the tenth hour Fernandino entered the city by the gate of Mercato. He rode a dark brown horse which had belonged to his grandfather, and was in full armour. The people wept around him from emotion, and they kissed his hands so much that he was quite tired. f So quickly had the favour of the people changed. Fierce and bloody was the struggle now kindled round the castles of the city, and the places which belonged to the Angevins. The French defended themselves in Castelnuovo till December. Fortune often changed, still it became more and more favourable to the Arragonese, to whom Gon- salvo de Cordova, the celebrated general of the Moorish wars in Granada, who in Naples was destined to act so great a part, brought assistance. Fernandino expected the recovery of the whole kingdom. Some facts would lead us to surmise that Commines did not form a false judgment when he said that men suspected he would become worse than his father and grandfather, however humble and gracious he might ap- pear in his necessity. But only a short career was allotted to him. He had married his young cousin Joanna, the daughter of the old age of Ferdinand I. by a second marriage. Not long after he fell sick. On Wednesday the 5th of October, 1496, relates the chronicler, his Majesty Ferdinand II. came into the town from his quarters in Somma. He was borne * Commines, chap. xiv. f Cronaca di Xotar Giacomo, p. 193. FREDERICK, THE LAST OF THE ARRAGOXESE. 17 on a bier covered with scarlet. Thus did he enter Castel Capuano. On the following Thursday, the Most Reverend Lord Archbishop, Alexander Carafa, led two solemn proces- sions, one of which went towards the Nunziata, bearing the head and blood of the glorious martyr St. Januarius, followed by a numberless troop of women with burning wax torches. As the procession reached the castle, the Queen mother ap- peared under the portal and threw herself on the ground, upon which the Archbishop uttered three prayers : the one to the Madonna, the second for the sick King, and the third to St. Januarius. Then they all exclaimed Misericordia so loudly and tumultuously that the Archbishop could hardly finish the prayer amid the lamentations of the people. On the following Friday, at the seventh hour, another procession was about to march to Santa Maria la Nuova : then came the intelligence that God had taken the Lord King to him- self. Cujus anima resquiescat in pace?* And now began the stormy reign of Frederick, the last and best of the Arragonese. Removed at first to a distance from the throne by a brother and nephew, he had a milder spirit than either ; and he had, like King Robert in former times, occupied himself chiefly with the arts of peace when the crown devolved upon him. The people hailed him with shouts of joy : the hostile parties of the nobles, undeceived by bitter experience, hoped to find in him a centre for the union of their interests. Caesar Borgia, still a cardinal of the Church, performed the cere- mony of coronation at Capua. The Sanseverini themselves, the family which for a long time had stood at the head of the Angevin faction, made advances to the Arragonese. Most of the fortresses in the kingdom were in the King's power. Three sons born to him by his wife, Isabella del Balzo, seemed to secure the succession ; but it was decreed that the descend- ants of King Alphonso should not pass away from the scene. Ferdinand the Catholic had long resolved in his heart to attack the legitimacy of the rights of his Neapolitan cousins as soon as circumstances placed the means in his hands. Already, during the lifetime of Charles VIII., he had made a proposal to him to divide the Neapolitan kingdom. The proposals were renewed when, after the early death of Charles, * Cronaca di Notar Giacomo, p. 209. 18 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. the Duke of Orleans ascended the throne as Lewis the Xllth. Lewis wished to establish himself in Naples as well as in Lom- bardy, the inheritance of which he claimed from his grand- mother, VaU'iitina Visconti. On the 1 1th of November of the year 1500, an alliance was concluded, with the greatest secrecy, at ( Iranada, together with a treaty of partition. Lewis was to be King of Naples, and to keep the Terra di Lavoro and the Abruzzi ; Ferdinand to ha\e the title of Duke of Apulia and Calabria. Frederick's first knowledge of the treaty was when the French army under D'Aubigne, of the house of Stuart, approached from Rome. So little idea had he of the cunning of the King of Arragon that he confided the protection of his kingdom to Gonsalvo de Cordova, who was then stationed in the Terra di Lavoro with the Spanish troops. But the treachery was soon apparent. Alexander VI., once the friend and associate of the Arragonese, and allied to them by mar- riage, turned his back upon Frederick with the perfidy of a Borgia, and declared that he had forfeited the throne. Gon- salvo marched from San Germano to Capua, and flung off the mask ; Capua was stormed by D'Aubigne, and terribly pil- laged. When this unnatural alliance became known in Naples, the barons, the gentry, and the people assembled themselves in the cathedral ; they heard mass devoutly, and at the eleva- tion of the host they swore aloud to be united and one body, and faithful to their lawful ruler ; but when the enemy stood at the gates, union and fidelity were at an end. Then was Naples lost. Frederick, to save his capital from the fate of Capua, concluded in Aversa a capitulation with the leader of the victorious army, and promised to give up the castles. The duplicity of Ferdinand had crushed his hope. He rode towards Castelnuovo. Aubigne occupied the town, and kept his word honourably, when the fleet of Bretagne under Philip of Ravenstein arrived and attempted pillage; but the terror was so great that all fled, till the French closed all the gates, even to those of the market and Molo. Most of Frederick's adherents were in Castelnuovo : they left it one after another, guaranteed by the treaty with D'Aubigne. The widowed Queen of Hungary, and the Duchess Dowager of Milan, the daughter and grand-daughter of the old King Ferdinand ; and lastly the old Queen Joanna, sister of Ferdinand the Catholic. The former went in their DEATH OF FREDEKICK. 19 galleys to Ischia, the latter to Palermo ; and on the 3rd of August, 1501, Frederick himself left the shores of Naples, never to see them again. Upon a rocky promontory, conspicuous far over the waves, stands the Castle of Ischia, the last pos- session which the unfortunate monarch retained of his beautiful kingdom. Obliged to choose a future residence, he turned from Spain with deep aversion, and selected France. On the 6th of September his last galleys carried him away from the coast of Italy. The French King allotted him a large domain in land and a sufficient income. But his heart was broken. Ferdinand, his firstborn, had fallen into the power of Gon- salvo, in violation of a solemn oath, and had been carried into Spain. For some time Frederick still cherished the hope of returning to his kingdom, but death did not allow him the time. On the 21st of August, 1504, the illustrious King Frederick fell sick at Amboise, of a forty days' fever, and caused himself to be removed to Blois, though the sickness still continued. There, in the night of Sunday the loth of September, a fire broke out in the palace, and spread so widely that the church was enveloped and destroyed by the flames. The King, notwithstanding his sickness, was carried away with his wife and children ; then an incessant fever seized him, attended with loss of blood and pains on the chest, so that on the 9th of October, in the palace of Tours, he passed into another world. His beloved wife had him embalmed, and kept him six days in her apartments, in order that all France might come to see him. Royal obsequies were prepared for him, as formerly for his father ; and, in conformity to his last will, his body was placed in a wooden coffin, which was en r closed in a leaden one, and buried in the church of Santa Maria di Jesu, where a funeral sermon was pronounced by the holy brother St. Francis de Paula, who proclaimed that his soul was in Paradise on account of the patience which he showed in his sufferings.* But it fared sadly enough with his dependents, as is usually the case with those of dethroned princes. His widow lived for a long time in Ferrara, whence she was compelled to retire to France, because she would not put her children into the King of Spain's power, as was agreed in the treaty of peace between Lewis and Ferdinand, and * Cronaca di Notar Giacomo, p. 273. c 2 20 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL rather preferred to lose her jointure. She accepted the gift with gratitude, when the monks of Oliveto, mindful of the old affection of the Arragonese for them, allowed her a yearly in- come of 300 ducats. " A gift," writes the poor Queen, " so much the more welcome in our distress, as we daily torment ourselves with the thought how we can bring up our children, the offspring of a king, in any manner suitable to their con- dition, yea, how we are even to procure for them the means of support."* The last remaining of the family was the Duke of Calabria. He died in Spain in the year 1550. In the sacristy of the church of San Dominico Maggiore at Naples, you may see, on three sides of the wall, a corridor upon which stands a row of coffins covered with velvet cloth more or less faded. One of them projects, with effigies of a sceptre and crown, and with inscriptions which tell us who here sleep the eternal sleep. As in the cathedral King Charles I. and his sons lie ; in Santa Chiara King Robert, with his children and children's children in San Lorenzo and San Giovanni a Car- bonari ; the princes of Anjou-Durazzo, with the exception of the last of the house of the second Joanna, who, in the church of the hospice of the Nunziata, selected for herself a lowly and undistinguished grave ; so the Arragonese who died in their capital were buried in San Dominico Alphonso and Ferdinand I., and Fernandino and his wife Giovanna, who survived twenty-two years, and the Duchess of Milan, together with many illegitimate scions of the house, by whom the sur- name of D'Aragona has been transmitted into so many families. No stone monuments, accompanied with the pomp and luxury of Gothic art, like those of the princes of Anjou, enclose their bones. To the transitory is joined that which is most transi- tory : wooden coffins with gilt emblems and decaying covers, presenting a gloomy and doleful spectacle, like the history of the ruin of the house, without earnestness or true dignity. A fire seized and consumed, in part, the mortal remains of the kings ; and what remained of the first Alphonso was transported to Spain in the seventeenth century, to be buried in the church of Santa Maria di Popleto in Catalonia, where his ancestors rest.f * Giulio Cesar? Capacoio, H Fornstiero. Naples, 1634. P. 893. + Scipionc Volpicclla, Deacrizionc Storica di alcuni principal! Edificii dclla citta di Napoli. Naples, 1850. Pp. 266, 272, 426, 442. CHARLES V. 21 The alliance could not last long between France and Spain. A quarrel arose on account of the duty on the flocks of Apulia and the division of the provinces. They had forgotten to determine to whom Capitana and Molise, the Principata and Basilica, should belong. Each claimed them for himself. Fortune was propitious to the Spaniards, and the neighbour- hood of Sicily made the expenses of the war more easy to them. On the 16th of May, 1503, Gonsalvo de Cordova entered by the port of Capua : on the 23rd a solemn homage was offered to the King and Queen of Spain in the cathedral. In January of the following year, by Gonsalvo's victory on the Garigliano, and by the capture of Gaeta, the power of France in the south of Italy was entirely annihilated. On the 16th of October, 1505, a peace was concluded at Segovia, which left Spain in sole possession of Naples. In the autumn of the following year Ferdinand the Catholic visited his new kingdom, where he remained several months. When he returned to Spain he took Gonsalvo de Cordova with him, who till then had supplied his place. It was to Gonsalvo that he owed the conquest ; and who, too eager to promote the interests of his master, had sacrificed his name in the same degree that he had increased his military reputation. This did not protect him from the suspicion of his master, and his career was at an end. The Count of Ripacorso succeeded him as Viceroy, and he was succeeded by Don Ramon de Cardona. King Ferdinand died in January, 1516 ; and now began that memorable government of Charles V., nominally shared with his imbecile mother, Donna Juana, which gave Italy the form which it kept till the extinction of the Spanish branch of the house of Hapsburg a time which, numerous as were its vicis- situdes, must remain inferior in great events to that last de- scribed. The kingdom of Naples was absorbed in the intricate whirlpool of events which filled the last years of Julius II., and the government of the Medicean Popes Leo X. and Clement VII. The viceroy Cardona had fought at Ravenna against Gaston de Foix. His successor, Charles de Lannoi, fought at Pavia, took Francis the 1st prisoner, and held in his hands the thread of the Italian politics of his master the Emperor. No Frenchman had reached Naples, till, in the year 1527, when the Count of Vaudemont, of the house of Lorraine, revived the disputed hereditary claims of the house of Anjou, that had 22 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL passed on from Violante, the daughter of King Rene, to his family. In the next year, King Francis sent the last great expedition to Naples. Marshal Lautrec, Odet de Foix, com- manded it. He had done much service in the Italian cam- paigns, and combined with a knowledge of the country the fiery valour of a Frenchman. At first everything succeeded. In the Abruzzi the people did not wait till the French reached their villages and towns, but went forward miles to meet them, so wearj 1 was the country of the Spaniards. In the capital itself the feeling was such that an outbreak was every day apprehended ; and the viceroy, Don Ugo de Moncada, allowed the barons to plant the French standard, without imputing it to them as treachery. Lautrec took Capua and most of the adjoining places, and blockaded Naples on the eastern side. Nevertheless he could not keep Philibert of Chartres, Prince of Orange, the Captain-General pf the imperial army of Rome, where he had commanded after the death of the constable in the unfortunate year 1527, from hastening to its relief. He fortified the mountain of San Marti no, which, with the Car- thusian Monastery and the Castle of Sant' Elmo, commands the city, and so kept the whole western side free. A bitter dissension between Moncada and Orange was favourable to the French cause ; but as the first, " le plus vaillant homme de son terns," as Brantome calls him, had fallen in the bloody naval battle which took place at the Capo d'Orso between Amalfi and Salerno, Orange took the command alone. The siege was drawn out to a tedious length. Lautrec wanted to deprive the town of its supply of water, and deluge the plain by breaking the dykes. A fever broke out in the camp. It was midsummer ; the contagion spread fearfully on all sides ; thousands and thousands fell a sacrifice to it ; the Marshal himself died on the loth of August. The Marquis of Saluzzo, who assumed the command, raised the siege; but the wretched remnant of the powerful army only reached Aversa. Here the Prince of Orange met them. Some saved themselves in the Abruzzi, but most of them were made prisoners of war or slain. This last was the fate of almost all the captains, as well Italians as French. Within a short time there was not a Frenchman to be found in the kingdom. The house of Foix is a striking example of the murderous manner in which war during that age was carried on. Gaston de Foix, Lewis XII .'s sister's NAPLES UNDER VICEROYS, 23 son, fell at three-and-twenty, at Ravenna, on the 1 1th of April, 1512. The three brothers met with the same fate upon the field of battle. Andre de Foix, Lord of Lesparre, was so wounded whilst defending Navarre, under the walls of Pam- peluna, against the Spaniards, that he lost his sight for the rest of his life. Thomas, Marshal of Lescun, fell at Pavia in 1525. The elder brother, Lautrec, who had been drawn forth from a heap of dying and dead men at Ravenna covered with wounds, met with a grievous end at Naples. " Lautrec," says Brantome, " etait brave, hardi, vaillant, et excel- lent pour combattre en guerre et frapper comme sourd, mais pour gouverner un etat il n'etait pas bon." This explains the short duration of the French successes. They perceived it themselves, but they could not remedy the evil. " Mon- seigneur de Montpensier," thus does Commines characterise the Viceroy whom Charles VIII. left behind him at his de- parture from Naples in the year 1495, " bon chevalier et hardi, il ne se levait qu'il ne fut midi." Philibert of Orange retained the dignity of viceroy. He proved by his sternness to the barons what Moncada had confessed in the hour of danger. It was the last great di- vision of the Angevins and Arragonese ; it was the last great division of property. Many of the first families in the land were completely ruined by it : many of the mortgages that have existed on the property of the feudal nobility up to the most recent period, and of which at this day the titles at least are still evident, date from that period. So did Andrea Doria Melfi become possessed of his, after which his Romish descendants are called to this day. Alphonso d'Avalos del Vasto became possessed of Montesarchio and Procida ; Philip de Lannoi, the son of the deceased viceroy, of Venafro, and so on. The great fief of Acqua Viva in the Abruzzi Atri was given to Arcan Colonna, but the Abruzzis would not submit to the new master, and caused a revision of the trial, at which the accused was found innocent ! many, however, left their heads upon the scaffold ; many of once opulent families were reduced to beggary or sent into exile ; many of the towns, especially Aquila, were obliged to buy their ransom them- selves from punishment by heavy payments ; and so complete was the effect of Orange's proceedings that the year after- wards Don Pedro de Toledo had onlv to demand the ruin of 24 THE CARAFAS OK MADDALONJ. the family of the Sanseverini of Salerno, to destroy entirely the old importance of the Angevin party. The treaty of Barcelona preceded the peace concluded at Cambrai on the 5th of August, 1529. Charles V. entered Italy and received the imperial crown from the hands of Pope Clement. Nobody resisted him with the exception of the re- public of Florence, which fought the fight of despair against Emperor and Pope. It was subdued on the 12th of August, 1530. Italy was subject to Charles V. The Prince of Orange, who had commanded the imperial army against the Florentines on the 3rd of August of the same year, died at Gavinana in the mountains by Pistoja. His office at Naples was filled by the Cardinal of Colonna, of un- happy memory, on account of the misery which he helped to bring on his native place. Rome during the government of Clement VII. assumed the government of Naples : when he died, in the summer of 1532, the viceregal dignity passed to the man who had assisted more than any other person in the strengthening and final arrangement of the Spanish power in Naples, Don Pedro de Toledo, Marquis of Villa Franca. The march of the Mareschal of Lautrec was the last im- portant attempt of the French to reconquer Naples. Several times their fleets appeared on the coasts, but no general army succeeded again in forcing the passes of Fondi and San Ger- mano. Spain remained in possession of this beautiful country for two centuries. It was not accident or the mere force of arms that led to this result ; the causes of it lay deeper : the volatile and susceptible Frenchman was not the ruler to pre- serve the dominion over the innovation-loving, excitable, lo- quacious, and unsteady Neapolitan. Their national character resembled each other too much in many points, and their differ- ence in others was so much the more offensive. Received with open arms, the Frenchman soon made himself irreconcileable enemies by his severity, scorn, and supercilious arrogance. The Italians shuddered at the desolating massacres of the French wars : they writhed under the iron grasp of people that came to them with chivalrous demeanour, then trampled them under foot, and contaminated everything still remaining as precious and very venerable in their possession. Such were not the Spaniards, not those at least which Gon- salvo de Cordova led from the Moorish wars to the conquest CAUSES OF SPANISH ASCENDANCY. 25 of Naples. Their ascendancy was owing as well to an iron discipline as to that inveterate character of their race, the firmness of purpose which had gradually developed itself in the long struggle for the country which they wrenched inch by inch from their tenacious enemies. The Neapolitans found that they had in the Spaniards different rulers from the French. With all their frivolity they could not deny them their respect. But the Spanish policy was always more the old " Oderint dum metuant." The Spaniards degenerated by degrees, but it is remarkable what a moral influence they exercised even to the last. The more reflecting of the Italians endeavoured to explain the reason to themselves, wherein lay the true secret of the powerful Spanish influence, apart from political con- siderations. A mind still more fantastic than profound, but which combined, however, in a rare degree the knowledge of the exact and philosophical sciences of his time, and which, in spite of the want of unity of purpose and all the restless attempts to grasp a thousand empty visions, has rendered very important services, has proclaimed or anticipated much that was true. The Dominican monk, Fra Tommaso Campanella, who certainly had no reason to love the Spanish dominion, has endeavoured to fathom the reason of its existence, as well as the reason of its duration. It is interesting to examine his argument, which may be taken as the opinion of many of his contemporaries. " Do I look at Spain," says the Calabrian monk at the end of the fourteenth century, " I find that since the creation of the world no such wonderful monarchy as this has existed. It must seem like a fable to those who do not under- stand the destiny of our times. What Spain possesses in Eu- rope is, so to speak, nothing in comparison with her other kingdoms. This, more than any other monarchy, is founded upon the inscrutable purposes of God, not upon mere human policy and power, for the inveterate tendency of the Spanish nation to separation and dismemberment would have produced just the contrary result to that which we see before us. Otherwise the nation is, as it were, formed for empire. They are diligent and careful, preserve what they acquire, observe the advantages of their enemy, are prudent and persevering, more capable of bearing fatigue than the structure of their bt dies promise. They are rather prudent than cunning, they are obedient and patient, and their courage increases with the 26 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL danger. All these qualities are wanting in the French. Mho never could preserve their sovereignty in foreign countries because they are impatient and bold without aim. These qualities are also wanting to the other European nations, who are formed more for conquest than to retain their dominion. Nor is it less surprising how Spain governs her surrounding as well as such extensive and distant possessions with so small a population : for the greater part of .Spain is dry and barren ; many of her sons perish in the wars ; many become prieste and monks ; the law of inheritance prevents the increase of families, and they have not yet understood how to supply their scanty number by the mixture of races, and by the naturalizing of other nations ; and yet by their art and dexterity they govern so many different countries and nations. " In order to resist the Turks, Italy, too weak herself, requires the aid of a vigorous foreign arm. The choice lies between France and Spain, for to obtain the help of both at the same time, on account of their ancient jealousy, is out of the question. At this day, neither Germans, nor Swiss, nor French are of any service to Italy. Apart from the con- sideration that they were more encumbrance than help, the religious dissension is now to be feared which they would infallibly bring with them. People who deny human free will, who make a question about the unity of the apostolic princi- pality, would plunge us into manifest ruin. For a nation not absolutely lost, subordination to a foreign power is a misfor- tune. But of two evils we must choose the least ; and if foreigners must rule in Italy, the Spaniards are nevertheless the most tolerable. The habits arising from their climate agree generally with our own ; they are more sober and tranquil in their demeanour ; they obey established authority ; they conduct their government with prudence and skill ; they form a contrast to the violent and unruly people of the other side of the mountains ; they are adherents of the Catholic religion and the papacy, quite as much from conviction as from interest. "When they are once upon your neck it cer- tainly is more difficult to shake them off; nevertheless they are easier to bear, because they do not give wanton offence, but always observe a certain decorum. If the Frenchman gets drunk, he takes from you your wife and property, and humbles you by a thousand acts of insolence. If the Spaniard GOVERNMENT OF PEDRO DE TOLEDO. 27 takes it in his head to do anything of the sort, he does it with an admirable dexterity ; but as his great object is to avoid offending the people, matters seldom go so far. This shyness or reserve contributes to the strength of the Spaniard, so much the more as he tries to conceal it by boasting, which has an effect upon the mass of the population."* So judged, a hundred years after the Spanish dominion had been estab- lished in Italy, a Neapolitan _of the character of the Spanish nation, and of its relation to his countrymen ; and, although in this judgment the melancholy effect of a hundred years' slavery is not to be mistaken, inasmuch as even to so aspiring and independent a nature the sad alternative between the dominion of one or other foreign nation presents itself a state of things we have seen constantly repeated even down to our own time still, there is much truth in this delineation of character. The belief that Italy could not exist without foreign dominion gave way, even in the time of Campanella, to better judgment and nobler feelings. " Were the Italian relations quite different," he says upon it, " no Italian prince ought to make use of foreign aid, for he who comes does not come for love of us, but to take from us what we do possess, or to dispute with others about it. Foreign aid is at all times an unadvised measure. It is folly in Italian princes to have faith in France, Spain, Germany, or other countries ; they should place their reliance only upon God, and in union with each other. The old prophets warned the Hebrew kings of it, and even the wicked Machiavelli is full of this doctrine." It was no light task which fell to the share of Don Pedro de Toledo. A people made savage by thirty-five years' war, and the instability of all political and personal relations ; a land laid waste and trampled under foot ; most of the towns ruined and desolate ; the population decimated by wars and sickness ; many of the great families banished, impoverished, ruined ; a troop of adventurers risen to opulence and dignity ; everywhere the dreadful traces of a revolution that had left nothing untouched ; all ties rent asunder ; oath violated after oath ; the ruling house that had governed sixty years anni- hilated ; old laws despised, old rules overturned ; all over the kingdom dissension, hatred, discord, misery, and the conse- * Fra Tommaso Campanella, Discorsi politici al principi d' Italia : pubbli da P. Garzilli. Naples, 1848. In many places. 28 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. quences of perpetual internal insecurity, and the incessant change of bad habits occasionally adopted. Over this country and people Don Pedro de Toledo was to rule ; he was to create a Spanish province out of the desolate wreck of a fallen kingdom. He did it : he accomplished his task in good as in evil ; what Naples became it became essentially through him. The house of Alvarez and Toledo had a good name in the history of Spain's middle ages. Ferdinand of Toledo, second Duke of Alva. had done faithful service to Ferdinand the Catholic in the war against Portugal and in the wars of Gra- nada and Navarre. His wife, Donna Isabella de Zuniga, was tall and beautiful ; she said rightly that she was come to. give a different stature to the little people of the house of Alva. Don Pedro was page to King Ferdinand, and married, though yet very young, first at thirteen years of age Donna Maria Ossorio Pimentel, heiress of Villa Franca in Gallicia, from which he took the title, which has descended to this day to each succeeding head of the family. The inclination which he had for Ferdinand he transmitted to his grandson ; he ac- companied Charles V. to Flanders, to England, to Germany ; and at the moment when the Sultan Souliman threatened Hun- gary no less than Italy, the Emperor named him governor of Naples, where he made his entrance on the 4th of September, 1532.* He was then forty-eight years old ; he was not far from seventy when he quitted life and office. First and foremost he applied himself to introduce order and resjiect for the administration of justice : to succeed in this it was necessary to reform the law. It was not enough to unite the different tribunals and prisons in the same locality, which the new viceroy did, while he caused the old royal palace of Castel Capuano to be rebuilt and arranged for that purpose. He busied himself still more about the abolition of abuses, of which some idea may be formed by looking through the set laws (the Pragmatica) of Toledo. These laws forbid the judges to take money at the examination of witnesses, and to omit writing down such depositions as were in favour of those accused ; they raised the salaries of the judges, to take away from them all grounds for a departure from the path of * Scipione Miccio, Vita di Don Pietro di Toledo, printed in the Narra- zioni c Document! nella Storia del Repno di Napoli dalT anno 1522 al 1667, raccolti da Francesco Palermo. Florence, 1846. P. 9. TOLEDO'S LEGISLATION. 29 uprightness ; they forbade the hire of prisons, which had be- come a heavy tax upon the prisoners ; they abolished the sale of the judges' places, and the open intrigues for them ; fixed the duration of the time for sitting ; they authorised an instant interference against usurers ; they forbade taking money for judicial sentences and remissions of punishment, without appeal to the highest courts, in trials for offences punished by death or mutilation. They rendered more severe the proceedings against bankrupt bankers, whose knaveries were forthcoming every day ; allowed the poor prisoners bread at the public expense ; forbade the demand for money on those dismissed from prison ; excluded suspected judges from deriving any benefit from their transactions ; rejected the declaration of nullity against two similar decisions ; settled the fees of the subordinate officers ; lightened the treatment of those impri- soned for debt ; regulated the interposition and rights of the exchequer in the disputes of the citizens ; ordered the publi- cation of the judgments the day after they were pronounced. On all these points there are special regulations extant. But there were two cases where the legislation of Toledo proceeded with the utmost severity, but without attaining its aim in either. Perjury has ever been the original sin of the Neapolitan people. Nowhere was it so easy to buy false wit- nesses ; no laws were of avail, however severe the punishments they threatened. Toledo increased the severity of the earlier regulations : he who was detected in perjury a second time was to suffer death ; whoever alleged unfounded charges was liable to the same punishment. At the disturbances caused by an attempt to introduce the Spanish Inquisition, of which we shall soon have to speak, it was especially the dread of false witnesses which filled the citizens with such consterna- tion : the kingdom is full of them, said they in their repre- sentations, and all personal security will disappear if the system of secret accusations is introduced, and religion and the treasury and personal hatred are mixed up together. The laws continually repeated in later times against perjury show only too plainly that the evil is not to be extirpated.* Not less severe were Toledo's laws to restore security in * Domenico Antonio Parrino, Teatro eroico e politico dc' govern! de' Vicere del Ecgno di Napoli, 2nd edition. Naples, 1730. Vol. i. pp. 159, 210. 30 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL the capital. By the enlargement and rebuilding of the streets, and by the destruction of many alleys, he took away the haunts of numberless malefactors ; by severe regulations he confined the bearing arms to the use of the sword ; and he laid hold on the courts of the great nobility, which had become the recep- tacle of banditti, an evil that gave full employment to his successors. The nightly wanderings of armed vagabonds were for a time stopped, and the breaking into houses during the day, by means of ladders, was punished with death. One of the first who suffered by the severity of the law was a young man of one of the principal families, Col' Antonio Brancaccio. The chief of the police seized him with prohibited ladders concealed, on his way to a nightly love adventure : neither representations nor entreaties availed to save him. It fared the same with other noblemen, who had till now set justice at defiance. This was new to the nobility, who were accustomed to lose their heads on the scaffold for political offences, not for common crimes. Don Pedro made no distinction of rank. Whoever, after the second hour of the night, when the belfry of the town gave the signal, had arms about him till the morn- ing, fell under the penalty of the law. The town was divided into different police quarters, and the police incessantly per- ambulated the neighbouring suburbs. The barons mur- mured aloud, and accused the Viceroy of cruelty ; the people still clung to him. But what were the fruits of Don Pedro de Toledo's bloody justice ? When rebellion was threatened on account of the Inquisition, he declared that, if the Emperor insisted upon it, he would himself dissuade it, and leave the country, for he was convinced that even then against it f nine witnesses would not be wanted.* When he was once in Tuscany, the academy of the Intronati at Siena prepared a splendid feast for him. " I had rather be a member of your academy," said he, " and be guided by such worthy women, than go to Naples to annihilate a pack of robbers in order to keep the favour of my sovereign."! In the year 1550, after an administration of eight years, he confessed to the Tuscan agent, when there was a discussion about the robbery of a courier, that in the town of Naples eighteen thousand persons had died by the hands of the hangman * Scipione Miccio, chap. zzxv. f Filotino Alicarnasseo. Vita di Don Pietio di Toledo. WORKS OF TOLEDO. 31 since he had undertaken the government ; he did not know what more he could do ! * No Viceroy had done so much for the kingdom, in a ma- terial point of view, as Toledo ; and if many of his preliminary measures did not answer, their inconsiderable effect is not to be attributed so much to him as to the perverted economical ideas, to the extirpation of which other times were necessary, and which even to this day are not quite extinct. What the capital owes to him will be explained in another part of this work. He rebuilt Pozzuoli after it had been destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in 1538. That it con- tinued a miserable place in spite of his palace, his gardens, and the institutions connected with them, cannot be laid to his charge. He built castles and fortresses on all the coasts, not only by the Terra di Lavoro, but of Calabria and Apulia. In his time Turks and barbarians in league with the most Chris- tian King roved over the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas, surprised the towns in the Bay of Gaeta, laid waste with fire Ischia and Procida, did not leave a single living soul in San Lucido in Calabria, desolated the Apulian coast from Otranto upwards, and carried off the inhabitants to severe slavery. Don Pedro went to Apulia everywhere he restored the for- tifications of the maritime cities or raised new ones. From the papal boundaries to Terracina, where he built a small fort, he secured the coasts by towers. These Saracen towers, as the people call them, of Toledo, many of them raised in the time of the middle ages, may still be seen, partly in ruins and partly in preservation, now used as watch-towers along the shore. The Bay of Bai'ae, that earthly paradise of the old Romans, he protected by the picturesque castle with which he crowned its western promontory. The Viceroy required a great deal of money for all these fortifications, and the military establishments connected with them. Much more was requisite to support his Emperor in his never-ending wars. A great revolution had taken place in the financial arrangements of the empire since the begin- ning of the Spanish dominion. Ferdinand the Catholic had nominally abolished the extraordinary taxes that were raised under the name of collections, and declared himself deter- * Francesco Babbi to the Duke Cosmos of Medici. Naples, March 12, 1550. By Fr. Palermo. P. 124. 32 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. mined to keep only the so-called fiscal functions. These nm.Msted in the hearth-tax, the Tassa dei Fuochi, whicli formed the groundwork of the Neapolitan taxation. Each /uoco, or separate household, was then taxed at a ducat and a half, or, according to German money, a reichsthaler, and twenty-four silver groschen ; and, according to the calculation made in the year 1 505, the number of Fuochi amounted to 262,345. The Feudatories who paid the feudal tax or adva were exempt from this taxation. But the promise of the Catholic King was not kept ; his wars with Lewis XI., his marriage with Germaine de Foix, the obtaining of new, or confirming of old privileges, in short, first one, then another event, required fresh supplies, and these extraordinary payments received the name of Donatives. Indeed, this was very moderate in com- parison with the extension afterwards given to these taxes. We shall speak more particularly about it when we reach the times when the form and spirit of taxation in Naples became such as, perhaps, have never been practised elsewhere. Here we will only remark that during the administration of Toledo the custom of the Donative had become a system, the treasury tax had increased a fourth more, so that in the year 1550 the Fuoco amounted to more than two ducats, a sum at which it neither did, nor could, remain. The increase of the taxation in the towns occasioned the first great outbreak of the people's discontent. The munici- pal administration, formed from the deputies of the nobility and of the citizens of Naples, had consented to the tax, or, as this indirect tax was called, the G'abelle. But the people began to revolt. A plebeian of the name of Fucillo was the leader of the discontented. He was imprisoned. The infuriated po- pulace demanded his freedom. As an answer, the Viceroy caused him to be hanged at the window of the palace of jus- tice. It was evening ; two torches burnt by the side of the corpse. The Spanish guard rode immediately through the streets : the tumultuous fury of the rebels continued : but, on the following day, the ringleaders were taken and hanged.* The tax was continued : the people submitted, but the popu- lar feeling turned against Toledo. In the year 1547, it caused a dangerous outbreak. The Lutheran and Cah inistic * S. Miccio, chap. x. ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE THE INQUISITION. 33 opinions had found in Naples, as in the rest of Italy, consider- able sympathy. Don Pedro thought extreme measures requi- site to satisfy the Emperor as well as the Pope, Paul III. He attempted to introduce the Spanish Inquisition. Whether the idea proceeded from him or from others has never been ascertained, for the conduct of the Viceroy through every part of the business was ambiguous. The name alone of the Spanish Inquisition filled the Neapolitans with terror. It was scarcely possible for them to form an entirely clear con- ception of the character of an institution to the scrutiny of which the people, nobility, and clergy would be equally sub- ject, but one thing they saw clearly, that the Inquisition was a political instrument. Camillo Porzio, a contemporary writer, has stated the grounds and prelimina"ries more impar- tially and equitably than any other writer. " So few," said he,* " in Naples have been infected by the Lutheran opinions, that they might easily be counted. But much hatred and ani- mosity prevail amongst the inhabitants of the kingdom, and there are many who for a small piece of money are ready to bear false witness. Moreover, the Neapolitans knew their King at a distance, and in continual want of money, and they judged his ministers as venal and false, so that at the first mention of the Inquisition the idea of the people was that the Viceroy did not establish this tribunal so much out of zeal for the faith, as to be a snare for the subjects, to rob them of their property ; and with this belief was coupled a con- siderable bitterness of feeling, for they thought this a bad reward for their liberality to their Emperor, to whom on dif- ferent occasions they had already contributed in taxes twenty millions of gold." A papal bull intrusted the management of the Inquisition to the Dominicans. The municipal authorities besought the Viceroy to hinder the execution of the bull : his answer was, that the bull was unknown to him, but that the spreading of the Lutheran doctrines required some remedy. This answer, as well as his transactions with the papal vicar, increased their anxiety. The Viceroy showed himself inclined to allow the Inquisition, if a lay judge was admitted as an assessor ; but to this the clergy could not be brought to assent. The ruler of * L'Istoria d' Italia nell' anno 1547, e la Descrizione del Rcgno di Xapoli di Camillo Porzio, pubbl., &c., by Agost. Gervasio. Naples, 1839. P. 88. D 34 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. the supreme tribunal of the vicariat, meanwhile, began an in- quisition on his own authority : he commanded the commissioned street officers, of the administration of police, to give him a list of all the inhabitants, and to inform him whether they conducted themselves in a Christian manner. This the people would not bear. It had been little disturbed by the intel- ligence that the Viceroy had introduced a severe censure on the press ; that he had forbidden the reprinting of theological writings that had been in use for the last twenty years ; that he had ordered the literary academy of the nobility, which had formed itself after the pattern of other Italian towns, to cease, and had particularly forbidden any dispute on theolo- gical subjects. But the system of secret spies roused it into action. The Popblans flew to arms. Don Pedro, who gene- rally remained at Pozzuoli, was obliged to hear from their envoys that they would endure no other Inquisition than that established by the canons, and that they would appeal to the Emperor ; if the Viceroy refused to support them, they would have recourse to other aid. " The town," said one of the de- puties, " declares, that if even your Excellency will endure it, they will not."* Toledo now became uneasy. His ambassa- dors declared to the assembled deputies of the municipality that he would allow the matter to rest if the people would return to its obedience. For an instant all seemed quiet, but the uproar soon burst out again with more violence than ever, for the Viceroy entered into proceedings against the leaders of the rebellion. His pride could not endure to be compelled to submit to the populace. On the 21st of May a new edict was found on the door of the cathedral, which proclaimed the establishment of the hated tribunal. Every one ran to arms. The deputy of the citizens of the municipality, who was supposed, and not unjustly, to be in the interests of the Viceroy, was tumultuously deposed, and a decided Popolan, Giovan Pasquale da Sessa, chosen in his place. The former deputy and his adherents were declared traitors to their country. All was in confusion. Upon hear- ing of the disturbance, Don Pedro de Toledo, exasperated to the highest pitch, rode through the city, and threatened all who had taken a part in it with the severest punishment. No- * S. Miccio. P. 57, and other places. INSURRECTION. 35 thing was of any avail. Up to this point the insurrection had been confined to the lower classes, but now the nobility began to take part in it. It had always been the endeavour of the Viceroy to separate the nobility from the people ; whilst he oppressed the former, he believed himself to be gaining over the latter. But now they both united against him. Ferdinand Carafa, Marquis of Lucido, saved one of the partisans of the people from the hands of justice by taking him up behind him on his horse : he was called Tommaso Anello, of Sorrento, and has won himself a name in the history of this insurrection, which a hundred years later, upon a similar but not more se- rious occasion, again became notorious. Two other noblemen of illustrious families, Giovan Francesco Caracciolo, prior of the Hospitallers at Bari, and Cesare. Mormile, placed them- selves at the head of the insurrection. When the Viceroy caused the Spanish infantry to be moved into the town from Pozzuoli, a bloody battle ensued between them and the people in the suburbs of Castelnuovo. The Viceroy himself rode through the streets with an armed troop ; not a hand was raised to salute him. Three young men, imprisoned the day before, were executed by his orders. The wrath of the popu- lace increased ; for this resembled more an act of revenge than an act of justice. Don Pedro could not disguise the fury of his displeasure. But matters became worse. Toledo sent out a company of soldiers to take Cesare Mormile and the remaining leaders prisoners. The bells of San Lorenzo summoned the people to arms and council. In a stormy meeting it was resolved to refuse obedience to the Viceroy, to form an union between the nobility and the people, and to send ambassadors to the Em- peror. The ambassadors were Don Ferdinand Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, the first nobleman of the kingdom, and Placido di Sangro. The union was to be solemnly inaugu- rated. The people insisted upon ringing the great bell of San Lorenzo, in spite of every effort of the deputies to deter them from it, because they feared it would be misconstrued into rebellion. But the clang of arms had made the people so deaf to all persuasion, that they would not listen to such legal subtleties, and they almost flung Marino Rosso, one of the deputies, from the top of the steeple. Banners, with the imperial eagle, were planted upon the belfry, and a vast crowd D 2 36 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. collected itself in the streets. The Marquis of Pescara, still a child, bore the crucifix at their head, and the mighty |.n>- (VMuii moved through the streets of Naples. Nobles and Popolans mixed together without distinction, rich and poor, titled and untitled, and the cry resounded of" Union, union. in the service of God, of the Emperor, and of the town ! " if a man stood aloof he was branded as a traitor.* Don Pedro endeavoured to assume an appearance of calm indifference. He said to the ambassadors, who took their leave of him, ' If you go on account of the Inquisition, it is need- less, for I promise you not to introduce it, and pledge my word to obtain an imperial privilege ; but if you go as my accusers, depart at once, with the blessing of God." And upon the news of obedience being refused, he turned to those around him, smiled, and said, ' We will henceforth let time run merrily, my Lords, for I have no longer any care, as I am no longer Viceroy of Naples." And when the union was pro- claimed, " How vexatious that I too cannot enter into this holy bond !" But in his heart he was extremely uneasy. An alliance between the nobility and the people was the source of no small alarm to him, because he feared that they would learn to know their own strength, and by open rebellion crush the old system on which both he and his predecessors had acted, of keeping up an artificial barrier between the two classes. On the other side, these events showed the national aversion of the Neapolitan people to incur the guilt of rebellion. The banner with the two-headed imperial eagle waved, as has been said, upon the steeple of San Lorenzo ; and the war-cries were, " Spain and the kingdom ; life to the Emperor ; death to the Inquisition." Still the insurrection took its course. The combats in the streets were renewed with increased fierceness. The Spaniards marched out of their fortifications into the lower parts of the town ; the people entrenched themselves in the positions most capable of defence. Both parties had rein- forced themselves with men and weapons. There were above twenty thousand men accustomed to the use of arms on the side of the city. The artillery of the castle opened upon the town, and the Camillo Porzio. Pp. 102, 103, and other places. DECREE OF CHARLES V. 37 people were eager in return to direct the heavy town cannon kept in San Lorenzo against Castelnuovo, but the deputies again restrained them. Meanwhile the greatest confusion pre- vailed. The proceedings of the courts of law, and indeed almost all other business, were stopped. The shops were closed, adventurers of all kinds filled the streets, and the people flocked round those orators who were most violent in their harangues. Many of the nobles and of the principal inhabitants fled from the bewildered city. The opposition to the Viceroy had arisen from just causes, but the line of demarcation between lawful resistance and revolutionary sedition is easily overstepped. At last Placid o di Sangro came back from Nuremberg, where he had had an interview with the Emperor, who had received an ambassador on the part of Toledo, the Spanish Marquis della Valle, chamberlain of Castelnuovo, to counteract the impression made by the representations of the town. The decision of Charles was, that the insurgents should lay down their arms, and then he would think no more of their offence. He had never had the intention of introducing the Inquisition. It seemed hard to the people to surrender themselves defence- less into the power of an armed enemy, for such the Viceroy appeared to be, but they submitted. Most of the arms were brought into Castelnuovo ; many were missing, but this Toledo passed over without notice : perhaps he thought matters were as well as they were. He informed the courts of justice of the command of the Emperor, that none should be proceeded against on account of the past disturbances ; but on the follow- ing day six-and-thirty were excluded from the amnesty, and the prior of Bari, Cesare Mormile, and Giovanni da Sessa, were to expiate their rebellion by death. They were warned, and escaped : only one man's blood was shed. Then the Viceroy sent away the troops to a distance from the town. Above two thousand men lost their lives, above a hundred and fifty dwellings and other buildings had been levelled to the ground, and the town had suffered incalculable losses during a war of a month's duration. The Emperor solemnly confirmed to the toAvn the title of " most faithful ;" but imposed upon it forthwith a fine of a hundred thousand ducats.* The Prince * The History of the Dispute of the Inquisition, following Miccio and Porzio, and other places. 38 THE CARAF AS OF MADDALONL of Salerno remained for some time at court ; but then the loss of tin- Kinperor's favour, Toledo's persecution of him, his own reckless and tickle conduct, drove him into a rebellion which ended with lu's death and exile, after the loss of his rich in- heritance, after a few warlike deeds little known to fame, and performed in the service of France and in alliance with the Turks, and after many and evil days of wandering. The Viceroy's observation on the tidings of his flight was, "They say Don Ferdinand Sanseverino has done the Emperor many a service, but the best of all his services is that he has made him a present of such a fine possession as Salerno." Don Pedro de Toledo remained till the end of his life in the possession of his office. No Viceroy had held it for much more than half that time. The cabals against him had been incessant, for the Neapolitan nobility did what they could to supplant him. The Prince of iSalerno, and the Marquis del Vasto, celebrated for his warlike deeds, were long at the head of the opposition. When Toledo, in the autumn of 1535, re- ceived the Emperor at Naples, upon his return from his cam- paign against Tunis, Charles V. said to him, " Don Pedro, you are not the violent character that I have been told you were." " I see," he answered, " that I have been described to you as a monster." But no complaints which were derogatory to Toledo's ser- vices carried any weight with the Emperor. He did not fail to set a just value on the defence and the internal manage- ment of the kingdom, no less than on the abundant supplies received from it during his wars with France and the league of Sinalkalde. It was Toledo, moreover, who had secured the crown of Naples on Charles's head. Toledo's illness dated from the time when the Emperor gave him the com- mand of the army which, together with the force of Cosmo de' .Medici, the Viceroy's son-in-law, was sent to enforce sub- mission on the republic of Siena, after it had revolted and had driven away the Spanish garrison. When Toledo was seized with an inflammation of the chest at Leghorn, the physicians gravely asserted, as the origin of the malady, that Leghorn, being under the influence of Neptune, formed too great a con- trast to the climate of Pozzuoli, which recognised the sove- reignty of Vulcan. The sick man was brought first to Pisa, and then to Florence, where he departed this life on the 22nd of February, 1553. NAPLES A SPANISH PROVINCE. 39 No other Viceroy had enjoyed so much authority as Don Pedro de Toledo. He left Naples a Spanish province, though under an iron yoke. The Viceroy was supported only by few, and of these few some were Spaniards who were entirely his creatures. He always governed with more or less de- pendence on the ministers of the King, as suited his individual interests. The castellanies of the fortresses and castles, and the rest of the important military posts, were intrusted to Spaniards ; and they established themselves more and more in offices, even when subordinate to the native nobility. The reform of the government system had begun under Ferdinand the Catholic, and had already been accepted conditionally, in the absence of the reigning sovereign ; but the new forms were only introduced by degrees, and, like those of the new administration of justice, only reached their perfection under Toledo. The King's jealousy and distrust of Gonsalvo de Cordova gave rise to the first establishment of the upper Privy Council which, under the name of Consiglio Collaterale, constituted the highest tribunal under the viceroys. But even under the kings of the house of Arragon we find a similar institution, which was peculiar to the state of things which then existed ; for when, in the year 1506, Ferdinand visited Naples, he brought with him two members of the Supreme Council of Arragon, Lone and Malferit, as administrators of the court, as they were called. They always stood by him during the legislative business and during the proclamations ; and at his departure thwr places were filled by a Catalan and a Sicilian. These, under the presidency of the Viceroy, com- posed the highest legislative tribunal ; and a Spaniard was associated with them as secretary at the beginning of the reign of Charles V. A third administrator was appointed, who was always to be a Neapolitan ; and since the Emperor, who was often absent, kept this administrator by him to discuss Nea- politan affairs, a fourth was appointed to supply the place of the absent one. Ferdinand the Catholic had had with him a Neapolitan jurist who did not belong to this more important tribunal. Thus it remained during the government of Charles V., but it was Philip II. who brought this institution to its perfection. The union of the dukedom of Milan with the Spanish mo- narchy gave rise to the establishment of a resident ministry 40 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL at .Madrid lor Italian affairs, the Consejo de Italia, which had HI its hands the whole of the business, and survived the parti- tion of the Spanish monarchy, as it was maintained at Vienna by Charles VI., and exercised an influence upon the destiny of the south of Italy, the fatal tendency of which was only re- cognised when too late.* There were in this council, 1 many Spanish members, two representatives for Naples, Sicily, and Milan. By this council the Italian provinces were actu- ally governed. Although at times eminent personal abilities might make some alteration in their relative position, the Viceroy and his Collateral Council were in general, in spite of their great nominal power, the mere executive body to carry out the orders issued at Madrid. The number of the members of the collateral or government council was in time increased to five. They consisted partly of Spaniards and partly of Neapolitans. Each time a vacancy occurred, the crown of Arragon laid claim to the nomination of one of them, because Naples was especially a fief of Arragon. The au- thority of the administrators was great, and their dignity con- siderable. If the death of the Viceroy occurred at Naples, they undertook the government. The secretary of the Col- lateral Council received the title of Secretary of the Kingdom, and as such held an important position, both as to his legis- lative labours as well as in parliament. Whilst the authority of the great offices of the state and about the court, the origin of which may be traced to the times of the Normans, were in a great measure absorbed by this new institution, so that they remained little more than empty titles, the government was more and more concentrated in the person of the Viceroy. The two secretaryships of jus- tice and of war were held in his palace, by which all the pre- liminary business of the Collateral Council was executed ; and besides this, the Scrivania di Razione, the office of finance, from whence was issued all the money for the maintenance and pay of the troops, as likewise other payments for military concerns, subject to the inspection of the tribunal of the royal exchequer chamber ; and likewise the treasury, the administra- tion of which depended upon the above-mentioned tribunal ; and the general auditory of the army. Thus a complete * Storia Arcana di Marco Forcarini. Florence, 1843. (Archivio Storico Italiano, vol. v.) P. 48. THE GREAT COURTS OF JUSTICE. 41 ministry was established in the viceregal palace, the members of which were chiefly Spaniards, as, for instance, always the secretaries for the administration of justice and for war. The reform in the jurisprudence was introduced, as has already been mentioned, by Don Pedro de Toledo. There were three great courts of justice in Naples the Holy Council (Sacro Consiglio) of Santa Chiara, so called from its being held in the monastery of the same name ; the Court of the Vicariat ; and the Royal Chamber. The first was assigned for civil causes, which it decided even to the third instance. It consisted of fifteen counsellors ten Italians and five Spaniards. One of them bore the title of President. It was divided into three chambers. The Court of the Vicariat consisted of two parts : the superior criminal tribunal, with four judges ; and the court of appeal with three, for civil suits. The Supreme Court of Judicature of the Sommaria judged all fiscal causes, whether they were of a civil or criminal kind. The im- portant office of luogotenente of the Exchequer was for life. These three courts of judicature Toledo united in the rebuilt Castel Capuano, where from this time dwelt the president of Santa Chiara, the governor of the Vicariat, and the lieutenant of the Exchequer. Its arched halls were transformed into saloons, and its ground floor into prisons. In the capital, seven tribunals of first instance existed under the Court of the Vicariat. The administration of justice in the provinces was reformed at the same time. Six governors, with the title of Vicars, administered justice in the twelve provinces : each had two assessors, one advocate and one attorney of the Ex- chequer. They formed the second court of instance for the inferior tribunals of the captains, which, with the assistance of a Doctor of Laws, in all provincial places, were they royal or baronial, might pass sentence in civil and criminal cases. The causes must be larought to the capital, for repeated appeals and cassations. Thus was constituted the external system of justice, but in what spirit was it administered ? We will hear what Girolamo Lippomano says about it, who, twenty-two years after the death of Toledo, gives a detailed account of the mission with which the Senate of Venice intrusted him to the conqueror of Lepanto, Don John of Austria : " Most of the offices which the King confers in the kingdom of Naples, especially those belonging to the great courts, he gives only 42 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. to persons recommended to him by the viceroys as qualified. If a rivalry arises amongst the competitors, such offices cost considerable sums. For instance, if the income for life is about 600 scudi, you must generally pay from 300 to 400 scudi. It is the same with the judges' places in the provinces, which to the Viceroy (at that time the Marquis Mondejar) would be worth many thousands, if he would do like his pre- decessor, the Cardinal Granvelle. The barons, with this view, push things to worse extremes in the lands subject to them, and sell the offices to people who flay their poor vassals alive. Thus it comes to pass that justice is sold throughout the kingdom ; and that the captains, by entering into an agreement with the syndics of the towns, complete the ruin of the unfortunate districts, which are so over- whelmed with debt that they have no means of escaping from their tormentors. If these debts were not so oppres- sive, and if the administration was better, the taxes, either ordinary or extraordinary, would not be so burdensome to the people ; and it would not happen that the protectors of the provinces, who are similar to the Carmalinghi sent by your Serene Highness to the different towns, would unroof the houses and sell the beams to collect the royal taxes. This is truly a cruel proceeding, which drives the people to despair, and turns many out to pillage the country. Hence it is that the land is so full of highway robbers and murderers, although I have no hesitation in saying that more people in Naples have been executed and sent to the galleys than in the whole of Italy and Spain put together. In more important concerns, especially when the matter comes before the Viceroy, justice is well administered, particularly when there is question of the nobles seeking to oppress their inferiors. Then their privi- leges do not help marquises, dukes, and princes : they are imprisoned for debt ; and in criminal cases the torture is applied to them with more severity than it would be to their inferiors. The reason of it is this : that the endeavour is to degrade the nobility, and set an example to others ; and also that, in the case of law proceedings against the nobles, a rich harvest is brought into the treasury of the King, the Viceroy, and the officers ; but the world believes that justice is the same at Naples for great and small. A still greater evil is the many imprisonments that take place, from worldly favour and VICEROYS UNDER PHILIP II. AND III. 43 worldly motives, which could not happen if only authentic in- formation was attended to. For the smallest debts tardy payers are imprisoned, by which the tribunal always gains 10 per cent. No asylum is of any use, as little so as in criminal cases."* Nineteen viceroys and lord-lieutenants ruled in Naples under the kings Philip II. and III. Amongst them were fa- mous men men of merit and of good intentions. It was not the fault of the individual that the condition of the kingdom became more and more melancholy. It was caused by the existence of the sovereign, by the general relations of the Spanish monarchy, by the system which did not regulate the provinces according to the measure of their own particular wants, but contemplated them solely as a means of furthering the views of the general Spanish policy ; lastly, it was caused by the gradual but irresistible decline of the Spanish power. Of all the wars to which Naples was obliged to contribute her men and her money, one only had to do with the kingdom itself, and even this merely on account of its relations with Spain. It was the war with Pope Paul IV., conducted .by the Duke of Alva ; and which, by reason of the remarkable circumstances and opportunities attending it, caused more to be said about it than its small military importance justified. In the course of this history a more ample account will be given of this war. The struggle against the Turkish power led to the brilliant though useless victory of Lepanto, after which Don John of Austria made his solemn entrance into Naples on the 18th of November, 1572. The defection of the united Netherlands, and the conquest of Portugal, increased the claims on the resources of the kingdom of Naples, the more so as the finances of Spain were declining lower and lower. During the French war of religion under the last kings of the house of Valois, France had not been able to keep her usual position in the affairs of Europe ; but with Henry IV. the old rivalry between the two neighbouring states revived. In the same degree as Spain sank, especially since the death of Philip II. in the year 1598, after his government of forty- four years, the French power rose. * Relazione di Napoli del Senatore Girolamo Lippomano, nell' anno 1575. In the Relazione degli Ambasciatori Veneti, edite da E. Alberi (Florence, 1841). Vol. v. p. 276. P. Gianone, Istoria civile del Regno di Napoli (Milan, 1823). VoL ix. pp. 113-143, 277-284. 44 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. Meanwhile the state of things in the kingdom became more melancholy. Many of the causes of the disturbances and abides did not depend upon the will of the ruler. Foremost amongst these were the disputes with the court of Home about its spiritual jurisdiction. The peculiar relation of Naples as a fief of the Church had already occasioned many embarrass- ments under the Angevins and Arragonese : they became worse and worse under the viceroys. In Toledo's time the struggle against the Inquisition began, which continued under other forms during the whole reign of Philip II. Then fol- lowed the violent quarrels between the Duke of Alva and Paul IV., who declared that the King had forfeited his throne. After this the dissensions about the jurisdiction of the tribunal of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, established by Leo X.. which gave rise to many claims, especially about matters of inheri- tance and legatine affairs. The Duke of Alcala. the elder of this name, one of the most deserving men who have been in- vested with the viceregal dignity, fought for the space of twelve years for the royal prerogative against the spiritual jurisdiction. The point in question was the admission and publication of the decrees of the Council of Trent, to which the crown of Spain, like many other states, refused its consent on account of the decree with regard to discipline and the authority of kings, the Exequatur ; about the publication of the bull. In Coena Domini, of Pius V. ; about the Regium Exequatur, without which no papal bulls or briefs would be of any validity ; of the jurisdiction in what was called mixed cases between the clergy, the institutes, and the laity ; and the prohibition issued that the laity should not appear before the apostolical visitors sent into the kingdom by the Pope ; of the royal share of the tithes collected by the clergy ; of the claims of the clergy upon the execution of testamentary lega- cies ; and many other disputed points, which occasioned more than once the mission of cardinal legates to Naples, besides the resident nuncio, and of royal ambassadors sent to Home, without any agreement being made. Moreover, during all these disputes about jurisdiction, the power of the clergy in- creased considerably. Under Charles V. many new bishoprics had been established ; and the Emperor had entered into an agreement with the Pope with reference to the right of pre- sentation, which was to belong partly to the sovereign and MILITAEY SYSTEM. 45 partly to the Holy See. Then the clerical orders wero multi- plied ; whilst the older ones, as the Dominicans, the Camal- dolites, the Capuchins, the Servites, enlarged their monasteries and obtained a firmer footing. The Theatines owed their origin to a Neapolitan, Gian Pietro Carafa, afterwards Paul IV. ; the Jesuits, who were introduced by Father Alphonso Salmeron in 1551 ; the barefooted Carmelites, re- formed by the Spaniards ; the Theresenians, following the same rule ; the Fratelli della Carita, founded by the Portu- guese Johannes de Deo ; the regular clergy of Girolamo Emiliani, generally called Sommayli ; the Oratorians of the Holy Philip Neri : all these orders established churches and monasteries in Naples.* The state of the military system depended more upon the general affairs of the empire than upon the individual interests of the kingdom ; for Spain perpetually drained it not only of money but even of troops. This was especially the case during the second unsuccessful expedition against Tunis, during the campaign against Siena and the war about the Portuguese succession. The Neapolitan troops, commanded by Neapolitan noblemen, fought in Lombardy, in Spain, in the Netherlands, and in Germany. The garrisons in the kingdom, on the con- trary, were filled with Spaniards, Walloons, and Germans. The Duke of Alcala established a national regiment, which was called the steady battalion of militia. The communities were obliged to supply, for every hundred fuochi, four foot- soldiers and one trooper. Thirty thousand men were raised, who only received pay in time of war ; but for this they en- joyed certain privileges in time of peace. They were engaged only to serve in their native country ; but they were also wanted abroad, in which case it often happened that they re- fused to march, as under the Duke of Arcos. It also often happened that they were obliged to be discharged, because they would have been masters of the field. In the year 1612 it was calculated that the kingdom contained seven-and-twenty companies of Spanish infantry, sixteen companies of heavy armed cavalry (gens d'armes), and four companies of light cavalry, all native troops ; one company of arquebusiers on horseback ; besides the garrisons of the castles, the local militia, and the artillery. There was, distinct from these, * Giannone, and other places. Vol. x. pp. 67-217, 338-348. 46 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. a kind^f guard of nobles on horseback, called I Contiimi, composed of a hundred noblemen, one-half .Spanish and the other Italian, for the personal service and escort of the Viceroy. The whole military establishment cost then some- what more than eight hundred thousand ducats, in which how- ever is not included the expense of incessantly sending troops to Spain and to the provinces ; and these expenses increased more and more during the first half of the seventeenth cen- tury.* What the conduct and the discipline of the native troops were, and how they were recruited in times of need, will be explained later by many examples. How they looked is most vividly described by an agent of Ferdinand I. from Tuscany. " To-day," he writes on the 6th of January, 1601, -i\ companies of soldiers embarked, and in so pitiful a con- dition that, before they get to Genoa or Gaeta, they will be most of them thrown into the sea, corpses. Your Highness would have laughed at such a scene. One was, if I may be allowed to say it, without a shirt, another without shoes ; for they had sold everything to appease their hunger. Many had fallen away to such a degree that, instead of wearing their rifles and swords at their side, they were obliged to use them as supports. It is whispered here that these people will go over to the French when they reach the place of their destina- tion, because they cannot get their pay." 1 ]' The individual characters of the Viceroys must naturally have exercised a decided influence upon all evente ; for Spain allowed them a tolerably free scope about the details of the government. One was prodigal, the other covetous ; one loved pomp and expense, the other retirement ; one thought only of war. another of internal arrangements ; one was proud, another affable. Don Pedro de Toledo fettered the free spirit of study, and the development of science and of poetry, M-hich had been so remarkable under the Arragonese kings, but then it was interrupted by a thirty years' war. and again checked. The Count of Lemos patronized universities and academies ; and even if he did much for show, nevertheless he assisted materially in making the higher classes take again their part in sciences, in obtaining a considerable position for learned * Lodovico Bianchini, Delia Storia dclle Finacrzc del Regno di Napoli, libri 7. Naples, 1833. Vol. ii. p. 464. t Fra Vina Nardi, at Palermo. P. 275, and other places. DESCRIPTION OF THE VICEROYS. 47 men : inquiries and works of various kinds were undertaken, the good effects of which are felt even at the present time. The elder Duke of Alcala was, as we have said, one of the best Viceroys that Naples has had, but it must be admitted that the community of the Waldenses in Calabria was de- stroyed with such cruelty that even the stern Catholic reporter says " it makes one shudder to think of it. They have slaugh- tered the people like a flock of heep." The Marquis of Mondejar clung so much to ceremony and Spanish " Sussiego," as the Italians are accustomed to call by a foreign word a foreign formality contrary to their nature, that a nobleman who visited him declared " that he thought he had been going to see the Viceroy of Naples, but that he had been received by the King of Spain." He lived, besides, in a very retired manner : the Venetian ambassador remarks, " He had reason to amass riches, for he had seven sons and one daughter," but by " good management " he had already increased from four to forty thousand ducats.* The first duke had not the courage to interpose with his authority in a riot about scarcity of bread against a multitude composed of three hundred of the lowest of the populace, who caused the death of Giano Vincenzo Starace, the deputy of the citizens, in a horrible manner, and placed the whole town in terror ; but after peace was restored he had 498 persons imprisoned, whilst 320 took to flight, 270 were tortured, 58 were con- demned, either for life or for a shorter or longer time, to the galleys, others to exile, and 30 were sentenced to death, of whom many were executed with the most horrible tortures.f The Count of Miranda, whom otherwise there is much to be said against, would not receive two golden keys presented to him by the town at his departure, and more than one Vice- roy has gone away in debt. Nevertheless, their income was not small ; till the year 1612 it amounted to about thirty thousand ducats, then it was raised to nearly forty thousand. But the extraordinary revenues which they had, the money which many of them made by the sale of offices, the presents which they knew how to obtain from the town, amounted in most cases to an equal sum. Moreover, they calculated their * Lippomano. P. 289, and other places. t Gio Antonio Summonte, Historia della Citta e Regno di Napoli. Naples, 1675. Vol. iv. pp. 446-479. 48 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. so much beloved, so-called secret expenses, which in the above-mentioned year, 1612, was valued at somewhere about fifty thousand ducats yearly. But when the Duke of Ossuna entered in his accounts from the years 1616 to 1619 the mon- strous sum of three hundred and eighty thousand ducats for "Spese segrete,'' the yearly sum was reduced to twenty-four thousand, and it was determined that for all increase of it a royal grant must be obtained.* . The Count of Olivarez, father of the celebrated minister, was accustomed to say, " that one ought not to wish to be Viceroy of Naples, to avoid the pain that one should feel at leaving it." None felt this grief more than Don Pedro Giron, Duke of Ossuna, the third duke and second viceroy of this name. He sprang from the great Lusitanian family d'Acunha. They had come from Portugal to Castille, and had divided them- selves into numerous branches, taking in general distinct names. In the middle of the fifteenth century Don Pedro Giron founded the house of the Counts of Urenna : his great grandson of the same name was made by Philip II. Duke of Ossuna and Viceroy of Naples. It was his grandson, again a Don Pedro, who has rendered the name famous. In the fa- mily chapel at Ossuna you might read the following inscrip- tion : " Si el viver es hermoso, el morir es ganancioso " (If life is beautiful, death is gain). Nevertheless, Pedro Giron sought above all tlu'ngs a life of gain. He was not much above forty when he undertook the government of Naples. He had fought bravely during the campaigns in Flanders : he was already a Knight of the Fleece, and had been Viceroy of Sicily. Whilst there he had shown the vigour as well as the imperiousness of his nature : he had protected the island against the assaults of the Turks. But he imprisoned and dragged to Palermo the Jurats of Messina, because they urged with energy the observance of their privileges, those privileges which sixty years later, under the Marquis di Bajona, caused the dangerous rebellion of the Messenians, which Spain, ex- hausted, could only conquer after a war of five years, when she despoiled the town of its old liberties, in the same manner as, under Philip II. and IV., Arragon and Catalonia were deprived of their constitution. * Bianchini. P. 443, and at other places. DON PEDRO GIRON. 49 Ossuna entered Naples like a sovereign. None of his predecessors had so lived. In the palace a series of brilliant festivities, for the people nothing but sports and pleasures ; an unusual pomp in all church ceremonies. The Viceroy pa- raded the streets with six horses ; petitions and memorials were thrown into his carriage from all sides, then he stopped and gave the wished-for audience to those who desired to speak to him. The outside of his state carriage was covered with black velvet, upon which were silver ornaments ; the in- side was embroidered with gold ; the side-posts were of silver, ornamented with all kinds of jewels. The silver alone weighed two hundred pounds. Such a carriage could not be built for three or four thousand scudi, writes the Tuscan agent, who considered it worthy of a king, and offered it for sale to his Archduke.* Ossuna took, moreover, great interest in the administration of justice. He used to wander through the town till late in the night, to convince himself that all was in order. Whoever, great or small, incurred a penalty, had no forbearance to expect. When he showed himself in public, and was in good humour, he flung gold and silver coins libe- rally amongst the people. Thus he obtained a number of fol- lowers. After the first year of his government he represented his health as too weak to continue any longer in his office, and besought the parliament to ask the King for a new Viceroy. Whether they thought it a piece of acting on his part, or that he was really in earnest, they, on the contrary, presented a petition for the confirmation of his authority. But this good understanding did not last long. Dissensions with the nobility soon burst out. Ossuna was of an imperious nature, full at the same time of pride and of sensuality. He believed that he could govern entirely according to his own judgment ; and as he regarded neither forms nor customs, and as he attacked with the greatest heedlessness the privileges of the nobility, even in their official relations, he made them his decided enemies. The arbitrary manner in which he en- croached upon justice did away immediately with the good impression produced by his strictness. He ordered the punish- ments of death and of the galleys without any judicial trial. He sent a man to the galleys, because he had followed him * Vine Vettori, Naples, Sept 20, 1622. At Palermo, and other faces. P. 294-. E 50 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL one evening in the streets ; a dentist, because he had yean ago, in Sicily, broken one of his teeth, and had afterwards made his escape ; a municipal syndic who had given assistance to the citizens against their feudal lord ; and seven individuals who, to obtain a favour from him, had allowed themselves to be caught in an untruth. He caused one of the officers be- longing to the finance department to be flogged through the streets, because he had boasted that he could procure the King a great advantage, and had contented himself with the mere words. He put a druggist to the rack in the most un- merciful manner, upon the saying of an imprisoned Turk, be- cause sequins and jewels were concealed in a cask of sugar which he had bought out of a prize-vessel. He condemned a sbirri to the galleys, because he had allowed a prisoner to escape, who had been afterwards apprehended again in a church. He caused a barber to be scourged through the town, mounted on an ass, and chained to the oar for life, because, at the de- position of a witness, with reference to a wound, an irregu- larity had happened which could not be proved against him. Because the presidents of the exchequer had not their accounts made up upon the day appointed, he had them imprisoned in their own houses, and threatened to send the secretary to the galleys. Some days afterwards he sent for them, and an- nounced to them that they were instantly to be imprisoned in distant castles, one in the castle of Tronto, another in Man- fredonia, and a third in Cotrone. Three carriages were ready in the courtyard ; each person stepped as he was, in his court- dress and fasting, into one of the carriages, accompanied by a captain of the guard. Some people interceded in their fa- vour : they said it was endangering their lives to let them undertake so long a journey in such a manner during the heat of summer. It is precisely on that account that he does it, was the answer. The real cause of this severity was, that the Viceroy suspected that they had written to complain of him at court. He inflicted the punishment of death without any sentence being pronounced. When once, at Pozzuoli, six de- serters were brought before him, he condemned them to the galleys ; and when one of them declared himself a nobleman, he had his head cut off without further delay. He condemned a deputy commissioner, at Capua, who was besides a bad fellow, to death. The sentence was to be carried into execution in WAE AGAINST VENICE. 51 two hours ; and, as there was no executioner there, the but- cher chopped off the criminal's head with his slaughtering knife. He administered his punishments as well as his pardons without any reason, quite according to his own fancy. But this man, who had so high an idea of his own dignity and authority, frequented low company. He showed himself in the public streets with common jesters and bad women. He desired two quack doctors, who were quarrelling about which of them possessed the best antidote, to come before him and make the experiment in his presence. One of them vomited the poison and the antidote, the other died in dreadful agony. He 'had a ridiculous dread of being spell-bound : he continually had women seized in the streets and flogged through the town, on the suspicion of witchcraft. It was a favour when they were allowed to endure the punishment with veiled faces : a Capuchin went first with a crucifix. The scourged persons were then sent out of the country.* But all this would have produced no catastrophe, if the Duke of Ossuna had not believed that he could act in the same arbitrary manner with reference to his native country. But he over-estimated his power and abused his authority in a most unheard-of manner. His wild hatred of Venice was the occa- sion of his ruin. The so-called conspiracy of the Spaniards against Venice is one of the best authenticated facts of modern Italian history, although the true facts have only been traced in our day.f The relations between the republic and Spain were violated in many ways, by the disputes between Venice and the Archduke Ferdinand of Steiermark, by the Mantuan- Savoyard commerce, and other differences. But there was the appearance of peace between both these states, when the Viceroy of Naples and the Governor of Milan, Don Pedro de Toledo, began their attack upon Venice. The idea upon which was founded the project of both these men and their ally, the Marquis of Bedmar, the ambassador to the republic, who. united, formed the Spanish Triumvirate, arose from the consideration that Venice was the only state in the peninsula which actually stood in the way of the Spanish dominion, and * Francesco Zazzera, Governo di Don Pictro Girone Duca d'Ossuna, 1616-1620. At Palermo and at other places. f L. Ranke, concerning the conspiracy against Venice in the year 1618. Berlin, 1831. E 2 52 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. particularly prevented the union between the Italian posses- sions and the German states of the house of Hapsburg. At the end of the winter of 1617 Ossuna began to make warlike preparations : galleon upon galleon was prepared, he himself borrowed the artillery of San Lorenzo. Long ves- sels with flat keels were built, to be given up to the piratical Uscochi, the old enemies of the republic, who had occasioned the quarrel with the Archduke, and had boasted that they would burn Venice. An edict opened to these pirates all the harbours on the coasts of the Adriatic belonging to the king- dom. At the same time men were everywhere enlisted. All prisoners and persons condemned for contumacy, as well as all the banditti, were offered a free pardon if they would enter into the service. A negotiation was opened with the Pope about the march of the cavalry into Lombardy. The Duke lodged and fed twelve thousand foot soldiers and two thousand sailors ; twenty galleons and a number of other vessels were stationed in the Neapolitan harbours. Notwithstanding all these preparations, Ossuna at first treated the resident minis- ter of the republic in a friendly manner, who did not leave Naples.* Thus began this singular conflict, which was carried on upon the Adriatic Sea with great animosity. The Venetians sank a Neapolitan vessel containing sixty people ; the Viceroy caused prizes to be sold in the ground-floor of the palace, under the eyes of the resident Venetian minister. The dis- covery of this attack upon the republic, which was conducted by the Spanish ambassadors, brought affairs to a crisis. Pietro Gritti obtained at Madrid the recall of Bedmar and Toledo ; Spain did not want a war in Italy. It was a critical moment for Ossuna. He saw his daring plans thwarted ; he felt how tottering was his position at Naples ; his preparations had swallowed up vast sums of money ; the land groaned under the burden of quartered soldiers ; the foreign troops, espe- cially the Walloons, occasioned daily bloody quarrels by their want of discipline. All the public works were at a standstill, the treasury empty, even the artillery concealed in the Sicilian fortresses was sold. Envoys from the nobility and from the town were gone to Madrid to allege their complaints against the * Letters of the agent of the Duke of Urbino from the years 1617- 1618. At Palermo, and in many other places. OSSUXA'S PLANS. 53 Viceroy. He had tried first to prevent and then to weaken their complaints, but failed in both cases ; then the idea seemed to occur to him of making himself an independent ruler of Naples. He sounded France and several of the Italian princes ; he sought at the court of Lewis XIII. to win over the Duke of Luynes and the Constable of Lesdiguieres to his plan for the establishment of an independent kingdom at Naples. He had a quantity of foreign troops and no incon- siderable fleet in his pay. He tried to make himself a party amongst the common people in Naples, and he succeeded. His principal tool was Giulio Genuino, a judge of the vicarial court, whose election he had carried as deputy of the commons in the municipal government. Genuino was a restless man, fond of change, full of hatred against the nobility and its inor- dinate claims, who only considered the Spaniards, and in this case Ossuna, as a means of obtaining his own ends, which appeared to be concentrated in raising the authority of the commons ; meanwhile, as the sequel will bring to light, a great deal of selfishness was mixed up with this democratical element. Hence the attempt, by the separation of the deputies of the citizens from those of the nobility, to procure greater independence and influence to the municipality, and the desire for a more enlarged share of the government for the people. What Genuino attempted this time in vain he accomplished on another occasion, seven-and-twenty years later, with ready success. Meanwhile the Viceroy sought in his way to conciliate the people. He rode upon a small pony through the most thickly inhabited parts of the town ; the crowd called after him that he ought to abolish the gabelle on flour : he willingly pro- mised to do it, and threw doubloons and scudi amongst the people ; he patted one on the head, and another on the shoulder, embraced them, and inquired who they would have for a ruler? Some answered " Your Excellency," but others "His Majesty." The crowd was so mischievous, that the cry resounded of " Close the doors ! close the doors ! " The wealthy merchants immediately closed their magazines and barred up their doors ; armed men were seen in the windows of the bank of St. Eligio ; but Ossuna, always flinging out money, drew on the noisy crowd behind him till he reached the palace. The crowd begged him at once to abolish the lately introduced fruit-tax, which was particularly hateful to them, and the new tax on bread ; 54 THK cu: \\ AS OF MADDALONI. he did it immediately, without considering how the deficiency in the revenue would be supplied. When he once canic to the place where the tax-gatherers were weighing the od<. he drew his sword and cut the cords of the scales. Such actions procured him indeed adherents, but the laws were badly administered, and the rabble became more and more insolent. The noblemen who had any influence with the better part of the people did their possible to keep the peace, and preserve the allegiance due to their monarch. But the state of things was extremely critical, and a general terror prevailed that the city would be pillaged. Then there was a report that the Cardinal Caspar Borgia, who was in Rome as ambassador, had received a command to undertake the government without delay instead of the Duke ; immediately afterwards the Duke arrived in Procida. Ossuna, whose fury at the shipwreck of his plans amounted to madness, made the boldest projects of resistance. But Borgia arranged his affairs so cleverly, that the castellan of Castelnnovo let him in during the night. It was the 3rd of June, 1620, when the Cardinal, a young and brave man (he was just one-and- thirty). landed from a fisherman's boat at Bagnoli, near Poz- zuoli, and entered the town in the dark in a hired carriage, dressed as a soldier and armed with sword and dagger, ac- companied by a few intimate friends. On the following morn- ing the thunder of the artillery from all the fortresses pro- claimed a change of government. Still Ossuna made one other trial ; he issued an edict, threatening whoever obeyed the Cardinal with the punishment of high treason. But it was too late, his power was at an end. He remained ten days longer in Naples, and saw his inti- mate friends and accomplices either imprisoned. b;uii>h d. or murdered. He only succeeded in saving Oiulio (.'enuino. who reached Piombino disguised as a sailor, from whence the Duke took him afterwards to Spain. The town was joyfully illuminated for three nights ; bonfires wore kindled in the streets ; for not merely the nobles, but the greater part of the people, were L r l:id to have escaped the impending danger of a violent revolution.* The deposed Viceroy did not reach Madrid for some time, though he had solemnly sworn to make a clear vindication of * Zazzera, and Reports of the Tuscan Agent. From Palermo, and in many other places. GASPAR BORGIA. 55. himself, and take extreme vengeance on his enemies. At first his affairs seemed to take a favourable turn, but the death of King Philip III. changed everything for him. A formal trial, the legal documents of which came from Naples, was instituted against him, and he was conveyed to the fort of Almeda. Here his proud and restless spirit was crushed, as well as his body. Madness came on, and he died in prison in September, 1624. Nevertheless he had so much influence at Madrid that Gaspar Borgia was recalled after the lapse of a few months. The joy occasioned by his arrival soon ceased. He had proceeded against all disturbers of the peace with great severity ; he had changed a number of the officials and of the military persons, amongst them the castellans of most of the fortresses, who had been suspected ; the gabelles abolished by Ossuna were re- stored. The Turks that Ossuna had threatened them with at his departure had taken Manfredonia, and ravaged it fearfully. The town has never recovered from the blow. The Cardinal did not know how to introduce order and honesty into the government. This government perplexed him, and yet he aspired to what was more exalted and difficult. He hoped to wear the triple crown. It had once been predicted to him that the bull would roar for the third time :* the bull is the well-known armorial bearing of the Borgian race, that had been used already by two popes. The great nephew of the holy Francesco Borgia, who, consumed by his aspiring genius, relinquished the splendour and vicissitudes of the life of chi- valrous knighthood to enter upon other fields of contest. He left behind him a different name from that left by the enthusi- astical and pious Duke of Gaudia, who was the third general of the society of Jesuits. " Borgia is gone away," writes the Tuscan agent, " lamented but by few ; his private secretary, Don Diego, will go away cursed by many, if not by all. They had done things which if Olivarez or Ossuna had only dreamed of, a hundred couriers would have been despatched to the court with complaints. They have no scruple of robbing the King. They have sold for fifty ducats, favours which Ossuna would not have given for five hundred, and that in cases which were beyond their authority. For fifty ducats they have pardoned the murderer of a father and of a child, and that without . * Fr. Cancellieri, Notizie storiche e bibliograpbishe di Cristoforo Colombo. Rome, 1809. P. 197. 56 THK CARAFAS OF MADDALONL making any composition between the parties. Crimine ab uno disce oninia. They negociated with the King of Poland, who was to be paid sixty thousand ducats from his Catholic .Majesty. without being at all shy of their intention of putting forty thousand ducats into their own pockets. They have squan- dered beforehand all the revenues up to the end of April. May God preserve us from all want, for it will not be possible to raise a penny !"* Want soon came. Caspar Borgia was replaced by the Cardinal Antonio Zapata, the protector of the crown of Spain at Rome. When the appointment became known, it created the greatest excitement amongst the Neapolitan nobility, who considered it as a concession in favour of Ossuna. The whole municipal government wished to go to the King, many threat- ened to set out for Venice, but the Cardinal came nevertheless. He had declared, " Whoever gives my officials money, flings it out of window : if any one is to steal, I will." It was an unhappy government. Several bad harvests were followed by a complete failure of the crops, and famine in Naples. Suf- ficient corn could not be purchased in the provinces ; the ele- ments and the pirates of Barbary concurred in preventing the importation of it from Sicily and foreign countries ; added to which came the want of money. The small coins were almost all adulterated, chipped, and ought to have been recoined : now every one refused to take them, fearing to lose by them. The Cardinal thought to remedy the evil by announcing that the full worth of the old money would continue the same. Then the kingdom was on a sudden literally deluged with false coin. In the summer of 1620 an insurrection broke out. The people complained that the Cardinal and his nephews, who swarmed about him, enriched themselves by a usurious traffic in corn. They wanted to storm the house of the Prince of Ran Severe, who was considered as a hoarder of corn. Thus tilings went on during the whole of the autumn. In the be- ginning of January, 1622, bread failed entirely. When Zapata, on the festival of the Epiphany, went to the cathedral, his carriage was attacked by the populace, who flung stones at him and reviled him. He saved himself with great difficulty in the archiepiscopal palace, the doors of which were barri- * Vinccnzo Vcttori, Dec. 15, 1620. From Palermo and other places. P. 284. FAMINE AND INSURRECTION. 57 caded, that the mob might not take it by storm. The Cardinal pretended to consider the riot as of no consequence : he de- clared it to be only knavish tricks practised against the deputies of the towns. Things became worse and worse. In Apulia innumerable field-mice overran the country and devoured the seed. In the capital the people fought with the Spanish gar- rison. In all the churches the holy sacrament was exhibited. The Count of Monterez, ambassador to the Pope, visited Naples : Zapata accompanied him. The crowd screamed " Food, food !" and threw a piece of bread into the carriage. There was more earth than flour in it, says a contemporary chronicler. The Cardinal smiled. " Your Excellency should not smile," said an old man, " for there is cause for weeping." At the same time stones were flung up against the carriage. The ambassador's master of the horse laid his hand upon his sword. " Let that alone," said one of the officers of the palace, " for the people will tear us to pieces." They were glad to reach the palace again, which fortunately was not distant. The Cardinal had about three hundred of the rioters im- prisoned. " I understand that to-morrow justice is to be done," writes the Florentine agent : " many will be put to the rack. This would be too dreadful a punishment, and God grant that it does not awaken another feeling besides com- passion. Meanwhile I still believe that my Lord Cardinal will be satisfied with the threat." Nevertheless, in the vicinity of the Catalan Street, seven persons died on the wheel. This happened on the 1st of June, 1622.* As in the quarrels with Ossuna a Capuchin was despatched to the Court, now a priest from the Oratorium was sent to describe the dreadful condition of the kingdom. But the new Viceroy, the Duke of Alva, only arrived at Naples in De- cember. Meanwhile King Philip III. had died on the 31st of May, 1631, killed by Spanish etiquette, in the midst of a burning chafing-dish. * Vincenzo Vettori's Letters, from October 13, 1620, to May 31, 1622. From Palermo and other places. Pp. 284-294. Diurnali di Scipione Guerra. (Governo del Signor Card. Antonio Zapata, years 1621-22.) 58 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. CHAPTER II. CONSTITUTION, NOBILITY, PEOPLE. The nobility and people in the presence of King Charles VIII. The people claim their ancient privileges The old constitution The Norman parliaments The feudal system Change- under tho Angevins Municipal constitution of the capital The sediles The sudiles compared with the Florentine associations and loggiea Form, number, and privileges of the sediles : their double repre- sentations, with reference to the town and kingdom : political im- portance Difference between the feudal nobility and the city nobility Sedile of the people Different classes of the people The joint government of the town conducted by the sediles of tho nobility and the sedilc of the people The associations of the people, or ottmtn The Eletto del popolo Destruction of the sedile of the people under Alphonso I. of Arragon Ecvival of the ixipular element under the French dominion Comparison between the nobility and the people in the year 1495 Position of the people under the last Arragonesc . Claims of the people for an equal share of representation with the nobility under Ferdinand the Catholic Form of the municipal government of the sediles under the viceroys Mode of election Deputies The municipal government (tribunal of the Eletto) in San Lorenzo Spanish policy with reference to the sediles as substitutes for the general parliaments Form of the parliaments under the viceroys The locality of the parliament in San Lorenzo The opposition of the sediles to the viceroys The nobility in the sediles Opposition Spain's endea- vour to oppress the great nobility Apparent contradiction in its position Feudalism and the communities Privileges of the com- munities to redeem themselves from feudal ties, the so-called pro- clamation of liberty Re-alienation of the communities by the government The right of rebellion in the name of the king Eolations of the barons to their vassals Actual and assumed rights of the feudatories Political condition of the nobility Granting of titles Disadvantageous position of the communities with repard to the tribute-securities Money transactions Fanning tolls Banks The Genoese Money-market Exchange Agio Loans on the banks System of coinage Usury False coinage Conditions of admission into the scdiles Foreign sovereigns and great families Neapolitan feudatories Difficulties in being en- rolled amongst the sediles in the time of the Spaniards Deputations : rejection of their claims Different lines of the system of titles Spanish families in the kingdom Orders Judicial relations Jurisdiction of the nobility The second, or new nobility The people Description of Camillo Pondo. ON the 17th of May in the year 1495, one Sunday, so a Nea- CHARLES VIII. 59 politan chronicler* informs us, King Charles appointed for receiving the oath of allegiance and fealty. When those per- sons who surrounded his Majesty inquired for the people and citizens of Naples, certain noblemen replied to them that they were the people, the citizens, and nobles of the town ; but all the rest, who were strangers from different places, and not Neapolitans, expressed their astonishment to his Majesty that such a town- should have no citizens besides noblemen. Some days afterwards, Messer Carlo Mormile, a nobleman of Porta Nuova, came over to San Lorenzo, when Batista Pirozo, a native grocer and citizen, asked him to tell him what his most Christian Majesty had commanded with regard to the regula- tions of the town and the chapter ? Whereupon he gave him his answer : " Why do you concern yourself about this city ? We are the nobles and citizens of Naples, and you have no- thing to do with it, you loathsome vermin ! " The aforesaid Batista went to all the influential citizens and merchants in the town, and repeated these words to them. Early on the following morning, about six hundred men, enveloped in mantles, marched two abreast to the castle of Capuano. As they stood waiting in the courtyard till they could speak to the King, he stepped up to the window, and, looking at the men, asked who they were ? Then they answered that they were the citizens of the Neapolitan people. His Majesty upon this turned to Carlo Mormile and Lancilotto Annese, and the other counsellors who had said that there were no citizens in Naples, and now that the contrary was apparent they knew not what to answer. The King then had eight of the six hun- dred summoned into his presence, whilst the others waited without, and from them he learnt that the number of the citi- zens far exceeded that of the nobles, and other things that lay heavy on their hearts. If, during the past period of the dominion of the house of Arragon, the relations between the nobles and the citizens were of the nature described in this simple but clear narration,, in the course of time many changes took place in the same. If the constitution of the kingdom of Naples was from the first injured by the internal evil of heterogeneous ingredients being compounded together into a mere external whole, with- * Cronaca di Notar Giacomo, p. 190. 60 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL out any organic development taking place that could infuse truth and originality into the whole body, these defects be- came much more prominent in the fifteenth century, when the struggle between the two dynasties and the two great political parties, which divided the country, first endangered the right of the weaker party, and then, so to speak, annihilated it. Lower Italy did not go through the process which has given such a predominant interest to the history of the municipal institutions in Lombardy and in Romagna, as well as in Tuscany : while the conflict between the Greek and Lombard elements still continued, another, that of the Norman, mingled itself with them, and out of an agglomeration of small states, with no other interest in common than that they obeyed rulers de- scending from the same race, arose that monarchy of King Roger's which, being in its origin of a feudal nature, particu- larly struggled to bring into union the intractable feudal system and the claims of superior power. Together with the monarchy came the parliaments, in which the clergy and feudal nobility came into the presence of the ruler of the country, during which were discussed the general as well as the particular interests and affairs of the kingdom, and by whom the laws and canons were published. In this view, the first assembly of the barons, which Roger held at Melfi before he obtained the royal dignity, as well as the gene- ral parliament held at Ariano in the year 1140, are of the greatest importance. In both monarchy struggled with feu- dalism, which, short as had been its duration, had nevertheless entwined its roots deeply a proof how the soil had been shaken, and how brittle the old state of things had become. By a general peace a stop was put to the feuds of the vassals amongst each other ; the reception and protection of robbers, who disturbed private property and the territories of the lords of the soil, was forbidden by a positive law ; the bad coinage of the Grecian time was abolished, and the new one o the ducat generally established. Throughout the kingdom suitable regu- lations were introduced for the courts of justice and the ad- ministration of the finances, independent of the feudatories. Ten chief justices administered the laws in the countries on this side of the Faro ; their divisions were essentially the same as they are to this day : Terra di Lavoro, the Principata, Molise, Abruzzo, Basilicata, Capitanata, Terra d'Otranto, Terra THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 61 di Bari, Val Grata, and Terra of Giordano (Calabria ulteriore), Calabria ; a separate chief justice for Sicily, ultra flumen salsum. Like those mentioned above for the administration of justice, the Maestri Camerarii (superior master chamberlains) were appointed for the finances, one in each province. In the towns and villages the inferior judges, Bajuli or Defensores, administered the law. The contemporary chroniclers, espe- cially Romualdus Salertinus, bear testimony to the favourable result of these institutions, established by the first king; who by the might of his royal will bound together the parts that were falling to decay, and placed limits to the arbitrariness or supposed right of the individual. Then King William I. exerted himself to protect by a particular constitution the subjects of the feudatories, whether these were prelates, barons, or knights, from arbitrary burdens ; he did it, whilst he not only fixed the cases in which taxes might be levied, but also the rate of them. The establishment of a superior court of justice in Sicily interposed new impediments to arbi- trary power. Thus the Hohenstaufens found a perfectly arranged feudal system, controlled by the royal power, that only in later times became in some degree weakened by the uncertainty of the succession to the throne. They continued to govern in the same spirit as their predecessors. It was Frederick II., in the first instance, who, after the disturbances which had taken place during his minority, gave a more regular form to public affairs. At his first parliament or assizes, held at Capua in 1220, of the constitution of which no account has been kept, he ordered, amongst other things, the destruction of all the fortresses recently erected by the nobility. It is expressly mentioned that, in the large parliaments that were held later, first in one town and then in another of the kingdom, every town or district sent deputies, the more important ones two, " for the benefit of the kingdom and the public weal."* In such wise we find the three states represented in the assemblies, clergy, nobility, and citizens. The laws of King Frederick limited besides in all ways the feudal power in favour of the rights of the crown and of the crown lands, whilst at the same time they vigorously defended the civil liberties of the subjects ; * Kiccardo da San Germane, in the year 1232. D. "Winspcare, Storia dcgli Abusi Feudali. (Naples, 1811.) Vol. i. Remarks, p. 3G. 62 THE CAEAFAS OF MADDALONI. and with regard to these, whether they were dependent^ of a liegeman or immediate dependents of the crown, they stipu- lated expressly for the protection and guarantee of the sove- reign. Under the first rulers of the race of Anjou a great change took place in the constitution of the kingdom, the influence of which was felt for many succeeding centuries. Charles I. was a vigorous prince, but he governed in a con- quered country. He found institutions, many of which were obnoxious to him, because they had been established by the dynasty conquered by his arm. He had to reward the nobles who had followed him, as well as those who had favoured him, and to punish his old adversaries. He required a great deal of money for the consolidation of his authority, as also for the furtherance of his extensive plans ; but at the same time he was obliged to reflect upon the means of settling and concen- trating his internal power. All these circumstances explain the system which he introduced, and which imposed a heavy burden upon the relations of those times a burden which, placed by the arbitrary will of an imperious stranger upon the island of Sicily, pressed still more heavily upon it, and drove its inhabitants to that bloody rebellion which separated them from Naples for two centuries. A number of towns and dis- tricts, which till then had been dependent upon the crown, were given away as fiefs ; the still existing registry states tlu ir number to have been somewhere about six hundred, and the generosity of the King was compared to that of Alexander the Great. The nobility availed themselves of these circum- B, and took possession of many places in an unlawful manner ; and this was carried to such an extent, that a royal decree announced the restoration of the usurped fiefs and royal tenure's, and empowered the officers of the crown to reject all unfounded claims. Meanwhile, such single measures could M no lasting effects upon the progress of the evil, and it increased to such a degree during the last years of Charles's reign, that Pope Honorius IV. was induced to act as arbiter n the King, the nobles, and the commons. These last especially complained that, in their disputes with the barons, they could not get access to the King to state their grievances, and the Pope was compelled, in his character of lord para- mount of the kingdom, to limit the tax upon birth, and to recommend to the King the abolition of other grievances. MUNICIPAL CONSTITUTION. 63 Besides these general relations, here more especially the par- liament comes under our consideration. The court of the Normans and of the Ilohenstaufens had been a moveable one. Charles of Anjou made Naples his capital city and his par- ticular residence. The parliaments moved from town to town with the court : the towns of Apulia especially were, for a short time at least, the centres of political life ; nevertheless, other places and provinces had also this honour granted to them. King Roger held general assemblies at Ariano and Capua, Tancred at Termoli, Henry VI. at Bari, Frederick II. at Capua, Poggia, Barletta, Taranto ; Manfred at Poggia and Barletta. But now it was different ; the King lived con- stantly in the castles of Capua and of Castelnuovo ; he estab- lished a central government in this town ; the French nobility, who were richly endowed with lands and cities, overran the country ; most of them gathered round the hereditary ruler. The parliaments likewise were then held at Naples, with only some exceptions, like that famous assembly in the plain of San Martino, on this side of Calabria, where Prince Charles of Salerno, regent of the kingdom during the absence of the old King, on the 30th of March, 1283, summoned together the prelates, barons, and deputies of the towns, and granted them the constitution that he afterwards confirmed to them when King, which essentially diminished the rights of the crown, and strengthened and extended the feudal power. But with the removal of the parliament to the capital, a modification of its character is to be connected, which has ex- ercised an important influence upon the constitution of the country, and upon the state of the municipal institutions of Naples. The representation of Naples as a town received, by this new arrangement, increased activity and importance, which appears by no means to have formed part of its original character. The importance of the parliament diminished more and more, whilst that of the Sediles, or Seggi, increased in the same proportion. Much has been written of the origin and most ancient form of the Sediles, or association of the nobles and of the people. The part of it which bears particularly upon the history of the constitution may be reduced into a small compass ; the rest belongs to the archaeological depart- ment. We can trace the Sediles to the times of the Grecian republic of Naples, and consider them as connected with the G4 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL Athenian Fratrii (Qparpiai) ; and these again have been con- sidered allied to the casts in the East.* It cannot be denied that there existed a resemblance between both the one and the other, although the more rigid organization of the Fratrii, with their relationships and duties towards each other, cannot be referred to the Sediles, who, especially before their definitive establishment with a fixed authority as citizens, were dt ficient in authentic intelligence. The number of the ancient Sediles was fixed at three-and-twenty, who were named after considerable families, or after their localities ; this last usually was the case in the vicinity of a church or gate. They were derived from family alliances, or they proceeded from neigh- bouring relations, which were usually the same, because the individuals of the same race were accustomed to dwell to- gether in the same quarters of the towns, and in clusters of houses, for a long time, which was the case in many of the Italian municipalities, even into the fourteenth century, and which, apart from other motives, was necessary for their de- fence in the times of the disturbances of the citizens. The men then met together in one common locality to discuss their own personal affairs or those of the town. These loca- lities were marked by many names : we find them mentioned as Portico, Tocco, Seggio, or Sedile. It is, moreover, un- necessary to go as far back as ancient Athens for the origin of an institution which is easily explained ; and if we look at the rest of Italy we shall find parallels ; in Florence, for instance, where the meetings of considerable families were of a mixed character, of a political and domestic kind, the lodges were usually added to the houses of the nobility, and the remains of them are to be seen at this day, in a greater or less degree of preservation, as those of the Cerchi, Perruzzi, Rucellai, Alberti, Buondelmonti, and so on. Many of these lodges have not been without importance in the history of that republic, though the meetings, as an institution chiefly of an aristocratical nature, could not obtain the importance which, by the power- ful development of corporations and their absorbing influence, was acquired in the course of time by the Neapolitan Sediles in a monarchical-feudal state. But the original aim, both of the one and the other, was the same. In Florence also every * Camiilo Tutini, Dell' origine e fimdazion dc' Scggi di Xapoli. Xapbs, 1G4-1. THE SEDILE3. 65 person of noble race had the privilege of possessing a loggia or porticus, to settle family business in, to talk over public affairs, to pass away the time by exercises and games ; for, as Leon Battista Albert! remarks, the loggie are not only an ornament to the market-place and the streets, but are also useful for young people, who do not when there behave so wildly in the presence of the older patricians. Again, in Florence those of noble descent claimed certain privileges for their loggie, as the right of asylum, for which they were severely upbraided and punished with fines when the citizens got the mastery, who sought to humble the old nobility in all ways,* The more considerable towns in the kingdom had also their Sediles, with this great difference, however, that they had not the important political power of those who dwelt in the capital, and they were now, what all the associations of Italian nobles became by degrees, casinos for social purposes. According to the best authority the town of Naples was divided in the most ancient times into four principal regions, Capuano, Forcella, Montagna, and Nido. The places of meet- ing of the Sediles of these quarters were usually called Piazze, hence is derived the expression " far Piazza," when the Sediles were summoned : they were smaller places, which, as may be concluded from their names, had more the character of family unions. Two new larger divisions, Porto and Portanuova, were added when the town was enlarged, whilst Forcella and Montagna were united. By degrees the smaller Sediles were fused into the larger ones ; when this happened is unknown, but the time is probably connected with the reform under Charles I. We do not meet with family Sediles after the last times of King Robert, whilst the five others obtained extensive political rights and representations. They were all associations of nobles. Meanwhile, as the popular element could not re- main excluded, the citizens, in a sixth Sedile, took their share in public events. This popular element must not be over- looked in the earlier history of Naples. Opinions are divided as to its form. Many of the older historians adopt the idea of a perfect equality in the form of the government of the people and of the aristocracy, as they give th town nine-and-twenty noble Sediles, and also nine-and-twenty curies of the people, who * Del Migliore, Firenze illustrata. Florence, 1588. F 66 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. were represented by Decurions. The existence of the latter is undoubted, and whilst under King Tancred, in the year 1191, the people were numerously represented in the magis- tracy of the town, and we find them equally privileged to a certain extent with the nobility during the homage performed by Naples, at the death of Conrad of Hohenstaufen, to Pope Innocent IV., when the Podesta of the town, Kicardo Filan- gieri, cum deputatis nobilium et popularium civitatis, kissed the foot of the Pope. King Charles I. removed, as has been said, the seat of the Parliament to Naples, whither he also attracted the greater part of the feudal nobility. Whilst this nobility was con- nected with the Sediles, or, if indeed this is the right expres- sion, were absorbed in the Sediles, the feudal element over- powered the popular one, whilst at the same time the trans- action of business in the once moveable Parliament was con- centrated in the capital : for whilst the feudal system in general gained in intensity, the most important ingredient of that Parliament was completely supplied. Whilst thus the Sediles had in their hands the government of the town, the nobler Sediles represented the usual business of the nobility of the whole kingdom, as the citizens or popolo of Naples did or claimed to do with regard to the remaining cities and pro- vinces of the kingdom. If in the first case a justification can be made, as the barons were more or less connected with the capital, the last has something in it quite monstrous ; and to this unnatural rivalry, which existed as well in the relation of the nobility and the citizens to each other, as in the relation of both to the whole kingdom, is to be ascribed the defective development of the whole constitution at all times. Thus the actual political importance of Sediles begins, as has been said, with Charles I., and this explains the widely spread idea that this king was their original author. But only by degrees did this institution attain definite forms. For instance, it was not settled till long afterwards that the share of a family in the honour and labour of a Sedile should not be altered by their change of abode. The important changes which happened after the fall of the house of Hohenstaufen, in the condition of the Italian towns, would not fail of producing some effect upon Naples, in spite of its tenacious grasp of feu- dalism. It was the time in which in Tuscany the most THE SEDILES. 67 important country at a later epoch for the history of the con- stitution of the towns the corporations gained a decided form (in 1266), and by means of their priors got entire possession of the government (in 1282). The nobility, as such, was excluded from a share of it in 1293 ; in fine, it was the time in wiiich the people went from one measure to another in a democra- tical spirit, till in the year 1343 it annihilated politically the actual nobility, whilst it set fire to their castles over their heads. Naples, by the relations of its rulers, especially Charles I. and Robert, as chiefs of the Guelphic league at Florence, was too much connected with Tuscany not to feel the re-action not as if this was to be considered abstractedly as a struggle with the nobility, it was too firmly rooted for this. But after that, divisions had taken place amongst the aristocracy itself; so that the Sediles of Capuano and Nido represented as it were the feudal nobility (il Baronaggio), the three others, Montagna, Porta, and Portanuova, the rest of the nobility (i nobili). A great commotion was excited amongst the popolans. A number of families had sprung up that could not enter the sphere of the nobles, neither would they consider themselves as belonging to the common people ; so they attempted to form a third class, called " Militi Medi- anti," and in this manner they realised, to a certain degree, the institutions of the old Roman republic. King Robert, under whose long reign this new nobility was formed, recog- nized its legal existence without injuring the privileges of the old nobility. Nevertheless, after many, and some bloody, dis- turbances, the new nobility, as a class, were oppressed during the last years of Queen Joanna's reign in 1380; many belonging to these families appear to have been received later into the Sediles ; for whilst, to enter into the associations of Capuano and Nido, severe tests were required, the remaining ones were open also to families belonging to the new nobility, even to such who had originally been merchants. Later regulations, that appear in the statutes of the Seggio of Mon- tana, make it evident what a radical difference existed between the condition of the Neapolitans, for instance, and the Floren- tines, for in Florence the new nobility originated almost entirely from commerce. Nevertheless, a number of other families were excluded from the Sediles, and consequently had no share in the representation. This was also the case F 2 68 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. with a series of families belonging to the most ancient nobility that belonged to no Sedile, of whom we shall speak presently. But the popular Sedile ought by no means to be considered as a representative of the lowest class of people. A decree of King Robert's of the year 1338 clearly expresses that, amongst those who belong to it, the popolo grasso, or higher class of burghers, are to be understood, who, in the democra- tical republics of those times, gained the ascendency, and wen- very different from the popolo minuto, or artisans, who were particularly excluded from political honours and burdens (honoribus et oneribus). According to later ideas, the popolo grasso were divided into two classes, that of judge and official, and of trade, into which last even the higher professions were included. It is, though in an imperfect form, the same idea which is the foundation of the Florentine Arti of the thir- teenth century, and consisted of .seven guilds, of which the judges were dealers in woollen cloth, usurers, cloth and silk mercers, physicians, and furriers, to whom more extensive political rights were granted than to the lower trades. If the popolo grasso at Naples did not attain to the same importance as in many other places, this was the consequence of the above- mentioned circumstances. The actual Neapolitan nobility, together with the feudal nobility of the whole kingdom, might represent its class well enough ; the class of citizens, who were only the citizens of Naples, must naturally be in the background. In this consisted the radical fault of the whole, even for futurity, of the restricted Angevin constitution. But the people would not give up their rights without a struggle. They desired an equal share with the nobility, without refer- ence to the difference of their position, and the heterogeneous origin of their claims. The explanation of many of the internal causes of the disturbances is to be sought for in this misunderstanding a misunderstanding, to mention only one point ; for instance, it was made known in the time of the Spaniards that, although the town of Naples was freed from giving the usual donative, nevertheless the deputies of the people were summoned to advise upon it. Even in the year 1602, the barons remarked that this was improper, whilst the Neapolitan nobility, as a representative of the whole nobility, was here to be considered, and not the Neapolitan people. But it was not thought feasible then to change the GOVERNMENT OF THE TOWN. 69 old custom, the less so because the government, as will soon be seen, could count more upon the pliability of the Seggio popolare than upon the associations of the nobles. Till the reign of Alphonso I. of Arragon, the nobles and people divided the government of the town, ordo et populus. The people had their own peculiar constitution, the funda- mental principles of which were derived from the times of the Norman Hohenstaufens. As under the five noble Sediles there existed twenty-nine smaller societies, of which mention has been made already, so the Seggio popolare was the centre of nine-and-twenty sub-sections that were called Ottinen. The people living in one or more streets formed an Ottina, who had their capitano, who was chosen from a college of eight burghers (hence the name Ottina), established by the whole body, and by these means he went through a double election. These capitani formed the actual city police, as far as the municipal authorities were concerned ; from them was chosen the president of the deputy, who comes before us under different appellations, as Eletto (Electus), as Procura- tor, and as Syndicus universitatis popularium Neapolis. The Eletti of the five noble associations, added to the one belong- ing to the people, consequently made up the six men who formed the representation of the town, in which, according to the usual practice, that of the whole kingdom was included. It was in the year 1456 when a change took place in these relations, which, no less than both the wars of the Barons, un- dermined the foundation upon which the power of the House of Arragon was established. Upon the place, now della Sellaria, once named after the Tuscan merchants, stood the Senate House of the people, called, on account of its beautiful paintings, Pittato. King Alphonso I. had it destroyed that year ; different motives were assigned for it, but the secret consisted in this, that Alphonso I. wished to secure the succes- sion of the crown of Naples to his natural son Ferdinand, that he considered the nobility as his principal supporters in this design, and he sought to win them over by annihilating the onerous privileges of the citizens. The result was, that a rebellion broke out amongst the lower classes, which the king easily suppressed, and deprived the people of their politi- cal rights. Thus began that estrangement of the masses which Ferdinand I. was well aware of, and tried to conquer 70 1 1 1 E C AR AFAS OF MA DDALON I . when lie withstood the Barons in a dangerous struggle, for which, however, he gained no assistance, because his anxiety at the ascendency of the popular element prevented him from consistency in those measures which otherwise formed part of his character, and which could alone restore the balance of power. Thus Alphonso II., who had already enough to do with his own sins, was obliged to be answer- able for those of his father and grandfather, of whom one had made the people, and the other the nobles, his enemies ; a twofold enmity, which met together upon the head of the third, who was as inferior to the one in noble qualities, as to the other in political acuteness. Thus it came to pass that the nobles of Naples could tell the conqueror forty years later that they were the people, the citizens, and the nobles of the town. And now this long-suppressed popular element revived again so powerfully during the short period of the French dominion, that it not only, as if in an instant, obtained its old rights, but even claimed new ones. After that the depu- ties of the people had explained to the French king how the government of the town had been arranged, and how they liad been deprived of their share in the same, he authorized them to meet and discuss their interests. For forty years their Sediles had been levelled to the ground, so they selected the chapter-room of the Augustinian monastery, which is situ- ated in the vicinity of the Peudino quarter, particularly belonging to the people. The room built in a pointed arch style, is remarkable for its roof, which converges towards the middle, and is supported by two slender marble pillars : here, in the year 1495, the deputies of the people assembled; here they met till the old constitution of the town of Naples became I'xtiwt in the last century. Giovan Carlo Tramontane was appointed syndicus in this session, twelve counsellors were added to assist him in the cause of the people in this new order of things.* The homage of the country had been per- formed, without the people having been at all represented. The deputies of the people protested tliat this homage was not at all binding upon them ; meanwhile they would perform it, and, if they did not, it would be because they had not been * Notar Giacomo, and at other places. NOBILITY AND PEOPLE IN 1495. 71 asked.* The deputies were not idle, but the discontent of the nobility increased to such a degree, that on the 16th of June it had almost come to bloodshed. Suddenly a suspicion arose that the nobles would unite with the French, and disarm the people and pillage the town. Every one flew to arms. The troops of popol'ans marched from Sedile to Sedile, with the cry of ' France and the people !' But none came forth to enter into competition with them.| Wavering as the king and his counsellors might be, nobody thought the moment favourable. On the next day a compact was entered into between the two classes, which on the following morning, on the festival of Corpus Christi, was solemnly proclaimed by the sound of trumpets. The conditions of this agreement were as follows : when the public money was granted, the people were to be taxed by their own deputies. These same deputies were in time of war to raise men for the town, or for the king, or whoever com- manded in his stead. The homage on the part of the people was to be performed by a deputy. In times of infectious sick- ness and pestilence the affairs of the people were to be left to their free will, without any interference even of the nobility of the popolans. Of the Gabella del buon denaro of which the public money was understood to be given for the main- tenance of the town, for the repairs of the walls, streets, churches, and other buildings, and for other useful purposes the people were to pay a fifth, the nobility to contribute the rest. The collectors to be taken from the people ; nevertheless the nobles were to choose them out of six candidates selected by the people. No expenses were to be entered into without the consent of the deputies of the people ; no parliament to be held without their presence ; the commissariat for the supply of food to the town was to be governed in common ; the overseers, consisting of two popolans besides the nobles, were to change every month, by two and two ; if the nobles acted against the interests of the people, they were to be deprived of their office, and to govern without them. Such were the articles which were accepted and sworn to on both sides, with the reservation of their privileges. J * Giacomo Gallo, Diurnali, p. 11. t Ibid., p. 12. J Ibid., p. 12. 72 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. The French dominion came to an end soon afterwards. It had humbled the nobility without gaining the people, who immediately ranged themselves on the side of the return- ing princes of the House of Arragon ; the people might think that they had been taught by experience the danger of oppressing the popular element, especially in a state the aristocracy of which was weakened by hereditary divisions. Fernandino sought to keep the balance even between both parties ; he could hardly have done so for long. To wards the end of his short reign the people were always inn-easing in their demands. The less the affairs of the country were settled, the more wavering was the position of the aristocracy, who were 'obliged to resign more and more of their part in the rights which they had usurped some years before from that people whose political existence they had at first even denied. A great change had gone forth, and it proclaimed another social organization in favour of a single class, that shortly before had appeared to be annihilated. In April 1496 the people unanimously decreed the expul- sion of the Jews ; the nobles opposed it, because they would not lose their house-rents. But the Jews were threatened with robbery and murder if they did not depart, and they departed.* Shortly afterwards a dispute arose on the festival of Corpus Christi, because one of the deputies of the people would bear one of the poles of the Baldachin : he carried it, and had a deed of attestation drawn up about it, whilst two hundred armed men accompanied him. The nobles were incensed, because at the return of the procession none would fill up the place. The right of the deputy of the people to support the Baldachin was afterwards recognized by a special treaty.f The mediation of King Frederick, who more than any other sovereign of his race showed himself favourable to the people, whose privileges he enlarged, was more than once necessary to restore at least the semblance of harmony between the two classes. But the people were not satisfied, notwithstanding all these privileges obtained in so short a time. During the first period of the Spanish dominion, in 1507, they demanded to be placed on a perfect equality with the nobility. " Also we * Giacomo Gallo, Diurnali, p. 28. t Ibid., p. 29. Notar Giacomo, in the year 1499, p. 227. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT UNDER THE VICEROYS. 73 supplicate you, for what has been promised us very often by different kings of the illustrious House of Arragon, that in all the circumstances, privileges, honours, and dignities of the aforesaid town of Naples, we, the petitioners, may have the same number of votes as the nobles ; and although this is a mere act of justice, nevertheless we will acknowledge it as an especial favour, which will be very serviceable for the state, and for promoting attachment to his Catholic Majesty, and zeal for his service." The direct refusal of the request runs thus : " Sua Majestas providebit taliter, quod cognoscent benevolum animum quern habet erga eos et honorem eorum." The remaining grants are about the right of taking precau- tionary measures for the government of the town without being hindered by others about the appointment and rights of the president of the corporation (Consoli delle Arti), the choice of the deputy of the people, the exportation of corn and salt, the care of the keys of the gates of the town (upon which the king reserved for himself the right of decision), and measures against retail merchants and usurers. What Ferdinand the Catholic in the year 1507 granted to the Neapolitan people was confirmed by his daughter Joanna ten years afterwards, and in 1522 by Charles V., with many extensive privileges, during the government of Charles de Lannoi.* Such were the forms with which the municipal government of Naples was conducted under the viceroys. The organisa- tion of it might be briefly described as follows. In the five noble Sediles, the members of the registered families chose the JEletto, or deputy. In the Sedile of the people, a particular mode of election existed. Each Ottina chose two Procurators, who, in number eight-and-fifty, met together on an appointed day, in S. Agostino, and drew lots for four of their company, together with a secretary, to collect the votes. Each person wrote down a name, and every name had one vote. Six out of those persons who had the most votes were drawn for by lot, and of these six, according to an old custom, one was elected as deputy. But under the Spanish government the right of appointing a deputy out of the six belonged to the Viceroy. Meanwhile, he was not obliged to do it after that * Supplication! e gratie, &c. Tutini, and at other places in the Appendix. 74 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. the Collateral Council had already elected one, as the Duke of Ossuna did once in a similar case, when he ordered a new election. Thus was the person, in whose hands the inti n-;> of the people were placed, in fact only a puppet in the hands of the Viceroy. And it has but too often happened that this " Eletto del Popolo," when disputes have arisen amongst the Sediles themselves, or on other occasions, has made himself remarkable for the very worst kind of severity, as was the case during the struggle about the Inquisition under Don Pedro de Toledo with Domenico Terracina, and during the Masaniello rebellion with Andrew Nauclerio and others. The confirmation of the Eletto took place on the festival of Corpus Christ! ; he received possession of his office in the Augustinian monastery, and the chapter, and the privileges, and the keys of the town, were delivered up to him. In the divisions on common business the deputy of the people had a vote, the same as the deputy of the nobles, and voted last. Moreover, his authority was great ; he named the presidents of the corporations, administered justice in cases of police, appointed the notaries of the town, represented the people upon all occasions of business, as well as of ceremony. Meanwhile, in the course of time, many of these rights were diminished, or entirely abolished. The six Eletti, or deputies, represented the nobility and the people. They had their tribunal in the monastery of San Lorenzo, which was therefore the seat of the municipality. But the Sediles appointed also a Syndic, whose office changed from year to year, and from one association to another : he was a representative of the whole nobility of the kingdom, in which capacity he took precedence over every class, every dignity, every office a name without any real power, and principally made use of on festive and cere- monial occasions. The authority belonging to the Sediles was considerable and extensive, and for the exercise of the same, and for the management of business, they appointed different deputations or offices, which were calculated for the separate departments of the government of the town. The edicts of the most faithful town of Naples were issued collec- tively from these offices. The privileges of the town, amongst which those bestowed by King Ferdinand the Catholic and the Emperor Charles V. were the most important, and which SEDILES AS SUBSTITUTES FOR PARLIAMENTS. 75 were confirmed by every monarch upon his accession to the throne, were intrusted to the guardianship of the magistrates of the Sediles. The more the Spanish rulers were disposed to weaken the great political power of the nobles, the more privileges they granted them in the municipal government of the capital. The more they wished to strengthen the partition wall between the nobility and the people, to make the nobles hateful to the people, and to deprive them of real influence, so much the more careful were they to leave a free scope for the feudal element in the government of the town. They diverted a great part of the odium from themselves ; they brought for- ward the nobility when it was a question of measures which were contrary either to the wishes or the interests of the people ; they annihilated the resistance of the nobles, if indeed they met with any, by promoting quarrels and opposition amongst their own body, and looked on quietly from behind the scenes at the struggle between the nobility and the people, or at the quarrels of the nobles between themselves, certain that in either case it would be for their advantage. The policy of the Spaniards had consisted in this for two centuries : in such a manner they had for the space of two centuries made use of the kingdom of Naples merely for Spanish pur- poses, and caused one revolution after another with impunity, indeed had profited by them to increase their power. The imperfect constitution of the country just described, and the active dissensions kept up by it between the nobles and the people, answered their purpose very well, for the Sediles were, as we have said, not merely municipal authorities. The appearance of extensive and important authority which was granted to them was just the point which the government knew how most skilfully to profit by for its own purposes ; in ordinary cases the power of granting taxes was placed in their hands. It has already been said that the Sediles took more and more the place of the common parliaments ; for the viceroys were accustomed in general only to summon parliament when they could not carry through their views by means of the Sediles. Even then it was not always easy to conquer the opposition of the barons, who, either by the reserve of their full powers, prevented, or at least delayed, the meeting of the 76 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALON I. great conventions, or even in these actual conventions sought to frustrate the proposals of the government. At one time the parliaments were summoned to deliberate upon public affairs in general, and especially with reference to legislation, but under the Spanish rule their only task was to procure money ; for this alone were they summoned, for this solely were they consulted. They might struggle as much as they liked, but in the end they were obliged to submit to what was unavoidable, and they had but to determine amongst themselves in what manner the money was to be raised. The form of the great parliaments was much changed since the times of Alphonso I. of Arragon. In the first parliament which he held after the conquest of Naples, only the Barons and the Syndics of the royal towns appeared ; the Bishops and Abbots had, it is not known for what reason, lost the privi- lege.* The more the grants of money, known under the name of donative, of which we shall speak presently, became, from an extraordinary measure, an ordinary one, so much the more were the parliaments a mere formality. How little real importance they had is proved amongst other things by the circumstance that the Barons, when they were prevented from appearing, or had no mind to come, were represented by substitutes, and indeed mostly by lawyers, who were in the interests of the Viceroys, and did all that they re- quired, by which they often exceeded the power intrusted to them, and all to make themselves acceptable to the ruler, and to obtain places and money. As it was incumbent upon the Syndic of the five noble Sediles to make inquiry into the ful- ness of their powers, he could, when he did his duty, prevent abuses. But if he also was gained by the Viceroy, or timid, or ignorant, then it was difficult to check fraud and arbitrary proceedings, and in general the opposition of single noblemen or sc-diles availed permanen y little or nothing, f How it fared with the parliaments may be perceived by the account of a Tuscan agent of the meeting held, in Janu- ary 1630, by the Duke of Medina. On Thursday, he says,J * Annali dclla Citta di Napoli di Don Francesco Capecelatro. Naples, 1849. P. 39. (In the year 1634.) f Capecelatro, and at other places. J Vincenzo Medici, 18th January, 1639. At Palermo, and at other places. P. 319. PARLIAMENT IN SAN LORENZO. 77 the Lord Viceroy went to San Lorenzo ; none of the Lords were wanting, except the Prince of Bisignano San Severino, who stayed away because Don Tiberio Cafara had the first place. His excellency spoke well, and made a great impres- sion, and then presented the royal letter, which was read aloud by the imperial Secretary, the Duke of Caivano (Barile), standing. The Syndic, who laid claim to a chair, went out during the reading of it, and waited in an adjoining room. On Friday they all met at San Lorenzo, and according to custom the Syndic sat down. The first who spoke was the Marquis of Fuscaldo (Spinelli), as Grand Justiciary; he discoursed upon the wants of the crown, and advised assist- ance to be given to it. After him, the Grand Seneschal, Duke of Bovino (Guevara), who spoke against the desired grant of a million (ducats) ; the country could no longer bear the burden. The Prince of San Severino sent in his vote ; what was possible must be done, but the distress ought to be considered. The Viceroy proposed that the Barons should pay a percentage on the value of their fiefs, and offered for his own possessions, namely those lands he held in right of his wife, Anna Carafa, a contribution of 40,000 ducats. The whole nobility opposed this motion, so that nothing more could be said about it. It was then proposed to raise upon every fuoco, or fireplace, in the kingdom, a yearly duty of six carlins, instead of the present one of sixteen grans, to which was replied, that this new duty might be paid, but that the other securities would fail. There was no serious question of a new duty on salt, but of a tax of one carline on every tomolo (bushel of corn), which would bring in the sum of 1,800,000 ducats. Many other proposals were made; Don Pietro Orsini, Prince of Conca, wanted the Barons to give up a quarter of their income for four years ; only one hundred and thirty titled noblemen agreed with him, and thus made themselves known as true friends to the people. The Marquis of Fuscaldo, on the contrary, carried through his plan concerning an assessment of the whole community : many of the Barons and most of the deputies of the towns supported the proposal. In fine, a tax of one carline was laid upon a bushel of flour, and every household was ordered to take a bushel of salt at twelve carlines. Whoever wanted more might buy it of those who had it in superfluity. The 78 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL former taxes of the fireplaces were to be discontinued. Never had a parliament been held which had been so contrary to the interests of the whole people as this one. Whilst the Barons knew how to avoid making' any particular pledge, even the town of Naples remained free from especial taxation, for which reason it raised no objection to the grant of the salt- tax, by which its commerce must suffer. If the donative was granted as a proof of gratitude on the part of the crown, a longer or shorter list of favours was obtained : amongst these lavours, the Viceroys did not forget requests for their own continuance in power, and accidental pin-money for their wives. Thus in the year mentioned, 1639, trifles to the amount of fifty thousand ducats were allowed on the part of the Parliament for the already immensely rich Duchess of Medina. Thus the Parliament was dissolved with the consciousness of duty fulfilled. In the Franciscan conventual monastery of San Lorenzo the room may be seen in which the Parliaments were holden from the times of the Angevins till the old constitution of Naples ceased. The locality had been from ancient times famous and important. Here the forum and the Augustinian Basilica, and the temple of Castor and Pollux, embarrass the antiquarians. King Charles I. began the church of San Lorenzo, but the spot always retained the name of the old market ; and in the monastery the deputies of the town assembled, as well as those of the country. The chapter- house was used by the latter, the windows of which open upon the arcade in the garden of the monastery : the roof, of Gothic construction, is, like the walls, adorned with arabesques and pictures of monks, and is supported by two pillars of granite. Here King Alphonso of Arragon caused his natural son Ferdinand to be recognized as his successor. The Refectory was the place where the deputies met together to present the King with the donative; the Count of Olivarez had the twelve provinces of the kingdom painted on the walls in fresco, and an inscription designates the elder Count of Lemos, in the year 1600, as a restorer of the "Forum ad publica lit-giii negotia a Carolo I. constructum, temporis iniuria pene collabens." Where the notary's room now is, in a locality never worthy of the municipal government of a great and powerful city, was held the tribunal of San PARLIAMENT IN SAN LORENZO. 79 Lorenzo, namely, the office of the community, and the court of the deputies of the Sediles, or, according to our phraseology, the Senate House of the town. Over the same is raised a tower, built of large stones in later times it has been orna- mented with marble statues of the holy St. Lawrence ; and the belfry of the church, but originally it was the tower of the community, begun under the first Angevins, and finished under Ferdinand of Arragon. Here was placed the town artillery under the guardianship of the Sediles, here the privileges of the town were kept, here the bells called the citizen militia to arms, here in many a rebellion of the most faithful burghers the populace were summoned to delibera- tion and action. Its consequence was not merely owing to its being the seat of the principal city authorities ; its advan- tageous position in the upper part of the town made the monastery and belfry of San Lorenzo one of the most im- portant situations of Naples ; and even to this day they both claim more historical interest than the place by the church, with the ornamented statue of St. Cajetan of Tiene, erected by the Viceroy Don Pietro d'Aragona, in memory of the great pestilence, whilst he adorned the extremely projecting fiwjade of the Theatine church of San Paolo with both the single pillars which belonged to the portico of the temple of Castor and Pollux, and have remained there since the earthquake of 1688. Thus were the parliaments constituted, so were they con- voked, and thus was the business carried on. But the Sediles often supplied their place ; only it was difficult to make them agree, and at times this was only accomplished after violent struggles. The Sediles of Nido and Capuano always showed the greatest independence of mind in resisting the Viceroys ; they represented, as has been remarked before, the most illustrious of the nobility. Whilst the votes of the other Sediles were often venal, these were quite incorruptible. The Viceroys indeed succeeded in making them harmless ; for when they had obtained the consent of the remaining four, the opposition of the two others was vain, because two-thirds of the votes carried the point. Thus it happened under the Duke of Medina, in the year 1 643, when for the grant of a donative, which was to be raised by means of a new tax on flour, the purchase of votes was carried on to such an extent, 80 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. tliat Portanova, Porto Popolo, and at last, after many efforts, Montagna, were gained. The knights of Nido and Capuano issued a declaration of nullity against the decree, and intended to send a deputy to Madrid, to save the freedom of their votes as well as their privileges, which the Viceroy meanwhile knew how to thwart.* Sometimes the opposition was so violent, that even a man of so imperious a nature as the Duke of Ossuna could not conquer it.] The populace were for this reason devoted to both the knights of the Sediles named, as they testified during the rebellion of the years 1647-48. When the Sediles were summoned by the Viceroys for the purposes above mentioned, they elected their deputies, always four in number, who then met at San Lorenzo. By them were appointed the ambassadors to the king, when it was a question either of thanks or of petitions missions, which the Viceroys either knew how to make use of for their own designs, because they themselves proposed the person who was to be ambassador, or else laboured to prevent them. Lastly, there was, besides the parliaments and the meetings of the deputies of the Sediles, a kind of previous parliament, which met together twice under Charles V., and one was summoned in September, 1640, by the Duke of Medina, in the church of St. Oliveto, consisting only of barons. Naples at that time was threatened by a French fleet ; the government wanted money, and the Viceroy wished to avoid for the moment, on account of its formalities, the convocation of the great parliament of the kingdom. But the barons quarrelled forth- with so violently, that the meeting was dissolved without any result having been obtained.J The treatment which the Viceroys inflicted upon the barons of the greatest rank, when they could not conquer their resistance, shows us clearly in what light Spanish despotism looked upon the semblance of a constitution, which was generally of no other use to the Spaniards than as an occasion of diverting from themselves the hatred of the people. Even the office of an Eletto did not protect the individual from * Vincenzo Medici. Naples, 8th and 29th Sept 1643. At Palermo, A. A. 0. Pp. 333, 334. f Correspondence of the Agents of Urbino, Naples, 13th. Dec. 1614. At Palermo and other places. P. 226. I Capecelatro Annali, p. 217. SPAIN'S OPPKESSION OF THE NOBILITY. 81 imprisonment : under the government of Medina the Sediles asked for such a privilege as a favour. If the officers of justice could not penetrate into the Sediles, or the tribunal of San Lorenzo itself, they seized the deputies as they were leaving it. The Marquis of Mondejar, caused the deputies to be condemned to a seven years' banishment at Capri, because they had sent a messenger to the court of Spain without his knowledge. The Count of Olivarez had two persons of illustrious birth apprehended, Caserta (Caetani) and Vietri (Sangro). The Count of Lemos forbade the Sediles to assemble without his especial permission. The Count of Benevento had once, to win over the people, fixed the price of bread so low, that the municipality of Naples, who were obliged to provide the corn, incurred debt upon debt, while they lost daily 2000 ducats. When the Eletto of Nido, Cesare Pignatelli, who, as the oldest of a deputation sent to the Viceroy, acted as speaker, declared that, if it had not been for joy upon the birth of the Infanta, they would have appeared in mourning, the Viceroy answered, that he knew not what prevented him from having him thrown out of window ; he caused him to be confined to his own house, and ordered the Sediles to choose another deputy. Then indeed the citizens threatened to inform the king of it, and the Count apologized : he had not meant to offend the community, but only to punish the boldness of one individual. Lastly, how little consideration the government had for the nobility and for the constitution is shown by the circumstance that, in the year 1625, the Duke of Alva suddenly collected, on his own absolute authority, an extraordinary tax of two carlines on a fuoco, without having asked for the consent of the parliament or of the Sediles.* As long as the Spanish government lasted the feudal ele- ment predominated throughout the constitution of the country : little inclined as this government was to feudalism, with which it unwillingly divided its power. From the earliest times of the House of Arragon the endeavour to curb and op- press the power of the great nobility was manifest an attempt which, under Ferdinand I., as well as under Charles V., caused the ruin of the greatest families. But whilst, the Orsini's of Taranto, and the Sanseverini's of Salerno lost a * Letters of the agents of Tuscany and Urbino, from the years 1576-1639. At Palermo, and at many other places. G 82 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. power which had more than once made them rivals to the royal authority ; whilst the tendency to promote the liberation of cities and places from the feudal power was expressed by numberless nicuMires and decrees; whilst the jealousy of the viceroys of the nobility made them avail themselves of every opportunity to weaken its authority, the number of fiefs and fiefholders increased visibly in a really frightful manner. The contradic- tion is explained when we take into consideration the financial relations. The government regarded the feudal system as an affair of finance, and sought, by selling and buying, to get as much money as possible. The measures of finance, on the contrary, contained no political principle in them; and if these principles were constantly injured, the viceroys reckoned solely and entirely upon the idea that any violent revolution would place the means in their liands of regaining their appa- rently lost authority. They continued the work only during the line of the illegitimate Arragonese ; of the earlier dynas- ties only the Hohenstaufens had really tried to keep feudalism within bounds. The Angevins, indeed, sold some privileges to the towns, whose capital they wished to secure from being sold to the barons ; but in the midst of the revolutions which the kingdom underwent under the French dynasty, the privi- leges of the towns were in general but little regarded. Ferdi- nand I., the worst enemy of the nobles, deprived them of many of their fiefs; but some of these he was himself obliged to give again to families of his party, and some of them returned under his successors to their old state. Under the government of the Count of Miranda, in the year 1586, a census was taken of the communities. Of the 1973 communities then reckoned up in the kingdom of Naples (under Charles V. they were reckoned at 1563, and in the year 1579, 1619, which appears too little in comparison with the above number), nine-aud-sixty were royal places ; all the rest, tliat is one thousand nine hundred and four, were fiefs ! In the Terra del Lavoro the number of royal (crown) places amounted to nine, the feudal ones to 197 ; in the Principato of Citra, 13 of those and 251 of these; in the Principato Ultra, a royal place, 13 belonged to the Hospice of the Nun- ziata; in Naples, 159 were feudal tenures; in Basil icata, 5 were royal and 104 feudal ; in Calabria, Citra, and Ultra, 5 and 9 of the first, 159 and 153 of the last ; in Term d'Otranto, SELF-REDEMPTION OF COMMUNITIES. 83 7 of those, 169 of these ; in Terra di Bari, 3 out of 51 ; in both the Abruzzi, 4 crown places, 466 feudal ; in Molise, 1 out of 104 ; lastly, in Capitana, the proportion was 5 to 76. It must be considered that we are here only treating of actual communities, viz. of cities and districts with their independent government ; not at all of the numerous villages or casales dependent upon them, of which, in a circle of twelve miles, twenty-four belonged merely to one capital. Also, after the violent destruction or peaceful incorporation of the great fiefs those, for instance, of the dukedom of Bari, which, after the death of Queen Bona of Poland, returned to Philip II., the Orsinian principality of Taranto and the Sanseverinian principality of Salerno there were besides baronial states, like those of the Counts' of Tagliacozzo and Abba, on the Lake of Fucina, in the Abruzzi ; the Orsini ruled over forty-four places in the country which Conrad of Swabia subdued : those of the Count of Celano with thirty-four places, the Count of Matera with twenty-five, not to mention others, like the great possessions of Acquaviva, Caracciolo of Avellino, &c. When Charles V. was at Naples, the fact that the sove- reignty Avas weakened by such an extension of the feudal system did not escape him. One- of the measures which he took to guard against it was by bestowing on the communities, in certain cases, the privilege of buying their freedom from their feudal tenures, and so to place them under the immediate power of the crown. This was called the proclamation of the royal domain, or, indeed, also of liberty. A number of com- munities hastened to make use of the privilege, so that soon the nobility and the lawyers sought to stop it. They went so far as to say that the servant once bought could not redeem himself. Under the Count of Miranda the limit of a year was appointed as the time for such a work, the consequence of which was, that the feudatories and communities mutually out- bid and ruined one another, whilst the treasury only gained. Thus Amalfi, in the year 1599, paid 216,160 ducats for its so- called freedom ; Somma, a small village at Vesuvius, 112,000 ; and others in the same proportion, or, to speak more correctly, disproportion. The communities were so desirous to free themselves from these feudal relations, that sometimes they did riot at all consider the burden of debt which they imposed upon themselves. To clear it off, indeed, they sold their Ga- G 2 84 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL belle, or property of the community ; or the opulent inhabit- ants mortgaged their landed property; or the municipalities gave up again some of their dependent villages to be fiefs. The consequence of which often was, that the resources of the communities were thrown by these ransoms into such a degree of confusion, that nothing remained to them but to sell them- selves anew. They then prayed that they might at least be sold to kind and Christian lords, that their ruin might not be complete.* But it also happened that the government often resolved, from motives of its own, upon the re-alienation of communities that had ransomed themselves. These abuses happened especially in the seventeenth century, when money embarrassments had increased to such an extent that the vice- roys adjudged, almost publicly, the remaining villages which belonged to the crown to the highest bidders. The court had discovered a new alchemy, says the Tuscan agent, in the year 1606.f " It sells all its domains, with the exception of the for- tresses and suspected places. The Prince of Conca wished to buy Salerno ; but the Sorrentians defended themselves so valiantly, and produced their privileges, according to which the Arragonese kings could not even grant the investiture of their town to their younger sons. Perhaps they would not have been able to make good their just rights, although the five noble sediles had declared in their favour, and that they had for their lawyers the best advocates of Naples, if the court had not been gained by a present of ten thousand ducats. Repulsed here, the Prince of Conca obtained Salmona ; but scarcely had it transpired when the inhabitants roused them- selves, and collected money for their ransom. Thus, in one way or another, the court succeeded in its object of getting money. A similar operation, only on a larger scale, was made by the second Duke of Alcala in the year 1630, who was incessantly pressed by his court for fresh supplies of money, with the most public infringement of justice, because many of the places sold had either their express privileges to show, or had effected their ransom from feudal tenures by their own money. The highest authorities often connived at the fact that the communities often reserved to themselves tlie * Winspeare, Remarks, p. 998, and at other places, t Letter of Fabrizio Barnaba. At Palermo, and at other places. P. 262. KE-ALIENATION OF COMMUNITIES. 85 right of rebellion in the name of the king to have a guarantee against the rapacity of the treasury.* Such circumstances are too remarkable not to deserve consideration in particular cases. Two of these cases may illustrate the mode of proceeding Amalfi and Amantea offer examples. Antonio Todeschini Piccolomini, son of the sister of Pope Pius II., was invested in the year 1461, out of gratitude to the Pope, and in recognition of his own services, with the fief of Amalfi by Ferdinand I., an investiture which included the adjacent places of Ravello, Minuri, and Tramonto. The hand of a natural daughter of the king's, Donna Maria d'Aragona, was bestowed at the same time upon this founder of the race of the Piccolomini's d'Ara- gona, Dukes of Amalfi. When in the year 1584 the escheat of the fief by the death of the heir took place, his mother, Maria d'Avalos, wanted to sell it to a near relation, Marcan tonio del Carretto, then to the Carafas of Stigliano. Never- theless, the community made good their right of purchase, and, as has been mentioned, ransomed themselves by the sum of 216,160 ducats. The payment seems considerable, but the sale of some detached feudal rights to private individuals pro- duced the sum fourfold, and more. Thus it remained till the year 1642, when King Philip IV. granted Amalfi, with all its royal rights and revenues, to the Marshal Ottavio Piccolo- mini : " in acknowledgment of the many and great services of the same to the royal crown and to the House of Austria, in Italy, Flanders, and Germany." The deputies of Amalfi entered a protest at the Collateral Council, and knew so well how to manage their business, that the investiture was recalled, although it had already been followed up by a royal letter addressed to the viceroy, the Duke of Medina, t The town of Amantea, in Calabria, answers to its name. It is situated in a strong position on a rocky promontory on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, almost as if on an island. Whether this position gave its citizens a feeling of security, or that the Calabrian character, always inclined to resist actual or supposed restraint, came out with greater energy, Amantea has had, both in ancient and modern times, a peculiar fate. Originally belonging to the Angevin party, the town set up * "Winspeare, p. 55. t M. Camera, Storia della Citta e Costicra di Amalfi. Naples, 1836 Pp. 199, 200. 86 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. the banner of Fernandino, after the universal ruin which fol- lowed the arrival of Charles VIII., when the French king granted it to Monseigneur Persi, one of his followers.* When the Duke of Alcala sold it, in the year 1G30, to the Prince of Belmont, it did not submit to the unjust decree, but defended its just rights with arms and a revision ; and the same town proved its loyalty in the year 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte took the kingdom from the Bourbons. Defended by a handful of par- tizans, whose whole artillery consisted of three bad cannons, they resisted the assaults of the French forty days, and \vonld have done so still longer, if the want of provisions had not compelled them to make an honourable capitulation.f The relations which the barons bore to their vassals are most clearly shown by the decree which King Charle- V. issued for the protection of his subjects. Even the introduc- tion of the Pragmatic Sanction indicates the condition of the country. Since he had passed over the boundaries of his Sicilian kingdom, to this side of the Faro, says the monarch, the complaints of his people about the severity of his feuda- tories sounded continually in his ears, and it appeared hard that those whom he had defended by his arms from external enemies should be oppressed by their own countrymen. All usurped rights that were not expressly contained in earlier grants were to be abolished for ever, and no statute to be pleaded in their favour. The common pastures and woods of the community were again to be common property, and not belong as a private possession to the landlord; enclosures and the plantation of new woods were forbidden. The subjects were permitted a free sale for their crops, without the b;.ron> having the right of pre-emption, or of a previous sale of the produce of their lands; that they should grind Hour without impediment, bake bread, keep taverns, and travel, without beini;- bound by any other personal sen-ices that were not men- tioned in the original feudal act. At the same time, on the 29th of March, 1536, the Emperor established a comniis>ion to inquire into grievances, and to abolish them, from the deci- sions of \\hich no appeal could be made. How little these measures checked the evil is evident from the fact tliat the * Commines, chap, xiii., and at other places. f Collctta, Storia del Kcamc di Nnpoli. Book vi., chap, rxiii., and at other places. GE ANTING OF TITLES. 87 commons of the realm brought forward the same grievances, and laid the same papers before the feudal commission which was instituted by Joachim Murat, as they had once brought forward and laid before the delegates of Charles V.* How shrewdly the exchequer dived into everything, with what harpy claws the terribly tormenting, impoverishing jurispru- dence of those days seized upon both complainers and defend- ants, of which, alas, even to our time, deep traces have remained both in spirit and in practice ! it has fastened itself to all the relations between the feudatory and the vassal, which may be seen by the catalogue composed by the abovementioned feudal commission of the privileges, of the burdens, and gravamina of the feudal system. Now, it had in general maintained itself in one form or another, either as actual service, or as money contributions, till the time of the Bourbon dominion a catalogue of which the first letter of the alphabet alone con- sists of 90 articles.^ But the system, which attained to greater perfection at the accession of Philip II. to the throne, was to the highest degree pernicious, not only to the communities, but to the real in- terests of the nobility itself, which suffered from it, and indeed in various ways. The more productive the fiefs were, the more zealously did those persons who possessed wealth by offices, by farming tolls, by trade, or any other way, solicit for them. This took place to an unheard-of degree in the first half of the 17th century: never were so many places sold, never were so many titles granted. Every one wanted to be a prince or a duke, or at least a marquis or an earl. No regard was paid any longer to birth, and the fundamental principle of all genuine aristocracy was destroyed. The per- sons who had been raised in such a manner were in general the severest and most unmerciful masters, and thus it hap- pened that in the revolution of the year 1647 they seized the corn belonging to almost all those persons who had lately acquired riches and titles, whilst that of many of the ancient families of nobility remained untouched, with the exception of the excesses which were committed during the riots of the people in the capital, which differed in many respects from the rebellion of the feudal vassals in the provinces. Whilst * "Winspeare, pp. 47-50, and at other places. Remarks, pp. 77-85. t Ibid., Eeraarks, pp. 151-213. 88 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. the purchase of fiefs was generally accompanied by very oppressive conditions, because the government only considered the momentary interests of the treason', and often a profit of 4 per cent, was taken to begin upon, under such relations a quota difficult to be obtained, the purchasers, on their side, in most cases, as may be conceived, took care also only of their pecuniary interest, how to extort as much money as possible. Hence the fearful oppression of the subjects, besides the re- peated bad transactions of the feudatories. The mortgage of incomes and rights, not unfrequently even before the purchase- money had been paid down, happened so often, that the chamber of the Sommaria established a government commission, which bears some resemblance to the Credit Institution of the provin- cial directions of later times. But this patrimonial administra- tion ruined most of the families completely, since they fell into the hands of lawyers, who in Naples have had a bad name for centuries, for nowhere has the nature of the relations of pro- perty, in consequence of the partition of land, given rise to a great number of trials. Thus the mania for titles, and the struggles to live suitably to their new rank, caused many of these rich upstarts to be as quickly reduced again to beggary. The worst evil was, that the communities practically gained nothing by it, and were continually changing their masters. For the facility with which this outward appearance of rank was obtained in the kingdom attracted buyers every time. A peculiar arrangement in paying the tribute made their change often particularly disadvantageous to the communities ; namely, after tluit the quota of the tribute had been apportioned, the communities were answerable to the treasury for the payment. Now the apportionment was put upon the individual members of the communities, by which the largest share fell upon the feudal lords, as the most important proprietors. But in many cases the feudal lords knew how to avoid the payment : the communities, who met with no favour, were compelled to dis- charge it for them, and thus a rate of debt was incurred, which, owing to the absolute dependence in which the communities were kept by the barons, proved extraordinarily oppressive ; or else the barons practised usury with sums for which they were indebted to the communities, and made them give securities for larger sums, so that these last were never in a condition to improve their financial arrangements. Since the result of this MONEY TRANSACTIONS. 89 ended in the communities being unable to fulfil their obliga- tions to the treasury, the viceroys were compelled in the last half of the 17th century to resort to measures which forbade the alienation of the revenues and possessions of the commu- nities, and ordered a revision of all similar contracts, but prac- tically these edicts had but little result.* These forced money-relations, of which mention has just been made, lead us to the consideration of the pecuniary con- ditiun of the kingdom in general. It was the most lamentable that could be imagined, and the evil increased daily, owing to the system pursued by government, which will be more clearly elucidated by an explanation of the system of taxation by farming the tolls. If it was a question of extraordinary taxes, the capital was sold whilst the ways and means of getting the money were left to the purchaser ; but with respect to the ordi- nary taxes, such as those of the customs, &c., the proceeds themselves were farmed. In the first case, a public debt was formed, like that of Monti's, whose system was brought to such relative perfection in the 16th century in Italy, with the particular clauses that the collection of interests on the side of the subjects should not be executed by the government ; in the second case, it was the usual way of farming tolls, as was the system in France, more than elsewhere. All the capitalists in the kingdom had money to put out, private individuals and families no less than corporations. Sometimes they were com- pelled to do it by the government, for the imperiousness with which it proceeded in all business, as also in that of finance, took away from prudent people the desire to buy such rents the more so as the viceroys did not hesitate to lower the rents when it was difficult to pay them, as was done by the second Count of Lemos in the year 1611, although the parliament and the town exclaimed against it, and the Jesuits and Thea- tines preached against it, who were punished by the with- drawal of their licence to preach.f How wretchedly it fared with those who had farmed tolls, in and after the revolution of the year 1647, will be mentioned in the further course of this history. But the farmers of tolls, like the bankers, were in general * "Winspeare, p. 57, and at other places. f Letters of the Agent of Urbino, of the 3rd and 26th March, 1611. At Palermo, and at other places. P. 223. 90 THE CARAFAS OF MADTULONI. foreigners, and most of them Genoese. In the Genome the peculiar spirit of money-traders appears to have been incorpo- rated from the earliest periods of the middle ages, far more than in the rest of the mercantile population of Italy, viz. the Venetians, Lombards, and Tuscans. Even in the midst of his pomp and luxury the Genoese calculated ; and if the long narrow strip of territory belonging to the republic forced him into maritime commerce, the peculiarity of his character pointed him out especially for banking business. Although the great and most interesting banking establishment, that of St. George, has long ceased to exist, to this day the immense old grey palace, with its gigantic saloon adorned with images of deserving men, reminds one powerfully of this state within a state, which, like the East India Company, had also its foreign possessions beyond Italy, freighted and armed vessels, sent out troops, and waged war an establishment, the existence of which is inseparably connected with that of finance, and of the system of public debts.* It is easy to be understood, that in so arduous a struggle, though engaged in transactions of so grand a character, a thirst for gain and contracted views could not be wanting. Hence the hatred borne to these republicans in those parts of Italy where they had much business to transact. So it was in Naples, whose inhabitants were far inferior to them in mercantile activity. Since the reign of King Philip II. the Genoese had had in their hands the largest portion of the money transactions of the kingdom. They were the people who kept most of the banks ; the catalogues of private banks at the beginning of the 17th century con- tains almost only Genoese names. They were the persons who speculated most in fanning the revenues of the state : tin- Spaniards gave them the preference, because they held out the prospect of greater securities. But in the same proportion that their payments were more certain, they were the more inexorable in their demands. They were therefore perse- cuted by the people, whose officers came daily into contact with them, with a fearful hatred, and with sanguinary abuse and scorn. And not only by the people were the inhabitants of the Ligurian shore treated with hatred, scorn, and contempt : they were not better dealt with by others, who knew the * Carlo Cuneo, Mcmoric sopra 1'antico debito pubblico, mutui c Banca di Ban Giorgio in Geneva. Genoa, 1842. THE GENOESE. 91 ruinous effects of this exhausting- system, by which they emu- lated the Spanish government in the endeavour to carry all the gold out of the country, in which, alas ! they only suc- ceeded too well. Genoa was called the hell of Spain ; the Genoese merchants were compared to leeches, who deprived the whole Spanish monarchy of all the vigour of life (for not Naples only was visited by this nuisance), and fattened them- selves more than the eels of the bogs of Comacchio, or of the lake of Bolsena, from which Pope Martin IV. was obliged to cleanse himself by fasting in purgatory.* Everything fell into their hands, banks, state papers, debts of the commu- nities ; in short, all there was to negotiate about. But they were very prudent, and often excited the anger of the person in authority. The second Duke of Ossuna wanted to let the custom-house of Foggia to the Genoese Naselli, who, as he did not think the business a promising one, excused himself on the plea that he had other tolls to farm : he was commanded to leave the country within two days on pain of death, and the only remark made by the chronicler is, " Truly, these Genoese devour the kingdom, and will only trade with large security and to their own great advantage.! When a year afterwards the same viceroy wanted them to advance him two hundred thousand ducats upon a gabel, and they refused to do it, he had three hundred thousand sequestered in a rea- sonable manner.''^ Even the bank of St. George had the reputation of usurious practices. Many of these Genoese families have remained in Naples, and attained to the highest honours. Amongst them are to be mentioned the Rava- schieri, who are considered as a branch of the Fieschis of Lavagna, who opened a bank at Naples, under the govern- ment of the Cardinal Granvelle in 1573, which failed; but they recovered themselves so much at the beginning of the following century, that they became Dukes of Cardinale and Girifalco, Princes of Satriano and Belmonte, and the highest distinction of the House of Hapsburg, the Golden Fleece, was be- stowed upon the Maestro di Campo, Don Ettore Ravaschieri, * Dante, Purgatory, canto xxiv. ver. 23. \- Zazzera, Governo del Duca d' Ossuna. At Palermo. P. 520 (to the year 1517). t Ibid., p. 537. G. Campanile, Notizie di Nobilta. Naples, 1672. P. 776. 92 THE CAUAFAS OF 3IADDALOXI. The money-market was almost perpetually in a state of embarrassment, the percentage and agio enormous, and com- mercial intercourse checked in every way. The sudden dis- turbance in money matters of the years 1848-49, and the failure hardly now to be conceived of the specie, have given us an insight into the circumstances of earlier times of which younger persons can form no adequate idea. What is now in great measure a transitory was then a chronic evil. In the year 1573, under the government of Cardinal Granvelle, in- terest for money rose to 30 per cent ; four years afterwards 32i was lost at Rome by the change, and in the year 1621, at Venice, where an alteration in the system of coinage had in- troduced indeed a worse confusion, quite 50 per cent. The usual interest with a good security was 8 per cent. These are a few instances out' of long lists.* The commercial in- tercourse with foreign countries, and indeed with other Italian states, was difficult and only of service to the usurer. Bank- ruptcies were frequent. When, in the year 1598, the great bank of Mari's at Genoa stopped payment, the people at the first alarm ran to all the banks and demanded back their capital ; and most of the banks would liave broken had not the Count of Miranda decreed that for the space of one month they should only pay down one-tenth. Only the banks be- longing to charitable institutions kept up their credit. The government proceeded against these banks with incredible arbitrariness. In April, 1605, the Count of Benevento ordered a loan upon the banks, and, as they would not advance the money, he began by taking from the six charitable institutions 60,000 ducats, for which he promised to pay 8 per cent, in- terest. According to an order of the Cardinal Zapata's of the year 1622, the capitalists were only to have the free dis- posal of two-thirds of their property that was in the bank. Under the Duke of Alva, his successor, in June, 1623, the distress of the banks had increased to such a degree that for many days no business was done, and the half-ruined banks were entirely closed. They owed three millions, and could not procure one and a half.f The evils of the money-market are partly explained by the * Letters of the Agents of Tuscany and Urbino. At Palermo and many places. L. Bianchini, at other places. Vol. ii. p. 558. f "Palermo, and several other places. COINAGE. 93 state of the coinage. Till the time of Charles V. it had been stable and well regulated, as also under the government of Ferdinand the Catholic ; the same species of coins were minted as were used under the Neapolitan Arragonese. But then began the fluctuations, in consequence of the value of the metals being changed. In the year 1554 the price of the metal, which is generally considered in coins and gives the proper stamp to the silver, rose, after four-and-forty years, almost one fifth, which naturally exercised the greatest influence upon the proportions of the coins. The old coins were all clipped, and as much adulterated coin slipped in amongst them, Don Pe- dro de Toledo, in the year 1552, decreed that each coin should be used only according to the value of the actual weight. And now a series of decrees and measures were begun about money, many of which were so ill advised that confusion and cheating are easily to be accounted for. A forced currency beyond the actual worth ; the billon, of which one-fifth was silver and the rest copper ; putting a fixed value on the price of foreign coins ; the responsibility of the banks for the adul- terated coin found in them and the loss of the clipped money ; the disproportion between the (better) Neapolitan and the Spanish silver coin nominally of the same value ; constant alterations in the weight and name of the coins ; too great an infusion of copper in comparison with the precious metals, a fault that even to this day belongs to the Neapolitan coinage, which is very deficient in small silver coins all this helped to increase the evil. Under the government of the Duke of Ossuna it had become so bad that the zannette or half-car- line, of which at first, under the Duke of Alva in the year 1556, twenty went to the stamped ducat, according to which they are usually reckoned at the present day, were reduced to a quarter their nominal value, and nobody would take them. This caused the greatest confusion in the change, and caused more than one rebellion of the people, because these zannette were the coins most in use. In the year 1622 they were at last put out of currency, melted down, and a new one issued. But even this did not stop the deeply-rooted evil ; for speculators practised usury with the melted-down zannettes, the mass of which was valued at six million of ducats ; the circumstance that the office of the mint could not supply the new money in sufficient quantity that the traffic with the old one 94 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. could be at once stopped, encouraged this usury and occasioned bloody insurrections, whilst the erroneous calculation of the relative worth of the metal with the nominal value led to new frauds and losses. It was calculated tliat the losses occasioned by the new coinage amounted to 50 per cent. : it affected pri- vate people no less than the government ; every one lost, and the discontent was increased by distrust, because it was gene- rally believed that false coin was circulated even from the palace. From the year 1599 to 1629 nearly thirteen millions of ducats were minted of gold and silver coins in the kingdom of Naples : but as this coinage was in general better than in many other states, so it was exported to the great detriment of the country in large quantities, and a scarcity of good money constantly prevailed : not to mention that in the second half of the 17th century the silver coins of 1622 had lost three-quar- ters of their value by clipping.* The false coinage and the cb'pping of the different monies had become a large and thriving business, and neither the perpetually repeated and revived Pragmaticas of the Viceroys, nor the many very cruel punishments with which false coiners were threatened, and which were sometimes put into execution, availed to check it. During the government of the Cardinal Zapata four persons were executed for such crimes in the course of a month, amongst them a wealthy Genoese; and not long afterwards three more were executed, whilst a fourth was sent to the galleys and a woman was scourged. The three condemned to death sat in a cart, the sides of which were decorated with the tools that they had used to adulterate the coins, whilst they wore themselves a false coin upon their breasts. Behind the cart went both the others who flogged the woman. Under the Duke of Alva, who succeeded the Cardinal, things did not improve. People of gentle birth, priests, monks, were amongst the false coiners. " I am ashamed to mention the families," remarks the chronicler. A certain Lisco di Ausilio, who was hanged in the time of Zapata, possessed a property of 40,000 ducats, and confessed to have followed this bewitching traffic for eighteen years. The criminals were hung and quar- tered, and their limbs placed over the gates of the city.f * L. Bianchini, at other places. Vol. ii. pp. 507-543. Letter of the Tuscan Agent. At Palermo, and several other places, f Guerra and Bucca, Diurnali. Years 1621-22. ADMISSION INTO THE SED1LES. 95 If we turn from these reflections on pecuniary affairs under the Spanish dominion, to the consideration of the condition of the nobility with reference to the people and the government, in relations as well as themselves, the privileges of the Se- diles, as such, once more attract our attention. The greater the value set upon these privileges, so much the more did the desire of the patrician families increase to become members of them. This membership did not at first depend upon station and nobility : many of the most illustrious families did not belong to the Sediles, but a share in the municipal govern- ment assuredly did, and, as the abovementioned relations prove, the admission to the government of the country was con- ditional. Thus the families applied more and more to be admitted into the Sediles ; but this became proportionately difficult. The present members did not wish to share their authority with too many, or the pecuniary advantages which accrued to them later in the times of the viceroys. They de- vised statutes to clog the reception of new families with cer- tain conditions: for instance, the Seggio of Montana was occupied in the year 1500 by a nobleman of ancient family, who lived like a noble, as well in the kingdom as out of it. He could indeed, if he took up his domicil within the dis- trict of the association of the nobles, become a participator, with the consent of their members, in their honours ; but within fifteen years he could be neither an eletto or a deputy to the parliament, or even an elector at the reception of a new member. If he died before the lapse of the time, the obliga- tions as well as the restrictions passed over to his sons. The same was the case with the citizens when they lived like nobles.* Thus the aristocracy who were in the possession of municipal rights were by no means excluded, and could, by taking in new families, supply the considerable number that had died away. The Sedile of Capuana, for instance, numbered, in the second half of the 17th century, three-and-thirty families, whilst eight-and-fifty that had belonged to them since the register had been begun were extinct ; those of Nido counted four-and- forty during the first half and thirty-eight during the last part of the century. Every one knows how quickly the aristocra- * Tutini, p. 122, and at other places. 90 THE CAIUFAS OF MADDALONI. tical families die away when a renovation of their races cannot take place within reasonable limits, and in this respect the his- tory in the last century of the limited and hated oligarchy of the fallen republic of Lucca offers us an example but too well known. In the year 1768 there were not more than two hun- dred and six-and-thirty patricians who were capable of sharing in the business of the government ; so that, when the disqua- lified and the invalids were deducted, there were not persons enough left to fill up the official appointments. Twelve years later this number was diminished to a hundred and seventy- seven, who belonged to eighty-eight families, so small was the progress.* To the most ancient and illustrious families of Capuano and Nido, who will be mentioned more or less in the course of this history, belonged, so far as regards the first of these Sediles, the Cantelmi, the Capece of various families, both the races of the Caraccioli (those from Louvain and the red ones), the Filomarini, Loffredi, Delia Marra, Mendoza, Orsini of Bracciano, Sconditi, Seripandi, Tomarelli ; at Nido the Acquaviva, Davalos, Brancacci, Caraccioli Bianchi, Ca- rafa, Caetani, Gesualdo, Giron, Guevara, Mastroguidice, Or- siui of Gravina, Piccolomini, Pignatelli, Sangro, Sanseverino, Spinelli ; not to mention the Roman families that have sprung up in later times, and that have obtained fiefs in the kingdom, as was the case with the Buoncampagni, the Dukes of Tora, and the Barberini. For the advantages secured to great or rich races by the feudal system whicK existed in the kingdom of Naples attracted many, especially of families related to them, as the Borgia Princes of Squillaci irince the times of Pope Alexander VI. in 1497, the Ludovici Princes of Ve- nosa, the Peretti-Montalto Princes of Venafro, 1605, the Borghese Princes of Sulmona, 1607, the Aldobrandini Princes of Rossano, 1612, the Altemps, and so on. The foreign royal families also possessed fiefs, and some of them were enrolled amongst the Sediles, to whom also many Spanish families be- longed. The Farneses of Parma were Princes of Altamura in Apulia, and Dukes of Civita di Penna in the Abbruzzi, a title which had once belonged to Alessandro de' Medici, the first Duke of Florence, and through his widow Margaret, a natural daughter of Charles V., had descended to their son, * G. Tommazi, Sommnrio della Storia di Lucca (continued by Carlo Minutoli). Florence, 1847. Pp. 601, 602. ADMISSION INTO THE SEUILES. 97 Alessandro Farnese. The Medici were Princes of Capes- trano ; the Gonzagas were of the family of Don Ferdinand, the founder of the Guastallan line, Princes of Molfetta and Dukes of Ariano ; the Cybo of Massa-Carrara were Dukes of Aiello. The communities preferred having foreign sovereigns for their liege lords, because they hoped for better treatment from them ; and it certainly did happen that they offered themselves to them for sale, as Reggio, in the year 1618, and in the fol- lowing year Cutro (Cotrone), in Calabria, offered themselves to the Archduke Cosmo II. of Tuscany.* If the Grand Duke could not or would not buy them, the inhabitants of this last town declared they would themselves mortgage their children, to free themselves from feudal ties. The reception of new families into the Sediles rested, as has been said, with the Sediles themselves. Thus in the years 1477-1507 the Orsini, Del Balzo, Delia Leonessa, Cantelmi, Ricci, Caetani, Cardona, Cavaniglia, Acquaviva, Sangro, were enrolled into the associations of Capuano and Nido : but under the Spanish dominion the old practice was altered. Those of the nobility who enjoyed municipal rights left the motion to the crown, and only reserved to themselves the right of confirmation. The reason of this is to be sought for in the same cause which led to the limitation of the admission by means of the chapter. The Sediles wished to guard against too great a crowd ; the crown, on its side, believed it to be easier to govern a smaller number of votes. It was on both sides only a calculation of interests. But the noblemen who saw themselves excluded in such a manner Mould not give up without some further effort. At different times attempts were made at Madrid to enlarge the Sediles or form new ones. In the year 1557 Giovanni Donate della Marra, and in 1558 Ettore d'Aquina, were sent to King Philip II. as deputies of the nobles who were unentitled to vote. Their instructions desired them to obtain equal privileges, as they shared the burdens equally. The form and practice of the Sediles, it was said, had been altered in an unjust manner. What once belonged in common to all the noble families within the juris- diction of the town, to which even those who were not noble had attained by matrimonial alliances, was now the exclusive * Letter of the Tuscan Agent, at Palermo. Pp. 276, 277. H 98 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. property of a few persons. If the king did not wish to en- large the old Sediles, he had the means in his hands to satisfy just claims, which consisted in the reopening of the closed Sedile of Forcella, and the formation of a new one, at the street of Toledo, or at the San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, where the town had lately been enlarged one-third, and many of the nobles had built to it. These new Sediles would prove invin- cible fortresses and firm pillars to the crown of Spain. Those who claimed such a concession were the whole body of native Neapolitans, true and legitimate rightful burghers, as well by birth as by the common right and power of the Pragmatica of Ferdinand I., by which they hat! been promised an equal authority with the rest of the nobles in things regarding the town. The Sediles, to whom these claims were inconvenient, ap- pointed deputations to make good their objections. They did not resist the general admission of new families into the Sediles, but persisted in obeying of their old chapter, " to keep up the splendour for which the old Neapolitan nobility was famous throughout the world." But it was exactly the balloting and other forms prescribed in these chapters which made them refuse to recognize the admission of the candidates. The petitioners could not obtain their request. The minister declared to them, " que a tal negocios hay muncha contradi- cion." The king commissioned the then Lord Lieutenant in Naples, Don Juan de Manrique de Lara, to make inquiry and report about the affair, to " proveer en ello como con- venga, de manera, que ninguna de las partes reciba agravio, y se haga justicia."* But the affairs remained the same as before. The solicitations, repeated in the year 1637, pro- duced as little result. Single families were indeed received, yet this seldom happened, and the prescribed forms were observed. The crown itself, indeed, could not effect such an admission. In the last half of the seventeenth century are found amongst the races that did not belong to the Sediles the names of Ajerbi d'Aragona, Aquino of Castiglione, Cus- triota, Concubut of Arena, Capua of Conca (the hereditary high Admiral of the kingdom), Fieramosca, Filanghieri, * Trattazioni di molti nobili Napoletani per aver partc ne scggi. At Palermo. Pp. 145-190. SYSTEMS OF TITLES. 99 Gambacorta, Grimaldi of Eboli, Imperial!, Medici of Otta- jano, Ravaschieri, Ruffo of Scilla, and others partly families belonging to the ancient Norman nobility, of whom many indeed had never concerned themselves on being received into the associations.* By virtue of old capitulations, no new title could be granted by the crown without the Sediles. But the Spanish court did not attend to this, but conferred title after title, especially in the seventeenth century, that time which in Italy generally was occupied by the ever-becoming-vainer external pageantry of the aristocracy.f Originally the city nobility had no titles, which the feudal nobility first introduced amongst the Sediles, so much so, that in the middle of the fifteenth century not a single count belonging to the city nobility had a seat in them.J The feudal titles increased under King Robert's reign ; they multiplied more and more under the Durazzi Princes, but to a still higher degree under the Arragonese, who created princes and dukes constantly, not to mention the marquises and counts. The first duke was made by Queen Joanna I. ; he was Jacobo Marsano Duca di Sessa, upon whose family King Ferdinand I. exercised afterwards such a fearful revenge for their attachment to the house of Anjou. During the era of the Viceroys this degenerated into a posi- tive abuse, and the court at last sold titles which had no fiefs attached to them, which no one had attempted before. The wit of the people ridiculed this evil in satires and plays ; thus we find, in a comedy of Torquato Tasso, the love intrigues carried on in the person of Gialaise, a delightful portrait of a counterfeit nobleman. According to official catalogues, there existed in the kingdom of Naples, in the year 1675, 119 princes, 156 dukes, 173 marquises. The number of counts amounted to many hundreds : 42 of them belonged to the higher nobility, like the Count of Altavilla, of the House of Capua ; the Count of Converzano, of the House of Acqua- viva ; the Count of Celano, of the House of Piccolomini ; the Count of Policastro, of the House of Carafa ; and so on. An exact precedency did not exist, although the title of Prince * Almagiore, Raccolta di varie notitie historiche. (Appendix to G. A. Summonte's History.) Naples, 1675. P. 30. t Zazzera, Governo del Duca d'Ossuna. At Palermo, P. 524. j Tutini, chap, vi, H 2 100 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. was generally considered the most illustrious. The head of the family of Toledo bore, as has already been remarked, the (Spanish) title of Marquis of Villafranca, though there were princes and dukes in his family. The Great Count Marquis Comes de Altavilla, a creation of King Robert's of 1335, preceded many princes and dukes. In the middle ages the nobility were addressed by the title of Messere. " If this was to be done now," says Sum- monte, who wrote in the time of Philip II. " it would be high treason." After the " Illustrissimo " came the " Eccellenza," which even towards the end of the sixteenth century had become so common, that one of the Pragmatics of the Count Olivarez to check the abuse, forbade the use of titles when they were not attached to an office. What this availed any one may imagine who spends only eight days in Naples, where, moreover, princes do not receive by right the title of Eccel- lenza, as is the case, for instance, at Rome. The great crown offices of the nobility were become, under the Spaniards, mostly hereditary offices ; meanwhile they had lost almost all real importance, since the complete remodelling of the government, which had been begun under Ferdinand the Ca- tholic, and was finished during the administration of Don Pedro de Toledo : as they were from their nature more or less depend- ent upon the then existing king and his court, now they were little more than titles. The office of Constable has been since the times of Ferdinand the Catholic, and is to this day, still in the possession of the Colonna of Paliano ; that of Justiciary, under the Spanish dominion, was first granted to the Piccolomini of Amalfi, then to the Gonzagas of Mol- fetta, and lastly to the Spinellis of Fuscaldo. The members of the houses of Cardona and Capua were invested with the dignity of Admiral, and afterwards the Cordovas of Sessa, relations of the Great Captain. The d'Avalos of Pescara and Vasto were the Chamberlains ; the Dorias of 3Iclfi had been Protonotaries since 1556; the Caraccioli of Avel- lino Chancellors since the time of Philip III. ; lastly the office of Seneschal had belonged since the year 1535 to the Guevara of Bovino. As may be seen, these great crown offices were not only not bestowed on Neapolitans, they were not even given to Italians. Both had been in existence before the Spanish times, which is to be explained partly by the foreign SPANISH FAMILIES IN NAPLES. 101 dynasties, who one after another ruled the land Normans, Hohenstaufens, Angevins, and Arragonese and partly by the momentary pressure of circumstances. Thus we find only, to begin with the Angevins, as Constable, Guillaume 1'Etendard, Alberigo da Barbiano, Sforza Attendolo, Braccio da Mon- tone, Gonsalvo de Cordova. Under the first Joanna two Flo- rentines, one after another, were invested with the office of Seneschal. Both the French kings gave away these offices to their countrymen. Since the times of the Arragonese, Spanish families have settled more and more at Naples, so it is natural that numerous foreign names are to be found in later centuries amongst the Neapolitan nobility. The first and most famous amongst them were the d'Avalos. Roderick d'Avalos, of Castillian or Navarrese origin, had, by a victorious single combat with an English knight belonging to the army of John of Gaunt (the " time-honoured Lancaster " in King Richard II.), when he fought for his visionary claims on Castille, won the favour of his King, Henry III., and obtained the dignity of Constable of this kingdom. One of his sons, Inigo, came to Naples with Alphonso I., became Great Chamberlain, and had inherited, by a marriage with Antonia d' Aquina, the Marquisate of Peschara ; he left two sons, one of whom, as has been already mentioned, was the only person who preserved his fidelity during the invasion of Charles VIII. ; he was the father of the celebrated Ferdinand, who with Lannoi and Bourbon beat Francis I. at Pavia. The younger had a son, Alphonso Marchese del Vasto, who in the wars of Charles V. attained scarcely less fame and distinction. In their hearts these d'Avalos were more Spaniards than Italians, and it is known in particular how Ferdinand, the husband of Vittoria Colonna, would only be considered as a Spaniard ; nevertheless they joined fief to fief, and amassed riches upon riches in the kingdom. Besides Pescaro and II Vasto, both in the Abruzzi, the picturesque as well as fortified Montesarchio, on the road that leads from Terra di Lavoro to Benevento, Troja in Apulia, Isernia and Francavilla, and the island of Ischia, belonged to them. Next to the d'Avalos the Cordovas are to be named, who obtained, even in the person of Gonsalvo, the titles of Sessa, Sant' Agata, and Terranova ; the Cardonas, Sanchez de Luna, Mendoza de 102 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL Leyva, Diaz Garlone, Alarcon, Enriquez, and many lesser personages who came to Naples in the suite of the Viceroys, and when there found themselves much too comfortable to leave the country. Also illegitimate branches of Spanish families planted themselves in Naples, as the Afan de Rivera, and so on. It is unnecessary to add that these colonies of Spaniards, who intermarried with the greatest families of the land, could not fail of producing some effect upon their morals and way of life. Under the Spaniards the custom of wearing orders first became general amongst the Neapolitan nobility. In the times of the kings, orders were rare, if we except that of the Knights of St. John, who possessed a number of priories and commanderies in the kingdom, where peculiar strength of the Italian language was preserved. Lewis of Tarento, the second husband of the first Joanna, founded the Ordine del Nodo, which first perhaps gave the idea of the Ordine "del Cdlare" the Comte vert of Amadeus VI., which still exists as an order of the Annunziata. Foreign orders were seldom worn, except by royal princes. But under the Spanish rule this was quite different. A number of Neapolitan noblemen were knights of Spanish orders, especially of San Jago and Calatrava, seldom of Alcantara. The Golden Fleece was granted to many who united eminent services to illustrious birth ; at the presentations the Viceroys occupied the place of the monarchs, and the investments were made with great pomp. But even in the seventeenth century we find that to obtain the Fleece " an infinity of trouble and solid gold " was necessary. Before we leave this dissertation on the public relations of the nobility, it is necessary to consider briefly the judicial cir- cumstances, in as far as they are here to be understood. The general grant of the superior criminal jurisdiction, the Jus glatlii, or merum and mixtum Imperium, to the Barons, con- sequently the partition of the sovereign power between them and the ruler of the country, appears not to have continued beyond the time of King Alphonso I. For whilst Charles I. assigned to his eldest son the principality of Salerno, and thereby recog- nized the merum Imperium within the jurisdiction, this was only a special favour for the successor to the throne ; and the sovereign expressed, with regard to other fiefs, that he reserved JUDICIAL RELATIONS. 103 for his own court all and every grant of land ; * and in the investitures of Joanna I., Charles III., and both his children, where the criminal jurisdiction is included, this circumstance is expressly mentioned every time. Meanwhile the way was thus already paved for the later uses of it. How badly the baronial justice was in general ad- ministered proceeded from the many decrees by which the viceroys sought to check abuses, especially that of corruption, which they did put some restraints upon. Thus the Count of Monterey took the baronial jurisdiction of all trials for crimes which were committed through the use of fire-arms ; but his successor, the Duke of Medina, revoked the decree, f If the barons administered justice in mercy, so they made no scruple of transgressing the laws themselves ; and the royal tribunals had either not the power, or wanted the spirit, to punish them. There are many cases of punishments inflicted on the great nobility, but generally in such cases political reasons were mixed with the personal hatred and temper of the ruler. In neither case were the ends of justice in any degree furthered. It was seldom that the public discontent, or the enormity of any action, caused the viceroys to allow justice to have a really free course. One such case we shall meet with in the further progress of this present history, when we represent the way of life and morals of the highest classes, especially of the young. In the preceding description of the public relations of the nobility the feudal nobility the barons are especially to be kept in view. The second-rate nobility, who were derived from the higher class of citizens, may in general be compared to the French noblesse de robe ; there was a wide disparity in their origin as well as in their importance from the noblesse cTepee. But this disappears more and more ; the more the political position of the nobility lost in importance, the more reduced many of the old families became in their circum- stances, which was especially owing to the revolutions in the middle of the seventeenth century, the more hostile the Spanish government showed itself to the feudal nobility, to whose fidelity, nevertheless, it owed the salvation of the kingdom in that time of great distress. As early as the epoch of the Arragonese, but still more in that of the Viceroys, the Nobili sprang up ; but they increased in numbers more than in pros- * "Winspeare, Remarks, p. 72, and at other places, f Ibid., p. 113, and at other places. 104 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. perity. As the fiefs were everywhere, and all of them, offered for sale at a cheap price, they bought fiefs like the others. A number of obscure names are to be found amongst the titled personages, especially since the government of the younger Duke lit' Alcala. But the titles were, as we have said, by no means attached to the property. The principal means of obtaining them, next to commerce, especially in money mat- ters, were by offices of state and judges' places. Jurisprudence flourished more than any other science. The study an(* prac- tice of law became the field where many, even out of tlve most illustrious families, as Capecetro, San Felice, Capece Galeota, Caracciola, and others, obtained fame and influence, whilst many made themselves names by their wealth. The advo- cateship paved the way for judicial offices and to government, and consequently to presidencies of councils and the remaining places of honour, in as far as Spanish jealousy and Spanish mistrust would allow Neapolitans to possess them. Traditional clientship and later recollections contributed to this generally in an equal degree. And now the people, the great mass of the inhabitants, of this country, so richly endowed by nature, and so illused by men ? What, in the midst of such frequent changes on the throne and quarrels with the crown, with so much uncertainty and war, with so many good and wise institutions, become in practice, if not hurtful, yet in general useless under such sys- tematic oppression, what had become of them ? When the old chroniclers and historians, native as well as foreign, speak of them, they blame them most, first for their unsteadiness and fickleness, their passionate irritability, and the savage rage to which this passion worked in them. What shall we say to the description which an author of the seventeenth century gives of the common people of the capital ? " The dregs of the land, inclined to tumult and rebellion, trampling under foot, morals, laws, and obedience to authorities, like mutilated members and rotten juices, who, upon the slightest occasion, introduce confusion ; an unholy mixture of grocers, sailors, drivers, day-labourers, and such-like ballast without substance, snatching at dishonourable profit in their every-day trans- actions."* These are the exaggerations of a rhetorician who dedicates the book in which he says such things of his * G. P. Capaccio. P. 784, and at other places. THE PEOPLE. 105 countrymen to the Viceroy, the Cont of Monterey, whose person is the " greatest wonder which, in this town of Naples, rich in marvels, is to be seen, far excelling all old and new curiosities by the refinement of his sublime genius, by the clearness of his divine judgment, by the copiousness of his strong memory in short, the wonder which comprises all others within itself." After opinions of this kind it is not uninteresting to attend to the description which one of the most clear-sighted and eloquent historians of the south of Italy, and who was not wanting in independence of mind, Camillo Porzio, gives of the moral qualities of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Naples, and describes the various peculiarities of the different provinces towards the end of the third part of the sixteenth century.* " The inhabitants of the Terra di Lavoro," says he, " are most of them ostentatious, dirty wranglers ; they have arms in their hands in an instant ; they leave the country with reluctance ; they are fond of pageantry, and gesticulate a great deal with endless bombast. The inhabitant of the Principata is poor, ingenious, never sparing of his trouble ; simple and ill-dressed. There are good sailors on the coasts, especially those of Amalfi, otherwise the people are particu- larly addicted to the traffic and transport of mules. The most active and expert seamen are the Calabrians : they are acute and crafty, powerful and patient, minding neither hunger nor thirst ; courageous and skilful in the use of arms ; so that they would, without doubt, make the best soldiers in Italy were they not inclined to inconstancy and rebellion ; hence it also happens that this province is more filled with robbers and banditti than any other. In the interior of the country, the Basilicata, the peasants dress coarsely and badly. They are more fitted for agriculture and other hard work, such as driving mules in the mountainous country, than for war. The people in the Terra d'Otranto have adopted many of the customs of the Greeks, who not only are their neigh- bours, but many of them have settled amongst them, and have preserved their dress, language, and character. They are brave, and love the military service more than a sailor's life, * Camillo Porzio, Eelazione del Regno di Napoli al Marchese di Mon- desciar, 1577-79. (In A. Gervasio's edition of the Istoria d'ltalia nel 1547. Pp. 133-157.) 106 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. notwithstanding their beautiful coasts, so that the fishermen, and vessels that visit these harbours come mostly from the Venetian territory. The inhabitants of Terra di Bari, a flat province, are quite unfit for war, but well adapted for all peaceful occupations, as agriculture and other branches of industry, wherefore this rich province is kept for corn, oil, cotton, wine, saffron, and salt, and other things. It contains whole woods of almond-trees. There is not much to say of the inhabitants of Capitanata, as we call the flat Apulia, the Apulia Daunia of the ancients. Their number is small with reference to the extent of the province, so that in summer reapers come from other countries to cut down the corn of the vast fields, while in winter numerous herds of cattle go in quest of the excellent pastures ; so that this country is not only the granary of the kingdom, but also of other countries ; and by its tolls on corn and cattle is a treasure to the crown. The very unhealthy air in summer causes the want of inhabit- ants : the present occupiers are unfit for war, as well as for the endurance of hardships ; the very horses are feeble. Many of the inhabitants are not Italians, but spring from the opposite Sclavonian shores. As Molise as a district has no marked character, the same is the case with its inhabitants ; even-- thing is in disorder in the provinces, between which this, the smallest in the kingdom, is situated in the midst, for it has the Principata towards the east, the Abruzzi westwards, Terra di Lavoro to the south, and Capitanata on the north side. The inhabitants of the Abruzzi, once Frentani, Peligni, Vestini, Samnites, were in former times the most valiant people in Italy, now they are the most peaceful. Almost all of them employ themselves in feeding cattle, for which the country is well adapted, on account of its hills and valleys and its good air ; and they are particularly addicted to eating and drinking. Moreover, the Abruzzi is, owing to its streams and mountains, more secure from hostile attacks than any other frontier. With regard to the opinion of the whole nation the inhabitants of the kingdom, although they are divided into three classes, of plebeians, nobles, and barons, still resemble one another in character. They are lovers of innovation, fear the laws but little, are susceptible in affairs of honour, more for show than worth ; they are brave, and inclined to deeds of violence, and, what is worst of all, they are as a body but little satisfied with THE PEOPLE. 107 the present government. This discontent does not perhaps proceed from aversion to their king, whom they love and honour. Other reasons account for this. The common people see themselves impoverished and drained perpetually by the quartering of soldiers and oppressive taxes, and are frequently distressed for want of food, which they impute to their ruler, although it may be attributed to natural circumstances. They are tormented by constant wars ; for if a foreign enemy is wanting, robbers and banditti never fail, as little so as pirates. The nobles are displeased, because the state never promotes, or rather so to say excludes, them from a warlike or learned career. The offices and benefices which, during the time of the kings of the House of Arragon, were their portion, they see now mostly in the hands of foreigners. The barons also are discontented, for they are obliged to contribute beyond their means to the Donatives ; and the royal officers have granted so many privileges to their subjects, that the barons can only with difficulty restrain them. And because the barons are proud and imperious, they cannot brook to be summoned before a tribunal for the smallest trespass, because between them and the other sub- jects but very little difference is made in the trial or in the punishment." Thus ends this description of Camillo Porzio's, which, in many things, agrees with that given at the same period by the Venetian ambassador, Girolamo Lippomano, which is a proof of the veracity of both. Only the Neapolitan advocate, who had, by his father's and his own diligence united, obtained a beautiful property and bought the fief of Cantola, of which to this day a branch of the family of the Dorias of Angri bears the title, concludes his narration with the following captatio benevolentiae for the viceroy, which, on account of the facts mentioned by the historian, cannot be too much depended upon: "It must be owned that, since the arrival of your excellency, plebeians, nobles, and barons appear to have be- come more united and more peaceful, whilst all in general, and some individuals in particular, hope, from the activity, wisdom, and kindness of heart of your excellency, to obtain such help in their need that their complaints will be silenced, grievances will cease, and that they shall live happy and contented." 103 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. CHAPTER III. THE CARAFAS OP MADDALONI. XV th AND XVl* CENTURIES. Castle and village of Maddaloni The family of Carafa Malizia Carafa Diomed Carafa, first Count of Maddaloni The war of the barons Coppola and Petrucci The Count of Maddaloni, with reference to Ferdinand I. His monument in San Domcnico Activity about the sciences Palace of Maddaloni, now St. Angelo The bronze horse's head Posterity of Diomed Carafa The Carafas of Mon- torio Gian Pietro Carafa, afterwards Pope Paul IV. Paul IV. opposed to Spain Alva's march against Borne Alva before the gates of the city Retreat Peace at Cave The nephews of the pope The Cardinal of Carafa The Duke of Pagliano Fall of the Carafas Death of Paul IV. Insurrection of the Roman people Complication of the fate of the Carafas Murder of the Duchess of Pagliano Pius IV. Trial and condemnation of the Carafas Letter of the Duke of Pagliano to his son Final destiny of the Carafas of Montorio Cardinal Alphonso, Archbishop of !N aples Cardinal Olivieri Carafa. IN the most fertile climate of Europe, the old Campania Felix, now called the Terra di Lavoro, which is separated to the west fron the States of the Church by the river Ufento, north- wards from the country of the Samnites by the chain of the Apennines, to the east from the province of Salerno by the Sarno, whilst the sea forms its southern boundary, rises upon a gentle eminence, on one of the last hills and hilly projections of mount Tifata, a few miles to the north of Naples, the ruin of the Castle of Maddaloni. It is one of the castles of the middle ages, which, situated at the edge of the great chain of mountains, commands the rich plain which reaches as far as the sea; and, when standing upon these heights among the ruins, you may see at once, in all the magic splendour of colouring and the pomp of the southern regions, from Man- dragone's marble group to the mount of St. Angelo, which, like a far stretched-out promontory, separates the gulf of Naples from that of Salerno. At a little distance to the south-east of Maddaloni, by the small village of Cancello, the picturesque road which leads to Benevento winds through the hollow pass of the mountain that, under the name of the Cau- dinian chain, reminds the traveller of one of the most unfor- CASTLE AND VILLAGE OF MADDALONI. 109 tunate days in the glorious history of Rome, and of the ancient power, cunning, and perseverance of the Samnite people. To the north-west, at an equal distance, rises the splendid palace of Caserta, at the foot of the heights, built by King Charles HI., who did more for the country than any other ruler of Naples, as well for its embellishment by adorning it with large buildings, as for its intellectual improvement by the introduction or revival of sensible laws and institutions, which makes it for ever to be lamented that his summons to the inheritance of the throne of Spain interrupted his efficiency. The valley behind Maddaloni, narrow and deep as all these mountain hollows are, offers to the astonished eye of the traveller another work of this active king, bolder and more surprising than the conspicuous villa of gold and marble, the aqueduct through which is conducted the pure mountain stream of the Taburno, from the boundaries of Sanium, the length of twenty-two miles to the gardens of Caserta, there to break into foaming cascades and refresh the foliage of the thick bowers an aqueduct which spans the valley above named with three elevated arches, over a height of a hundred and fifty feet, a work of Luigi Vanitelli, worthy of the best times of Rome, and alike honourable to the monarch who ordered and the artist who conducted so gigantic a structure. Like Caserta and other castles in the vicinity, Maddaloni is probably of Lombard origin. Under the Norman rulers it appears to have been a military fief : at the time of William the Good, Ascotino, the son of Robert, had to supply first one, and then two troopers for the crusade in the Holy Land. Under the government of the second Angevin, in 1309, the castle paid as toll nine-and-twenty ounces. In much later times, when King Ferdinand I. of Arragon governed the country, Maddaloni was laid waste by a conflagration. At this day little remains of the old castle, but what does remain forms a picturesque group : a high watch-tower, with three stories, projects over the buildings annexed to it, whilst an encircling wall, protected by side towers, crowns the hill, enclosing the space of the actual castle, and a second watch- tower is situated on an adjacent height. A new town has been built at the foot of both heights, which contains ten thousand inhabitants, who support themselves mostly by agriculture. 110 THE CARAFAS OF MADOALONI. This castle, which in tliis age most people pass rapidly by on the road which leads from Caserta to Capua, without dreaming of the importance of its name in Neapolitan history, whilst at most they cast a hasty glance upon the group of ruins, has given a title to a branch of one of the most ancient, noble, heroic races, a name by which it has been know n from the fifteenth century up to our time. If the old feudal nobility of Naples had consisted only in the Caracciolos, Carafas, and Capeces, the triple C would have produced a number of families who, although they have the same surname and give partly the same arms, nevertheless, only by means of the boldest art of the genealogist can they be traced to the same origin. The Caracciolos formed into three great divisions are the most numerous ; the Carafas are the next. An effort has been made to trace the families of both races to the same root, and there are monuments of early centuries, even as early as the fourteenth, upon which the name of Caraczolus dictus Carafa may be read.* No composer of early genea- logies, were he even a Litta, could penetrate the obscurity which veils the origin of this, as it does of most of the families of great antiquity. Filippo Carafa, as the wise man tells us, was a son of Sergius, last Duke of Naples, who in the year 1 130, after a long and heroic defence, yielded to the superiority and valour of the Normans, and delivered up the last Grecian free state of Italy to King Roger. The family is said to be of Grecian-Pisan origin, and to have migrated from Sardinia, where the Pisans ruled, then masters of the Mediterranean. They were sought for and respected as friends and feared as rivals, as well on the Italian shores as on those of the kingdom of Byzantium and of the East. They gave the town of Na- ples insufficient aid in her last need, which in fact laid the foundation of her future greatness, for the principle of the transplanted Grecian element had long borne in itself the seeds of death, whilst the northern element, on the contrary, bloomed with new vigour. The large ramification of this race is derived from a great-grandson of that Philip, existing even to this day, which is divided into the Carafa de Spina and the Carafa de Statera, called according to their armorial bear- ings a thorn-bush and pair of scales ; both these again forming * 0. Borrelli, Vindex Ncapolitanac Nobilitatis. Naples, 1658. Pp. 131, 132. MALIZIA CARAFA. Ill numerous families, which led to the introduction of an excess of titles, according to their fiefs. The last Queen of Naples of the House of Anjou, Joanna II., who united the love of pleasure of her unfortunate prede- cessor and namesake with that hereditary perfidy which has given the line of Anjou-Durazzo an accursed name, hesitated long to whom she should leave the succession, which would most natu- rally have been transmitted to her cousin Lewis, the representa- tive of the younger branch of the House of Anjou. A civil war ravaged the unfortunate country, which brought Italy's most famous condottieris in quick succession, first into favour, and then into disgrace, now raised them to the summit of power, and then plunged them into a precipice. Then did a Carafa determine, in behalf of a childish and weak woman, against the enemies who oppressed her internally and externally, to implore the assistance of Alphonso of Arragon, a king who loved enterprise, and united the sovereignty of the eastern part of the Spanish peninsula to that of Sicily. Antonio Carafa, surnamed Malizia, descended from that branch of the race which was distinguished by the sign of the balance, ap- peared in the king's camp, as he with his Arragonese and Catal- lans, those joyous troops, long known on the Italian shores as well as on those of the Levant, were blockading Bonifazio, the Corsican Gibraltar, situated upon the rocky southern point of the island, where the narrow channel separates it from Sar- dinia. Joanna's ambassador easily won over Alphonso to the alluring undertaking ; and if the disturbances did not cease with the ' arrival of the Arragonese, because the queen of unsteady mind was faithless to him whom she had adopted as her child, and bestowed the succession on her Provencal cousin, if she thereby left behind her at her death, which 'hap- pened in the year 1435, a dispute about the throne, which kept the kingdom in excitement for seven years, nevertheless, Malizia Carafa remained firm in his attachment to the king whom he had summoned : he did not miscalculate ; in the year 1442 Alphonso conquered Naples, and soon the whole country obeyed the Arragonese. Malizia did not survive this issue of the struggle. His mo- nument is to be seen in the Carafa chapel, dedicated to the Baptist, in San Domenico Maggiore at Naples : under a canopy encircled with architecture, the armed form of the 112 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. knight lies upon a sepulchral urn ; the head and feet are placed upon cushions, the arms over a cross, surrounded by angels and saints, and symbolical figures representing magna- nimity, justice, and wisdom, with the arms of the family in mosaic work ; and an inscription, according to which the illus- trious knight, Lord Malizia Carafa, departed this life on the 10th of October, 1457. But a second inscription records hia services to the sovereign race of Arragon : "Auspice me Latias Alfonsus vcnit in eras, Bex plus ut pacem rcdderet Ausoniae. Nactorum hoc pictas struxit missi sola supulchrum, Carrafae dedit haec munera Malitiau." Like the father, the son preserved his fidelity to the royal family and the favour of the ruler of Naples passed from iln- father to his son. Diomed Carafa, the first Count of Madda- loni, was the founder of the power and the wealth of his family. A diploma, which not long before his death King Ferdinand I., Alphonso's son, had had made out, calls him " the illustrious and enlightened man Diomed Carafa, inva- riably faithful to the king and the royal kingdom, and a worthy counsellor, fit to govern the people, upright in the administration of justice, and adorned with virtues. He served Alphonso, he served Ferdinand. He was one of those who in the night of the 2nd of June, 1442, introduced the people of Alphonso of Arragon into the town by means of the aqueduct. When the king sent his son Ferdinand against the Florentines, Diomed, with 300 cavalry and 500 infantry, made an excursion till within a few miles of the town of Florence, terrifying the people everywhere, and driving away the flocks, which was well nigh the most memorable deed of this unfortunate campaign. When the Tuscan wars came to an end, he went as the king's ambassador to Pope Ni- cholas V. In the capacity of one of the first inspectors of the public accounts, he exercised great influence over the whole government. Ferdinand undertook nothing without consult- ing him, and his second son, Frederick, called him father and master. Besides Maddaloni, with which he was invested in the year 1465, his important services were rewarded with many fiefs and Castellanies.* When, under the government of * D. Biagio Aldimari, Historia Genealogica della Casa Carafa. Naples, 1691. VoL ii. Giuseppe Campanile, Notizie di Nobilta. Naples, 1672. Pp. 453-458. Scipione Ammirato, Istoric Florentine, ii. 158. DIOMED CARAFA. 113 Frederick, that war began, usually called the Conspiracy of the Barons a war in which victory was obtained more by perfidy than by force of arms, and which rekindled with greater animosity the old dissensions which had existed for centuries between the nobles of the Angevins and Arragonese parties Diomed was among the first to range himself on the royal side. Antonello Petrucci and Francesco Coppola were the pretended chiefs of this conspiracy, which had for its aim to deliver up Ferdinand and his adherents into the hands of Rene of Anjou, the heir of the disputed Provencal claims upon Naples. Both had risen, by the favour of the king, from a low condition to the highest honours and splendid wealth. Antonello, educated by Lorenzo Valla, the trans- lator of Herodotus and first Latin scholar of his day, had already been much employed by Alphonso, and under Ferdi- nand he was supreme adviser and executor of the royal com- mands : Francesco, poor but of an ancient family, had raised himself in commerce by his own industry ; he had been made by the king a participator in all the monopolies that were extorted out of the country, and its restricted commerce ; his vessels traded from east to west ; he was appealed to as. arbitrator in all the disputes connected with the shipping interest, as if he had been its patron. Francesco had obtained an ancient fief of the Orsini, and was called Count of Sarno. Antonello retained his name, and was generally called the Secretary (il Segretario), a name by which he is as well known in the history of Naples as Machiavelli is in that of Florence. But of his sons, one was Count of Carinola ; the second, Count of Policastro ; the third, Archbishop of Tarento ; the fourth, prior of the Knights of St. John of Capua, a richly endowed commandery of the Hospitallers, which in Spanish times be- longed to Giulio de' Medici, afterwards Pope Clement VII., and after him to Leo Strozzi. What reason these men had for dethroning the royal family, to whom they owed every- thing, has never been clearly known. But if we consider the disposition which Ferdinand and his eldest son Alphonso showed on every reason, we shall be very much inclined to credit those who say that the wealth of the subjects and the poverty of the king conspired to effect the ruin of the first. The Duke Alphonso had in the midst of the distress oc- casioned by the Turkish war, which after the conquest of 114 THE CABAFAS OF MADDALONL Otranto had filled all Italy with terror, upbraided the king that he had allowed his servants to enrich themselves at his < \- l>ense, and that he ought now, in a time of such great danger, to deprive them of their spoils, and punish them as impostors. Thus began this struggle, one of the most bloody, cruel, and shocking which is recorded in the annals of the king- dom. The brazen doors of the gates of the strong castle of Charles of Anjou show us, in rough but remarkable repre- sentations in basso-relievo,* the principal events of the war which King Ferdinand had to wage, not long after his acces- sion to the throne, against the Duke John of Anjou, son of Rene, who then led the French party. It was a struggle for the existence or non-existence of the House of Arragon, and the children and grandchildren of the leaders of the Angevin party were still persecuted with a bloody vengeance. But it scarcely drew down upon the king and his family such a burden of hatred and abomination as this second War of the Barons. Only by a shameful act of perjury did Fetrucci and Coppola fall into the hands of the king. A contemporary chronicler informs us, in a simple but dreadful narrative, of the revenge which he took on them. " On Monday the 13th of November, 1486, the sentence of condemnation was issued at Castelnuovo against Messer Francesco Coppola, Count of Sarno ; Francesco de' Petrucci, Count of Carinola ; and Gio- van Antonio de' Petrucci, Count of Policastro. The sentence condemned them to decapitation, to the loss of all their ho- nours and dignities, and the confiscation of all their possessions. Several of the counts and barons were against it, and, on the llth of December of the year mentioned, Messer Francesco was placed in a small cart, with a cord round his neck and chained ; he was conducted past all the noble sediles in the town, till he reached the great market, where a high scaffold had been erected, and the executioner cut off his head and quartered him : the quarter of the head was exposed upon a stake with iron prongs by the custom-house at Casa Nuova, the second by the custom-house at Sant' Antonio, the third by the bridge and the house of Angelo Como, and the fourth by the chapel. But on the same day his brother Giovan Antonio, Count of Policastro, who sat in the tower of * " Gugliclmo Monaco." German paper, 1850. Pp. 161-163. THE WAR OF THE BARONS. 115 San Vincenzo in mourning clothes, was conducted out of Castelnuovo in the same manner, to the same scaffold, accom- panied by two monks of the order of St. Dominicus, and one hermit of the order of Santa Maria della Grazia. There he was also beheaded. On Thursday the llth of May, 1487, in Castelnuovo, by the citadel, a highly projecting scaffold was erected, covered with black cloth, upon which the sentence of truncate capitis was executed upon Messer Antonello de' Pe- trucci and Messer Francesco Coppola. In the evening the Dominican friars came and carried away the corpse of Messer Antonello to his family chapel, and in the same manner the monks of St. Augustin conveyed the body of the Count of Sarno, together with his head, to his chapel in their church. There were sixteen monks with twelve torches who thus bore aAvay the corpses." * It is known from other eye-witnesses that the numerous spectators belonging to the people, who were present at the bloody scene within the walls of the prison, knelt down and took off their caps as the grey head of the once powerful private secretary fell. In the sacristy of the Dominican church stands, next to the royal coffin at the present time, the coffin which contains the bones of the decapitated Count of Policastro ! What a neigh- bourhood ! Mouldering fragments of drapery still cover a part of the body ; the joints of the neck are cut through by the blow of the sword, and only the head is fixed, which has the stamp of youth upon it. The Count of Maddaloui was one of the principal rivals of the men upon whom Ferdinand exercised such a cruel revenge for unproved guilt. "Amongst those," says the most elo- quent historian of these tragical events, " who sought to con- ceal personal dislike by political reasons, whilst they excited the king against them, Diomed Carafa is to be found. Apart from his noble descent, the recollection of his father's merits, no less than his own services, procured him great influence with the king, as they obtained for him the confidence of the duke. Like the rest of the barons, the great power of the count, and of the private secretary, was hateful to him ; and as if high rank, and not eminent intellectual power, ought to govern countries, he saw with reluctance the men whom he * Cronaca di Napoli di Nbtar Giacomo. Pp. 161-163. I 2 116 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. despised govern the king, and so quickly become his equals in station, and outstrip him in the favour of the monarch." * If the ambition of Diomed Carafa was gratified by the fall of his rival, he did not long enjoy this satisfaction. Six days afterwards he was a corpse. " On Wednesday, the 17th of May, 1487, at the fifteenth hour, in the Castle dell' Ovo, the excellent Lord Diomed Carafa, Count of Maddaloni, departed this life according to the eternal decree of God. On the fol- lowing day the funeral service was performed in the church of San Domenico, at which were present his Majesty the King, the Queen, the Duchess of Calabria, and many dukes and princes. The body was laid upon a bier, which was covered with a carpet of rich brocade, clothed in white damask, with a sword and gilt spurs. Then he was buried in the ground under his chapel." f Diomed Carafa's name is not inscribed upon his monument, but its genuineness does not admit of any doubt. Pilasters and architectural compartments, with allegorical figures of Justice and Generosity, with rosettes and raised ornaments in- laid with gold, surround a niche, in which, upon a sarcophagus, lies the form of a warrior ; a helmet is upon the head ; the hands are folded upon the breast ; a dagger upon the left side ; at the feet two recumbent small dogs. A round arch with heads of cherubs, and a canopy decorated with roses, form a lunette, which shows in bas-relief the Annunciation. An Agnus Dei crowns the top of the arch, and gives a finish to the whole. The arms and emblems of the Carafas, the three sheaves on a red field, the balance stretched out, the pedigree of the Madda- lonis on a circle of stretched leather, are fixed upon many of the escutcheons. The inscription upon the sepuchral urn men- tioned before is Huic virtus gloriam, gloria immortalitatem ; next to the sign of the balance you read the motto, Fine in taitto, that corresponded well at the time M'ith the Hoc foe et vives. The date of the year, 1417, shows that the work was begun even in the lifetime of the Count. It is justly ascribed to Agnolo Aniello del Fiore, who is not unknown to fame, as \v< il by his own works, by means of which he paved the way for the sculpture of the Cinquecento, as by being the master of * Camillo Porzio, Conquira dc' Baroni, i. 6. f Cronaca di Notar Giacomo, p. 163. DIOMED CARAFA. 117 one of the most excellent sculptors at Naples, Giovanni da Nola.* Many recollections remain of Diomed Carafa. In the midst of his active life he was not a stranger to the sciences : and there are some short writings of his which show, in an equal degree, his practical understanding, his knowledge of business, and his worldly wisdom. Thus he is the composer of a letter addressed, by the desire and in the name of King Fer- dinand, to King Henry of Castille, which gives to this last some military rules for the conduct of his war against Por- tugal, and admonishes him to greater prudence and skill. There are other missive letters by Diomed of a didactic kind : one to the Duke Alphonso of Calabria, who was just preparing for a journey to Ancona ; another to a natural son of the king's, Francesco Duke of St. Angelo, who then was in Hun- gary with his brother-in-law, Matthias Corvinus, to learn the art of war. He composed three books on military concerns, and another upon court affairs. When Beatrice of Arragon, Ferdinand's daughter, who was betrothed to Corvinus, went to Hungary in September, 1476, from whence she, years after- wards, married a second time, and was repudiated with a vile breach of promise, returned home to survive the ruin of her house, Carafa presented her with a manuscript containing many rules of conduct. " Know," it was said therein amongst other things, " that the caresses of persons in your rank are no payment, and that you will not always be able to give gold and silver ; but the more fine words you distribute, by so much the more do you keep of them in store." A similar writing was destined for another prince's daughter, probably the clever and spirited Eleonora, who married, in the year 1473, Ercole d'Este, the first Duke of Ferrara ; and often governed the country in the absence of her husband. His- torical mention is made that after she had just given birth to the prince royal, Alphonso, she was surprised by a conspiracy planned in her own house, and the clatter of arms upon the steps. She sprang up from her bed almost naked, and with her baby in her arms hastened by a covert passage to the castle; thus saving her husband, his son, and his castle. " Think thereupon, Madonna " (says the author, farther en- * S. Volpicclla, Principal! Edificii dclla Citta di Xapoli. Tp. 273, 407. 118 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. larging upon the axiom mentioned above), " that you cannot give to all with whom you speak, gold, silver, and posses- sions, for the world would not be sufficient for this. But good words and a friendly face you may have for all ; and such a gift is natural. For as wealth, when it is divided, diminishes, the treasure of words increases, and they only become more flexible and elegant. Why, then, not give what affords so much pleasure and is of use, and is increased by generosity ? Believe me, your equals can do more by such words than by presents : therefore divide this abundance of coins, and the good fruits will not fail." If in such advice, suitable to the morals of the time and the inclinations of this family, was only not to be understood Dante's celebrated Lunga promessa ecu attender corto I he bids her besides, with regard to her conduct to her husband and her mother-in-law : " In conversation with them strive to be discreet, and you will find your advantage in it. Loquacious and lively women are well enough, but not in their own homes." * Owing to the favour of the royal family, the Count of Mad- daloni became a very rich man. Philipe de Commines relates of him, that at the entrance of Charles VIII. the revenues which Carafa obtained from the House of Arragon, partly in land and partly in the shape of benefices, amounted to forty thousand ducats. " For," he added, " the kings there can give away their (crown) lands, and give away the other as well ; and I believe there are not three people in the kingdom whose property is not derived from royal presents and confis- cations."t Diomed Carafa made, moreover, a noble use of his wealth. He left behind him a memorial in Naples, the worth and importance of whicli is the more felt from the want of a similar one in the capital of both the Sicilies. In the never-ending long street, which is to be seen far below when one stands upon the hill of Sant' Elmo (now it cuts through a colossal heap of houses almost in the middle, even to Nola, called by the people for that reason the Spacca-Napoli), in the quarter which was then the place of meeting of the most * B. Chivccarclli, De illustribua scriptoribua qui in civitate et regno Neapolis florucrunt. Naples, 1780. Vol. i. p. 144. Gio. Ant. Cassitto, Lettera a S. . la Signora Duchessa Giovane D. Giuliano Baronessa di Mudersbach. Naples, 1790. t Comminea, chap. xiii. PALACE OF MADDALONI. 119 illustrious persons, and even to this day contains the dwellings of many families of noble birth, besides the most beautiful and remarkable churches, not far from the monastery of the Domi- nicans, Diomed Carafa built a palace, one of the few which, well preserved, and remarkable for its style and circumfer- ence, have remained to us in the later times of the middle ages. We must not think of the fortified palaces of Florence in the fifteenth century, when they were brought to the highest degree of perfection ; for, compared with those, this building will not produce an imposing effect. But the architects of Florence who were employed at Naples^ as well under the Angevins as under the Arragonese, have had some influence, and a decided one, upon the style, although other elements have had their effect also. The whole palace, consisting of two stories, is built of gray marble from the quarries of Sorrento, the stones of which are carefully fitted into one another with sunk grooves. The doors and windows are four-cornered, and tolerably wide, with marble posts ; each architrave is decorated by a garland of leaves ; on each framed frieze, besides the coat of arms, is an inscription which expresses the grateful sense of the founder towards the royal family, In honorem optimi Regis Ferdinandi et splendorem nobilissimae patriae Dio- medes Carafa comes Matalone, MCCCCLXVI. Ancient remains of sculptures and busts are fixed in a judicious manner on the facade and side walls ; a wooden roof, with modillions made according to an old pattern, crowns the building', which alto- gether conveys an impression of durability ; but the effect of its noble simplicity is more ornamental than imposing. The atrium at the entrance of the steps is in the same decorated style, with smooth broad arches ; the staircase is convenient ; and on the upper story above the great rooms another inscrip- tion may be read, expressing the same thing in other words, Has comes insignis Diomedes condidit aedes in laudem Regis pa- triaeque decorem. The architectural decorations of the court- yard remained unfinished. It was once remarkable for two monuments, of which in our days little is left beyond the recollection of them. Upon a pillar of Seranezza marble was placed, as late as the last century, a bronze statue of King Ferdinand on horseback ; it is ascribed to the Florentine sculptor Donatello, if a confused account of the life of this artist, by George Vasari, is to be so understood, which is to be 120 THE CAKAFAS OF MADDALONI. sure a bold hypothesis.* A pillar and statue mark the spot where the Arragonese once waited for Carafa, whom he came to fetch to the cliace ; Diomed was still hi bed, and the king waited in the courtyard till he was dressed. On the wall opposite the entrance a colossal brass head of a horse was once placed, the only remains of the once celebrated Grecian horse that, as a symbol of the republic, was to have adorned the place in front of the temple of Neptune, to which the people attributed magical power ; and King Conrad of Ilohenstaufen, as a token that he had subdued the rebellious city, placed a bridle upon it as the inscription informs us : " Ilactenus effrenis, Domini nunc parct habenis, Rex domat hunc aequus Parthcnopcnis equum." Till the year 1322 the horse stood before the cathedral. Tradition informs us that the Archbishop Uberto of Mont- auro, to put an end to the superstition which caused the people to lead sick horses round this gigantic form to heal them, caused it to be broken to pieces, and the mass of brass cast into church bells. Only the masterly head was saved, and erected by Diomed on the place mentioned, where it re- mained till later times. Its place is at present supplied by a plaster copy, whilst the original has been moved to the Bour- bon museum ; one of the ornaments of a room which contains the wonderful bronzes and statues of Herculaneum. The following inscription by Francesco Carafa, Prince of Colo- brano, informs us of its strange fate : " Qiuc mca fucrit dignitas, quae corpora vastitas Superstcs monstrat caput Barbaras injccit frcnos Supcrstitio avaritiesque dedcrunt morti, Bonorum dcsiderium augct mihi prctium Caput huic vides, Corpus maioris tcmpli campana; servant, Mecum civitatis periit insigne, Id genus artium amatores, Francisco Carafa Hoc quit-quid cat deberi sciant." The Count of Maddaloni did not collect this memorial of antiquity only, but many other works of art, in his dwelling. He had his rooms decorated, by the painter Pietro del Don- * Vasari, in the Life of Donatello. Florence edition, 1848. VoL iiL p. 205. POSTERITY OF DIOMED. 121 zello, with pictures which Bernardo de' Dominici, the Vasari of Naples, saw when a youth at the beginning of the last cen- tury, but which perished in his time, owing to new buildings in the house.* These works of art disappeared by degrees from the palace, which, after the death of the fourth Count and first Duke of Maddaloni, without children, in the year 1561, also called Diomed, passed to his nephew, Don Marzio, and remained in trust for the Prince of Colobrano, a collateral branch of the Carafas, till the year 1813, when a well-known lawyer, Francesco Santangelo, obtained it by purchase. The new possessor cared for the restoration and preservation of antiques, and by degrees filled up the empty places with those .treasures of art and science to which his sons, Niccolo and Michele, made important additions. It forms at the present time one of the first private collections of Naples, worthy by its value and extent of a royal palace, whether from its pictures and bronzes, its coins and ancient pottery, or, lastly, its well-selected library.")" Diomed Carafa married twice. His first wife was Maria or Isabella Caracciolo, the second Sueva San Severino, both belonging to the most illustrious races in the country. Gian Tomaso, the eldest of his sons, inherited the rank but not the good fortune of his father. Leader of the troops hastily gathered together after the departure of Charles VIII., with which Fernandino undertook to regain his patrimonial in- heritance, he was completely beaten by the French at Eboli, on the side of the road which leads to Calabria ; his troops ran different ways without fighting well, and some of the in- fantry were cut to pieces in their flight before the deserters reached Nola.J This second Count of Maddaloni, as well as his cousin Antonio of Mondragone, the founder of the line of Stigliano, was involved in the extreme confusion which ac- companied the fall of the Arragonese. At Gonsalvo's en- trance into Naples in the year 1503, as an adherent of the fugitive Angevin, his fiefs and titles were declared forfeited, his goods were confiscated, and it was only after the establish- * Do Domenici, Vitc del Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti Napolctani. New edition, Naples, 1840. Vol. i. p. 309. f Napoli e i Luoghi celebri delle sue vicinanze. Naples, 1845. Vol. ii. p. 321. Guicciardini, Storia d'ltalia, ii. 5. 122 THE CAIIAFAS OF MADDALOXI. nient of tlie Spanish dominion that the Carafas were again received into favour. The son of Gian Tomaso fought under .Ramon de Cordova at Ravenna, and established the lint- of the Counts of Maddaloni, whilst that of the Count of Montorio, of the elder branch, was founded by Giovan Antonio, the second son of Diomed. The first will occupy the principal place in the further course of this history; of the second we shall speak now. In the course of two generations tli tained to a power and grandeur which gave them the li an hereditary position amongst the rulers of Italy ; but their fall was the more rapid and terrible, and made the whole peninsula tremble. Gian Antonio Carafa dreamt not of this fate when he built a house obliquely opposite his father's dwelling, which is re- markable even to this day by its grave and somewhat heavy architecture and its black stone. On the 28th of June, 1476, a son was born to him by his wife Vittoria Camponeschi, out of Aquila in the Abruzzi, according to some from Sant' An- gelo della Scala, and to others from Capriglia, in the province of the Principata Ultra, who received the name of Gian Pietro. When still young he made rapid progress in the sciences. He was brought by his relation, the Cardinal Oliviera Carafa, to the court of Pope Julius II. ; became Archbishop of Chicti, the principal place of that side of the Abruzzi, founded with St. Cajetan of Tiene, the order of monks who called themselves after the Theatine bishopric ; became a cardinal under the government of Paul III., and was one of the members of the sacred college, who by word and deed assisted, with thy greatest activity, in the revival of a Catholic spirit. At last he obtained the bishopric of Naples. Hostile to Spain and to Spanish politics, he had to struggle against a violent opposition before he could gain possession of his see. The viceroy, Don Pedro de Toledo, knew the violent and inflexible character of the man too well to wish to have him by his side. Pope Julius III. was obliged to invoke the aid of the emperor to remove the impediments. When Julius died, the eyes of the conclave were directed toward the Cardinal Carafa ; the im- perial ambassadors warned him that their sovereign would never consent to his election. He replied, " If God wishes me to be pope, no emperor can hinder me from being so ; but for myself it will be so much the better, for then I shall owe PAUL rv. 123 my elevation to no human power." He was elected as a suc- cessor of St. Peter's on Ascension Day, May 23, 1555, at the age of 79. He called himself Paul IV. What a stormy government was his ! The popes had long wavered between the emperor and France. The small results, notwithstanding all the detached successes, of the labours of Julius II. and Leo X., and the dreadful distress of the govern- ment of Clement VII., are to be ascribed to this wavering, the necessary consequence of a policy which, with small in- dividual means, with unfaithful and uncertain allies, wished to accomplish great things, and even hindered every decision which they seemed to facilitate, from dread of being oppressed by the overpowering might of the conqueror, even when he was their friend. Paul III. did much the same ; and if he suc- ceeded better than his predecessors, it is not merely to be at- tributed to his refined tact, but still more to the times, that were hushed after that the violent storms under the Medici had spent their fury. But he likewise could not hinder, what Leo and Clement had struggled against, the imperial power, or rather, to speak more correctly, the firm establishment of the Spanish .power, in the north as well as in the south of the peninsula. That, for the sake of which the papacy had once fought a life and death struggle with the Hohenstaufens, it was now forced to bear from Hapsburg. Paul IV. would not bear it. He is the last pope who adopted a great national policy, which extended not only beyond the narrow limits of the States of the Church, but beyond the frontiers of Italy. The spirit of the Italian, of the noble, and of the prince of the Church, stirred alike within him. By nature he hated the emperor and the Spaniards ; he said that, as a good Italian, he could not endure that those persons who now ruled his native land had been their own cooks and grooms. He complained that the emperor's agents had favoured the religious movement in Germany, to over- throw the papal power, and so to appropriate to himself the rest of the peninsula. He considered Italy as an harmonious instrument with four strings, Rome, Venice, Milan, and Naples. He bewailed as lost the souls of Lodovica Sforza and Alphonso of Arragon, because they had destroyed this beautiful instrument. If none would take care of it, he would. If no one would listen to his appeal, he would comfort THE CA1UFAS OF MADDALOXI. himself with the judgment of posterity.* " Hinc omnis mail labes," he said once to the Venetian ambassadors, when re- calling' the events which had happened in his native country from the entrance of Charles VIII. to the departure of King Frederick. " Then was that door of misfortune opened to the barbarians which we might have shut, but were not listened to, for the sake of our sins. We shall not repent that we have done what we could, perhaps more than we were able. We leave to future shame all those that have not assisted us, and it shall be related how an old man of eighty, when he was expected to retreat into a corner to weep over his sins, stepped forth valiantly as a champion for the freedom of Italy, but he was left in the lurch by those who ought to have as- sisted him the most zealously. Repentance will reach you one day, my lords of Venice, and all the rest of you ho would not take advantage of the opportunity to free yourselves from this pestilence. It began under a king who was en- durable from his good qualities ; but then came this race, a mixture of the Fleming and Spaniard, in which nihil regium nihil Christianum, that sticks like a burr where it once fastens. The French are different ; they break off in the middle of their work, and would not stop were they tightly bound. We have seen them lords of Naples and lords of Milan ; they are gone ; Stare loco nesciunt. Illustrious ambassadors, we speak to you in confidence, as we would to his excellency the Doge, to the counsellors and heads of Christendom, for we know that you will not publish our thoughts. We shall never repent that we have lalxmred through this residue of life for the honour of God and the welfare of poor Italy, that we have led a la- borious life without repose or refreshment;" and soon after- wards. --.Mark what we say to you; we are old, and shall go from hence one of these days when it pleases God. But the time will come when you will know that we have told you the truth ; God grant that it may not be to your hurt ! You are both barbarians ; and it would be as well if you remained at home, and that no other language were spoken in Italy besides our own."f * Relazione di Roma, di Bernardo Navagero, 1558. In the Rclazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti al Senate edite da Eugenio Alberi. Florence, 1846. Vol. vii. p. 565. t B. Navagero's despatches from the 21st of May and 28th of June, in ALVA'S MARCH AGAINST ROME. 125 He began the war against Spain but what a war ! King Philip II. was the mightiest monarch in the world. What had the Pope to resist such secular power ? France helped, but the Duke of Guise was not a match for Alva, the Viceroy of Naples, and the victory of Spain at St. Quentin kept him back. The old levity of the French in Italy rendered the designs of Henry II., as it had once done those of Lewis XII. and Francis II., of no effect. The enemy soon stood before Rome. The town narrowly escaped falling once more into the power of the imperial army, as it had done thirty years earlier into that of the Constable. In the night between the 24th and the 25th of August 1557, the Viceroy planned to accomplish a bold design (un coup-de-main). He had heard from his spies that it would be easy to take Porta Maggiore, if they had only two pieces of artillery to attack the fortifica- tions with. Whoever has known Home before the last ten years may remember the towers that flank this remarkable gate, which is formed by great arches, over which the stone canals of three old aqueducts have been placed. Under the government of the last pope, Gregory XVI., it was brought nearer again to its original form by the removal of the later buildings. Alva marched thither on the 25th of August from the Via Latina to La Colonna, a small village situated upon the extreme heights of the Albanian mountains, near to the road leading from Palestrina to Rome; there he remained and sent his condottiers, Ascanio della Cornia, an illustrious native of Perugia, and a nephew of Pope Julius III., with a hundred horsemen, who carried as many arquebusiers behind them. They were to mount the walls at Porta Maggiore by means of ladders which they carried with them, break open the gate, and wait at the Basilicata of Santa Maggiore till he and the whole army moved on. From thence he wished to march through the quarter of Monti, to try and reach Campo di Fiore, and from Monte Giordano in the strong Orsini palace to turn the artillery against the nieghbouring fortress of St. Angelo. All this was to be performed during the night. Ascanio marched on. At the second hour after sunset the Viceroy put himself in movement. La Colonna is fifteen tho Appendix. to Jsbre's Storia dclla Gucrra di Paolo IV., in Archivio Storico Ital. Florence, 1847. Vol. xii. pp. 307, 308. 120 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. inili-s distant from Rome; there the heavy artillery and the baggage were left behind. The Duke, with .Mark Auton C'olnuua, the head of this great Ghibelline family, who \u-iv detested by the Pope with a deadly hatred, and deprived of their fiefs, led the vanguard, wlu'ch consisted of light cavalry ; the centre was formed by the Spanish infantry, and the Germans brought up the rearguard. Their war-cry was " Liberty," a bitter mockery. The weather favoured the undertaking; the night was rainy and intensely dark. The army was only half a mile distant from the town, but Ascan had arrived long before. He saw that the whole city was illuminated, and heard everywhere the people running to and fro and the clatter of arms. The decampment of the army was known in Rome, and, although it was not known whether it would turn towards the town or towards Tivoli, it had been resolved to be upon the watch. The troops of the Pope remained the whole night under arms. Cardinal Carafa, the soul of the papal decisions, visited all the places on horse- back, and did not indulge in a moment's rest. The Viceroy held a council of war ; it was resolved to inspect other parts of the wall : one of the officers rode as far as the gate of Salara; he found everything quiet, and said to the Duke, " I will stake my life, if we go on, we shall take Rome before the day dawns." But Colonna reminded him of Agrippinu's speech when Nero sent his sergeants : " Could he bear it," said he to him, " that his native town should be destroyed, which had produced so great a hero as himself?" Mark Anton and Alva looked at one another, and the last resolved upon a retreat. He granted an hour's rest to his men, and then marched to La Colonna, and further to Genazzano, and to Paliano, castles belonging to the Colonnas.* The Viceroy had forbidden his soldiers to plunder the town, and promised them double pay instead; but had they entered it, they had secretly determined not to lose so fine an opportunity of eniirli- ing themselves. Many attributed to this circumstance that Alva did not advance ; he merely wished to show the Pope and his followers that he could take the town if he Liked. But others said tliat he would gladly have done it, if he could ; but that the lights, and the noise, and the clatter of the horses' P. Nores, p. 210. PEACE AT CAVE. 127 hoofs, had caused him to believe that preparations had been made, and that the French troops were in the vicinity.* But the Pope saw at last that it was necessary to conclude a peace. The war was voluntary, says the Venetian ambassa- dor, the peace forced. Paul IV. had no more money, or ammunition, or provisions, or prospect of assistance. The same happened during another war, which long afterwards was undertaken by another pope. His own troops, it was feared would in their licentiousness plunder the town. Poor Rome, what will become of thee ? exclaimed the women, who durst not leave any door open, on account of the debauchery of the soldiers. Marshal Strozzi, who was sent by his cousin Henry II. to Rome, and who only of all the papal party understood the regular system of warfare, said frankly to the pope that he must make as good terms as he could with the imperial party. Venice advised peace the president had already said in council, that, if your neighbour's house is on fire, you are participators in it.f The peace was concluded at Cave by Palestrina on the 9th of September. A pope, even when he loses, said Navagero, always comes off much better than any other ruler, from whom the peace takes what the war had left him. This may be true of the time of the treaty of Toledo, of Pius IV. and Bonaparte. The Duke of Alva entered Rome on the 19th of September, rode directly to the Vatican, kissed the foot of the Pope with all reverence and humility, and begged for pardon, in his own name and in that of the king, for what they had undertaken against the apostolical chair and his holiness. Such an end, observes Pietro Nores, the most authentic historian of these events, gave Paul IV. more proud thoughts for the deliver- ance of Italy from foreigners, though they were not favoured by fortune ; thoughts which would perhaps have been more successfully fulfilled, if the Pope, instead of in- voking foreign aid, had only made use of that of Italian princes. But how to accomplish this, when all Piedmont was in the interests of Spain, when Venice jealously observed a strict neutrality, not to mention, besides, that the Houses of Este and Farnese were weak, and Cosmo de' Medici sold to the Spanish policy, and only thinking how he could en- * B. Nayagero's Relation. Alberi, p. 398. t Orazione di Niccolo da Ponte, savio del Comiglio. Alberi, p. 420. 128 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. large his beautiful possession of Florence by the lasting an- nexation of Sienna ! When Paul IV. conducted this war, his adherents were all- powerful in Rome. His elder brother, Giovan Alphonso, Count of Montorio, left behind him, at his death in 1548, three sons, for whom a brilliant career was opened when their aged uncle became pope. It is hardly to be believed that under so severe a zealot, and so impassioned a champion for church reform, an administration of nepotism would prevail, almost as wild as that of the Borgias, and as ambitious as that of the Farnese. But Paul IV., with his mind quite full of great ecclesiastical and political plans, honestly believed that he promoted the welfare of the States of the Church, and of the universe, by the assistance of his arms, and publicly declared that the apostoli- cal chair had never possessed a greater man than Charles Carafa. Charles Carafa was thirty-six years old when his uncle ascended the throne of St. Peter the youngest of three brothers. He had seen much of the world, had been tossed about during the wars of Piedmont, in Germany and in the country of Sienna ; his way of life was such that his uncle the Cardinal could not have him about him. But when his uncle became Pope, the tables were turned, and Charles Carafa's violent hatred of the Spaniards, more than his activity and dexterity in business, brought together these dissimilar natures. Even when a cardinal he led a wild life, sought after plea- sure, hunted, played, gave banquets, and gladly accepted invitations. He was very jealous of his influence ; he liked to be recognized as lord, and see others in a state of depend- ence. To the same degree that he assisted his friends and dependents, he knew how to avenge himself on his rivals and enemies. Much as the Pope granted to him, he had neverthe- less but a small share in the ecclesiastical government. His eldest brother, Giovanni, after his father's death Count of Montorio, was of a weak disposition, very much attached to his family, extravagant to such a degree that the rich revenues which he received from his office of Captain-General of the Church, and the fief of Paliano, which the Pope had taken away from the outlawed Colonnas, and had bestowed upon him, scarcely sufficed to defray the expenses of his household, and that of his wife 'and of his son. The other brother, Antonio Marquis of Montibello, was dull and passionate ; FALL OF THE CARAFAS. 129 he had one son, Alphonso, the Pope's favourite, and elevated by him even in his tender youth to the dignity of cardinal. From the beginning there had been dissensions amongst the brothers : the elder ones could not bear the overwhelming influence of the younger brother, and the younger one quarelled with the elder ones on account of their lukewarm- ness in warlike enterprises, for they openly blamed the policy of the Pope and his hatred against the Spaniards. Once things went so far, that after some violent words they drew their swords in the presence of Piero Strozzi. They were hated by all the Romans as Neapolitans, and because they enriched themselves with the spoils of great Roman families as insolent men in authority, to whom were attributed the many misfortunes which had befallen Rome by war, foreign soldiery, increase of taxation, the demolition and utter ruin of houses and villas, the destruction of the vines during the government of the Pope, of whom the Venetian ambassador said in the year 1556, "he had spent twenty-five months in war, and six in peace." The Carafas were ruined in the opinion of all with the Roman people, with the imperial- Spanish party, as well as with the French party. Fra^ois de Guize said to Pietro Strozzi, he had clearly proved to the Pope that his nephews betrayed the papal throne, and that their engagements with the King of France had been ill performed. But one of their worst enemies was the intriguing Cosmos Duke of Florence, who had not forgiven them for having used their utmost exertions to thwart his plans, in the year 1555, for the establishment of an independent kingdom for himself, of the conquered Sienna, as in later times was done by Cybo in Massa, the Medici in Florence, the Farnese in Piacenza and Parma. The bow was too tightly strung ; it burst, and never has the fall of nepotism been more terrible. The three Carafas were at the same time declared to have forfeited their offices, and were sent into exile in different places. The Pope said to the Roman magistrate, the conservator, " They have ruined the world, the apostolical see, and Rome ; we hope that a just God and our successor will chastise them!" Catherine Cantelmo, the mother of the three, cast herself down before him, but he had her taken away, saying, " Cursed be the womb that has produced such base and criminal men." He 130 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. would not listen to any justification ; he never allowed his favourites to appear before him again. The young Cardinal Alphonso was the only one whom he retained near him. Even in that time opinions were divided as to the particu- lar cause which gave rise to this excess of severity and anger. For, whatever else the Cardinal Carafa might be reproached with, he had followed up the political designs of the pope with zeal and energy, the more so as they were also his own. But Paul IV. was, like other men of passionate natures, of an ascetic disposition, which he had employed solely on eccle- siastical affairs ; he plunged suddenly in his old age into the excitement of war and politics. When he succumbed, as he was obliged after a violent internal struggle to make a peace with his hated enemy, he returned again with the same energy to the train of thought which had occupied the whole of his earlier life. When the treaty was concluded at Cave, Car- dinal Vitellozzo Vitelli brought him the news of it. He said as he came into the room, " Holy father, peace is con- cluded." It was the second hour of the night : the Pope sat at his supper. He immediately stood up, uncovered his head. and said, "God be praised who has granted us this grace, that we longed for above all others !" then he sat down again in the most cheerful mood, and finished his supper.* It is known that from this time he occupied himself almost exclu- sively with ecclesiastical affairs. Worldly matters affected him little, if the disappointments are excepted which the necessity of settling with his vassals the Colonnas imposed upon him. These transactions offer one cause for his anger against the Cardinal Carafa, of whose fidelity and sincerity he entertained suspicions that were not unfounded. The worldly actions and tyranny of his nephews must have been the more hateful to him the more his thoughts took a spiritual direction. However this might be, the Carafas remained away from court till the death of Paul IV., which happened on the 18th of August, 1559. Great rejoicings had been made in Rome over their fall, but the monkish severity of the pope embit- tered the people still more violently against him than against his nephews. He was still in the agonies of death when the * Nores, p. 217. INSURRECTION AT HOME. 131 Romans revolted. They issued a decree from the Capitol that the prisons should be broken open by force of arms ; then the wild masses spread themselves over the town. First they stormed the pnson of the Inquisition, wounded the guard, let out all the prisoners, and set it on fire. Then they went to the Dominican monastery of Sancta Maria sopra Minerva, where many persons were imprisoned for heresy : they would have flung the monks out of the windows if Giulio Cesarini had not prevented them. The rest of the prisons, Torre Sa- vella, Tor di Nona, and that of the senators' palace, were also broken open : above four hundred prisoners were set at liberty. A few months before, when Pope Paul had put an end to the administration of his nephews, the people had erected a statue to him in the Capitol ; this now fell a sacrifice to their fury. Early on the second morning the magistrates and the people assembled upon the hill which had been the place of honour of the old republic, and has survived so many outrages even up to the present day. The populace tore down the statue and smashed it to pieces, the magistrates and nobles looked on laughing. Like a Jew, the yellow cap was placed upon the venerable head, which, according to a decree of this pope, the Jews were obliged to wear to distinguish them from the Chris- tians. During the whole day the head remained as an object of scorn for the lowest of the rabble, till towards evening some persons, out of pity for him, flung it into the Tiber. For a festive jubilee on the third day, which was Monday, all the escutcheons and inscriptions of the Carafas were broken to pieces and destroyed, and it was resolved to try and seize the nephews. Under such auspices the cardinals met in conclave.* This storm had already been lowering over the heads of the Carafas, when, during the vacation of the Sediles, an event happened which increased their guilt. It was a domestic tra- gedy. The Duke of Paliano had been once a tender husband and father; nevertheless Diaz Garloni, of the race of the Counts of Alife, occasioned an estrangement between him and his wife Violante. The perfidy of the man caused the fall of the woman. Diana Brancacci, one of her ladies, revealed to the Duke the intimacy between his wife and Marcello Capece. Marcello was seized and brought to Soriano, a place now be- * Nores, pp. 276-278. Despatches of the Tuscan Ambassador to the Duke Cosmos, in the archives of the Medici. K 2 132 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONT. longing 1 to the Albani, in the territory of Viterbo, where the Duke was just then staying. Violante was kept under strict guard. Carafa wished at first to conceal the shame of his house, and affected to have other reasons for these measures ; but the affair had become too public. Then he resolved to wash out the stain with the blood of the adulterer, as Pietro de' Medici, the brother of the first archduke, did years after, and whose brother-in-law was Paolo Giordano Orsini, the famous Duke of Bracciano. The brother of Violante, the Count of Alife, was summoned, together with a friend of the house of the family of Toraldo. They held a formal court of justice about Capece, with whom they confronted his accuser, and some other ladies of the old Countess of Montorio. He denied it at first, but, as they tlireatened to put him to the tor- ture, he confessed all. The Duke examined Marcello's decla- ration, and said to him, " Write it all down with your own hand." But whether the terror of death made him incapable, or that his hand was injured by the rope, he could write nothing but the words, " Yes, I am the betrayer of my lord ; yes, I have deprived him of his honour." Giovanni Carafa ap- proached him, read the writing, and stabbed the prisoner on his breast with three thrusts of his dagger, and had the corpse flung into a drain of the adjacent prison. When this happened Pope Paul still lived. When informed of it he merely asked, "And what lias been done witli the Duchess ?" The Duchess had been still permitted to live, be- cause she was likely to become a mother. None thought of calling the Duke to account for his actions, so great was the authority of the barons. Meanwhile the pope died, and it was discovered that the imprisoned lady, notwithstanding the strictness with which she had been watched, found an opportu- nity of entering into a negotiation with the deadly enemy of the Carafas, Marc Anton Colonna. If he found the means of rescuing her, she would deliver her husband dead or alive into his hands. On the 28th of August Giovanni Carafa sent one of his captains to his castle of Gallese, situated in the valley of the Tiber, not far from Civita Castellana, where Violante was imprisoned. In a letter written afterwards from prison to Pope Pius IV. he describes the transaction and the state of his own mind, from which is clearly to be perceived that he still loved his wife ; and the urgency of his relations, who MURDER OF THE DUCHESS OF PAGLIANO. 133 threatened to disown him " if he did not wash the ignominy from his face by the death of the criminal," had at least as much influence over him as the consciousness of his injured honour. Two days afterwards, Don Ferdinand Garloni, Count of Alife, and Don Leonardo di Cardine, a relation of the family, entered the palace of Gallese. In the morning the Duchess's death was announced to her. She desired to con- fess and receive the sacrament. When they both came into the room she inquired, " Is it the Duke's order that I must die ?" Upon Don Leonardo answering yes, she said further, . " Show it to me." After she had read it he seized her hands, in which she held fast a crucifix, to put an end to the tragic scene, whereupon her brother murdered her. Little was s,aid of this circumstance, for from the moment her incarceration became known she had been considered as dead. It was just the turbulent, lawless time, big with expectation of the Sediz holiday, and the deed was done out of the town.* The Cardinal Giano Angelo Medici, of Milan, was elected pope on the 25th December. Carlo Carafa had contributed to this choice, and believed himself secured by it : but he de- ceived himself. Spain, the emperor, and Tuscany had con- spired together to effect his ruin and that of his family ; the Colonnas and other hostile barons worked upon the new pope, and, more than any one else, Marc Anton's mother, once the very beautiful Donna Giovanna d'Aragona, whose picture, by the hand of Raphael, beams with perpetual youth. She could not forget how she had fled out of Rome in danger of her life from Paul IV. Cosmo de' Medici came himself to Rome, accompanied by his wife Donna Eleonora, who was the daugh- ter of the deceased Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo. As she was going away again she said, " I go, not to be present at the tragedy of the Carafas." On the 7th of June of the following year the brothers were imprisoned, and brought into the castle of St. Angelo. The Carafas had not been saints, but their trial was con- ducted in an unwarrantable manner. The fiscal advocate, Ales- sandro Palantieri, had a particular aversion to the Cardinal. " Advocate," the Cardinal had once said to him, when full of suspicion of him on an earlier occasion, " if you have another * Norcs, pp. 279-282. 134 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. opportunity of looking after me, I shall open my eyes very wide." Palantieri never forgot this, and, when the fallen favourite was in his hands, he himself violated the indispen- sable forms of the bad administration of justice of those day* and falsified the evidence. He made use of the confessions of the Duke against the Cardinal ; to prevent the discovery of the falsifications and abases, he hindered the personal confrontation of the two accused persons. Giovanni Carafa penitently con- fessed the murder of his wife and her paramour ; the partici- pation of the Cardinal remained improved. But the chief impeachments against the latter were at the same time an im- peachment against the pope his uncle concerning the war against Spain. With regard to the second accusation, of having robbed the apostolical chamber for the pay of the troops, nothing could be proved against him the books were not produced. As little legal proof could be brought against him on the other points of impeachment. He continued during the trial the same as he had been before firm, intrepid, clear, and of few words. The Duke was weaker : he was threat- ened with the torture to prevail on him to confess. He was already bound to the rope, when nis courage failed him. " Alas !" he exclaimed, " the nephew of a pope, a general in the church, a duke, one who has three royal quarterings in his anus, upon the rack !" and he made the confession that led to his death. The consistory in which the fate of the Carafas was decided lasted eight hours. The Cardinals Farnese, d'Este, and Carpi defended the accused with warmth, but the pope was too much irritated against them. The sentence of death was pronounced. The Cardinal Carafa was first strangled with a silk cord in the castle of St. Angelo. He died boldly, as he had lived. Then the Duke of Paliano, the Count of Alife, and Don Leonardo de Cardines of Tordinoiia were brought into the castle of St. Angelo and beheaded. The Duke likewise bore his hard fate with wonderful firmness, Christian submission, and with a bear- ing worthy of his noble house. An hour before his death he wrote the following letter to his son : " Dear, beloved, blessed son ! The glorious God grant you his grace, and the holy blessing which he vouchsafes to send to his elect. Praised be the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for ever ! I think that I shall be present to you in these the PAGLIANO'S LETTER TO HIS SON. 135 last lines, words, and admonitions that I shall be able to address to you. I pray the Lord that they may be such as a good father ought to write to his only and beloved son. First, and as the most necessary, I will remind you that you must in all your actions and affections show that you are a true servant of God, that you love his divine Majesty far more than your- self, and set aside your own enjoyment, satisfaction, and will, even if you are promised worldly greatness, honour, and hap- piness, not to offend your Creator and Redeemer. If you follow these good and necessary principles you will perform everything else well and honourably : and as, next to God, we must be faithful to our prince, whom he has placed over us, so do you serve his Catholic Majesty the king, as it becomes a valiant and honourable Christian knight. Flee from sin, for it brings forth death. Die rather than endanger your soul : be an enemy to vice : seek decent and honourable company : go often to confession ; receive the holy sacraments often, which are the true medicine of the soul ; they kill sin and keep men in the grace of God : have pity upon the misery of others; exercise yourself in works of piety, and flee from idleness, as well as from conversations and practices which are not fitting for you. Take pains to acquire some knowledge of the sciences, for they are very necessary for a true nobleman, es- pecially for one who has lands and vassals, as also to be able to enjoy the sweet fruits of the Holy Scriptures, which are precious for soul and body. If you relish these you will despise the things belonging to this sad world, and you will not be devoid of consolation in this present life. I wish you to be of good courage about this my death, that you do not behave like a child, but like a reasonable man ; that you do not pay heed to the suggestions of the natural man, or to love to your father, or to the discourse of the world. Consider well, and let this be your comfort, that everything happens here according to the will of the great God who governs the uni- verse with infinite wisdom. And it seems to me that he imparts to me great mercy in taking me from hence in this way rather than in any other ordinary one, for which I shall always thank him, and do you do the same. May it only please him to exchange this life of mine with the other ; the false and delusive one for the true. Do not be disquieted by what people may say or write to you : say to each one, My 136 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. father is dead because God has shown him great grace, and I hope he has saved him to bestow upon him a better existence. "With this I die ; but you will live and reproach no one with my death. " My son, you will have many sorrows, and a heavy burden of debt. It grieves me deeply, and I might have been able to free you from it, but I can do so no longer. It seems to me to be necessary for you to seek an honourable alliance and choose a wife. Respecting this I recommend to you the advice of our relations, the Lord Marquis your uncle, the Cardinal of Naples, and the Lord Count of Maddaloni. Then you will think of marrying your sisters : with Paola you will do what the Lord suggests to you : I recommend them both to you, and you must consider yourself as their father. I recommend the servants to you, and earnestly beg of you to reward them for the services they have done me : take from my soul and my conscience this burden. Love and respect your vassals and be gracious to them ; never attack the honour of their wives, and be as temperate and chaste as you can ; it is a great virtue in the sight of God. I had a great deal more and many particular things to tell you, but time fails me and I go to death : no, to life. If you are a true servant of God's he will guide you, help you, advise you. May you be blessed with the blessing which Isaac gave to his beloved son Jacob ! may your days be long and happy in the fear of the Lord! " On the last day of this deceitful life, that is, on the 5th of March, 1561, at the fifth hour of the night. " YOUB FATHER, THE DUKE OF PAGLIANO."* The unfortunate fate of the Carafas of Montorio persecuted them even after these tragical events. Pope Pius V. had indeed, after his accession, ordered the revision of the whole trial, in consequence of which the sentence was reversed and the memory of the executed persons restored to honour ; the confiscated possessions were given back to the survivors. But the family were soon in a desolate condition. Diomed Count of Montorio, the only son of the Duke of Pagliano, died at the age of twenty, soon after his marriage. Both his sisters. * A manuscript in the library of the Riccardi at Florence, in an appendix of Nores, pp. 458-460. CARDINAL ALPHONSO CARAFA. 137 Maria and Paola, went into the convent of Sapienza, which had been established there by Donna Maria Carafa, the Pope's sister, where the Cardinal Archbishop Olivieri Carafa had de- signed a plan for the erection of a large school, but death summoned him away before its accomplishment. The only descendant of Diomed's marriage with Cornelia Carafa, a daughter of the Count of Cerreto, Alphonso, married, when he had scarcely attained manhood, Vittoria Caracciolo, and was only one-and-twenty years old in the year 1584, when he was killed in a duel by Ferdinand LofFredo, Marchese of Trivico, which was occasioned by a dispute which had arisen at play. Only an illegitimate race remained, that in time obtained the titles of Castelnuovo and Collepietra. The head of the same made himself remarkable in the year 1647 by being one of the few of the ancient nobility that went over to the French party, and was on that account outlawed and deprived of his fiefs and dignities by King Philip IV., and died in a foreign land. It has been already remarked that one individual of the family remained with Pope Paul IV., the young Cardinal Alphonso. He was only nineteen years of age when his uncle died, but his youth did not exclude him from the mis- fortunes which befel the family under Paul's successor. He was deprived of his office as cardinal-librarian, detained a prisoner in the castle of St. Angelo, and punished by a fine of 100,000 gold scudi. He was not allowed to leave Rome. One part, of this enormous sum was raised by the sacred college, another by families who befriended him, as well as by the sale of his goods. The revenues of his archbishopric of Naples were mortgaged for a series of years ; nevertheless, the Pope was obliged to remit the punishment. Pius V., who became very fond of Alphonso Carafa, sent him to Naples to fulfil the duties of his high office. He executed them with piety and zeal, but was never again joyous, such an impression had the fate of his relations made upon him. His grief short- ened his life ; he died in 1560, scarcely aged five-and-twenty. In the cathedral of Naples is to be seen the monument which Pope Pius V. erected to him ; a structure of the Doric order, composed of many kinds of marble of various colours. The statue of the cardinal is lying on the coffin ; the head is sup- ported by the left arm. Above, in basso-relievo, is a Ma 138 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. donna and Child, a good work of the Buonarotti school. The inscription is by the Pope himself, which expresses that Pius V. put up this monument to Alphonso Carafa : " Adolescent! in 11 1 minus sua virtu te quam Majorum splendore claro, patrui Pauli IIII. Pont. Max. religionem integritatemque referent). ea saptientia praedito, ut in secundis rebus sum mam eius tem- perantiam, in adversis miram constantiam omnes laudave- rint." * Before we leave the line of the Counts of Montorio, of the House of Carafa of Maddaloni, to whom befel in so short a time such greatness, such prospects, and such ruin in quick succession, we must retrace our steps and think of the man under whose protection Gian Pietro Carafa began his career. Amongst the Archbishops of Naples none have been more justly praised than Olivieri Carafa, a nephew of Diomed's the first Count of Maddaloni. He was born in 1430; his father Francesco had, in the vicinity of the monument already de- cribed of the person above mentioned, a similar memorial erected to the memory of his beloved son in San Domenico. It is considered as a youthful work of Giovanni da Nola's, and the figure of the knight is arranged recumbent upon the sepul- chre in the same manner, with the inscription, "Par vita religiosus exitus." At the age of eight-and-twenty Olivieri was raised by Pius V. to the archiepiscopal dignity. Nine years afterwards Paul II. invested him with the Roman purple. He was a jurist, a theologian, an antiquarian, a statesman. He even exerted himself in the art of war, as an admiral, in commanding a fleet of galleys against the Turks, but without any fortunate results. Like most of his race, faithful and attached to the Arragonese, in whose favours he shared largely, and often in the midst of the difficulties attend- ing the varying politics of the Popes Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., he defended the interests of his sove- reign's family. According to the morality or immorality of those times, he accumulated, besides his archbishopric of Naples, that he could only visit occasionally, a number of bishoprics and abbeys Chieti, that he resigned to his cousin, afterwards Pope ; Rimini, Terracina, and so on ; and the famous Benedictine Abbeys of La Cave and Monte Vergine, which * Stanislaus Aloe, Tesoro lapidario Napoletano. Naples, 1835. Pp. 27 and 166. CARDINAL OLIVIERI CARAFA. 139 are visited in these days, not merely on account of their pic- turesque situation in the mountains, but also for the sake of the rich treasures contained in their archives. His brother and successor in the archiepiscopal dignity, Alessandro Carafa, brought during his lifetime, from Monte Vergine, the bones of St. Januarius to the cathedral of Naples. How revered Olivieri Carafa was in his home is shown by the description of his entry in the year 1498. " On Saturday the 20th April," a contemporary chronicle informs us, whose records contain so many details worth knowing,* " the right reverend Oliver Carafa, Cardinal of Naples, entered the town, after leaving Rome on Friday evening with two galleys and landing at Castelnuovo. His Majesty the King (Frederick) went as far as the church of the Holy Ghost to meet him, and accompa- nied him to his palace with many nobles and gentlemen and a great flourish of trumpets, so that great honour was done to the Cardinal." Few cardinals have been so popular in Rome. He deserved this popularity by the use which he made of his great income, as well as by the courteousness of his character. He was a very liberal supporter of science and learning: many youths have been won over by him to the Church and to serious studies. He built for the Lateran prebendaries the monastery next to Santa Maria della Pace, that church which was built by Pope Sixtus VI. to commemorate the peace which he obtained, not by, but after, the long wars carried on during his government, where Raphael's Sibyls and Bra- mante's Court are to be admired. He left his beautiful collection of books to this institution. But Rome is indebted to him for a donation by which alone he would have deserved his popularity the statue of Pasquin. He it was who put up the mutilated fragment of the group of the Menelaus-Pa- troclus near his dwelling on the Piazza Navona, which be- longed later to the Caracciolo of Santobuono, and afterwards to the Orsini of Bracciano, and was quite built round by Pope Pius VI. for his nephew Braschi-Onesti. An inscription on the pedestal mentions it : " Olivierii Carafae beneficio hie sum anno salutis MDI." He had another house upon the Quirinal, which at that time was almost deserted, and where, later, the Cardinal Luigi of Este first built the villa which * Cronaca di Notar Giacomo, p. 221. 140 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. had been begun in great measure by Gregory XIII., and was built up into a papal palace by Clement VIII. and Paul V., whilst the Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the Aldobrandini, and others, raised one building after another iti the middle of the colossal ruins of Constantino's baths, in the purest air and the most beautiful situation. It was in the dwelling of the Ca- rafas, " Ante equos Lapideos," as it is called from the group of the Dioscuri, that Pope Paul III. expired, whither he had caused himself to be brought from the palace of St. Mark's, now the Venetian palace, which was his usual residence.* It was not only in Rome, where he lived the most, that Olivieri Carafa earned praise. In his cathedral of Naples, the high altar of which he caused to be adorned by the hand of Perugino Pietro with the Assumption of the Virgin, which was obliged to give way to other alterations, and is to be seen at the present day on the wall next to the door of the sacristy, he built the confessional in which repose the bones of the patron saints. Tommaso Malvico, of Coma, was the architect whom he employed. In the year 1497 the work was begun, and finished not long before the death of the founder. A double flight of marble steps leads you down out of the church : the gates are closed by a bronze railing, which show with the escutcheon, showing the balance and the usual motto, " Hoc fac et vives." Ten Ionic marble pillars support the marble canopy. The relics of St. Januarius rest under the altar, to the left of which the statue of the Cardinal Olivieri Carafa kneels praying, as in St. Peter's at Rome, before the apostle's tomb of the sixth Pius. The marble statue is of Roman work, and is amongst the best sculptures of Naples. Modern ornaments have increased the richness, but hardly the merit, of the artistic work of this beautiful confessional. Olivieri Carafa, of whom the chroniclers of the time men- tion as a peculiarity that he had an invincible idiosyncracy against the smell of the rose, died at Rome, as dean of the sacred college, aged eighty-one years, in the year 1511. His corpse was conveyed to his home. Blessed as the memory was that he left behind him in the capital of Christendom, still it did not protect his escutcheon and mottoes from annihi- lation, when, after the death of Paul IV., the populace de- * Oancellicri, 11 Mercato, &c., ucl circo ogonale. Home, 1811. Pp. 27 and Iwi. CARDINAL OLIVIERI CARAFA. 141 stroyed everywhere the emblems and names of the Carafas. Rome possesses a living chronicle in its numerous inscriptions and arms, but how many of them have disappeared, how many shields have only empty fields ! One single Carafa inscrip- tion of Paul IV. has remained, and even this has been repaired, a monumental stone to mark the overflowing of the Tiber on the 15th of September, 1555, at Sancta Maria sopra Minerva. 142 THE CABAFAS OF MADDALONI. BOOK II. CHAPTER I. THE VICEROYS UNDER PHILIP IV. TILL THE YEAR 1647. The Spanish monarchy under Philip II. and III. Idea of a universal Christian monarchy Condition of Spain Disunion of its indi- vidual parts Centralization of policy Philip II.'s foreign policy Decline of Spain under Philip III. Change of system under Philip IV. War in the Netherlands, Germany, and France Insurrection in Catalonia and Portugal War in Lombardy Poli- tical condition of Italy Don Antonio de Toledo, Duke of Alva' Viceroy at Naples Great distress in the country The viceroys : Duke of Alcala, Count of Monterey, Duke of Medina Share of Naples in the Spanish wars Military service of the nobility Increasing pressure, and increasing distress Quarrels between the sediles and the viceroys The donative, and general system of taxation The arrendamenti, or monopolies The composizioni, or money indemnities Compulsory loans, tributes, sale of places System of robbery, squadra di campagna, bisogni Administration of justice Right of asylum Disputes between the secular and clerical authorities Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino Courts of the viceroys The Admiral of Castille, Viceroy of Naples Misery and immorality The Duke of Arcos in the admiral's place Attempts of the French against the Spanish presidencies on the shores of Tuscany Ineffectual siege of Orbetello Second attempt Con- quest of Piombino and Porto Lungoue Warlike preparations at Naples Want of money Fruit-tax Excessive pauperism. " PLUS ULTRA," the motto of Charles V., was also that of his son Philip. The struggle of the mightiest monarch in Eu- rope was to obtain conquest abroad, and unity at home, by annihilating individual interests. With reference to the first, Philip II. has been fortunate, and at the same time has failed. He maintained Spain, even after it was separated from the Empire, in the same rank among nations to which his father had raised it. But he had, during his government of two-and-forty years, completely weakened tiie internal strength of the monarchy : notwithstanding its exterior splen- dour, the time of its decline had begun, which like a slow con- sumption dragged on its existence for a century after his POLICY OF PHILIP II. 143 death, its decay was apparent to all, although it had been veiled for a considerable space of time with hollow pompous cere- monies. It was the foreign as well as the domestic policy of King Philip which in an equal degree conjured up this ruin. Philip II. may be considered as the personification of the idea of Catholicism, in its most rigid exclusiveness and its mistaken practice. His whole work taken in this sense is harmonious. His policy was formed so much upon his reli- gious views, that at last he knew not how to separate his politics from his religion. He embraced the idea of an uni- versal Christian monarchy much as it would be produced out of the cell of a Dominican friar. To incorporate this idea he pledged his life and his kingdom. Two years before he laid the foundation stone of the edifice which he thought to erect by his marriage with Mary Tudor it was only four months before his death that he perceived his inability, when he concluded at Vervins a peace with Henry IV. All his undertakings for forty years must be considered from the same point of view, because they had the same foundation, as they had the same aim. In England he tried it first in a friendly way during the life of his wife, and then in fighting against Elizabeth. He wished to govern France, either after the death of the Valois, by procuring the succession to the Guises, or by obtaining the throne for himself, or his daughter and an Austrian archduke. Besides this, he claimed Burgundy as great-grandson of Charles the Bold, Provence as heir to the Count of Barcelona. The north of Europe itself was the object of his efforts, whilst, on the other side, he waged an unremitting war with the Turkish power on the shores of Greece and Africa. At the same time he wished to command, not merely as a sovereign, but as an absolute despot, over the gigantic Spa- nish monarchy, which contained in itself so many different king- doms and principalities ! so many different nations ! so many varying laws and privileges. It was an agglomeration of the most contradictory ingredients, and into this he wished to in- troduce unity ! Viceroys presided in Naples, in Palermo, in Cagliari, in Mexico and Lima ; governors ruled in Lombardy, in the Netherlands, in Franche-Comte : even in Spain there were viceroys in Arragon, Catalonia, in Valencia. Spain was far from forming a complete whole. The kingdoms of the 144 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. middle ages had by degrees fallen into the hands of the rulers of Castille and Arragon ; but it was in general only an ex- ternal tie that united them ; not only were the separate pro- vinces very different in character, with dittt-rcnt laws, ditit-mit privileges, different interests, but in the provinces again there stood single independent cities, merely acknowledge, nominal authority of the king. It is true that Ferdinand the Catholic and Charles V. had laboured to bring uniformity into Spain, but what had existed, and gained strength for cen- turies, could not be abolished in the course of one or of two generations. Charles, like his grandfather, had begun his activity in the centre of his kingdom. The victory at Vil- lalar, in the year 1552, had suppressed the insurrection of the commons and subdued Castille, which formed the heart of the monarchy ; three-quarters of the population surrendered, and filled almost entirely the ranks of the army. With this the annihilation of the political power of the nobles, and their exclusion from the Cortes. King Philip followed the beaten path. The insurrection in the Alpujarras offered the oppor- tunity in the year 1570 for the entire subjugation of the Moors, who even after the fall of their last kingdom consti- tuted an important share of the population of Spain. The resistance of Saragossa in the year 1591 led to the ruin of the constitution of Arragon, one of the freest that have sur- vived the middle ages. Queen Isabella had once said that the Arragonese could not give the king a greater pleasure than by rebelling. Philip still allowed the Fueros, or statute privileges of the smaller provinces, to remain. Whilst he created so imperfect an external union, he could not prevent the inhabitants of the different parts of the country from considering each other as strangers, or the Castillian from looking down upon the Andalusian as the inhabitant of a con- quered province. Thus was Spain itself constituted. But Spain was only one portion of the immense kingdom. In what manner the vicegerents of Philip II. behaved at 2s';ipi. been the subject of an earlier part of this history. In Sicily the inhabitants were driven into a lasting rebellion ; but the oppression was greatest in Lombardy. An Italian proverb says, In Sicily the official gnaws, he eats at .Naples, he de- vours in Milan. The system of government pursued by King Philip in the Netherlands led to the insurrection of the whole PHILIP II.'S FOREIGN POLICY. 145 country, and the loss of the northern provinces. It is unne- cessary to speak of America. The son of Charles V. was not successful in his foreign policy. He conquered Portugal this, the only result, was of no advantage to Spain. His interference in French affairs caused an estrangement like that between his father and Francis I. The long war under his grandson proves it. The war between England and Holland had for its consequences the ruin of the Spanish maritime power, and brought the English to Cadiz. The finances of the monarchy were, owing to the constant wars and the expenses required to defend the Spanish policy in so many different countries, completely ruined. The gold mines of America could not supply as much specie as the war consumed. The greatest part of Spain itself was not a rich country : the resources of Flanders and Brabant, believed to be inexhaustible, were paralysed by the rebellion, and the demands upon the Italian terri- tories were larger and likewise oppressive, for, besides the wretched system of finance in general, the commercial and industrial condition of the monarchy since the revolt of the Netherlands, the perverted mercantile policy, the haughty dis- inclination of the Spaniards for the mechanical arts and trade, the daily diminishing incomes, whilst in consequence of the old constitutions of the country the regular taxes in Spain were by no means in proportion to the resources of the country, and still less were they in proportion to the necessities of the government. The privileges of the mother country, and the increased wants of the king, occasioned especially by the in- cessant wars, rendered the fate of the Spanish provinces a more melancholy one than that of provinces usually is. Such wars were not carried on under Philip III., but all the calamitous consequences of the two preceding reigns were felt. Marine, commerce, mechanical industry, everything, was at a low ebb. The national debt had increased in amount to threefold the sum which Philip II. had found it at. Gold was so rare that the rate of interest rose to thirty per cent. The government coined base money to extricate itself from tem- porary embarrassment. An attempt was made to get money by increasing the monopoly, which ruined what still remained of industry in the country. Agriculture, that, in one part of Spain was in a most thriving state, in many others was in a 146 THE CARAFA8 OP MADDALONI. languishing condition, and decreased more and more after ttie expulsion of the Moors by the edict of 1609. In some of the provinces three-quarters of the villages stood empty, and half of the fields were uncultivated. During the government of Philip II. the population had decreased about half a million, whilst during that of his son, which lasted only half as long, it diminished more than two millions ; and at the accession of Philip IV. Spain did not number above six millions of inha- bitants. The northern Netherlands might be considered as lost, and the lower had much fallen off from their original prosperity, and their frontiers were daily menaced by the increasing power of France. If the internal strength of the Spanish monarchy had suffered very much during the weak government of Philip III., the extent of this enormous kingdom was still unchanged ; its po- sition amongst European powers was the same as in the year 1621, when Philip IV. mounted the throne, and surrendered the reins of government to the Count-Duke of Olivarez, in the same manner, indeed with still greater diminution of his own power, than his father had done to the Duke of Lerma. The Spanish branch of the house of Ilapsburg still ruled over the whole Iberian peninsula, over the Balearic Islands, Sar- dinia, Milan, Naples, and Sicily ; consequently its moral influ- ence extended over the whole of Italy, although Venice, Savoy, and the Pope tried from time to time, with more or less success, to withdraw themselves from it. The small har- bours and fortresses on the shores of Tuscany, bearing the name of Spanish presidencies, which Philip II. had reserved for himself when, in the year 1557, he granted the investiture of the land of Sienna, with which Charles V. had invested him, to Cosmo de' Medici, to be held under the Spanish Crown, secured this influence upon the middle of Italy, likewise the sovereignty over part of the island of Elba. Flanders, Bra- bant, Hennegau, and Franche Comte, and what else remained after the separation of the northern Netherlands by the heir of Mary of Burgundy, still formed a valuable possession, to which may be added the strong places on the North African coasts, the Portuguese islands, and that gigantic kingdom of America, and the colonies of South Eastern Africa, and the East Indian possessions", and the younger branch of the family placed upon the imperial throne of Germany since the election PHILIP IV. 147 of Ferdinand II. was more than ever allied to the elder one in political and religious views and interests. Who could have foretold to such a power so rapid and low a fall ? Neverthe- less it was at hand. Spain appeared weary of the long peace which it had maintained under Philip III. and Lerma. On the 9th of April, 1609, a truce of twelve years had been con- cluded, and Holland had made such progress in this interval that it was said Spain had lost more during the peace than during the war of five-and-twenty years. This war was re- newed again in the year 1621. It lasted another seven-and- twenty years, and concluded with the recognition of the inde- pendence of the united Netherlands. Two great men stood opposed to one another at the beginning, Ambrogio Spinola and Maurice of Nassau. The boldness and good fortune of the Dutch were attended with more brilliant successes at sea even than on land. In the last days of Philip III. Spain had already taken a part in the great German war called the thirty years' war, and its excellent infantry had had no small share in the victory at the white mountains, which snatched the crown of Bohemia from Frederick of the Palatinate. On the Rhine the Spaniards were opposed by the King of Sweden. At Oppenheim, Frankenthal, Mayence, they were valiant but unfortunate. In the year 1663 the Cardinal-Infant, brother of Philip IV., and governor of Milan, sent fourteen thousand men against the Swedes in Alsace. They also were unfor- tunate and most of them were lost during their retreat in the Alps. Nevertheless again in the following year ten thousand of them, under the command of the Archduke Ferdinand, helped to obtain the brilliant victory at Nordlingen, which, if it could not restore peace, destroyed the Swedish supremacy in Germany. The struggles in the Netherlands and in Germany involved Spain in a third war, which was far more pernicious to it than both the others. For a long time a constant collision of in- terests had taken place with France. The times of Henry IV. were not forgotten ; as little so as the Spanish intrigues with Gaston of Orleans, the inconsistent brother of Lewis XIII. In the year 1627 France and Spain had fought against one another in Upper Italy, when the extinction of the elder branch of the Gonzagas caused the collateral branches of Nevers and Guastalla to be opposed to one another about the z. 2 148 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Mantuan inheritance. The decision which followed, in the year 1630, in favour of Charles of Nevers, gave a blow to the Spanish influence from which it did not easily recover. From that time the Cardinal of Richelieu, who guided the destinies of the French monarchy, and was infinitely superior in acute- ness and calculation to his rival Olivarez, did not lose sight for a moment of the principal object of his policy, viz. the humi- liation of the house of Hapsburg. After he had concluded a treaty with Sweden, in October, 1634, in the following year he declared war against Spain and Austria. This is not the place to relate its results in Germany. The conflict raged at all the frontiers, in Flanders, Burgundy, Franche Comte, and the Pyrenees. It was conducted with varying success. Once the Spaniards were only thirty leagues from Paris. King Lewis XIII. himself marched against them. They were driven back. They were not more fortunate in Guyenne. The Prince ofConde tooklrun and besieged Fuentarabia. The Archbishop of Bordeaux defeated their fleet before the above-mentioned town ; the Marquis of Pontcourlay beat it a second time before Genoa. Burgundy was terribly laid waste. Thus began the year 1640, when Spain was assaulted on two sides in its most vulnerable parts, and when it least expected it. Insurrections broke out in Catalonia and in Portugal. The monarchy, nearly exhausted by a nineteen years' war abroad, had to resist the most dangerous struggle against her own subjects. Catalonia had still retained much of its old constitution and its privileges, and with them life and prosperity, whilst Castille and Arragon were in a reduced state. The Catalonians possessed many of those characteristics which had made their forefathers so dreaded from the twelfth to the fourteenth cen- tury in the Byzantine kingdom and on the coasts of Italy. They were enterprising, active, rough, submitting to no re- straint, restless, fond of fighting. They had fought valiantly against the French, but grew weary in the midst of the exhaustion which seized the kingdom. The nobles and the people remonstrated against the constant quartering of the soldiers on the villages, against the many expenses of the war, and their excessive burdens. The Peculiarity, which disre- garded the interests and wants of the whole body for the in- terest and wants of a single province or town this Peculiarity, which forms generally the main feature of the middle ages, INSURRECTIONS IN CATALONIA AND PORTUGAL. 149 and is explained in the case before us, and particularly by the history of the origin of the Spanish monarchy, would not yield to the pressing need of that monarchy, and the violence of Olivarez increased the evil. The king and his minister were impatient. " The Catallans are sometimes well disposed, sometimes obstinate," writes Olivarez to the viceroy. " The welfare of the army and of the people is of more importance than the laws and privileges of the province. The soldiers must be cared for : take the beds of the most illustrious noble- men of the land ; rather ought they to sleep upon the ground than let the soldiers suffer." And King Philip : " Let the persons of some of these magistrates be imprisoned, if you think it serviceable : take from them the administration of the public money, and make use of it for the army ; confiscate the possessions of two or three of the most unruly, to terrify the province. It is fitting that an exemplary chastisement take place." The consequences followed without delay. A wild rebellion began in Barcelona, and soon spread over the whole country. Catalonia placed itself under the protection of France, and the French king assumed the title of Count of Barcelona, as he had once borne that of Berenger. The Spanish troops, con- sisting mostly of Castillians, Italians, and Irish, ravaged the province in a remorseless way, which was only restored to tranquillity after thirteen years, and indescribable losses. At the same time Portugal cast off the Spanish yoke : it was a yoke, for Philip II. had treated the kingdom like a conquered country. It bore the same burdens as other parts of the monarchy without enjoying the same privileges. The Spanish rulers had had no mind to take in, not only the great increase of external circumference, but, what was of much more importance, the strength of an internal compact power, which the union of this part of the peninsula would have given them. If their eyes were turned to the ocean, it was only to look after the galleons laden with gold and silver of the trans- Atlantic kingdoms. On the 1st of December, 1640, the re- bellion broke out at Lisbon. The Duke of Braganza, a great- grandson of King Emmanuel the Great, was proclaimed king, as John IV. Eight-and-twenty years later the successor of Philip IV. recognised the independence of Portugal. Whilst Spain on all sides had abundance of occupation, 150 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL France attacked it also in Lombardy. The Count of Harcourt beat the Marquis of Lleganez before Casale ; the loss in dead and wounded was calculated at 6000 men. The Marquis of Breze destroyed the Spanish fleet off Cadiz. The French were t'lH-umped on the frontiers of Arragon, when, on the 4th of December, 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died. Lewis XIII. fol- lowed him five months later. Spain gained nothing by the change of the throne and of the minister. On the 22nd of August, 1643, the first laurel was wreathed round the youthful brow of Lewis XIV. by the splendid victory at Rocroi, gained by Conde at two-and-twenty. The Cardinal Mazarin, who succeeded Richelieu, remained faithful to the policy of his predecessor. We shall soon be informed how he attacked Spain also in the middle and south of Italy. Spain struggled for thirty -eight years, from 1621 to 1659 ; a period in which Philip IV. could say with truth, " All are against us ; we are against all." Then it was ruined. The peace of the Pyrenees disadvantageous as it might be, saved more than the dreadful state of the monarchy justified. The Duke of Olivarez, the soul of the policy which had drawn such misfortune upon the country, had perished fifteen years before on the scaffold.* Thus were constituted the political relations of Spain, the description of which with reference to Naples is the object of the following part of this history. Before we proceed farther it will be advisable, for our better understanding of it, to take a cursory survey of the Italian states. Ruin everywhere. Piedmont only flourished. It owed this to two vigorous princes, Emanuel Philibert and Charles Emanuel. The peace of Gateau Cambresis, in 1559, had given back Piedmont to the first, who left behind him at his death, in 1630, an invigorated and enlarged territory. How- ever capriciously the fortune of war may have changed at times, however it may have turned its back upon the approach- ing decay, the times of his successors were disturbed ; for Richelieu fought against Hapsburg just as much in Upper Italy as on the frontiers of Burgundy and Spain. The House of Savoy was constantly drawn into the struggle, and wavered the more between the two powers when domestic dissensions broke out, so that it was not till the peace of the Pyrenees * Ch. W, is<. T/Espagne depuis le Kgne de Philippe II. Paris, 1844. Vol. i. pp. 328-392. POLITICAL CONDITION OF ITALY. 151 and the benevoleiit government of Charles Emanuel (from 1638-1675.) that peace was restored to this country. Venice had, since the war called after the League of Cambrai, retired more and more into a neutral policy, which, at its best, is only to be compared to the progressive decline of advancing age. It ruled its territories on the main land well and justly, taking into consideration the traditionary oppression of republics ; it sought to maintain, as much as possible, its sovereignty over the Adriatic, fought against pirates and Turks, and saw how the Turks, even after they had taken Cyprus in the sixteenth century, began, towards the middle of the seven- teenth, a war against Candia, which ended by the loss of this, the most beautiful of its Levantine possessions. The war about the Mantuan succession, from 1627-1630, fanned the flame which was already kindled in Upper Italy. The Far- neses of Parma and the Estes of Modena were always allured into the excitement of common politics ; and the Farneses occasioned a war in 1642 for the private affairs of a mere Italian prince, which brought to light in a tragic-comic manner the endless misery of Italian policy and system of war. It was a struggle for the fief of Castro and Ronciglione, which the Farneses had possessed since the time of Paul III., in the States of the Church, and which the Barberini, all-powerful under the pontificate of Urban VIII., endeavoured to wrest from them. In Rome the spiritual fought against the worldly interests, under the Popes Urban and Innocent X., just as the Spanish and French interests struggled against each other at the Papal court. In Tuscany, just in the year 1621, in which Philip IV. ascended the throne, a young prince, Ferdinand II. of Medici, assumed the government, which lasted five years longer than that of the Spanish king, and was as peace- ful as the other was warlike ; but it conduced slowly, though certainly, to the ruin of Tuscany, although the country in- creased in outward extent. The dukedom of Urbino dis- appeared from the number of Italian states at this period, by the extinction of the race of Delia Rovere, 1631 : it escheated to the States of the Church. Massa-Carrara, Lucca, Guastalla, and Genoa, had no political importance; and the energy of the Genoese was almost a matter of astonishment when they, some years later, defended themselves, and not without fame, against an attack from the side of Piedmont. This was the 152 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. condition of Italy towards the latter part of the seventeenth century : divided in itself, and politically powerless, guided by foreign interests, the plains of Lombardy and Piedmont became the theatre for the exhibition of these interests. The peninsula was without any importance in European relations, excepting as far as regarded the Spanish and French influence. Hence industry, trade, navigation, were at a low ebb ; literature and the fine arts were in a pitiable condition ; the sciences struggling to rise up amongst the thousand impediments which repressed their spiritual development. When we consider what internal and external difficulties Spain had to struggle against since the accession of Philip IV. to the throne, it is easy to conceive what demands were made on the Italian provinces, especially upon Naples, which less unfortunate than Milan in this, that it was farther removed from the seat of war was obliged to contribute to it a larger quantity of money and no less a number of men. When Don Antonio de Toledo, Duke of Alva, arrived in Naples in the middle of December, 1622, to replace the Car- dinal Zapata in the government of the kingdom, he found the country and the people in the most lamentable condition. The populace met him wailing and crying ; they screamed, Bread ! bread ! He exhorted them to be of good courage ; he would do what was in his power to help them. And his measures would have had the wished-for result, if the wars in Upper Italy had not straitened his arm. He applied himself first of all to remedy in some degree the immense losses which had befallen the banks and private individuals, in consequence of the re-coinage of the old money, of which mention is made in the second chapter of this history. The manner in which it was done is a striking proof of the political economy of those days. A new tax was laid upon wine in casks (the wine in bottles had been taxed long ago) ; this was farmed for about 90,000 ducats a year. This revenue was assigned to the creditors of the banks for a third of the outstanding debt, and another third was immediately allowed them on the new coin- age. By this operation, and whilst those who supplied the silver in the coins had assignments given them upon another impost, the stranger's tax, the most pressing claims were silenced for the moment, and a number of banks were saved from insolvency. But scarcely had the new Viceroy shaken TOLEDO VICEROY AT NAPLES. 153 off this impending anxiety, when new demands came from Madrid. A quarrel had arisen between Piedmont and Genoa : Spain not only mixed itself up in it, but fought also with the allies for the possession of the Valteline, which it annexed to the duchy of Milan. Naples was to assist with men and money. Alva procured both, although with great difficulty the gold, by keeping back from the state creditors a third of the yearly supply from the gabelles and fiscal revenues, for which a new five percentage was raised upon the duties of import and export to indemnify them, as also by an extraordi- nary tax imposed upon the fuochi : men, by proclaiming pardon to all criminals and bandits who would enlist in the service, whilst the commons of the kingdom were obliged to furnish men in proportion to the number of the inhabitants : 6000 was the number fixed. The capital granted besides another large present of money ; and Alva saw himself in a condition to send considerable sums of money from the dis- tressed country, and newly-raised troops, under Neapolitan captains, as Sangro, Carafa, Ravaschieri, Del Tufo, Suardo, and so on, who were despatched in haste to the Spaniards, bringing some military skill and less discipline. But when the request was expressed from Madrid, that during the wars in which the kingdom was involved a standing army should be maintained for any emergencies, the opposition made to it was so great, even by Alva's counsellors, that the thing was allowed to drop. Meanwhile the famine had abated a little, and every effort was made from the victualling-office in the capital to provide food. Tranquillity was restored amongst the people. Then came another failure of the crops, and desolating earthquakes in many parts of the country, and attacks of Turks and Barba- rians on the shores of Apulia and the Terra di Lavoro. The old evil ! the old disgrace ! the Marquis of Santa Cruza was obliged to go with the armada, accompanied by the Neapolitan, Tuscan, and Papal galleys, against the marauders. The Neapolitans were obliged to fight in foreign lands, whilst their own shores were exposed to their enemies. The Duke of Alva was recalled in August, 1629. His place was supplied by a second Duke of Alcala, who, after a government of only two years, was replaced by Don Emanuel de Gusman, Count of Monterey, the brother-in-law of the 154 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. prime minister. Monterey continued in his office six years, when lie was succeeded by the son-in-law of Olivarez, Don Run i in Felipe de Gusman, Duke of Medina de las Torres. The all-powerful ruler of the destinies of Spain wanted to have the government of Naples in the hands of persons who were attached to him by the ties of blood and of gratitude, who had no will to set up in opposition to his own ; and never has Naples been more fearfully oppressed than under the two Gusmans. The merciless system of extortion had reached its height. The times were bad everywhere for the Spanish monarchy ; and the small resistance which Naples, with its deficient constitution, its classes at variance with one another, its long-neglected privileges, could make against each arbitrary power of the crown, would be of little avail, when even such provinces were prostrated that had very different privileges to show, and the inhabitants of which were of a much more vigorous spirit, and their constitution differently administered and uprightly maintained. Already under Alcala consider- able bodies of troops were sent out, especially into Lombardy ; but under the Count of Monterey they exceeded all former precedent. The Neapolitans fought in Montferrat, in Milan, on the frontiers of the Pyrenees, in Provence, and in Ger- many: under Fra Selio Brancaccio they defended the Isles Santa Marguerite and Santa Honore against the French : they fought at Nordlingen under the Prince of San Severo. It was calculated that Monterey, in six years, sent into the field 48,000 infantry and 55,000 cavalry, most of them native troops, together with 208 guns, 70,000 rifles, and other arms, besides galleys, transport-ships, and other appurtenances. Nevertheless, Naples could not furnish men and arms as quickly as they were swallowed up by this unholy war. The gaps in the Neapolitan troops were to be filled up immediately ; and even those who, according to their capitulations, were only bound to serve in their own provinces were forced into the service. At the end of Monterey's government the capital was burdened by a debt of fifteen millions of ducats, great part of which had been incurred for equipments and supplies ; and the payment of the interest of it was assigned on the profits of the ga- belle. Affairs were no better under Medina. The insurrection of the Catalans and of the Portuguese increased the distress. Terrible earthquakes laid Calabria desolate, and destroyed MILITARY SERVICE OF THE NOBILITY. 155 whole cities, like Nicastro, under the ruins of which 10,000 men were buried. French fleets threatened the coasts and the capital itself, where it was necessary to put arms into the hands of the people ; whilst from Cape Misen to Salerno the shores and the islands were occupied by troops and artillery. The whole of the great nobility of the kingdom devoted themselves to the military service, and raised, chiefly at their own expense, a considerable body of militia. The Prince of Belmonte Pignatelli conducted a regiment of fourteen com- panies that he had raised himself in Lombardy. ; the Prince of Satriano Ravaschieri, one composed of two-and-twenty com- panies. Everywhere we find the names of Orsini, Carafa, Caracciolo, d'Avalos, Brancaccio, Toraldo, Tuttovilla, Li- guoro, &c. Albert of "Wallenstein praised more than any other the bravery and ability of the Neapolitan troops, officers as well as men, which King Philip sent to the aid of the Emperor ; and Marco Foscarini, the Doge and historian of Venice, makes mention, even in later years, of the honourable military career of the great nobility of the Duke of Nocera and Maddaloni of the House of Carafa, of the Prince of Avel- lino, of the Count of Santa Severina, of Carlo della Galla, and many others, in other times than those we are speaking of; lastly, that of the Marquis of Montenero, to whom Henry IV., his rival at the siege of Amiens, has borne such distinguished testimony.* And besides their personal services, the noblemen came to the assistance of the state in its necessities by volun- tary loans and levies of troops. But the burden was no longer to be endured ; and tyranny doubled it. Monterey, and above all Medina, scoffed openly at the privileges of the Sediles. When Medina wanted money he made the Collateral Council decree the creation of one or a couple of new gabelles. Thus it happened in the year 1638, when, by means of a simple edict, an increased tax was col- lected of four carlins upon the bushel of wheat. The Sediles of Capuano and Montano met together and remonstrated : the Viceroy had no authority for it without their consent. They selected deputies to represent this, who applied first to the father confessor of the Duchess of Medina, a Theatine monk, to obtain by his intercession a favourable hearing. To such a * Foscarini, Storia arcana, p. 28. 156 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL state were the privileges of the town and their representatives reduced ! The deputies appealed, amongst other things, to a bull of Honorius IV., on the occasion of the investiture of Charles II. ; the father, who hoped to become Archbishop of Reggio, cared more about the edicts of a Viceroy in the seven- teenth century, than about the bulls of a Pope in the thirteenth. He not only repulsed the deputies, but even informed against them for their treasonable discourses. Medina allowed the deputation to appear before him, and refused their requests ; and as Don Francesco Capecelatro, the historian, was pointed out to him as one of his principal opponents, he commanded him to be fined eight thousand ducats, and to place himself within eight days as a prisoner in the castle of Otranto. The criminal judges who were to convey him this order could not find him : Medina considered the affair once more and let it rest The Sediles met together, and resolved to send an embassy to the king. The Viceroy examined the protocol of their sessions to see if anything treasonable could be found in their speeches ; but in this he was mistaken. The Sediles baffled the election of the syndic wished for by him at the approaching Parliament, and appointed the proposed embassy.* But it produced no more effect than the one sent to Madrid some years before, to claim justice against Monterey. Justice was, as long as Olivarez was at the helm, and Monterey and Medina at the head of the government, always on the side of the Viceroys. Then the Parliament was held, and Medina obtained, instead of the new tax on corn, which was to be laid upon the whole kingdom, that a donative of one million of ducats should be voted. Already in the two first chapters of this history, when speaking of financial affairs in the times of Ferdinand the Catholic and the Emperor Charles V., a general statement was made about the donative and system of taxation. But in the present place, where we have reached the times in which the growth of the fiscal system had exceeded all bounds, it is the more necessary to consider the sums of money drawn out of the country by the Spanish government as a representation of the mode of taxa- tion, because the events which will soon be related have their termination in these financial relations. According to the census taken in the year 1505, whereby, as * Capecelatro, Annali, pp. 122-129. SYSTEM OF TAXATION. 157 has been already remarked, the fuochi or hearths, that is of individual houses, were rated at 262,343, the principal tax of the kingdom, or so-called fiscal tax, did not then exceed the sum of 393,5 17i ducats. Five-and-forty years later, in con- sequence of the increase of the fuochi, and consequently the amount of the tax, the sum might be taken at almost 700,000. A quarter of a century afterwards the Venetian ambassador calculated the amount at 1,040,248 ; on this occasion he valued the revenues of the crown in the kingdom at 2,355,000 ducats, of which the usual donative was 600,000 ; income from the crown lands in Apulia, 225,000 ; from the customs, 214,500; a tenth from the clergy and other taxes, 375,252 ducats.* In this meanwhile the extraordinary taxes with which the fuochi were burdened upon every opportunity are not included, as little so as the duty upon places on the coast for the maintenance of the watch-towers, or on those in the pro- vinces for defraying the expenses of the police, which was always more or less according to the greater or smaller number of highwaymen, so that those persons the most visited by ban- ditti had also the most to pay. The taxes levied for making roads were in general applied to very different purposes, for most of the roads were in a lamentable condition. Also the revenues from the escheat of fiefs by death were misapplied ; those from the sale of offices, from the crown cities and places, lastly, those from the bishoprics of royal law patronage, of which meanwhile a toll was paid to the court of Rome. Camillo Porzio valued the whole revenue at the same period at 2,375,014 ducats, whereby he fixes the tax upon fire-places at 737,100 ; and, including the extra for the Spanish troops, at 968,230 ducats, t All these sums are in general to be con- sidered only as proximate to the truth. These taxes refer to the year 1575. In the year 1595 a new census of the fuochi was taken, which in the years 1631 and 1640 was completed in the most arbitrary and summary manner. The number of them was then estimated at 499,647 ; thus they were almost double since the year 1505. But this valuation was completely incorrect, and many of the commu- nities were taxed far above their worth. Hence arose con- stant reclamations, which at last became so urgent that recourse * Lippomano, p. 283. f Porzio, Relazione del Regno di Napoli, p. 166. 158 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALON1. was had to a new census, which was finished in the year 1 666, and which stated only 394,721 as the real number of fire- places. The population of the kingdom meanwhile had in- deed been decimated by the great pestilence of the year 1656, but the number put down, of above a hundred thousand, slums clearly enough how arbitrary the previous proceeding must have been ; and in the year 1643 the tax of the fuoco had in- creased to almost five ducati (four ducats and eighty-seven grans) ; and in consequence of the promise obtained by the Duke of Medina, a donative of eight millions would still have been levied if the insurrection of the year 1647 had not caused a change of measures, and occasioned a diminution, although not a sufficient one, of the taxes. After this reduction the hearth-tax supplied almost two millions of ducats, but the government was so deeply in debt that it was obliged to assign almost half the sum to its creditors. The tax-quota was, as has already been mentioned on another occasion, placed under the management of the community, who were answerable for the payment of it, whilst the apportionment of it to the indi- vidual members of the community remained with them. This payment, which was properly a ground-rent, though it had also another form, and which was called JBonatenenza, was for the commons so much heavier a burden, as it pressed most upon the poorer part of the inhabitants, whilst the nobility found the usual means also to evade the tax for their free pos- sessions, which were not held by feudal tenure, or else the communities had no power to recover the debts arising from them, which amounted to hundreds of thousands. This was an abuse which the Spanish administration could never master, and which continued till the dissolution of the feudal system. All the taxes of the feudatories, which went by the names of advoa, right of devolution, right of redemption, &c., do not seem to have produced more than 22,500 ducats a year.* If this was the condition of the regular assessment, the ex- traordinary one requires our consideration still more. The so-called donative was a bad kind of taxation, because it left the doors and windows open to arbitrary power, and a govern- ment as covetous and at the same time as extravagant as the Spanish made use of any means to raise money. A stipula- * Bianchini, rol. ii. pp. 324-335. THE BONATIVE. 159 tion was affixed to each donative that no other tribute should be imposed ; but nevertheless, under one name or another, taxes were contrived to be levied, and hardly was one donative paid before another was asked for, and granted; and to raise the sums required duties were laid on every article of industry, trade, and consumption, till only the air and the light remained untaxed. The donatives under King Ferdinand the Catholic, including the supplies for the expenses of the war against Lewis XII., amounted to 1,750,324 ducats, as has been de- scribed already in the first chapter. The government of the Emperor Charles V. began, and immediately a present of about 116,000 ducats must be offered on the marriage of his sister Eleonora with the King of Portugal. Then followed the coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, the imperial coronation at Bologna, the expenses of the Italian war, the expedition against Tunis, the war against the Turks, the German war, the third and fourth French war, besides pin-money (per le pianelle) for the empress, swaddling-clothes for a little archduke, a wedding contribution for the nuptials of the Archduke Ferdinand, after- wards Emperor, a present to the Archduke Philip on his de- parture for Flanders, not to forget 22,000 ducats which were awarded to Don Pedro de Toledo as a proof of gratitude. The suras paid in donatives to Charles V., from 1518 till 1554, amounted to 6,361,000 ducats, and the necessities of the emperor usually coincided so well with those of Naples, that the country was obliged to pay money just when it was in the most miserable state. Thus in the years 1530-31, after a war, siege, pestilence, and confiscation in Spain, when the commons rebelled or the states refused their subsidies, " be- cause it was dangerous to let such customs come into use," the viceroys knew well enough how to open the purses of the Neapolitans. What was originally a voluntary contribution in extraor- dinary cases was made by Toledo into a regular tax, and, if the sum was not then fixed, this was solely out of regard to the convenience of the government to allow it the power of increasing its demands. From the year 1566 the sum was fixed at 1,200,000 ducats, payable by two instalments twice a-year, the principle of which was maintained till the year 1642. But the country, by this regular donative, was by no means exempted from the extraordinary one, for in the year 160 THE CARAFAS OP MADDALONI. 1575 it was obliged to submit to the grant of one million about a new census upon hearths, which caused the communities many grievances and expenses, by which they hoped to escape the expected increase of the treasury-tax. In the year 1611 they paid again from the same motive 300,000. In the year 1643, amidst the greatest pauperism and want, the Duke of Medina obtained from the parliament, instead of the former payments, a grant of 11,000,000 in equal instalments, but of which, till the year 1647, only a part had been actually paid, when the rebellion broke out, which resulted in at least a tern- porary modification of the system of taxation. When the amount of the donative was settled in the year 1564 it was determined that the feudal nobility should pay a quarter of the same, the rest to be paid by the whole of the inhabitants. The nobility divided the quota bestowed upon them according to the proportion of the instalment of the old feudal system, or advoa, that they had hitherto paid, and which was nothing but the ransom money of the original military service, so that in later times the word advoa merely denoted that part of the tribute which the feudal nobi- lity were bound to pay. Even the barons tried, in the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic, and lastly in the year 1553, to limit these payments to the duration of the war, but they did not succeed. Three-quarters of the payments oppressed the people, and the way and manner in which the taxes were col- lected caused the burden to fall the heaviest on the poorer classes. The sums granted were, as has already been stated, usually collected by tolls or indirect contributions. Even such grants as could only be made once were farmed, as if they formed part of the regular revenue. The town of Naples had a particular administration for its gabelle or excise consump- tion, which was separated from that of the custom-houses on import and export duties. The gabelles rose partly, like that of wine, to 46 per cent, of the price for which the produce was brought to the gates. What portion of this same is to be ascribed to the Arragonese times became multiplied by de- grees three and four fold. In consequence of this ruinous system the supply went almost entirely to the creditors of the state, to capitalists, and to some convents ; so that for the par- ticular use of the town, for its charities, buildings, public works, and so on, it derived as little benefit from it as did 'he THE ARRENDAMENTT. 161 finances. Lastly, the reform undertaken in consequence of the rebellion of 1647 did not save more than 58,000 ducats yearly. The nobility and the clergy were free in common from the gabelle ; and if it was wished to compel the latter to any kind of payment, it must be by an understanding with the apos- tolical chamber that it should receive a tantieme of the supply. But in the provinces the system of the gabelles was inconceiv- ably more oppressive than in the capital, which in many in- stances knew how to keep itself free from taxes. Besides the tax upon articles of consumption the so-called Arrendainetiti, or prohibitory rights, were farmed, which, accord- ing to the system of those times, extended collectively to all the different kinds of produce. Even of these rights many had existed from ancient times, particularly since the monopolies granted by the government of Ferdinand I. But his Spanish successors augmented and enlarged everything. These rights were farmed out collectively, hence their non-Italian name. The most important were those on silk, oil, salt, iron, &c. ; and the irritating manner in which they were collected was even more detrimental to the productions than the largeness of the sums demanded. The chancery fees, the stamp-duties, the duties on bills of exchange, &c., were mostly of Spanish in- vention (that on stamped paper was introduced in the year 1636, and Don Francesco Capecelatro relates to what discon- tent it gave rise),* and generally in the same proportions as the court fees. The so-called Composizioni formed a particular exception, viz., the sums of indemnity in criminal cases were not to be exchanged for fines. In the middle of the 17th cen- tury they produced about 60,000 ducats. Lastly, the duties of import and export are to be mentioned, with all their subdivi- sions, for the tolls of the customs-offices by sea and land. Till the year 1626 they were in a remarkable way continued on the same principles as had existed in the times of the Arragonese. But then the want of money occasioned by degrees a moderate increase ; the average duties of entry h?.d reached 20 per cent., which, moreover, after the so-often-mentioned rebellion, was diminished one half, so that ih this case more sensible prin- ciples were adopted than in any of the others, j" Such was the system of taxation established by the Arra- * Capecelatro, Annali, p. 74, and several others, t Bianchini, vol. ii. pp. 307-324, 335-368. M 162 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. gonese under the Spanish government; and since all the donatives, taxes, tolls, and fees were not sufficient to fill up the deficiency which the wars and extravagance of Spain perpe- tually created, recourse was had to compulsory loans, to the levy of tributes from the incomes of strangers domiciled in tin- kingdom, to charges on the salaries of officers, to the sale of offices, to ruinous loans upon foreign, mostly Genoese, mer- chants, who expected so much the more interest, because the respectability of the government gave them so little security for such great debts, and it did not scruple arbitrarily to lower the interest on the national debt if it knew of no other resource, or it seized the not less ruinous means of selling the still re- maining royal towns and districts, which was done on a great scale under the viceroys Alcala and Medina, a measure which not only diminished the revenue permanently to obtain a mo- mentary relief, but also basely injured the rights of the inha- bitants, and, as has already been mentioned, even gave rise to rebellions. It is easily understood that this measure was not confined to Naples. Lombardy, so fearfully ruined, was still more drained in this manner. A royal decree of July, 1649, conferred on the governor of Milan the right to farm, to mort- gage, and sell all the revenues, to give in fief lands and dis- tricts, only to make money, because the royal patrimony was in great distress. An administration of finance of this kind, dreadfully bad and oppressive as it was, might perhaps have found some excuse in the distressed state of the Spanish monarchy, if the remain- ing departments of the government had been more endurable. But justice was not better or more uprightly administered ; the coasts were not secured from the barbarians, or the country from the banditti ; whilst this irrational system checked in- dustry as well as commerce throughout the country, and the government, unwarned by the constant returns of famine, and the destructive influence of the prevailing system of corn-laws (termed in bitter mockery " Abbondanza"),* the internal tax- ation, the monopolies, and restrictive privileges, exhausted the resources of this naturally fertile land. The turbulence of the banditti had increased to such a degree under the Duke of Medina, that the Prince of Torella, Don Joseph Caracciolo, * Abbondanza was the name given to the officer who overlooked the supplies of wheat and other grains. SYSTEM OF ROBBERY. 163 was appointed Viceroy-General of the open country to cleanse it from bands of robbers. It was an old and inveterate evil, that had spread itself through Italy during the whole of the middle ages, and it was even greater and more dangerous in the kingdom of Naples, and in the States of the Church, than elsewhere. In the fourteenth century robbery formed so completely a part of the system of war amongst the famous companies, or mercenary bands, who at first were mostly foreigners, and afterwards were recruited from the Italians, and sprung espe- cially from the Hungarian campaigns in the Neapolitan terri- tory (Italians as well as Germans will recollect the Duke "Werner of Urslingen of cruel memory), that in later times the Condottieri, when they were compelled to go to war upon their own account, very much resembled leaders of gangs of robbers. When in the sixteenth century the system of Con- dottieri came to an end, the nobility were in general excluded from a military career, because the Italian wars, after that of Sienna, were ever diminishing in importance ; but most of this nobility were impoverished, wandering, and idle : it often hap- pened that men of illustrious descent were real chiefs of ban- ditti ; as in Lombardy, a Babiano Belgiojoso, a Count Francesco of Vimercato, a Count of Tiene, the famous Marquis Annibale Porrone, and others, whose type " The Innominato " is given by Alessandro Manzoni in the ' Promessi Sposi,' not invented by him, but taken from contemporary chroniclers, like all the persons and events described in his book, which only too truly represents the state of society at that time. Finally, chiefs of banditti, like that Alphonso Piccolomini, Duke of Monte- marciano, whom the Archduke Ferdinand I. of Tuscany caused to be hung in the year 1591. The disturbances which prevailed in the States of the Church under the govern- ment of Pope Gregory XIII., and made even the streets of Rome insecure, against which Sixtus XI. made use of such energetic measures, were connected with the demonstra- tions in Tuscany and in the kingdom. Under the first Duke of Alcala the banditti (Fuorusciti) formed a troop of above six hundred horsemen in Calabria. They elected a king, Marco Berardi of Cosenza, who was called Re Marcone: he had his council, with secretaries, officers, and offices, and he paid each bandit nine scudi a month ; he granted privileges, drew M 2 164 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. out patents, and demeaned himself like a reigning sovereign. He had nearly obtained possession of Cotrone. The Marquis Cerchiara Pignatelli was sent out against him ; he commanded a thousand men, Spanish infantry, two hundred heavy, and as many light cavalry. Nevertheless, from the first it was doubted whether it would be an easy undertaking, and really the military force was not sufficient to extirpate the rabble.* It became worse than ever under the Count of Miranda, who undertook the government in 1586. Two chiefs of the robbers inspired more dread than all the others, Benedetto Martgone in the country about Salerno and Eboli, and Marco Sciarra in the Abruzzi, who called himself King of Cam- pagna ; the banditti obeyed readily to the name of king. For a long while stories were related of Re Cuollo, who made the Abruzzi insecure in the days of Don Pedro de Toledo ; he only robbed without killing any one, excepting monks and priests, whose throats he cut whenever he found them, a custom which was continued by his son, who, having spared the life of one lay brother, was betrayed by hiin.f Benedetto Mangone was seized ; the executioner broke him to pieces upon the wheel in the market-place at Naples. Marco Sciarra, however, always escaped from his persecutors: in vain did the Viceroy enter into a compact with the Pope to catch him. Don Carlo Spinelli, with four thousand men, scoured the Abruzzi after him ; the chief of the banditti plun- dered Serra Capriola, Vasto, Lucera ; the bishop of this last town remained with the rioters. The country people were attached to the chief, for he never injured them, and reserved for them a share of the spoils. In the year 1592 the Count of Conversano was sent out with fresh troops, and drove Sciarra at last into straits, so that he accepted the offer of the republic of Venice to fight against the Uscocchi, as Piccolomini liad also done ; when he returned afterwards he was shot. The predatory excursions were then checked, but only for a time : the delights of a wild life were too deeply implanted in the people', and a bad government, as well as d, assisted to augment them. In the eyes of the peasant especially * A Narrative about the Fuoruaciti Calabresi of the 15th August, 1563. At Palermo. P. 195. t Letter of Pirro Musefilo to Cosmos I., of the 19th February, 1540. At Palermo. P. 102. SYSTEM OF ROBBERY. 165 the bandit system was not so bad, the immorality of it was not so obvious to him ; often it served only as a kind of protection against the fearful oppressions of the barons, as well as of the offi- cers of the government. When the officers of justice plundered, or when the soldier of the Squadra di Campagna, who ought to have protected him from robbery, and was paid for doing it, snatched the last piece of money out of the hands of the peasant, the peasant snatched up his rifle and his knife, and went into the forest. The Spaniard did the same ; the Catalan called it "andar en trabajo" when he became a bandit. Many of the Viceroys of the seventeenth century had much to do with these robbers. Under the later Duke of Alcala, a nobleman, Giovan Vincenzo Dominiroberto, Baron of Pel- lascianello, was one of the most famous chiefs. He once escaped from captivity in a basket in which his food had been brought ; seized in a church at Serra Capriola, he was tortured and condemned to death. In vain did the bishop and the papal Nuncio issue monitions on account of the violation of the asylum ; his head was cut off in the presence of the officer of the Vicar-General. The people grumbled, for they had expected his pardon.* The Count of Monterey set a price of three thousand ducats upon the heads of some of the chiefs. The Count of Onate and the Count of Pennarenda especially took measures against such noblemen as protected the banditti, of which we shall make more express mention in the last chapter of this history. All this did not eradicate the evil ; indeed, under the Marquis d'Astorga, in 1672, it was again as bad as it had been the century before. Gangs of men marauded even to the gates of Naples ; the royal troops fought them in Calabria and the Abruzzi. The measures of the Marquis del Carpio, who eleven years later undertook the government, had the most success ; he was one of the best Viceroys of Naples. Energetic proceedings against the concealers of banditti, send- ing troops, and even the destruction of whole villages, putting prices upon the heads of the leaders, impunity for those who surrendered themselves all this united, freed the country more than heretofore from this dreadful plague. But the modern history of Naples, and of the States of the Church, show only * Guerra and Bucca, Diurnali for the year 1630. 16P> THE CARAFA8 OF MADDALONI. too well how little mastery has been gained, even in our day, over the banditti system. Lastly, when we consider that the principal means resorted to for the extirpation of a band of robbers was to take them into the military service, it is easy to form an idea of the nature of the troops. Ossuna and Medina collected powerful bands in this way ; even Alva, in the year 1625, offered pardon to those condemned to death in contu- maciam. In general, the soldiers were indeed no better than banditti, and in the year 1642 a bloody battle took place be- tween two companies, because the one wished to prevent the other from pillaging the inhabitants of a place situated in the vicinity of Marigliano. The custom of taking the banditti into the military service was moreover by no means limited to Naples, where we find them till the time of King Ferdinand I. of Bourbon. Venice employed them, as has been mentioned, against the pirates. The Archduke Ferdinand II. of Tuscany had the celebrated Fra Paolo in his service, under his real name of Cesare Squilletta of Catanzaro, and even Pope Urban VIII. (or his nephew in his name) hesitated not to employ troops of banditti to promote the disturbances in the neighbouring states. He sent a known chief of " Assassini," Taglia- ferro, with a whole gang of banditti, into the land of Sienna. Ferdinand II. during the war with the Barberini, wished to carry things on a great scale ; Fra Paolo was sent into the kingdom of Naples to excite all the banditti there against the States of the Church ; Giulio Pezzola, another chief that we find afterwards in the royal service, offered to collect five hundred men in Accumoli, an Archducal fief in the Abruzzi, and to carry fire and flame through the country to the very gates of Rome, whilst a third, Pagani by name, with one tliousand freebooters, was to surprise Rieti or Spoleto. The treaty of peace concluded at Venice in March 1644 put an end to such horrors.* The Nea{x>litan people in general would have found the option difficult if they had been allowed a free choice between the robbers and the native and foreign troops. Perhaps they would have given the preference to the robbers, for the Spaniards were as unruly guests as they were good soldiers. At the time when Don John of Austria became Captain-General * Galluzzi, Storia del Granducato di Toscana. Florence, 1 822. Vol. vii. p. 241. Vincenzode' Medici. Naples, 30th June, 1643. At Palermo. P. 330. BiSOGXI. 167 of the kingdom, after the victory of Lepanto, the complaints uere loud on all sides of the dissolute soldiery. They were sent from Spain destitute of everything ; hence is derived the nick- name of Bisogni. " We have the vilest and the boldest people here that can be seen," writes the Governor of Sora ; " they are Bisogni, and come straight from the galleys ; you may imagine how they riot about."* They arrived in so lamentable a condi- tion that they could not mount guard ; the Duke of Ossuna was obliged to have them first clothed in the arsenal by foreign merchants before he could allow them to be seen.f Under his government the evil had risen to its height, for tiie land was filled with foreign troops, who believed every- thing permitted to them. The Walloons belonged to the boldest and most hated of them, and the peasants took a bloody vengeance on them it was reckoned that in the Abruzzi and Calabria ten at least were murdered every day. The Sediles assembled to protest against the burden of quartering the sol- diers, which was an infringement of the privileges of the towns ; the Duke of Vietri declared to the Viceroy that the people would revolt, and would be ready in half an hour with all its soldiers. " During their quartering," writes the Tuscan agent, " these villains of captains and soldiers have perpetrated incre- dible excesses, and have sacked the poor districts, there is no other expression for it; a severe order has been issued for the restoration of the stolen property, and more than four hundred thousand ducats has already been refunded ; but this is a mere nothing, for the towns as yet have made no demon- strations ; there are always fine things here to report about. " J The Duke of Alcala, in April 1630, sent his natural son Don Ferdinand de Ribera, with full powers as Lord-Lieu- tenant of the country, to inspect the fortresses, as well as against the banditti. " The result," says a contemporary chronicler, " will only be to increase the misery of this poor kingdom, for the remedy is worse than the disease, and all the banditti put together will hardly devise as much mischief as Don Ferdinand will probably do harm. Not merely because he has obtained 7000 ducats already, and is accompanied by a numerous train of adventurers and clients, but he has also * Letter of the 8th March, 1576. At Palermo. P. 212. f Zazzera, Governo del Duca d'Ossuna. At Palermo. P. 531 J Vine. Vettori, 24th March, 1619. The same. P. 278. 168 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. two companies of Spanish infantry, and a world of cavalry with him, who will plunder everything ; and it is said that these doings will go on for some months. They have exhi- bited their first specimen in Nola, \vhere the inhabitants, besides the quartering of the troops, were obliged to ransom themselves by a large present."* And under the Duke of Medina things were no better. " For a long time," writes one of the successors of the agent mentioned, the " Spanish soldiers, for want of food and pay, have robbed publicly in great numbers by night and day. What bread and other food they found they took away forcibly. Then it came to scuffles and wounds, between them and the sellers, and these last have applied to the deputies of the citizens to put a stop to the evil, since otherwise it is to be feared that the people will rise up against the soldiers, the more so as at night a number of murders are committed. His excellency has also assembled the troops in the arsenal to give them their pay ; but at the same time he has cashiered the captains who have connived at the robberies of their soldiers."f From all that has been said it is easy to form an idea of the way in which justice was administered in the first part of the 17th century. Terrible punishments, and no justice. A number of confused laws, and nothing but arbitrary power. In civil trials instance upon instance, venal judges, and a troop of subtle advocates, the number of which had increased beyond all measure ; in criminal cases cruelty, or else sums for indemnity. We find cutting off of ears, chopping off of hands, laceration by pincers all this, besides the banishment of whole families, the destruction of dwellings, annihilation of districts. It was not Ossuna only who condemned without any legal proceedings ; under the Count of lienevento accused persons were sent to the galleys without judgment, because there was a deficiency of rowers. The deputy of the victualling-office did the same by the grocers when he caught them trespassing, and any one who was taken at night and could not identify hiuiM If was immediately sent to the galleys. For money, on the contrary, or if the head of a bandit was given up, remis- sion of punishment was obtained even after murder 4 * Guerra and Bucca, Diurnali. t Vine, de Medici, 21st July, 1643. At Palermo. P. 331. J Letters of Tuscan Agents. At Palermo and many places. RIGHT OF ASYLUM. 169 If the greater part of the nobility knew how to escape punishment either by money or superior power, there was a means by which all the people could scoff at justice, which led to crying abuses, especially at the time of which we are now speaking. This was the right of asylum in churches and mo- nasteries. The greater their number was in the capital and in the whole kingdom, so much the worse was the temptation. The viler the abuse, the more frequent was the violation of the asylum by the officers of justice and the sbirri. Then the con- sequences were, perpetual quarrels with the bishops and nuncios, assaults, mandates, and excommunications on account of usurped jurisdiction. Even the papal nuncio mentions in the year 1600 that the reception of the banditti in places of divine worship, and their intercourse with the clergy and monks of certain monasteries, had increased to such a degree, that it was quite necessary to devise measures to prevent the churches and mo- nasteries from being continually searched by the officers of justice, who complained loudly that these churches and con- vents were become the hiding-places of all the vagabonds and murderers ; which, alas ! was only too true. The Benedictines of Montevergine, near Avellino, who had a convent in the region of Troja, in Apulia, not only sheltered the criminals, but shared in the spoil, and served them as postmen. It is a real scandal that will always become worse, and can only lead to violent measures being adopted by the secular magistracy, from which the dignity of the Church will suffer.* The Nuncio is an unquestionable witness when he informs his court of the wild life of a part of the clergy, and of those who only bore the name, and sometimes did not even wear the habit of a priest, and profited by the privilege which exempted them from the jurisdiction of a court of justice to commit all imaginable atrocities. "It is only too true," writes Monsignor Aldobrandini, " that there is nothing which the monks in this country will not dare to do, so lax has their discipline become. Some means must be thought of to remedy the negligence of their superiors." The Count of Lemos had soon after his arrival a conversation with the Nuncio upon the licentious life of the clergy, and especially of those clerical persons called " wild " (Salvatichi), and who belonged to the * Account of the Nuncio, Giacomo Aldobrandini, of the 1st June and 22nd Sept. 1600. At Palermo. P. 447. 170 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. abovementioned class. When the Viceroy declared his repug- nance at seeing the clergy sent to the galleys and exposed to every kind of indignity, Aldobrandini replied, that it was the only means of punishing them, and that the galleys often saved them from the gallows.* It may be imagined what the asylums became under these circumstances. The Popes Clement VIII. and Paul V. laboured zealously to check the evil. Both granted faculties to the Nuncio to proceed with the utmost severity against those members of the clerical body, whether monks or secular clergy, who gave shelter and protection to criminals. No privileges, whatever they might be, should be of any avail. All the fugitives were to be driven out, and that with the assistance of the priests.f Within six montlis the convents and churches were to be purified, even if the secular power was summoned in to help. How little this availed is shown by the circumstance that in the year 1647 the Archbishop Cardinal Decio Carafa issued a similar decree by command of Gregory XV.J As the clergy themselves maintained no police, the magistrates interfered when they liked, and did not scruple to take laymen out of the churches, whilst they de- clared that the Bull of Gregory XIV. did not affect them, as they never had received the exequatur. Ossuna once caused a number of criminals, and even many of the clergy, to be seized and sent to the galleys. Meanwhile, after some days they returned to their asylums. Under Alva, some person inflicted a deep wound on the head of a judge, Don Michele Sanfelice; the offender took refuge in a church, and was immediately seized and hanged ; but the judge who con- demned him was excommunicated, and could not perform his functions for a long time.|| Under Monterey, the sbirri and officers of justice in San Domenico Sorriano imprisoned a preaching monk, Fra Tommaso Pignatelli, a natural son of the Prince of Noja, and brought him first before the Vice- roy, and then into the prison for felons. He was accused of poisoning, and of attempting to introduce by outward means * Account of Aldobrandini of the years 1599, 1600. P. 446. t Instructions to the Nuncio. Rome, 27th June, 1592. P. 441. t Zazzera, Governo del Duca d'Ossuna. Pp. 524, 566. $ Ibid. || Gucrra and Bucca, Diurnali of the years 1629 and 1633. RIGHT OF ASYLUM. 171 contagious sickness that crime in which men have believed, at the time of the Athenian plague of Thucydides, as well as during the ravages of the cholera for the last thirty years, the adoption of which in the year 1630 led to the famous trial of the Untori at Milan, which, with its causes and results, has been described in the abovementioned book, which, although a novel, has assisted more than any historical work to the knowledge of the true condition of Lombardy under the Spa- nish dominion. The Pope, who was informed of the case, au- thorized the Nuncio with his instructions for the trial.* The Duke of Medina caused two nobles of Salerno, who had fled for refuge into Santa Orsola, on account of different crimes, and who had committed fresh excesses during the night, to be without further delay dragged out and beheaded. The asy- lum, he said, could not really serve as a shelter for such perpetually repeated transgressions. This so filled with terror a number of persons concealed in churches and monasteries, that most of them enlisted, and were shipped to Spain.f There were no excesses, no profanation, and no misfortune, that such abuses did not occasion. The most horrible crimes were committed in and near the churches. Divine service was disturbed every instant by noises and quarrels. One vagabond killed another in Santo Stefano, by Porta Nuova, and then saved himself by flight.J Several criminals who rioted together, in a room adjoining the church of San Giorgio on the old market-place, carried about fire so carelessly, that the church was burnt down to the ground. The relics were with difficulty saved. The jealousy between the clerical and secular power, but more especially between Rome and the Viceroys (for one part particularly of the regular clergy ranged themselves on the side of the latter), always prevented a co-operation which alone would have been able to check such evils. Even when public dissensions did not take place, as under the government of Pope Urban VIII., who was on hostile political terms with the Spanish court, there was a want of real harmony. One party saw in the other an enemy and a rival, from whose * Guerra and Bucca, Diurnali of the years 1629 and 1633. f Vine, de' Medici, 14th July, 1643. At Palermo. P. 338. t Guerra and Bucca, for the year 1633. Capecelatro, Annali, for the year 1640. P. 180. 172 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. attacks he had to defend himself. The spiritual courts op- pressed the temporal courts by their activity ; the secular courts always disputed the jurisdiction of the spiritual courts. These last complained that the regular tribunals assumed the right of pronouncing the sentence of death in all cases of assassina- tion, even when the clergy were implicated ; that they rejected the Forum Ecclesiasticum in mixed cases ; that they claimed the jurisdiction of the secular domestics of the clergy ; and more besides. Everything was at stake. A remarkable case, which occurred in the year 1643, gives a clear picture of these unnatural circumstances. One morning in July the deputies of the Sediles, upon whom devolved the care of the provisions, were occupied with the inspection of the bakers' shops ; in the Toledo, near the Nuncio's palace, they had the bread weighed to convince themselves that it was of just weight, when a servant of the Nuncio Altieri (a race of half-priests, as the chronicler expresses it) came there, and told the de- puties to let it alone, that the bread came from his bakehouse. The baking-ovens of the monasteries and of all religious places were free, which occasioned a great deal of mischief. It was an untruth, but the man was so bold that, when the deputy of the citizens could not be hindered from going on with his business, he drew out a pistol and aimed at him. The servants of the Eletti seized him ; he was taken before the tribunal of San Lorenzo, the strappado was applied to him twice, and he was kept a prisoner. The Nuncio flew into a violent rage, and excommunicated the deputies, who sent an authorized agent to Rome to complain of the Nuncio, and they claimed at the same time the assistance of the Vice- roy. The Duke of Medina replied that if they had imme- diately hanged the delinquent he would have made no objec- tion ; but that now he would not enter into any negotiation with the Nuncio. They might themselves urge at Rome the recall of Monsignor Altieri, it would not be the first time that it had so happened.* The evils increased when the Archbishop of Naples did not personally mediate in the conflicts. In the following pages mention will often be made of the Cardinal Ascanio Filo- marino, who, in the year 1641, succeeded the Cardinal Fran- Vine. . Hi.-, excellency and his suite were conveyed to the palace in mag- nificent carriages. On the following day a great cavalcade, joined sometimes by two hundred nobles of the highest rank, went first to the cathedral, at the gates of which the Arch- bishop and clergy received the representative of the monarch, the Te Deum was chanted, and they proceeded through the town. TMs wu taking possession (il possesso). It was per- formed with more or less pomp, according to the character and taste of the individual. The elder Duke of Ossuna arranged everything splendidly ; he appeared in a complete suit of white silk, with lofty waving feathers; his sword, belt, spurs. and stirrups gilt ; his horse-trappings covered with the richest COURTS OF THE VICEROYS. 17ft gold embroidery. Under such masters all must be conducted on a great scale, as well on festive as on ordinary days. They made presents like sovereigns. If they travelled about the country they were accompanied by a numerous suite. When the Duke of Alcala, in April 1630, went to Amalfi, to perform his devotions in the chapel dedicated to St. Mat- thew, he reached Torre del Greco on the first day, where the Prince of Stigliano entertained him ; on the second he tra- velled to Nocera, where he visited the duke, also a Carafa ; on the third to Salerno, where the Archbishop Cardinal Savelli received him. He did not reach the place of his destination till the fourth day.* Monterey and Medina tried to rival their predecessor Os- suna, who had lived like a sovereign. Medina could do so, for by his wife he was the richest man in the kingdom ; and how- ever great the misery, donatives could always be procured for Madrid, as well as presents for the representatives of Madrid. Even the Duke of Alva, though he had used the town very ill, and was booted and spurred to leave the country, received at his departure a present of 75,000 ducats, and then started off without saying a word of thanks."! Royal decrees, indeed, prohibited such gifts, but they do not seem to have been much observed. Don Pedro de Toledo once received 22,000 ducats, the elder Duke of Alva 25,000, the elder Count of Lemos and the Count of Benevento the same sums, the first Duke of Alcala 50,000, Ossuna 40,000 and more. In the year 1639 it was wished to present the very rich Duchess of Medina with 50,000 ducats, but the proposal fell through. The sum given to the Count of Monterey is not known ; but Don Francesco Capecelatro calculates that, during his administration of six years, 43,000,000 ducats were extorted, of which not above 17,000,000 found their way into the royal coffers, whilst he and his accomplices pocketed the rest. At his departure forty ships were necessary to carry away his effects. 4500 packages contained rich furniture, gold and silver vessels, sculpture and other works of art, and ready money, and he had sent away a great deal beforehand. | He availed himself of every oppor- * Guerra and Bucca, Diumali, in many places. Zazzera and reports of the Tuscan Agents at Palermo and many places. t Guerra and Bucca, in many places, till the year 1633. % Capecelatro, Annali, p. 95. 176 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. tunity to raise money. He employed a man, by name Gero- nimo Favella, formerly a bad actor, who, after he had failed on the stage as an Innamorato, became the editor of a new.<]tu]>er. and in this capacity was made use of by Monterey to invent and circulate a quantity of false news. Every defeat of the Spaniards was turned into a victory, and this victory was then the occasion for new demands and a new present, the necessity or convenience of which the Viceroy demonstrated with great eloquence.* Meanwhile the people were starving-, and had to bear regularly three-quarters of the public burdens. The year 1644 had arrived. The Spanish monarchy, op- pressed by external and domestic enemies, with bankrupt finances, and armies beaten every day, reaped the melancholy fruits of the policy of the Duke of Olivarez, when the power of that omnipotent minister broke down under the hatred and curses of the whole nation. His disgrace caused the recall of his son-in-law. On the 6th of May 1644, after a government of more than six years, the Duke of Medina made room for his successor, the Admiral of Castille. The sums which he drew out of the kingdom in one shape or another are estimated at 30,000,000 ducats. He might have said at his departure that he left Naples in such a condition, that not four respectable families could send up one good meal. When, at the present day, the inhabitant of the capital walks along the broad and popu- lous street of Medina, or looks at the fountain and the gate which bear the name of this Viceroy, he can hardly imagine the misery of those times. The showy and capricious Medina made way for a more skilful and prudent, and an older man. Don Juan de Alfonso Enriquez de Cabrera. Admiral of Castille, had performed im- portant services during the war. In the year 1638 he had com- pelled the Prince of Conde to raise the siege of Fontarabia, and he had been Viceroy of Sicily for the space of three years. Don Louis de Haro, who had gradually acquired a more important share of influence over King Philip than the Count-Duke had had, caused the Admiral to be sent to Naples, because he feared him as a rival at Madrid. But his administration did not last long. He soon convinced himself of the impossibility Guerra and Bucca, Diurnali. DUKE OF ARCOS VICEROY. 177 of governing in the same manner as his predecessors. The same demands for money were made upon him as upon the others. The yearly sum, granted under Medina, of the dona- tive of eleven millions, could not be collected, and a new one was already demanded. The Viceroy had compassion on the people and on the country. He begged that he might be recalled ; he could not bear that so beautiful a crystal should break in his hands. He was recalled, and said to be unfit to govern a monastery, much less a state like Naples. He had not been there quite two years when the Duke of Arcos suc- ceeded him. We approach the most disastrous period of the Spanish dominion. The state of the kingdom had become insensibly unbearable. The misery of the lower classes was immense. The nobility had, by the heavy sacrifices which they willingly made for the continuation of the war with France, lost an im- portant part of their disposable revenues. It had been hoped the fall of Olivarez would have produced a change, but the monarchy was too deeply imbued with the political system of this man to be able immediately to strike out into another line. France, who wished to finish the humiliation of the House of Hapsburg, left it no choice. Its last powers were summoned to resist the struggle. Naples had enjoyed com- parative repose during the short period of Enriquez's govern- ment, now it was to be disturbed again. Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon was to accomplish what the Admiral of Castille either could not or would not do. As Viceroy of Valencia, he had gained at court at least a good name. In earlier times the reputation for bravery and a spirit of enterprise had been allied to this name, although the glories of fortune had not irradiated it. Don Juan Ponce de Leon, one of Ovando's subordinate commanders, the successor of Columbus in the government of the Antilles, had, in the year 1512, discovered the coast of Florida. Amongst the natives of the island of Puertorico, which Don Juan had brought into subjection to Spain, a legend prevailed that in one of the islands of the great gulf a spring existed from which flowed the waters of perpetual youth. So many dreams of the Castillians had been realized, that nothing appeared beyond the limits of possibility to their imaginations. Did not even Columbus himself expect to find the paradise of our first parents ? Juan Ponce de Leon did a 178 THE; CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. not find the spring of youth, but his death in battle with the natives ; nevertheless he discovered a beautiful and fruitful part of the continent, then the most northern point of the Spanish conquests. The Duke of Arcos took possession on the 1 1th of February, 1646. He had not been in Naples three months when the Cardinal Mazarin, not content with fighting against Spain in Flanders and Burgundy, supported the insurrection of the CataJans, encouraged the Portuguese in the war of independ- ence, and made a diversion on the shores of Italy, which, al- though it only partially succeeded, filled the whole peninsula with excitement. At the moment when Dunkirk, the key of Flanders, was lost, a fleet, containing 7000 troops, left the shores of Provence, commanded by the Admiral Duke of Breze. On the Var, Prince Thomas of Savoy undertook the command, whom the Cardinal had won over to the enterprise by deluding him with the vision of a crown in southern Italy. In the picture gal- leries of Turin and Berlin you see, and at each place by the hand of Vandyke, the striking portrait of the founder of the Carignani, who ascended the throne of Sardinia in the year 1631. The manly features, the docided expression, the bril- liant eye, the blooming complexion, mark the man who might have been of great importance to his country, if the Italian relations had not been of such a kind as to excite his ambition without satisfying it, whilst power and talents wure uselessly exhausted in quarrels and intrigues. Prince Thomas had long taken the Spanish side, because he envied his sister- in-law, Madame Royale, the courageous daughter of Henry IV., the government of Piedmont ; but he listened at last to the representations of Mazarin, and undertook the command of the expedition directed against the Spanish possessions in Italy. The Tuscan presidencies received the first blow. It has already been mentioned that King Philip II. had reserved these places on the coast for himself, in order to have a firm position in the middle of Italy. They formed a chain at the foot of Tuscany. The Mount of Argentaro, consisting of a great mass of rocks towering one above another, only con- nected with the continent by two narrow strips of land, projects far out into the Mediterranean Sea, the waves of which break at the edge of the mighty promontory. It is surrounded by SIEGE OF ORBETELLO. 179 many clusters of small harbours, which once were of import- ance to the republic of Sienna, although Sienna never was a commercial state. Here a struggle took place, when, in the year 1555, Sienna, famished and deserted, sank under superior power. Here the heroic Pietro Strozzi fought against his more fortunate rival the Marquis of Marignano, who con- quered one after the other of these weak places on the coast. In later times, Port' Ercole to the south, and Santo Stephano to the north, became places of refuge to the Tuscan ruler, during the democratical convulsions of his country ; still more to the north, at some distance from the unhealthy and marshy coasts, is Talamone, where the fleet of King Ladislaus defeated that of the Florentines, to whom these last thought to transfer their commercial establishments when they were obliged to give up the harbours of the Pisans. But the most important spot is Orbetello, situated, so to say, upon the point of an isthmus in the midst of the sea, which is embanked by those two narrow strips of land, which makes the Mount of Argen- taro a peninsula seen from far rising out of the midst of the waves. The French fleet turned towards these coasts. The small harbours were taken instantly ; but the Duke of Arcos had had time to throw into Orbetello seven hundred men, with money and provisions, under the valiant and experienced ^Nea- politan warrior Carlo della Gatta. The Prince of Savoy began the siege. The Neapolitan galleys suffered a serious loss at Palo : the fortresses made a valiant resistance ; but the issue would hardly have been more favourable if the French fleet, in a naval battle with the Spanish fleet, which had been hastily sent out, had not lost its admiral and put out to sea. A second Neapolitan auxiliary force, under the Mar- quis di Torrecuso, came to the assistance of Orbetello by land, so that the French, after a siege of more than two months, left their trenches on the 24th of July, and retired to their trans- ports, which conveyed them back to the shores of Provence. The greater the rejoicing in Spain and Naples, the less was Mazarin satisfied at the failure of his plans. Scarcely had he heard that the Spanish fleet had left the Italian harbours, when the French one set out again. The Marshals La Meil- leraie and Du Plessis Praslin commanded the expedition. Its destination was believed to be against the Presidencies, or N 2 180 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. against Naples itself, as a part of the fleet on the 27th of Sep- tember disembarked 3000 foot soldiers and 300 cavalry, and a quantity of heavy artillery, in the gulf of Stella on the southern coast of Elba. The other division meanwhile turned towards the continent, and on the 5th of October began the siege of Piombino, which Don Niccolo Ludovici, of Venosa, held as an imperial fief under the Spanish power. Piombino is situated on a promontory fortified by nature : it has, like Gaeta, one single access on the land side. But preparations had not been made against an attack, and after four days the fortress surrendered, The combat lasted longer at Elba. The fortifications of Porta Lungone are now in ruins ; but it was a strong fort ; the erection of it had been begun by the Spaniards in a favourable position in the year 1602. The citadel of Antwerp had been taken as a model. Five great bastions were united by curtains, which were covered by half-moons : four covered ways and bomb-proof barracks for 2000 men formed al- together a considerable fortress. Only eighty men were in the fort ; but they did not lose courage. Their bat- teries were so well served, that they generally dismounted those of the enemy. Nevertheless, the superior force was too great. On the 26th of October the breaches were practicable. The first storming attack was repulsed ; but four days later the besieged were obliged to capitulate. A French medal with the inscription " Plumbino et Porto lungo expugnatis, MDCXXXXVI.," served as a memento of the conquest, which gave France two important fortresses in the vicinity of the Spanish possessions ; and as France had the control of the channel of Piombino, the communication between Spain and Naples, if not stopped, was at least rendered very difficult. Mazarin was at the same time solicitous to win over the Archduke Ferdinand to the interests of France, and promised him Elba and the Presidencies as his reward. The prize was tempting ; but the Medici, although neutral in the conflict, were attached to Spain by too many ties, and distrusted too much the old fickleness of the French policy. More than a century and a half was yet to elapse before Tuscany reached its natural frontiers.* The progress of the French made more * Galluzzi, in many places. Vol. vii. p. 270. Rcpctti, Dizionario dcUa Toscana. Florence, 1833. Vol. iv. pp. 606, 607. WARLIKE PREPARATIONS OF NAPLES. 181 impression upon Innocent X. than upon the Archduke, who listened to the representations of Mazarin in favour of the nephew of his predecessor : the once haughty Barberini re- ceived them again into favour, and entered into an under- standing with France, without quarrelling with Spain. The Duke of Arcos was in great straits. Naples was so ex- hausted, that no means were found to procure the arrears of the last donative. And now the kingdom itself was threatened by the enemy. Arcos hastened to fortify Gaeta. He ordered the provincial militia to hold itself in readiness to march ; but it declared itself not bound to perform foreign service. With the assistance of a voluntary loan from the barons and rich proprietors, he raised some troops, particularly in Germany. He also put the fleet into as good a condition as he could ; this was necessary, for a small French squadron with fireships had had the boldness to appear in the gulf of Naples. Scarcely had it departed, when it met with a great disaster. In the night of the 12th of May, 1607, the Admi- ral's ship, the " Capitana," blew up. Four hundred men lost their lives, and the damage amounted to three hundred thousand ducats, besides the ship and the ammunition. The whole town was in an uproar, not a single whole pane remained in any of the houses on the side by the sea. The author of the disaster, if it was not an unfortunate accident, has never been traced. Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon knew not how to obtain fur- ther assistance. Money must -be procured at any price. The parliament was summoned, and granted a million. But where to find it ? since, of the eleven millions of Medina's, three-quar- ters were still in arrear, and never had it been dared to collect a tax put upon hired dwellings in Naples and its vicinity in the year 1645. Nevertheless, capitalists were found who ad- vanced the money. But to clear off the debt recourse was had to another tax, which was the fruit-tax. The Count of Bene- vento had about forty years earlier tried to introduce such a tax ; but it went no further than a mere attempt, because the common people rebelled and destroyed the custom-house on the great market. In the embarrassment of not knowing what else could be taxed, since most articles of consumption were burdened with double and triple their share of gabelles, this unfortunate idea was returned to. The measure was full. 182 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL The historians of that time, both Neapolitans and foreigners, mention one fact which more than any other bears witness to the condition of the kingdom. When poor people from the provinces came into the capital, and represented to one of the principal officers that nothing remained to them wherewith to satisfy the covetousness of the cruel and inexorable toll- collectors, they received as an answer that they might sell the honour of their wiv s and daughters, and pay their duties with the proceeds. Neapolitan subjects who had travelled to Turkish coasts announced from thence that the government of infidels was better than that of the Catholic king. Only an accidental circumstance was wanted to determine the issue. But before we consider the events which threatened within a hair's-breadth to deprive Spain of its most beautiful Italian province, we must stop to pourtray the manner of life and the local relations of the town of Naples, in connexion with the life and actions of a man who may be taken as a repre- sentative of the nobility in those days, and who took a decided part in the following important events. DESCENDANTS OF DIOMED CARAFA. 183 CHAPTER II. THE YOUTHFUL LIFE OF DIOMED CARAFA. THE NOBILITY IN THE XVII th CENTURY. Don Marzio Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni Warlike fame and splendour of the family Diomed Carafa' s birth and youth Military service of the nobility Social relations and position of the great families Their pride Inability to resist the viceroys Attempt to attract the feudal nobility to the capital Magnificence of the viceroys in the seventeenth century The royal palace at Naples Count of Lemos Domenico Fontana Festivities Masquerades, theatres, tournaments Feats of horsemanship Pleasure excursions Play, and gambling-houses Courtesans (Donna di Libera Vita) The Prince of Conca and his family Corruption of the morals of the higher classes Duels Insecurity of the streets Bravoes Quarrels with the police Deeds of violence done by the nobles Murder of Camillo Soprano Proceedings against the murderers Debts of the nobility Oppression of vassals Domestic life - "Women Disputes about rank Balls and quadrilles Convents Feasts in them Presence of the Infanta Maria Diomed Carafa's way of life Anna Carafa, Princess of Stigliano, Duchess of M*e- dina The palace of Donna Anna The ill-fated house Story of Anna Acqua viva's marriage Nuptials of Diomed Carafa The Caracciolos of Avellino Avellino and its neighbourhood. THE male descendants in a direct line of the first Count of Maddaloni became extinct in the fourth generation. It was the third Diomed who, after he had commanded a troop of cavalry in the last war of the Emperor and of the Duke Cosmo of Florence against the republic of Sienna, and had defended the frontier fortress of Atri against Paul IV. in Alva's campaign, exchanged, by a grant of King Philip II., his title of Count for that of Duke on the 8th of April, 1558. He died in the same year in which his cousin of Montorio met with the dreadful fate that has been before related. He married a cousin, Roberta, the daughter of Antonio, the first Duke of Mondragone and Prince of Stigliano, descended from another branch of the great family of Carafa, of which we shall soon make more particular mention. As he died child- less, his titles and fiefs passed on to his nephew, the eldest son of his sister, Donna Girolama, who had married the younger 184 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. son of the above-named Prince of Stigliano. From this time the lords of Maddaloni were called alternately by the Christian names of Diomed and Marzio. The first Marzio, heir to his uncle's dukedom as well as to the earldom of Cereto, married a Spinella and died -in the year 1607, during the reign of King Philip III. His son Diomed, who bore also the title of Marquis of Arienzo, married Marguerite d'Acquaviva d'Aragona. Of his children, Marzio continued the direct line, whilst his younger son Fabio, by his marriage with his rela- tion, inherited the title of Duke of Colobrano, and founded the family which exists to this day, and represents, though under very altered circumstances, the once powerful house of the Carafas of Maddaloni. Don Marzio Carafa showed himself worthy of the name he bore, and of the brilliant station which, owing to his great possessions and extensive patronage exceeded the usual average. He was not above twenty years old when he took a part in the Lombard and Piedmontese war which burst out during the government of the Duke of Ossuna at Naples, of Don Pedro de Toledo Marquis of Villafranca in Milan, which stirred up the claims of the house of Savoy to the dukedom of Mont- ferrat, that after the extinction of the Paleologi, in the year 1536, was granted by the Emperor Charles V. to the Duke of Mantua, which became, by the expected failure of the main branch of the house of Gonzaga, an apple of discord between the Spanish and French parties ; and it was only eighty years later that the Italian province was annexed to the crown of Sardinia, and the form given to it for which its rulers had so long struggled. Ossuna found in Toledo an active ally for his plans against Venice ; so it was not unreasonable for him to defray his expenses. More ambitious than discreet, more bold than dexterous, hasty in his orders and careless in execution, Toledo had but little success in this war, and it was this war which tried Naples beyond her strength. Don Camillo Ca- racciolo, Prince of Avellino, commanded four regiments of cavalry and sixteen companies of hommes d'armes ; the Duke of Maddaloni spent 25,000 ducats in raising two regiments of cavalry, lancers and arquebusiers. He summoned five hundred of his own vassals, with whom he joined the army of the Mar- quis of Villafranca, which gained distinction in numerous battles and took part in the siege of Vercelli. The governor DON MARZIO CAKAFA, 185 of Milan, strengthened by the help of Ossuna and the Walloon troops, appeared suddenly before this fortress in May, 1617 : Duke Charles Emmanuel exerted himself to the utmost to re- lieve it ; the Piedmontese garrison made the most valiant resistance, and a number of the best officers belonging to the Spanish army met with their death in the trenches, and in the repeated efforts to take it by storm : but after a blockade of two months the town was nevertheless obliged to capitulate, though on honourable terms. After the death of the Prince of Avellino Don Marzio Carafa became Captain-General of the hommes d'armes and of all the light cavalry, and died in the vigour of manhood in 1628. By his marriage he brought an important accession of power into his family. Donna Maria di Capua Pacheco, daughter of the Prince of Conca, descended from one of the most illustrious families of the Aragonese party, who possessed a fine property, not in the kingdom only, but likewise in Spain, by an alliance of marriage with the Zunicas. Matteo di Capua, Count of Palena, the founder of the family, had, by his valour and his fidelity to Ferdinand and Alphonso of Aragon, deservedly earned much, and his pos- terity had always lived in a style of magnificence correspond- ing to their illustrious descent and princely fortune. When the Duke of Maddaloni went through the town, his carriage was drawn by six horses, and he was attended by a numerous train of servants, and the carriage of his wife was likewise drawn by six horses at the same time, when she went to fetch the vice-queen, the Duchess of Ossuna, to drive up and down the Toledo, to enjoy the spectacle of the populace walking incessantly to and fro, which was new to the Spanish rulers. These were the parents of Diomed Carafa, the fifth Duke of Maddaloni, born in the year 1611.* In his youth he was surrounded with everything which, according to human ideas, could secure not merely splendour but happiness in this life. His family were devoted to the Spanish interests, and the Spaniards seemed in peaceful possession of Naples for cen- turies. Allied by marriage to the noblest families, rich be- yond the average wealth of private individuals, lord of nume- rous districts, and master almost unlimited, according to the custom of those times, of thousands of vassals, though not * Acts of the Collateral Council of the year 1629, in the great archives of Naples. 186 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. secure from the arbitrary conduct of Spanish rulers, Diomed Carafa saw himself at the head of his family at the age of seventeen. When only fifteen he bore the title of Marquis d'Arienzo, and levied, by order of the viceroy the Duke of Aha, a regiment of cavalry consisting of fifty-two men, and their pay was raised from his property. He wished to march as their captain to the war in Lombardy, but his parents would not permit him as the heir of their house, and a Spanish noble- man, Don Francisco della Cueva, went in his stead. If he was not allowed to avail himself of this opportunity to obtain practice and martial experience in larger campaigns, he did not therefore neglect, any more than his companions in age and station, to study the art of war, which in his later years, during the bloody days of Naples, proved of great service to him. He was not less distinguished in the other arts and sciences which then occupied a considerable portion of the time and life of the great nobility. The Neapolitan nobles, when they were not engaged in the business of the state, had only the choice between a military and a court life. In general they united both. The military service has been described in an earlier chapter of this history, but the court life had in this country neither the attractions nor the higher advantages which bring it into favour in other places, where, as was the case in France in the days of Lewis XIII. and Richelieu, it became the centre of the splendour, the wealth, and the greatness of the nation, making compen- sation for many undeniable disadvantages by many beneficial reactions upon the provinces, amongst which a dignified repre- sentation in foreign lands is not to be excluded, an advantage which the enemies of courts, who merely see the estrangement of the nobility from the inhabitants of their lands, the outcry about demoralization, and the squandering away of money, leave, either voluntarily or involuntarily, too much out of consideration. The Neapolitan nobility wanted the central point of a national dynasty. For more than a century the kingdom had been governed from abroad ; the once flourishing king- dom of the Normans and of the Hohenstaufens was divided into two provinces, which, whether for good or evil, must be dependent on Spain. The centre of gravity was displaced the whole machinery of the state was in disorder. The political relations and the position of the nobility as POSITION OF THE NOBILITY. 187 citizens had already become objects of consideration under the viceroys. Their social condition was injured by the evils which poisoned in its inmost core the whole life of the upper classes. Many of the old forms remained. It was soon re- marked that the world had before it a feudal nobility bearing the stamp of the middle ages, with an actual position, if not illustrious, yet by the number of its deeds ever exciting re- miniscences, with exclusive associations and a self-consciousness which very often degenerated into abrupt haughtiness when mere externals, the hollow masks of former power, were con- cerned. It is not uninteresting to observe the impression which this state of things produced upon the feudatories of the other Italian states, for instance, upon the frugal and calculating Florentines, who, long after the times of the decline of the Medici, could not forget that their own nobility sprang from trade ; and they did not the less esteem Lorenzo de' Medici, Bernardo Ruccellai, Filippo Strozzi, the fathers and cousins of popes, queens, dukes, and marshals, because they had banking establishments at home, as well as in Rome, in Lyons, and in Bruges. An agent of the Duke of Urbino's, whilst speaking of the brother of the viceroy Lemos, the Count of Castro, seeks to obtain the love of the nobility of this place by his affable behaviour. He gives the appellation of illustrissimo to all the titled nobility ; he exhausts himself in civilities and speaks to every one. In short, I believe he would suit Naples better, where people live merely for vanity, than Rome, where it is disguised.* The nobles, writes another to the Arch- duke Ferdinand of Tuscany, live in great style, and would consider it a disgrace to meddle with commercial affairs. In- deed, they consider it beneath them to trouble theniselves per- sonally about their household concerns. The time which they do not pass in their Sediles they employ entirely in military exercises and feats of horsemanship.f The disputes about rank are incessant at social festivities, as well as during reli- gious festivals. It often happened that they quarrelled amongst each other about the order of a procession to church, extinguished the torches, excited a tumult, whilst the priests stood there with the sanctissimum, without being able to begin * Year 1611. At Palermo and other places. P. 224. t Francesco Marcaldo. Report to Ferdinand of Medici, 1594. Pa- lermo and other places. P. 294. 188 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. the procession till the Spanish lords interfered, and commanded them to march on as they stood, without any reference to rank and titles. When the elder Duke of Ossuna assumed the go- vernment he decreed that only titled nobles should be admitted into the ante-room (anticamera), but the rest should wait in the hall (sala), where they stood mixed up with the citizens who were waiting for an audience. The nobility threatened an insurrection.* In an assembly in the Casa della Nunziata, a doctor who began a speech forgot to give the title of Eccel- lentissimo to the Prince del Colle, who seized hold of a heavy sword that was on the table to give the unfortunate speaker a gentle and intelligible admonition, but, instead of this, the blow hit an old man, who was carried home with a severe wound in his head-t How the feudal nobility behaved to the citizens and to their vassals we shall often be informed in the course of this history. The viceroys encouraged this conduct as long as it was convenient or in any way forwarded their plans. Suddenly they made a demonstration of their power. The nobility re- sembled a bird in a snare ; unexpectedly they felt the jerk of a powerful hand. Their arbitrary will was repressed by a greater ; no privileges, no family rank, no services to the crown afforded them any protection. Don Pedro de Toledo ordered the Count of Cajazzo, one of the most illustrious of the nobility, to be put to the torture, in the year 1550, about a mere trial of inquiry ; such a step had not been taken since the severe measures resorted to by Philibert of Orange after the siege of Naples by Lautrec against the nobles belonging to the French party, and then the circumstances were quite different, and of a graver nature than during the government of Toledo in the midst of a time of peace. When, in a dispute with the Duke of Alva in the year 1626 about the government of the town, one of the deputies of the Sediles threatened that he would write to the king, the viceroy answered that he should put the head before the feet of the person who wished to do that. In the year 1614 the Count of Lemos imprisoned the Prince of Conca and the Duke of Bovino, the first Lord High * Year 1582. Pietro Riccareli to Ferdinand de' Medici, 1594. Pa- lermo and other places. P. 294. t Zazzera, Governo del Duca d'Ossuna, year 1618. At Palermo and other places. P. 529. THE NOBILITY AND THE VICEROYS. 189 Admiral, and the other High Seneschal of the kingdom, and sent one to Castelnuovo and the other to Sant' Elmo, because as supporters of the dignity of the crown they had refused to appear at a review amongst the crowd of nobles, but claimed reserved places. A year afterwards the same Count of Lemos caused the Duke of Nocera, one of the most distinguished feudatories of the house of Carafa, to be seized in his palace by a number of sbirri, because he had disobeyed the injunction of the king, and had married without his consent. Arrests for debt, even for very small sums, were not unusual, and the vanity as well as the pretensions to rank of the Neapolitans was hurt by the Spaniards in this and in all ways. If they quarrelled amongst each other they were humbled by the ruling nation. The Marquis of Mondejar not only gave his son and his son-in-law the highest rank in the kingdom, but allowed his bastard brother to take the precedence of all the marquises in the kingdom, and once even of the Duke St. Agata. When the Duke of Alva, in August, 1629, made his first visit to his successor, the Duke of Alcala, who had landed at the palace di Trajetto at Posilipo, he summoned almost the whole body of the great nobility, that he might be attended by a brilliant escort : after these nobles had waited for a long- hour in the hall, they were informed that his Excellency did not require their services to-day, as he had changed his mind. The princes and dukes left the house in disgust, but the next day Alva summoned them again, and they all hastened back to the palace proof enough, says a contemporary chronicler, that the worse they are treated the more submissive they be- come.* Such things must the men submit to whose origin may be traced to the time of the Lombards, to the ancient Grecian-Italian races who inhabited the shores of Amalfi, who were descendants of the valiant followers of a William Bras de Fer, of a Guiscard, and of a Roger. Nevertheless the Viceroy had it in his power to unite the feudal nobility of the capital. Political designs, above all the wish to loosen the ties between the feudatory and his vassal, and to weaken the influence of the former in the provinces, where the baron, as direct ruler, had far more influence than the officers of the crown these designs and this wish went hand in hand with * Guerra and Bucca. Diurnali to the year 1629, and in many places. 190 THE CAHAFAS OF MADDALOM. the endeavour to make the court of Naples as brilliant as 1 ihle. It was not enough for the rulers to possess real posvcr ; they wished also for the display of it. They lived in regal splendour and at an immense expense. None of the rulers had such despotic power and exercised such an influence <>;i flic fate of Italy as the first Toledo, who placed his daughter on the throne of one of the most enviable and beautiful prin- cipalities in the world, saw his son Viceroy of Sicily, con- tributed through his son-in-law to the victory of Musselberg, and resisted the stubborn Pope Paul III. with Spanish tena- city ; but many of his successors have surpassed him in ex- ternal splendour. As the seventeenth century left all pre- ceding ages far behind it, in expenditure, in all that bore upon the comfort and convenience of life, and in the exaggeration of all relations beyond their natural limits, in pomp of forms, ornaments, and pretensions, stifled not only the ideal in art and literature, but real eloquence, genuine merit, and ancient custom, in the habits and intercourse of daily life, so was this pre-eminently the case in Naples, where Spanish arrogance and ostentation were united with the frivolity of Southern Italy. A thoughtless love of pleasure was met more than half way by a cunning calculation of interests. The palace inhabited by the viceroys of the seventeenth century was as different as pos- sible from the dwellings in which not only their predecessors, but even kings and emperors, had been obliged to live. In situation, extent, and beauty of view it was united to the ideas of modern luxury and to the demands of exalted station. The Castle of Capuano, the fort of King William the Bad, and the usual residence of the rulers of Anjou-Durazzo and Aragon, when they did not inhabit the castles or their villas, was, on account of its situation at the extreme east end of the town, too inconvenient ; on account of its distance from the sea and from the principal fortress of Castelnuovo, too insecure to re- tain its old destination. Don Pedro de Toledo began the con- struction of a palace, which has only of late years entirely disappeared, when, after the danger of a conflagration, the north side of the royal Place, where the yet unfinished side facade of the theatre of San Carlo is united with the more recent part of the present king's dwelling, exhibited through the removal of the different remains of fortifications a different shape and greater harmony of proportions. It was in the year ROYAL PALACE. 191 1600 when the Count of Lemos began this royal dwelling, on one side opposite to the steep hill of Pizzofalcone, and on the other side connected by gardens and bridges with Castelnuovo, commanding from the height of the precipitate shore leading towards the sea the gigantic subterranean buildings and the extensive edifices of the arsenal, embracing the coast of the wide horizon from the smoking crater of Vesuvius even to the Cape of Minerva and Capri. In those days the place did not present the complete effect which, whatever may be the objec- tions to the architecture of the building separately taken, always produces a certain impression. An intricate web of houses covers the declivity and foot of Pizzofalcone, where, under the Angevins, a small church was raised in honour of the Holy King Lewis, the very dissimilar brother of Charles I. ; near to which the venerable Calabrian hermit, Franciscus of Paola, founded a monastery for the brothers of his order, the Minim monks, like a similar one raised by his pious zeal in Rome, upon Monte Pincio, called Trinita de Monte, visible from far in its commanding situation. As King Ferdinand I., the Bourbon, after the restoration in the year 1816, in the place of the ruinous convent, erected the great Basilica of San Francesco di Paola, levelled the place and adorned it with an equestrian statue of his father, Charles III., which serves as a fellow to his own, so Ferdinand II. finished the whole by completing the structure on the south and north sides of the palace, by the magnificent terrace towards the sea, towards the place of Castelnuovo by the gardens with the portal, upon which is placed the colossal group of horses in bronze, a work by the hand of a northern sculptor, rivalling the productions of southern art. Don Ferdinand Ruiz de Castro, Count of Lemos, the first viceroy sent by Philip III. to Naples, began the building : one of the front inscriptions mentions this, praising not him alone, but his wife, Caterina Zunica y Sandoval, " inter he- roinas ingenio et animi magnitudine praeclara," and his son, Francisco de Castro, who for a time was governor for his father. The other inscription extols the palace and garden : " Inter celeberrimas orbis terrarum urbes Austriarum imperio terra marique florentem Neapolim, Regia haec operosa et illustris aedificiis mole condita exornavit." Domenico Fon- tana, born at a village on the Lake of Como, was the architect 192 THE CAEAFAS OF MADDALONI. to whom the work had been intrusted. He had filled Rome with the fame of his name. He had already won the favour of Pope Sixtus V., when he was only Cardinal of Moiitalto, who had commissioned him to build his beautiful chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore, as well as his favourite villa by the baths of Diocletian. Almost all the great works achieved under this energetic Pope are by Fontana. He built the palace of San Giovanni in Laterano, and the side portico of the Basilica. He inserted the Vatican library in Bramante's great plan of the court. He finished the Vatican palace, and laid out the streets which, uniting Pincio, Quirinal, and Esquilin, cross one another at the Quattro Fontane. He gave designs for fountains and waterworks, and put into execution the great plans of the Pope, if not with the purity and the grace of that form of art, the perception of which had already passed away, yet with steadiness, activity, and energy. He owes, however, his chief celebrity to two undertakings, in which he acted rather as an engineer than an artist the completion of the cathedral of St. Peter, the vault of which its gifted raiser did not live to finish, and the erection of the Vatican obelisk, which was the first beginning of decorating Rome with Egyptian obelisks. After the death of Pope Sixtus, Domenico Fontana, who was the object of much enmity, gladly accepted an invitation of the Viceroy, the Count of Miranda, to Naples, where he executed many works before he began the greatest, that of the palace. The facade alone of this building remains, and e\ vn this is altered ; for every other arch of the Doric portico which forms the ground-floor is filled up with masonry, be- cause fears were entertained for the durability of the upper story owing to its heavy weight. The second story is deco- rated with smooth pilasters of the Ionic order, and the third with similar pilasters of the Composite order. The windows, which resemble those of Fontana's Roman buildings, are rather heavy, though not out of proportion with the mass of the building. The middle portal, wkh its granite pillars and cupolas, is not without effect. The facade has not always been improved by new additions, least of all by the ugly, tasteless watch-tower projecting from the middle of the roof. The middle court is not spacious, but the proportions of it are pleasant. The principal staircase, begun half a century after ROYAL PALACE. 193 the time of Fontana, and only finished within the last few years, has something grand about it, but it disturbs the har- mony of the original plan by destroying the hall or general waiting-room this very necessary and favourite part of an Italian palace, on the walls and ceilings of which are often to be seen such brilliant frescoes, especially in the times when Pietro da Cortona and Luca Giordano and their pupils knew how to produce, in an incredibly short space of time, with ad- mirable talent although in an inferior style, comprehensive and effective compositions, in which were represented all imagin- able persons of mythology, with ever bold and fearful alle- gories, assisted by a powerful secondary work of attributes and masses of clouds. If the exterior of the palace is much altered, this is still more the case with the interior, which was remodelled by many of the successors of the Count of Lemos, and still more by the kings of the Bourbon race, according to their pleasure and convenience : for its present form we are particularly indebted to Charles III. and Ferdinand II. But the first floor, the Piano Nobile, reminds us even to this day, in various ways, of the seventeenth century, whether by the chapel, built by the Duke of Medina, or by the pictures on the ceilings of the two saloons, in which Belisario Correnzio, the passionate rival of the Carracci, represents glorious deeds from Spanish history, the victory of the great captain over the French, and his entrance into Naples. The style is affected, and wants harmony, but the composition is animated, and much knowledge of the art is shown in the execution. The Duke of Alva, Don Pedro Antonio de Toledo, ordered these pictures to be done by Belisario, who was recommended to him by Giuseppe Bibera lo Spagnoletto, the darling painter and favourite of those times, and one who understood how to get into the favour of the Spanish rulers. We shall speak again of these men when we come to the time when the Vice- roys of Naples encouraged the works of wilder but not of such gifted artists. Thus the palace was the theatre for displaying the pomp and the feastings of those who represented the rulers of Spain and of India. These festivities were to prevent the inhabitants of Naples from thinking on more serious matters, and it is not the first time that similar attempts have been made with suc- cess. The second Duke of Ossuna was the man who increased 194 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. all luxury to a degree hitherto unheard of. He had not been in the government, which he undertook in the year 1616, many months, when it was calculated that he had spent fifty thousand ducats in festivities. Ossuna, who had from the beginning internally meditated the extensive political plans which after- wards led to the conspiracy against Venice, the details of which remain veiled in obscurity even to the present day, and which involved him in criminal intrigues against his king and his country, tried by this lavish expenditure to win over the higher classes, as he likewise endeavoured by a plausible show of con- descension and interest to secure to himself the love of the people. In this he only imperfectly succeeded. Excursions of pleasure, tournaments, balls, masquerades, suppers, plays, all these followed one upon another in rapid succession. He acted his own part in them with the dignity of a sovereign. On one evening a hundred and twenty ladies were invited to supper, and were waited upon only by their relations. The Viceroy did not show himself till the dessert, but looked on through a small window. Then he appeared magnificently attired, the windows were flung open, and the abundant fragments of the feast were thrown into the court of the arsenal. The great saloon was lighted up, and the ball began, which lasted till the sixth hour of the night. During the carnival of the year 1618 a great masquerade took place in the palace ; a Turkish ship was steered through the great hall ; one man after another jumped out ; tilting followed ; the whole was concluded by dancing and a supper. Never had such a display of magnifi- cence been seen as under Ossuna; and these festivities were not limited to the time of the carnival ; they were repeated on every occasion throughout the year. In 1619, on St. Law- rence's day, the Duchess of Ossuna arranged a ball ; one quadrille was made up of young ladies of great rank ; they were twelve in number; they wore under-garments of white satin trimmed with gold lace, and petticoats of the same, which reached to the middle of their legs ; their trains of silver bro- cade were flung over their left arms ; their head-dresses con- sisted of white crowns, out of which projected four heron's feathers. The expenses of their attire were defrayed by the Viceroy, and cost six hundred ducats for each lady. Every- thing was supplied to these beautiful dancers, even to their shoes. When the music began, they advanced in pairs, carry- MASQUERADES. 195 ing torches in their right hands, and whilst dancing they made a courtesy to his Excellency. Various other dances followed, amongst them a gaillarde ; and after refreshments of fruit had been presented, consisting of grapes and melons (the usual refreshments of rich and poor, high and low), the torch-dance followed, to which the Viceroy was invited by the daughter of the Duke of Monteleone-Pignatelli. With this the festivity ended at the fifth hour.* The successors of Ossuna rivalled him, although the circum- stance that they were ecclesiastics gave another direction to their manner of living. A brilliant assembly was held on the 22nd of December, 1629, when the second Duke of Alcala governed Naples the first festivity in which we find mention of Diomed Carafa, then eighteen years old. It was a great masked procession in honour of the marriage of the daughter of the Viceroy with the Prince of Paterno, which had lately taken place. A galley was brought into the saloon, guided by Alcala's son, the Marquis di Tariffa, and Don Ti- berio Carafa, Prince of Bisignano. Jupiter and Neptune appeared amidst music and song, and two angel forms ad- vanced, singing madrigals to the honour of the giver of the feast. Then came the knights belonging to the quadrille, six- and-thirty in number, one-half of them dressed in crimson silk, the other half in blue, with gold trimmings. " The silk stuffs were fine," remarks the simple chronicler, " whereas the gold lace was sham, and each dress cost a hundred and sixty and five ducats. They were young nobles belonging to the most illus- trious families, Carafa, Spinelli, D'Avalos, Caracciolo, Filo- marino, Capese-Galeota, Gesualdo, Pignatelli, &c. ; they drew lots to fix the order of precedence ; then the dancing began, and the ball lasted till the 7th hour."f During the ensuing carnival many diversions took place in honour of the new- married pair : it was said, indeed, that they were given to cele- brate the birth of the Infant of Spain, Baltasar Carlos, the eldest son of King Philip IV. ; but the bridal pair were the attraction of these entertainments. Besides balls and masquerades, numberless dramatic repre- sentations took place in the royal palace, and also amongst * Zazzera, Governo del Duca d' Ossuna. At Palermo and other places. Pp. 48(5, 497, 517, and many others. f Guerra and Bucca, Diurnali to the year 1629. o 2 1% THE CABAFAS OF MADDALONI. private persons of rank. The taste for these representations had much increased even in Ossuna's time. In May, 1618, he ordered Giovanni Batista Guarino's much-admired 'Pastor Fido' to be performed by Lombard actors. Many plays and dramas are mentioned in the diaries and annals of the time, but it is rare to meet with any celebrated names. Indeed, the Italian theatre was still in its infancy. Ariosto's, Bibbiena's, and Machiavelli's imitations of the ancient comedies, might meet with applause, according to the fashion of those times, at a polished and not austere court, but the people could not enter into them. It was otherwise with the Neapolitan Gian Ikittista della Porta. Occupying himself one day with the physical sciences, another day with poetry, and in both show- in^ unusual talent, he was never tired of establishing acade- mies in his own house. If a papal bull threatened him with punishment for attempting to fathom the secrets of nature, he devoted himself with the mind of a Proteus to the cultivation of the drama, and wrote plays that he caused to be acted after- wards. If he showed less inventive genius in his plays than when he presented us with the camera obscura, still lie knew as well how faithfully to seize the events of every-day life as admi- rably to represent them. He was still alive, at the time we are now going to describe, a time in which the Commedia delV Arte came into fashion, a play in which only one ca- nevas or scenarium was given, the actor supplied the rest : the comedies with the stereotyped figures, and with perpetually new \vitticisms, have been preserved to our times ; and although the manner of living is changed, still the way in which per- sonal peculiarities of character are seized upon offers much that is amusing and original. But the influence of the Spanish theatre preponderated, and this influence, which was felt in France as well as in Italy, was naturally all-powerful at Naples. As Spanish exaggera- tion and affectation infested all literature, and especially the theatre, not merely because it had attained to no true national character, but also because it addressed itself more particu- larly to the higher class, and this%class was more dependent and came into greater contact with Spain. Sometimes Spanish comedies from Spain were introduced. The taste of the com- pany for them may be compared to the present not unfounded preference for French comedy. Such a piece was acted in THE THEATRE. 197 January, J 630 : La Palabra cumplida. The President of the Chamber of Deputies, Simon Vaez, Count of Mola, gave the Viceroy this entertainment, who sat with his wife upon raised chairs before a row of ladies. The actors were all noblemen, and when the piece was ended they introduced a tournament, accompanied by music, on the stage. As they recited in Spanish, and spoke very fast according to Spanish custom, says the chronicler,* the Neapolitans did not understand a word of the somewhat complicated representation, and were obliged to be satisfied as they were, with the spectacle. But the intrigues of the Italian plays were by no means inferior to the Spanish ones. Shortly afterwards, in the palace, the piece of a Capuan, Ottavio d' Isa, was acted, called L'Alvida. Neapolitan cavaliers had undertaken the parts ; the head of the troop was the Count of Saponaro San Severino. The wo- men's parts were all performed by men : of what stamp they were is proved by the fact, that many prostitutes, courtesans, nurses, &c., accompanied them. At the general rehearsal at the house of the Impresario many ladies of rank met, but the thing was considered so bad, that not a single one ap- peared at the palace. A comedy of Niccolo degli Angioli appears to have suifered from another deficiency. For the space of twenty years he had tripled the delay of the Roman poet in finishing his terse ' Amor Paterno,' and had scrupulously observed the rules of Aristotle. The actors also took great pains, but the ladies, who wished for something to laugh at, and cared nothing for Aristotle, fell asleep from weariness. The Camalduense Father, Arcangelo Spina, succeeded better, whose play of ' L'Inconstante ' was introduced during the same carnival, in the palace of the Prince of San Severino, and succeeded better. Andrea Naclerio, who is so often men- tioned in the history of the struggles in the year 1647, acted admirably, and the piece succeeded so well, that it was acted again, at the Prince of Bisignano's, and even repeated again at the Viceroy's. Not only did the ecclesiastics then write plays as in our time Don Giulio Genoino, who is still living, and has ven- tured in his play, the subject of which is taken from the life of the famous Vico, to ridicule the inveterate prejudice of the * Guerra and Bucca's Diurnaii. 198 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. people for the " Jettatura" but theatrical representations were allowed even in churches and convents. It was a well- known practice of the middle ages : but the plays of the mys- teries and moralities had degenerated to worse and worse. Since the conclusion of the 16th century, when at the court of the Medici that mixture of poetry and music out of im-h has arisen the modern opera began to assume an arti-tir form, these representations in holy places UTUIIH- more and more melodramatic, and consequently of a more inappropriate character for the place and the public. In the year 1631 a "gran commedia" was introduced in the cathedral: the sub- ject of it was borrowed from Tasso whether from the ' Jeru- salem Delivered,' or any other poem, is not mentioned. At the Gerolimini of the Jesuits and the Gerolomini, such theatrical representations were performed. On the 1st of October, the Jesuits caused a play to be acted in honour of the Infanta, the wedded Queen of Hungary, in which clouds and dancing-boys and other brilliant apparatus were used ; which, including the supper, cost seven thousand ducats. The nobility and clergy, not excluding the cardinal-archbishops, were amongst the spec- tators. Sometimes especial representations were performed for men and for women separately ; but in general they were mixed together. Even in nunneries the custom was followed. The Benedictine nuns of Santa Maria Donn' Albina, one of the most ancient convents in the town, acted a play, to which many ladies of noble birth were admitted by papal permission. Others looked on at the piece from the outside, and a number of cavaliers were spectators from the church, and it gave rise to much scandal and mischief. As the right of asylum in the churches, about which such daily complaints were made, caused them to be perpetually desecrated by scandal or crime, so these theatrical representations did not naturally tend to improve matters. When amongst the crowd that was collected at San Gennaro during the time of the acting of that play of Tasso's Ottaviello Brancacci one of the police officers, for the administration of justice turned out a troublesome ecclesiastic, he drew out a dagger and thrust him such a blow as would have sent him into the other world, if he had not intercepted it with great dexterity.* ' Gucrra and Bucca's Diuruali, in many places. THE THEATRE. 199 None of the Viceroys had such a love for dramatic repre- sentations as the Count of Monterey. It was with him a real passion. Plays were acted daily, either in the public theatres or in the palace, or in the houses of the nobility. No season of the year, no festival of the church, made any difference. During the fast of the year 1632 more plays were acted than formerly during the Carnival. On the holy night of Christmas a play was acted in the palace ; and the Count went from the theatre into the royal palace to hear mass and receive the holy commu- nion. " Thus were mixed together, either in levity or wicked- ness, the holy mysteries and the fables of mythology." * In the public theatre he had a box fitted up for himself, which he occupied, accompanied by his wife ; both practices being in direct contradiction to the manners of the times. Often when he coasted along the shore in his gondola, from Mergellina to Posilipo, he was accustomed to take two persons with him, Andrew Ciccio of Pulcinella, and Ambrose Buonuomo of Coviello, who had not their equals amongst their contempo- raries ; and it was said that they could not be matched. Whenever they both acted together the whole town poured in ; and no foreign company could remain in Naples if they were not joined by them. In the year 1636 Monterey sent for a Spanish company at his own expense. The mere journey cost between four and five thousand ducats. When they arrived at the palace he sent all his servants to meet them in the court- yard, and expressed his joy so extravagantly, that even his dependents could not conceal their vexation and contempt. And as the theatre was empty, and the performers complained that they acted only to benches, he issued an order to com- mand the attendance of the Spanish officers and the common prostitutes at the theatre daily! If these last did not attend, they were obliged to pay a tax of four carlins to the actors. The Neapolitans clearly perceived that the Count forgot all his state business at the theatre. This passion ruled him to such a degree, even at an advanced age, that when he joined the campaign in Portugal against the Duke of Braganza, King John IV., he deprived the troops of their pay to give it the actors ! j" * Capecelatro, Annali to the year 1632. P. 20. t Guerra and Bucca, in other places. Year 1632. Capecelatro, in other places. Year 1636. 200 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL In peace, the time unoccupied by festivities and plays was passed by the nobility in equestrian exercises, airing, ;m-un;u so often mentioned, who indeed issued a prohibition to married people not to visit such houses ; but he was himself seduced by the heat of his temperament into all possible irregularities, and gave the worst example as he sailed along to Chiaja with a buffoon, or went along to Santa Lucia with a capricious beauty, Giovanna Maria by name. This was offensive to the Neapo- litan people, who were not yet sold, and this little history figured amongst the heads of accusation against his Excellency which were sent to King Philip. At a great national festivity, given by the Viceroy in June, 1617, at Poggio Reale, and to which about ten thousand persons were invited, food being provided for all, a particular table was appointed for twenty- five of the most notoriously profligate women, and they were amply entertained, whilst the Viceroy, who was there with his wife, went to them and joked with them. Such repeated scandal could not be tolerated. At a great festival of the church, a notorious beauty, called La Maltese, tried to squeeze herself in amongst some ladies of noble birth, and when a sbirri held her back she gave him a great blow. Ossuna, who was present, ordered her to be excluded, and she received blow after blow from the sbirri, whilst the ladies, more than one of whom were jealous of the beauty of the Maltese, held their muffs to their faces to hide their laughter. When the Viceroy once threatened to shut up an infamous quarter of the town at the upper end of the Toledo, it was suggested to him that to obtain his aim he must shut up half Naples. He had prohibited any person, on pain of the galleys, to visit the Spa- nish quarter with arms after the Ave Maria, which has now changed its name though not its character ; but if this checked the noise and mischief amongst the lower classes, it produced no effect upon the nobles. Scarcely a night elapsed without the worst kind of scandal, and cavaliers belonging to the noblest families were almost invariably mixed up in it. The quarrels began either in petty jealousies or at the gaming-table, or were caused by larcenies or meetings with adventurers. In general, the lights DEATH OF THE PRINCE OF CONGA. 203 were thrown down ; each person drew his sword or dagger in dark ; the servants were often obliged to atone for the amuse- ments of their masters by broken heads ; the sbirri appeared ; the women escaped or were dragged to prison ; the houses were pillaged thus did these scenes usually end. It was fortunate when matters were no worse. But many returned maimed to their homes, and many lost their lives in these disgraceful frays, or else fights and duels ensued which placed whole families in hostility to one another for generations. Even the churches were not held sacred. In the church of SS. Con- cezione degli Spagnuoli young people behaved so ill with wanton women during the sermon, that the priest was obliged to admonish them to be quiet. But they scoffed at him in the pulpit, that it was not his business, and that he ought to keep to his text. The priest went to the Viceroy the Duke of Alcala, with a rope round his neck the peace-breakers were imprisoned ; they were persons belonging to the greatest fami- lies, the Pignatelli, Barile, &c. Such scenes took place during the celebration of the Mass and the elevation of the Host. The fate of one of the noblest and richest men of the king- dom, the Prince of Conca, of the House of Capua, maternal uncle of the young Duke of Maddaloni, gives us a terrible instance of the corrupt state of morals, and of the feuds of the great nobility. He was High-Admiral, one of the seven hereditary dignities with which the nephew of the great Gonsalvo was once invested : his wife was Donna Sueva d'Avalos, of Montesarchio, by whom he had one only son. All the three, father, mother, and son, lived in discord, and disgraced their ancient and illustrious name by a dissolute course of life. The prince, who found at home neither peace nor joy, spent most of his tune out of the house. One evening he was riding alone, according to his custom, when it seemed to him as if a piece of lead, or a tile, or something, was flung out of a house that he had just left, which fell upon his skull and stunned him so much that he let go the reins, and his ter- rified horse flung him in the neighbourhood of Porta del Per- tuso, situated at the foot of the hill of Sant' Elmo, now called Porta Medina. He lay bleeding on the ground, and would have been choked with blood, had not the barefooted monks of Sant' Agostino raised him up, and, after they had recognized him, conveyed him to his palace in a sedan-cfaair. He was most 204 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALCNI. grievously disfigured, his forehead and nose were bruised, one eye almost destroyed. In the dwelling of this rich noble- man not a servant could be found to undress him , the monks and the bearers of the sedan-chair were obliged to put him to bed. In the following morning his son, the Count of Palena, was almost forced into his room by violence ; he had quarrelled with his father, and did not live with him. The son was so pleased, that he wished himself joy and made jokes ; his own friends reproved him for the indecency of his conduct. When he inquired of the sick man how he was, he answered, " Agreeably to your wishes." They got on so badly together, that the Viceroy was obliged to send to the Count and forbid him to enter the sick man's room. The judgment of God had so ordered it that the Prince was sur- prised by death exactly on the spot where some years before Fra Ciccio Lantaro was murdered by his command, in conse- quence of his intercourse with women. The Prince continued in this state two days, and then ended his wild life in a most miserable manner. But the funeral of the great man formed a strange contrast to his wretched end. All Naples assembled ; twelve hundred ecclesiastics with burning wax torches began the procession. The dead man was borne on high upon a bier covered with crimson velvet worked in gold. He was clothed in his high admiral's dress; the garment had large sleeves of crimson velvet trimmed and lined with ermine. On his head was placed a cap of the same velvet, and in his hand a staff. He was carried uncovered ; behind him was borne the coffin hung with velvet. The corners of the cloth upon which he was laid were supported by several knights ; many of the rela- tions of the family, dressed in mourning, fanned away the flies with flags : thus the corpse was borne, by a long circuitous way, to the family vault in San Pietro a Majilla.* But the unnatural son was overtaken in his youth by a fate no less tragical than that of his father. A maiden of humble condition, whom he wished to engage in a love intrigue, rejected him ; he hired a Spanish soldier, who killed the poor woman with the shot of a rifle as she stood at the window. The murderer was seized and confessed. The Count of Mon- terey had him hanged, and the young prince brought into * Guerra, Diurnali. DUELS. 205 Castelnuovo, where he was strictly imprisoned in one of the towers. After a few days he became seriously ill. His family and the great barons of the kingdom interceded with the Viceroy that he might be taken home. Security to the amount of two hundred ducats were offered, but Monterey was inexorable, and Matteo di Capua, Prince of Conca, the last of a great family, died in prison. Part of his rich inheritance went to Diomed Carafa of Maddaloni, the nearest relation by blood of the dead man.* With such morals and such a mode of life, it must be con- sidered fortunate when the quarrels ended in nothing worse than duels. The passion for duelling was not confined to Italy. The well-known sanguinary edicts issued against it by Cardinal Richelieu failed in extirpating it. Political transac- tions and personal quarrels were alike fought about. In the year 1503, upon the ground between Andria and Quarata, in Apulia, thirteen Italians fought against the same number of Frenchmen for the insulted honour of their nation, and came forth victorious from the battle. Twenty-seven years later, within the borders of the imperial camp at Florence, four Florentines fought in a fratricidal quarrel, shedding their blood for the Medicean and the liberal party a melancholy instance of the divisions of the time. Both events have been employed in the historical romance of our days, in which an attempt has been made by refined literature to place before the public who do not read history, something different from the beautifully - written but in general licentious novels. The number of duels increased to such a degree during the sixteenth century, that it became obvious how much the interference of the government was required. But usually the interference produced no effect. One of the earliest Pragmaticas of Don Pedro de Toledo ordained the punishment of death to the bearers of the challenge, and prohibited those persons who refused to fight from being declared dishonoured ; but this last decision, like all similar ones in later times, shows us clearly enough the bent of the public mind. In the seventeenth century duelling became a perfect mania. A decree of the Count of Monterey's, which confirmed the clause in the laws of Toledo, punished the * Capecclatro, Annali, year 1632. 20(5 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALON1. challengers with a fine of two thousand ducats and five years of banishment. On a repetition of the offence they were to be punished with death. But the accused person who surrendered himself was punished according to the sentence. But the fighting continued, and, as if two combatants were not enough, the relations, even in the fourth degree, were obliged to pick up the glove. In February, 1 638, during the government of the Duke of Medina, five duels were fought by young noble- men in seven days. Five of the combatants were badly wounded and two escaped unhurt, Ferdinand Caracciolo and Carlo di Sangro, the one under twenty years of age, the other rather older. They were occasioned by stories about women. Shortly afterwards two of the Pignatelli and their servants fought against the Fra Scipione Montforte knights of Malta and their friends and servants. Both the former were killed ; the others escaped with wounds only. The principal culprits were imprisoned and brought into Castelnuovo, but this did not hinder Fra Giacomo Pignatello, a knight of Malta, from perpe- trating a terrible and bloody revenge on Don Giovanni d' Aquino, one of the persons concerned. With eleven com- panions he surprised his carriage near the palace of Gravina. Many shots laid d* Aquino dead on the ground ; one of his grooms stabbed the knight, others were knocked down, and the combatants were only separated by the sbirri, who conveyed them to the prison of the Vicarial Court. Sometimes whole bands of men fought one against the other. In October, 1630, a battle ensued between the men of Acqua- viva and Caracciolo, before San Pietro a Majella. It \vas evening : sbirri appeared to separate the combatants, but one was already lying dead upon the spot, and about twelve of them were wounded more or less. The Cardinal Buoncom- pagni sent his people to claim Don Ferdinand Acquaviva as an ecclesiastic : the rest fled to the neighbouring church of Sant' Antonio of Padua, which was regularly besieged by the police ; they extinguished the lights ; Fra Titta Caracciolo contrived to escape, but the rest were obliged at last to surren- der themselves. And many years afterwards this wretched quarrel broke out again, and the Duke of Martina Petraco Caracciolo killed in a duel Cosiino Acquaviva, the eldest son of that Count of Conversano of whom mention will often be made in this history. DUELS. 201 Some fought from rivalry, some about gaming, others about boundary limits, some about words, some because they had greeted one another coldly, and one about a lapdog. Lastly, under the government of the Count of Pennarenda, the passion for duelling had risen to such a pitch that they killed one another more out of gallantry than from punctilio. The Prince of Cariati Spinelli was the hero of a battle on an im- portant occasion, when, on the Chiaja before Santa Maria della Vittoria, sixteen young men were confronted against each other, and Don Prospero Suardo was left on the spot. Such scenes happened between the nearest relations. In the time of the Duke of Alcala the brothers Vicenzio and Orazio San Severino quarrelled about some trifling money transaction ; they drew their swords, but they were separated : they chal- lenged one another, and the hand of one was maimed. Some- times the authorities interfered. When a cartel between the Genoese Marquis Serra and Don Luigi Pignatelli became known, it was checked by the threat of a fine of 10,000 ducats. When they could not fight out their quarrel in Naples they could easily select another kingdom. In Medina's time two cavaliers appointed the day and hour in Leghorn, and they went there in the galleys of the Tuscan knights of St. Stephen's, which were anchored off Naples. Under the Mar- quis d' Astorga the Acquavivas and Carafas of Noja quarrelled most violently. The Duke of Noja caused one of the servants of the Count of Conversano, who had chastised one of his vassals for mischief done in the forest, to be seized, and sent him back to his lord with his nose and his ears cut off. The families were nearly related to each other, but their relation- ship did not prevent revenge. Giulio Acquaviva with three hundred men surprised the castle of Noja in the night. Carafa was in bed. Giulio dragged him out of it, had his arms tied behind his back, and ordered him to undergo the same treat- ment which he had used towards his servant. The lamenta- tions and entreaties of his wife and mother moved him to desist from his intention, but he did not leave the castle till he had maltreated him. Noja's brother, Francesco Carafa, challenged Acquaviva, and their mutual exasperation was so great that they resolved to fight one another a guerra finita, that is, only to stop with the death of one of the combatants. In the whole of Italy they could find no place for such a 208 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. combat a outrance, so they turned to Germany. The magis- tracy of Nuremberg granted them a licence. An incredible number of spectators, even including women, were prom;. Time and the journey appear to have softened their resentnu i.t, for after Carafa had been wounded a reconciliation took place. They were not the only Neapolitans who fought on German soil. During the war of the Spanish succession, in the year 1703, a duel was fought before the gates of Vienna, between Tiberio Carafa, Prince of Chiusano, and Bartolommeo Ceva Grimaldi, Duke of Telese. A Spinelli, a Capece, a d'Avalos, and a Caetani, were their seconds. Telese fell severely wounded, and was disarmed ; his victorious opponent received a slight scratch, and made some visits to " conceal the affair."* Whilst this passion swayed the minds of the nobility it also took hold of the lower classes. It is reported of six Spani.-h soldiers, who in the time of the Count of Pennaranda garri- soned the fort of Carmine, that they dined together in a social manner at an inn ; they quarrelled and fought each other before Porta Holana, in a house of the Marquis of Vico, which went by the name of the haunted house (casa degli spiriti). Five were killed on the spot ; the sixth, more dead than alive, brought home the news. When it did not come to an actual duel, knives were used. Even the nobles contended in this way with the common people. Many unseemly scuffles took place amongst the nobles, as well as between the cavaliers and the people. The nightly perambulations in the streets gave rise to opportunities for this. More than once the signors drew their short weapons, and more than one of them were left on the spot. Instead of the dagger and of the sword, fire-arms were even used. In May, 1631, a battle, where rifles were made use of, took place in the middle of the town between the families of Tufo and Vespolo, " with a Franchezza," says a contemporary chronicler, " as if they were in a forest." Even the houses were no longer safe. In consequence of a dispute about horse-dealing, Don Giuseppe Caracciolo went into the house of the Duke of Castellucia, accompanied by many of his followers. They first abused one another, then drew their swords; the ladies of the family and some other relations interposed, and the noise attracted all the neighbours, till the * Momorie di Tiberio Carafa. Fragment given by J. Volpicella, in the Fiori d'lnverno. Naples, 1850. Pp. 211-222. BRAVOES. 209 sbirri made their way through the crowd, and conducted the whole party to prison, where they were shut up for a time till peace was concluded. We have already spoken of the insecurity of the streets, even in the capital itself, during the night. Whatever Toledo and his successors may have done to check this evil, it was so great in the time of the second Duke of Ossuna, that he issued an order that persons were not to go out at night without lanterns, which order was renewed in later times by the Car- dinal Rivarola in Ravenna. But it was not only at night that such assaults were made. The nobility had their bravoes in pay, not only on their own estates, but even in the town, and he who would not or could not fight, and did not consider his rival of equal birth, or who wished to practise private re- venge, or from any other motive would not undertake a duel, hired assassins. Under Alcala, Monterey, and Medina, this bordered on insanity. Gian Vincenzo Macedonio was severely wounded in the neck at Sta. Chiara : it was generally said at the instigation of his intimate friend the Duke of Castro, who was jealous of him. The advocate Francesco Commino re- ceived a dangerous wound as he was coming out of the church of the Gerolomini : Trajano Caracciolo, the instigator, fled ; but the bravo whom he had hired went the next day to the house of the rich man to inquire after his health ! He had changed his clothes, but he was recognised and seized ; Paolo Spinelli Cariati was imprisoned for having abetted many murders. Don Ottaviano de' Medici, Prince of Ottajano, the grandson of the founder of the Neapolitan branch of that great Floren- tine family, met with the same punishment. This man had received the lowest orders of the church, and had tried to obtain from Pope Leo XI., his great-uncle, the dignity of cardinal, before he succeeded by the death of his eldest brother to the feudal possessions, and married the courageous Diana Caracciolo, who during the rebellion of the year 1647, in the absence of her husband, defended the baronial palace in Otta- jano, at the foot of Vesuvius, against their rebellious vassals, till the Duke of Arcos could send Spanish troops to her assist- ance. Titta Ciccinello was apprehended by the sbirri on ac- count of a murder ; he defended himself with his people, and fled into the church of San Lorenzo. The Marquis of Mari- gliano sent four bravoes to commit one act of murder : they r J10 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. were seized at the same time with some of his servants ; he himself escaped by flight. How firmly the opinion of the lawfulness of this kind of self-defence was established in the practice of the nobility of that time, is shown by the circum- stance that even men who did not belong to the worst class of people did not hold it as illegal, and did not seem to fear the public censure. How this nuisance of bravoes, of which we shall soon speak more particularly, was connected witli the protection granted by the barons to the banditti on their estates, will be mentioned in the course of this history.* This could not fail to be the case so long as the constant intercourse with the sbirri and perpetual imprisonments and punishments took place. But frequent as were the imprison- ments and punishments, peace and order were not restored ; the treasury only profited. Generally the police received immediate intelligence of duels and disturbances, and before the nobles expected it it was on the spot. Justice or injustice, aggressor or aggrieved, it was all the same the proverb, " caught together, hanged together," was almost literally ful- filled. If the disturbers of the peace succeeded in making their escape, a guard was sent to their dwellings or their places of concealment, and they were regularly besieged. All this was done at their expense. If they did not make their appearance by an appointed day, a fine more or less heavy was imposed on them. Mandates were affixed to the gates of their palaces and those of their relations. The prisoners remained in confinement in one of their castles either till they had made peace with one another, or else according to the pleasure of the Viceroy. They might consider themselves a fortunate if they were not sent to Gaeta or to one of the presidencies. If such was the way of life of the nobility, and such their conduct to one another, it is easy to imagine how they behaved towards the citizens. We have already spoken of the feudal system, when considering the political state of the nobility: one story is sufficient, one example of terrible barbarity, united to the meanest arrogance and the boldest contempt of all respect for the laws. Since the days of Sancia of Arragon, the pious wife of King Robert, the great hospital bearing the * Guerra and Bucca's Diurnali. Capecelatro's Annnli. Palermo. Narrazioni e document!, in various places. VIOLENCE OF THE NOBLES. 211 name of the Casa Santa dell' Aimunziata has existed in Naples. Two Neapolitan knights of the family of Scondito, who had been detained in a wearisome imprisonment during the struggles of the Guelph and Ghibelline parties in the time of King Charles II. in Tuscany, laid the first foundation of this insti- tution, an offering that they had vowed to the Madonna. In the course of the century rich gifts and legacies were bestowed upon the hospital. None of the rulers of Naples forgot the Casa Santa, to which the benevolent-minded of all classes gave especial donations, and which is at this time a foundling hos- pital for poor girls. From the middle of the fourteenth cen- tury till the convulsions which followed the wars of the French revolution the administration of this institution was vested in a deputation, consisting of several members, having at their head as " noble master " (maestro or mastro nobile) a cavalier of the Seggio of Nido, who was chosen by the families belonging to the association of nobles, whilst the remaining members of the administration, in number four, five, or even six, were taken out of popolan families, and chosen by the Seggio del Popolo, by which means one-half was generally composed of doctors of law, and the other of merchants. This administration was quite independent in its arrangements, and quarrels amongst its members were not uncommon. Ciccio Caracciolo, who in the year 1633 was invested with the office of mastro nobile, quarrelled with his citizen associates. It was on the 29th of August when these last wished to settle some business, whilst Ciccio Caracciolo was ill at home. It was the custom for the mastro nobile to keep the key of the place where they held their sittings : this did not prevent the other members from meeting ; they broke open the doors, and performed their busi- ness as if their number had been complete. Their names were Francesco Antonio Scacciovento, who had been deputy of the Seggio del Popolo in the year 1629, Camillo Soprano, and Francesco Fiorilla. It was said by some that they had sent for the keys without being able to obtain them ; and by others that they would not wait for the porter who was bringing them. However this may have been, the case was quite out of all rule, and the three were universally blamed. The affair might have remained thus, the more so as Carac- ciolo was prostrated by illness, and knew nothing of the matter. It was said that the Duke of Medina, greatly displeased at the p 2 212 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. audacity of the citizen-deputies, had ordered an inquiry to be made ; but the relations of the mastro nobile. in their anger and impatience, took justice into their own hands. The brother-in-law of Caracciolo, Fabrizio Carafa, undertook the punishment of the deputies. He looked about for abettors, and found them. A knight of Malta, Fra Vincenzo della Marra, son of the Duke della Guardia, was known for his wanderings and adventures, and notorious even among the wildest persons. He was a tall, wild-looking man, with red hair, partaking more of the brawler than of the cavalier. He took money for affairs of honour, and meddled in every kind of family business. He was not wanting in courage. In a battle between some Turkish and Maltese galleys he fell dangerously wounded into the hands of the enemy, and was dragged to Tunis, where his ransom was paid by his order and his family. Scarcely had he returned home when he assaulted some singers who were passing by during the night ; but they ill-treated him, and his companion in the frolic paid for it by his life. Fabrizio Carafa took with him this valiant soldier, and some others of inferior condition. They went immediately after their dinner to the house of Francesco Antonio Scaccia- vento, who, by his participation in the movements of the popular party against the nobility during the last period of the govern- ment of the Duke of Ossuna, had long since drawn upon him- self the hatred of the nobles, and had besides given cause for it by his studied insolence in the case of the Anrmnziata. Whether he was really out, or whether he was concealed, he contrived to escape from the hands of his enemies. They were marching about the town in search of their victim when they unexpectedly lighted upon Camillo Soprano. Soprano had been the least concerned in the whole business, and he had been desired to beg Caracciolo's pardon for what had hap- pened, and was just returning home when the band of armed men met him. They stopped the carriage, and dragged him out of it ; a torrent of abuse was followed by a blow which felled the unfortunate man to the ground. Then they com- pelled him to kiss their feet. He cried out that they ought not to kill him before he had confessed ; but, without listening to him, they dashed his skull to pieces with their iron-headed staves. All this happened in the public street, before the house of the unhappy man. His wife, who was just returned MURDER OF CAMILLO SOPRANO. 213 from walking, wanted to jump out of the window ; his father and mother were sent for in haste, and nothing was heard but lamentations and curses. A bier was fetched, in which the corpse was laid ; his relations cut off the hair and covered themselves with it, whilst the six children of the murdered man stood round them. The Count of Monterey passed by shortly afterwards ; he saw the still reeking pool of blood ; he saw the crowd of people standing there with their threatening gestures, already on the verge of rebellion, and their deputies had made known that a meeting would be held at Sant' Agostino to deliberate what was best to be done for their own security. The Viceroy perceived that it was necessary to punish so horrible a crime, that his own authority might not be ruined. He immediately ordered a judicial inquiry to be instituted ; whilst Tonno d' An- gelo, the deputy of the popular Sedile, appeased the crowd and promised the punishment of the guilty. They had escaped, but their nearest relations were immediately imprisoned, or guards put over their dwellings, as well to keep them as hostages as to protect them from the fury of the populace, who uttered loud threats that they would make the house of Carafa pay for it a threat which was put into execution fourteen years later. The Duke of Cancellara, Don Frederick Carafa, who wanted to buy some velvet brocade in a shop (an article which was sold by a brother of the murdered man), was in danger of being torn to pieces, although he had been quite a stranger to the deed. A decided leader only was wanting to rouse the popu- lace against the nobility, so exasperated were the minds of men. Every one said that this state of things could not last. As was then usually the custom the criminals fled to Bene- vento. They believed themselves secure on papal territory. But they had nearly miscalculated. The temper of the people at Naples was too formidable not to oblige the Viceroy to take serious measures. A sentence of outlawry was pronounced against Fabrizio Carafa : if he fell into the hands of justice he lost his head. A similar sentence was proclaimed against Don Vincenzo ; but his privileges as a knight of Malta gave him some latitude. An attempt was made to deprive him of his commandery ; but he defended his rights, whilst he would have sold his order for a piece of bread. Three thousand Spanish troops, under Don Juan of Ossorio, were sent into the 214 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. principality of Benevento, and Pope Urban VIII. and the King were written to at the same time. The Pope was the more tenacious about this violation of his territory because his nephews the Barberini had quarrelled with the Spaniards. The fugitives, who had retreated to the convent of St. Sopiiiu in secret dread of being seized, were imprisoned to the number of six by command of his holiness ; but their surrender was obstinately refused. The Spaniards ravaged the frontier so much that the ladders were not even fixed for the vintage. The Pope threatened by his nuncio to place the kingdom of Naples under an interdict, and send forty thousand men to defend Benevento not only with the bell but with the sword. D'Ossorio caused the chancellor and the private secretary of the government, who had delivered him a monitory, to be impri- soned ; but he was forced, by the threat of freeing theNeapolitans from their oath of allegiance, to set them at liberty. But such great preparations led at last to no results ; the troops retired, the poor peasants were obliged to pay their score, the mastro nobile resigned his office in favour of a relation who was ruled by that Scacciavento who had been the first cause of the whole affair. The widow of the mur- dered man went into a convent, and one of his brothers, deeply awe struck by the tragedy which he had witnessed, entered into holy orders. Both the principal criminals, Fabrizio and Fra Vincenzo, escaped, the first to Rome and the other to Malta. Both had cause during the remainder of their restless and painful lives to repent their deed. Fabrizio Carafa, who was for long tracked by spies and sbirri, attached himself entirely to the French-Barberini party in Rome, occupied himself about the affairs of this party at Gaeta and Aquila, wandered about in constant dread of the revenge of the Spaniards, and died poor and forsaken in a foreign land. But Fra Vincenzo led the same wild soldier's life as he had done before. During the ridiculous war carried on by the Barberini, about the fief of Farnese, against the allied states of Italy (a war in which the Viceroy Duke of Medina refused the Pope the assistance which he desired, because it was a domestic war of the Bar- berinis that had nothing to do with the papal see), he served with many other knights of Malta as a colonel in the papal army, was taken prisoner in the battle of Mongiovino in Perugia, where the Prince Matthias of Medici, in the year OPPRESSION OF VASSALS. 215 1643, defeated the troops of Pope Urban VIII., and was afterwards dismissed the service because he had ridiculed the cardinal's dignity. In the year 1647 he ventured back to Naples, and was seen in San Giovanni Carbonari. He then entered into the service of Venice, and fell at Candia in a battle against the Turks.* Such was the way of life of the Neapolitan nobility, (spe- cially of its youthful members, during the seventeenth century - If we try it by the usual standard, their conduct was undoubt- edly bad, inasmuch as it trampled upon all right as well as upon all law. Taking into account the absence of all equality between the classes, it is still vicious, and the instances in which the aristocracy struck into an honourable career, either in the military service or the civil administration, can hardly be set off against it. The results could not be otherwise than mischievous to the whole community. Immense as the landed estates of the nobility were, they were yet generally inadequate to cover the expenditure incurred by the wildest extravagance, and dis- order without limits, not less by a residence in the fief than in the city. In spite of the oppression of the vassals, there existed the devouring cancer of debt, and the rapid elevation of specu- lators and usurers, the surest sign of the prodigality and reck- lessness of the nobles, and so injurious to the welfare of the people. Hence only a semblance of the old power, hence the natural position of the class which ought to hold the balance between the throne and the people was irrecoverably lost. The time was rapidly approaching which would lay bare these consequences to the horror of all, and would leave finally useless the magnanimous efforts, worthy of a better reward, and bearing traces of better days, which the feudal nobility sometimes made for the welfare of the crown, as well as for the preservation of their own existence, because in craft and clearness of view that nobility was no match for the power wielded by a single person, and perhaps still more because it found no support and no perseverance in the people, which it had itself contributed to oppress, to enervate, and to degrade in its morality. The year 1647, which decided the relations between the aristocracy and the people for the remainder of the Spanish epoch, offered this nobility one last brilliant opportunity to place in an advan- * Guerra and Buccn, Diurnali. 216 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL tageous light what remained to it of chivalrous spirit, and ot powerful resources, the traditions of their better days. After this description we need not enter further into the condition of domestic life. It is in general the weak side of the Italian nation. The annals and diaries of the time give us naturally but little information about the interior of houses and the life of the women, but from this little we may infer the rest. Education, as is the rule in the present day, was the business of the convent ; and when the convent was left, mar- riages were arranged by the relations, as is most generally the case now. In the century of which we are speaking most of the nobility lived in the capital, and but few inhabited their baronial castles in the provinces. At the viceregal court the ladies belonging to the most illustrious families met at the feasts, some of which have been described, and the viceregal court in its turn was invited to partake of the hospitalities of the great feudatories the Orsini, Carafas, Caraccioli, &c. Dis- putes about precedency were as common amongst the men as amongst the women, and the titles of Eccellenza and Signoria were weighed with great consideration. When the Infanta Donna Maria d'Austria, the bride of the King of the Romans, was at Naples, on her way to Vienna, in October, 1630, so many quarrels arose about the ceremonial, that all the ladies iu a body declared that they would not appear at the feast given in the palace. For the Spanish etiquette only allowed members of reigning families, or those whose husbands were grandees of Spain, to have cushions, such as the Duchesses of Sabioneta Gonzaga and of Mondragone Aldobrandini, and the Princesses of Stigliano Carafa, of Butera Branciforte, and of Bisignano d'Aragona ; all the rest were obliged to sit down upon the carpet. At last the expedient was devised that the Queen should not appear in public, as it was called, but sotto coverta, and should sit in a box provided with blinds, so that the ladies were allowed chairs, from which they could look on at the mythological representations of Parnassus and Helicon, Night and Fame, Cyclops and Nymphs, and the arms of Austria as well as the pillars of Hercules. Night was intro- duced in a starry chariot, drawn by four black horses. The Elysian fields were represented. The ball began with a qua- drille of eight-and-forty knights ; one half of their number dressed in flesh-coloured silk garments, trimmed with silver BALLS AND QUADRILLES. 217 fringe, and the other half in black silk, trimmed also with silver lace and embroidery ; their caps were adorned with waving herons' feathers, and they held torches in their hands. The Marquis of Villanova del Rio, nephew of the Duke of Alva, began the quadrille ; after him came the impe'rial am- bassador, the Count of Frankenberg, the Grand Connetable Colonna, and all the most illustrious young nobles. After this quadrille the usual dancing with the ladies followed. It was the first of many festivities given in honour of the In- fanta, who remained four months in Naples, to the despair of the Duke of Alcala, by whom the expenses of the feasts were paid. The plan of the journey, when, in consequence of the remonstrances of the Viceroy, it became at last a question with Frankenberg, gives us, by the simple enumeration of the halting-places, a picture of the manners and customs of the time. On the first day from Naples to Nola, on the second to Avellino, on the third to Mirabella, on the fourth to Ariano, on the fifth to Bovino, on the sixth to Foggio, on the seventh to Tormaggiore, on the eighth to Serra Capriola, on the ninth to Termoli, on the tenth to II Vasto, on the eleventh to Samiano, on the twelfth to Ortona, on the thirteenth to Pescara, on the fourteenth to Atri, on the fifteenth to Giulia Nuova (within the boundary" of the papal territory), on the sixteenth to Le Grottamare, on the seventeenth to Porta oi Fermo, on the eighteenth to Loreto. There a halt was to be made, and devotion was to be performed to the Madonna, so that they hoped to reach Ancona on the twentieth. " Fran- cesco del Campo," remarks the chronicler who gives us these particulars, " had to prepare lodgings for the night for the Queen and her suite, at his own great loss and expense."* Visits to the convents were amongst the especial amusements of ladies of noble birth. The Princess Carafa, who has already been mentioned, with her niece Anna Carafa and others, ob- tained from the Pope permission to visit the convent of Donna Regina, an institution founded in the times of the Hohen- staufens, where Maria, the widow of King Charles II., spent the last years of her life in quiet seclusion, and in the per- formance of acts of piety. Before they went the princesses sent provisions for the repast three wild boars, fifteen kids, * Guerra and Bucca, Diumali. 218 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. twelve turkey-cocks, as many capons, together with a quantity of maccaroni, various sorts of cheese, and other dessert, which was all served up in the refectory where the nuns dined. Their manners were not remarkably refined. We find expressions used by the most illustrious which cannot be repeated. Deeds of violence were not unusual. During the celebration of a festival in the church, Donna Zeza Minutola, and a Spanish lady of the family of Velasco quarrelled ; after an exchange of angry words, the Neapolitan lady gave Donna Zeza a box on the ear, and she scratched the face of the other all over. Many of the relations of Donna Zeza flung themselves upon the stranger, who defended herself ably, but, in consequence of superiority in numbers, she received more blows than she could return. The Countess of Monterey beat a beautiful lady violently with her slipper, because she had obtained from the Viceroy a judge's place for her husband. This Vicequeen, sister to the Count of Olivarez, generally carried the slipper about with her, and did not conceal it ; she had scarcely entered upon her new dignity when she thus informed the ladies that they must apply to her and not to her husband. Morals were in a still worse condition. Ladies belonging to the most illus- trious families were not ashamed of being the acknowledged mistresses of the Viceroys, as the Marchioness of Campolattaro and the Princess of Conca, the first belonging to the house of Capua, and the other a d'Avalos, under Ossuna, Alva, and Monterey. The love of intrigue in many of the Viceroys increased this evil extremely. In dress the ladies began to exceed the bounds of decorum. The pleasure-seeking Duchess of Medina gave a masked ball during the carnival of 1639, at which she appeared with three-and-twenty most beautiful ladies, dressed as Amazons, and in so mythological a costume, that it gave rise to much mischief and angry scandal. But many of the women showed in this and the following years so much nobleness of mind, so much courage and decision, and such true attachment in the hour of distress and danger, that we gladly remark that, in the midst of such conniption and still greater levity, these better and more promising ele- ments were by no means wanting.* * Gucrra and Bucca, Diurnali. Capecelatro, Annali. Extracts from despatches at Palermo and many places. DIOMED CARAFA. 219 This was the time, and these were the people and the cir- cumstances, in the midst of which Diomed Carafa grew up. At the age of seventeen, the head of a great family, and the independent possessor of a princely fortune, he was hurried by the violence of his temperament and the force of example into a participation in irregularities and quarrels, some of which we have described to give some idea of the life of the young nobility. His duel made a noise. He fought Galeazzo Cicinello in the house of a wanton beauty, and, though neither of them were wounded, they were both put under arrest. Soon afterwards Diomed fought another duel with the Duke of Lau- renzana Castani, in which, " Thank Heaven, only one groom had his skull broken." At a ball in the palace he quarrelled with the Marquis of Castelvetere, and in the middle of the night they went to Chiaja to fight, but several mutual friends hastened after them and settled the dispute. At another time he coasted along the shore of Posilipo with music in a felucca, as was the custom. Tonno di Liguoro was just coming from thence ; their people quarrelled ; the gentlemen landed and immediately drew their swords. Liguoro and one of his companions were wounded ; a Spanish soldier belonging to a neighbouring gar- rison was left dead on the spot. Maddaloni and his friends saved themselves by flight ; but the others were imprisoned and in confinement three weeks till peace was concluded. The duels might be excused ; but things of a much worse nature fol- lowed. The evil of the bravoes increased more and more, and the security and peace of the town was seriously endangered. The laws were set at open defiance. The officers of justice were remiss, partly from want of power and partly intention- ally, and sometimes they connived at transgressions to be able to impose fines. The palaces of the nobles were filled with armed men, who were ready at a hint from their lords for any deed of violence, as if it formed part of their domestic duty. If no order was issued by their lords, these vagabonds committed the crimes of robbery and murder on their own account, relying upon the protection of the nobles, or they were hired by others, and many cavaliers had their share in the foul gains which they, by defrauding the taxes, and by other violations of the laws, and oppressions, extorted from the poor people. The Carafa brothers, Don Diomed and Don Giuseppe, with the families of San Felice and Liguoro, tyrannised over the whole vicinity of the borgo dei Vergini, in the upper part of the town where 220 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. they dwelt. The Caracciolo's of Santo Buono, the Minutolo's, and Capecelatro's kept the whole country of San Giovanni a Carbonara and other parts of the town in a continual terror. Giuseppe Carafa caused, within a few days, it is said, from mere ill-temper, three persons to be murdered, and two others to be severely wounded. Maddaloni caused the head of a rich merchant, Giovanni di Zavaglio, to be cut off, because he had quarrelled with another merchant. The Prince of Scandi only escaped, by his presence of mind and his courage, the mur- derers who were waiting for him at the church of Santa Maria di Constantinopoli. All this happened during the administrations of the Viceroys Monterey and Medina. Monterey proceeded repeatedly witli some severity against the Duke, who was then not much above twenty. Once he sent a troop of three hundred men to sur- round his palace and take him prisoner. Maddaloni was then at a villa at Posilipo, not dreaming of danger ; he was warned and escaped. One mandate after another was issued against him. Justice proceeded against him first for one crime and then for another. Fines were imposed upon him soldiers were sent into his dwelling and his fief, and maintained at his expense till he presented himself or made his peace. This pleased the Viceroy well. It was calculated that Carafa liad been taxed a hundred thousand ducats in a few years. His estates were the real exchequer of the treasury. But this did not prevent him from fulfilling his duty as Grand Feudatory with zeal and fidelity. Amidst the important preparations made in Naples during the thirty years' war which distracted Germany, the attitude of the Pope, Urban VIII., was always hostile to Spain, and the frontiers of Lombardy were perpetually oppressed. Diomed Carafa furnished four-and-twenty com- panies of troops, composed of his vassals eight for Madduloni, ten for Arienzo, six forCereto; and not long afterwaids he raised considerable sums of money to defray the expenses of the war. Notwithstanding all the mad and bad pranks and the cul- pable frivolity of the Duke of Maddaloni, the people disliked him much less than they did most of the young noblemen. He was in his manner of living a cavalier of the old stamp, polished, generous, luxurious. His housekeeping, domestics, carriages, horses, his barges for sea voyages, everything cor- responded to his rank and wealth. He lived and let others ANNA CARAFA. 221 live. Much was connived at, and the services performed by his ancestors were remembered. AVhen the Duke of Medina governed Naples his position was the more favourable because he was a near relation of the Viceroy's wife. For Don Ra- miro Felipe de Gusman had married Anna Carafa, Princess of Stigliano, the heiress of immense possessions, the only Neapo- politan lady who filled so much higher a station than her countrywomen. The name of Donna Anna is still in the mouth of the people ; it has been given to a building, the fate of which has been so strange, and so many traditions are told of it to this day, that we must not pass it over without men- tion of it or its ancient possessors. At the end of the coast of Mergellina, that favourite place of amusement for all classes of Neapolitans, where some are attracted by the wonderful view, others by the inns situated in the midst of overhanging masses of tufa, where the villas, in- creasing every day, form a continuation of the most beautiful street in the city, the Chiaja, upon the projecting cliff of the Posilipo, rise the church and the convent of Santa Maria del Parto, where is the grave of Giacomo Sannazzaro, who wished his remains to rest here near the ashes of Virgil, to imitate whose poetry was the favourite object of his life. Sannazzaro, one of the few who remained faithful to the Aragonese in mis- fortune, had given, to honour the name of his most famous poem, ' De partu Virginis,' this name to a small church that he had built upon a piece of ground presented to him by King Frederic. He interweaves the recollection of the spot in the invocation to the Virgin, with which the poem opens : " Thou, too, sure hope of men and saints above ; Blest parent, whom celestial bands proclaim With sound of clarions loud and anthems clear ; Whom all the mighty hosts of heaven surround, And in triumphant circles still attend : If even to thy spotless shrines I bear The fragrant garland if to thee I raise The stedfast altar, hewn out of the rock, Where Mergcllrna, o'er the silver wave Wide glancing, gazes from her lofty seat And shews the toil-worn mariner his home : If still thy rites, thy praise, thy festal day, Thy worship and thy gracious choirs I siug Each year, adoring one auspicious birth ; Vouchsafe, bright Queen of Angels, to direct Thy poet rude and ignorant of toil." 222 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Sannazzaro never could forget that the Prince of Orange, whilst engaged in the defence of Naples against Lautrec, had destroyed his beloved villa at Mergellina ; and even shortly before his death he rejoiced at the news that Philibert of Cha- lons had fallen in battle against the Florentines. If we go further along the picturesque coast, upon the beautiful broad way, the space for which had been gained from the rock with great skill in many places, which conducts us by many wind- ings past an hundred villas to the promontory of Posilipo, where our eyes rest upon the rocky island of Nisida, and beyond to Cape Miseno, and afterwards upon the group of islands of Procida and Ischia, to the left we see a building rising out of the sea, which, even in its present state of desola- tion, reminds us of its former splendour and grandeur. Upon a strong foundation, surrounded by the waves, rise up three stories of the building ; the upper one is unfinished and with- out a roof. The style of architecture, though not good, is not without that certain degree of grandeur, which cannot be de- nied to the buildings of the seventeenth century. Broad and lofty arched windows alternate with smaller ones and with numerous niches for statues ; the heavy projections on the side and the irregularity of the style have a pleasing effect, owing to the massiveness of the building and the singularity of its position. Through three large gates, on the ground story, the sea flows into a covered court to some marble stairs, where you get out, as you would in a Venetian palace, into a gondola hall to go up to the first-floor, whilst the ground of the adjacent shore is so arranged that you can ride or drive into the great hall, or, more properly speaking, into the inner court of the second story. The building is very much reduced ; upon one side stands an humble place of entertainment for lovers of maccaroni, fish, and frutti di mare ; but the inner rooms, once destined for the reception of royal persons, are changed into a glass manufactory. If you inquire the name of the fallen palace, you will hear it sometimes called after the Regina Giovanna, whereby you may choose between the first and second Joanna, and sometimes after Donn' Anna, of whom the people of Naples have less to tell than of the two queens, whose weak- nesses, vices, and the misfortunes brought by their crimes upon the country, are only too well imprinted upon their memory. Even till later times this palace, or ruin of a palace, has been a misfortune to its possessor. The mass of rocks is called THE ILL-FATED HOUSE. 223 after the Sirens, upon which stands the casino which in the beginning of the sixteenth century belonged to one of the courtiers of Frederick of Aragon, Robert Bonifacio, Mar- quis of Oria. Its name appears to predict mischief. Robert was outlawed by Philibert of Orange, and his villa was given away twice shortly afterwards : both the new possessors died. Then the outlawed Bonifacio appeared before the Em- peror in Flanders. " The great love," said he, " that I bear your majesty, and not private interest, induces me to beg you for the restoration of the property that I, a short time ago, have been declared to have forfeited. This property has now escheated to the treasury ; and since it has brought such swift destruction to two possessors, so I fear (which may God avert !) that it will also do harm to your majesty." Whether this fear took possession of Charles, we may leave undecided, but Robert Bonifacio's confiscated property was restored to him upon his payment of 25,000 ducats.* But an evil destiny really seemed to preside over the house three sons of Bonifacio's died, some of them under the most striking circumstances. The family became extinct, and the house of the Sirens lapsed again to the treasury, and was purchased by the Ravaschieri, a family of Genoese origin, of whom mention has often been made. But the Genoese were prudent enough not to defy fate, and soon sold the palace of the Sirens to Luigi Carafa, Prince of Stigliano. This line of the Carafas belonged to the main branch, from which the Maddalonis are descended. Antonio Carafa, Lord of Mon- dragone, who succeeded by maternal inheritance to large posses- sions, was created by Charles V. Duke of Mandragone and Prince of Stigliano. His great-grandson, Lodovico, was a knight of the Golden Fleece, a grandee of Spain, a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and Duke of Sabioneta, in right of his wife, Isabella Gonzaga. For Donna Isabella was a daughter of that Vespasian Gonzaga, one of the most illustrious men of his race. He fought in Africa, in Italy, and Flanders, for Charles V. and Philip II., and built Sabioneta, a castle in Lombardy surrounded by a few huts: he turned it into a pretty little town, where the arts and sciences were fostered, and commerce encouraged by voluntary contributions a * Antonio Terminio da Contorsi. Apologia di tre Seggia, illustri cb Napoli. Naples, 1633. P. 59. 224 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. flower that withered away with the death of its founder, as was the case with those artistic creations of towns of the Ger- man princes in the eighteenth century. After a lonjr dispute about the fief of Gonzaga, Sabioneta only remained to Isabella ; and even this only under Spanish tutelage. It was under this Lodovico Carafa that the waywardness of fate baffled all human calculations. His only son, Antonio, who had married Elena Aldobrandini, a niece of the Pope, Clement VIII., and sister to the Duchess of Parma, died before him : of the three children of that son, the two boys were snatched away by death at a tender age, and only one, a daughter, remained. The Prince of Stigliano quitted the deserted house to retire into a monastery of the Jesuits, where he died suddenly on the 13th of January, 1630. The con- temporary chroniclers tell us that he was buried like a ruling sovereign : he was borne upon a bier, clothed in his ducal dress of crimson silk, with his ducal coronet, his collar of ermine, his sceptre, rapier, gilt spurs, and the other insignia of his rank. Monks of various orders, a body of the canons of San Gennaro, many nobles, and a never-ending crowd of people, conducted the body to the family chapel in San Domenico. It is said of him in his epitaph, Fortunes suae nee servus nee dominus, fastigium eius nee quaesivit nee speravit. Thus a young maiden was left the heiress of immense pos- sessions. The sonnets of those days extol the rare beauty of Anna Carafa ; her light hair, golden as the rays of the sun ; her high forehead, her lively expression, her majestic demean- our; and if there is no existing picture to correspond with this description, painters and poets may settle it. The most illustrious of the youth of Naples vied with equally illustrious foreigners for her hand. Taddea Barberini, the imperious and powerful nephew of Pope Urban VIII. ; a Medici, brother of Ferdinand II., Archduke of Austria; the Duke of Modena; a Prince Royal of Poland ; Don Ferdinand Toledo, Constable of Navarre, son of the Viceroy the Duke of Alva, were amongst the suitors, who either received their exclusion from Spain, or were prevented by a difference of opinion in her own family from obtaining their object. Three different branches of Carafas, the Duke of Maddaloni, the Duke of Nocera, and the eldest son of the Prince of Rocella, opposed the foreigners. The ardent Maddaloni, who it was said pleased Anna the ANNA CARAFA. 225 best, was on the point of fighting with his relations and rivals. He left untried no opportunity of bringing himself into notice ; he spared no expense. The felucca in which he was accus- tomed to sail up arid down the Gulf of Naples, touching hither and thither on the coast of Posilipo, visiting his own villa or those of his friends, was decorated with coloured sails, gilt carved work, and paintings in the most brilliant colours ; the rowers wore the rich liveries of the house ; armed servants accompanied their lord ; a band of musicians made their joyous harmonies resound over sea and land. If he went ashore, his friends and dependents and his armed escort fol- lowed him ; and the time was spent in feasting and carousing, in riding, and combats of sword-fighting gladiators. One person sought to outdo the other ; and this rivalry afforded the crowd many sights and much amusement. A young man of good family was banished from Naples because he had taken it into his head to solicit the heart and hand of the rich heiress.* But of all those whom we have mentioned none obtained the hand of Anna Carafa. In the year 1636 she married Don Ramiro Felipe de Gusman, Duke of Medina de las Torres, Lord High Chancellor of India, and Treasurer of the Crown of Aragon. He owed his success to the all-powerful minister Olivarez, who also belonged to the Gusman family, which claims its descent from royal blood. Olivarez wished to marry his daughter to the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, the head of the family, but when this failed he sought for another Gusman, and found one in the hitherto obscure Ramiro Felipe, who lived at Valladolid as Lord of Toral, and was introduced at court as son-in-law of the minister, as a grandee of Spain, and Duke of Medina las Torres. Olivarez's daughter died childless ; but the connexion between the father-in-law and the son-in-law continued firm, and Olivarez assisted his son-in-law to marry the heiress of Stigliano, whilst he promised him the viceregal dignity at Naples, and thus gained over the mother as well as the daughter. In the year 1636 Anna Carafa became Duchess of Medina ; and a year afterwards, after many intrigues and much scandal, the Count of Monterey evacuated the royal palace for his successor. If Indian splendour and wealth could bestow happiness, that * 'Gucrra and Bucca's Diurnali to the year 1633. Q 22 1> THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL of the married pair seemed secure. The city of Naples wa* amazed at their magnificence. The palace at the Posilipo was rebuilt. Cosimo Fansaga of Bergamo sketched the plan. For the space of two years four hundred workmen were employed upon it ; and when the two first stories only were built, 150,000 scudi had been already expended. But many of the rooms were already fitted up, and many ancient statues were procured to ornament the niches outside the wall, and in the courtyard. Works of art were not expensive to the Viceroys of Naples. The Duke of Medina caused the most beautiful pictures of the town to be presented to him or, in other words, he took them. He carried off Raphael's Madonna del Pesce from the chapel of Acerra, in San Domenico : it is at this day one of the most admired pictures in the collec- tion of the King of Spain ; and when the prior of the church, the general of the order, Ridolphi, complained, amongst other things, that this robbery had been connived at in Rome, the Viceroy caused him to be hurried off to the frontier by fifty knights.* From the same church Medina took a picture by Lucas of Leyden ; from Santa Maria della Sanita another work of Raphael ; from the church of the Incurabili one of Giulio Romano's, which had been presented to it by Don Pedro de Toledo by the command of Philip II. His predecessor, Monterey, had done much the same, and many of the most beautiful Italian pictures have reached Spain in this manner, first, in the palaces of the grandees, and then, as the Spanish nobility became more and more reduced, in the royal collections. Owing to this passion of the Viceroys for beautiful works of art, we may give some credit to the report, that the better reputation the Marquis del Carpio enjoyed, was really on account of his having bought Raphael's Madonna in Nocera, which belonged afterwards to the family of Alva, and is now in Russia. But the worst plunderer of all was Don Pietro Antonio d'Aragona, who, not satisfied with pictures, dragged a quantity of sculptures to Madrid to adorn his house at his departure in the year 1671. He would not have spared the sea voyage to the beautiful fountain o/ Domenico d'Auria, * Despatches of the Tuscan Agents. At Palermo, and at other places. P. 325. (October, 16420 Capecelatro, Annali, p. 139. I Volpicella, Principal! Edifizi della Cittu di Napoli. Pp. 250, 413. ANNA CARAFA. 227 which stands dry at Santa Lucia, if the fishermen of the quay had not threatened him with rebellion. To return to the Duke of Medina : Those who know Naples may decide whether the fountains which bear his name, and to whom, if not their origin, at least their present form is owing, and the other buildings raised under his direction, afford compensation for the loss of the works of Raphael and of his disciples. The palace of Posilipo was approaching its completion when the evil star which had once shone upon it reasserted its influence. In May, 1644, Medina was recalled and obliged to leave the country which he had governed in such a manner that the catastrophe which burst out soon afterwards with such violence became every day more unavoidable. The covetous- ness shown on all occasions by his rich young wife, in whose veins flowed the blood of several noble Italian races, was most repulsive. Never has the sale of offices been conducted in so shameless and public a manner as under Medina, and it is said that his wife had the chief share in this. The general pre- sumption was so decided against those persons who filled offices during this government, that the Duke of Arcos was compelled to dismiss them in troops to avoid scandal ; and upon no fiefs were the subjects so ill-treated as on those of Anna Carafa ; and, as if the thousand-and-one rights claimed by the land- holders were not enough, many others were introduced by them, only to extort still more money. To this number may b^e added, besides the usual licence for hunting, a tax of one- fourth of the beasts killed by those who were provided with a licence, the demand of a present at the grant of any new title to the feudatory, taking the boundary lines of lands belonging to the community for their own purposes, prohibiting the slay- ing of cattle if any disease prevailed amongst those of the barons, new statute-labour without any remuneration for the building of a palace, &c.* In the vicinity of Fondi a large lake extends towards the frontier of the country, which waters miles and miles of the low ground, surrounded by woods, and connected with the sea ; it makes the whole country unhealthy as far as Terracina, exercising even a baneful influence upon this small town, which evil has lately been diminished by the drainage of the nearest small bogs. The actual lake is sur- * "Winspeare, at other places, p. 65. Remarks, p. 152. 228 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL rounded by marshy meadows, where, as on the Pontine 1'lains and the Maremma, they breed much cattle and follow the tit\. grace with modesty, eloquence witli gentle reserve." She brought up her children admirably, whilst her husband fought for faun* and honour ; she took care of the household, increased their income, and governed their vassals with such wisdom that she at the same time promoted peace, whilst she averted mis- chief. As her language was well chosen, so was she dexterous in the use of her pen. Of the sons of Roberta and Camillo, one, Domizio, died heroically in the wars of the Netherlands: he fell bleeding with seventeen wounds at the siege of Bois-le-Duc. Marino, third Prince of Avellino, kept a magnificent establish- ment. After he had, like most persons in his rank of life, served a campaign, an opportunity to do which was never wanting, as Spain was always at war, he gave himself up en- tirely to his taste for the arts and for peaceful pursuits. His palace in the capital as well as at Avellino was perpetually filled with musicians and poets, who largely enjoyed his patron- age : his barber, Giovau Battista Beruazzano, was an autodi- dactic poetical genius. To gratify his generosity and love of magnificence he obtained from the Pope the right to nominate himself a knight of the Golden Spur. But, magnificently as he lived, his property was in good order, and he gave his daughter Antonia a hundred thousand ducats. By his first wife, Lucre- zia Aldobrandini, he left no children ; by the second, Francesca d'Avalos of Pescara, he had one son, born after his death, who, as a captain of cavalry, as a patron of literature and of artists, himself a poet, and moreover a grandee, spent so much money that his property, the most beautiful in the country, was soon burdened with debt, and the importance of the family up to the present day has sunk lower and lower. The Prince Don Marino died, when little advanced in years, on the 4th of November, 1630, in the convent of San Giovanni a Carbonara. His death took place just as he was returning from liis possessions. He had desired that his body should be conveyed to the family vault at Avellino. His bro- ther, the Prince of Torella, meanwhile ordered it to be carried to San Paolo, but the monks of San Giovanni would not give it up. The Theatines came in the middle of the night to fetch * G. C. Capaccio, Illnatrium Mulierum, &c., Elogia. Naples, 1608. AVELLISO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 235 away the body of the dead man ; the monks of St. Augustin opposed their entrance. In a moment a hundred swords were drawn ; at last, however, the bier was carried to the place of its destination. Avelliuo, so long the principal fief of this branch of the Caracciolos, is now the chief place of the Principata Ultra, a considerable and flourishing town at the foot of Monte vergini, frjom the heights of which may be seen the Benedictine mo- nastery of the same name, where once were preserved the bones of St. Januarius, and where King Manfred chose for himself his sepulchre, not anticipating that the rain would bathe his ashes and the wind drive them to the confines of the kingdom* and that Bertrand de Baur would trample under his feet, in Avellino, the treasure of the Hohenstaufens. The large baronial palace of the ancient feudatories is turned into a provincial court of justice. The cathedral has been re- stored without any taste, and only some of the early Christian fragments of sculpture on the facade : a mixture of ornaments, with the usual monsters of griffins and lions, remind us of the old building. One of the squares is adorned by a pyramid, with a statue of Charles II. : the wretched ruler of a great kingdom, who could not walk alone in his fifth year, is repre- sented in his youth, as he is on the fountain of Mont' Oliveto at Naples Cosimo Fansaga has executed the architectural work, and affixed to it his own effigy in a medallion. But the old corn-hall in the great square is an interesting reminiscence of the Caracciolos. The facade is ornamented with some busts and headless statues of women of the later Roman period ; next to which the form of a knight in marble makes a singular ap- pearance. The inscription mentions that Francesco Marino Caracciolo restored this Ara Cereris : " ne grassante lue, gras- setur et fames," which alludes to the brother of the Duchess of Maddaloni, and to the great pestilence of 1656. The ancient town of the Nirpini, Abellinum, was situated where at present the iron hammers of Atripalda resound, from which the very same race of the Caracciolo derives the title of duke, and which belonged before they had it to the Castriota. The family of the Scanderbegs, who migrated from Albania to the opposite shores, obtained many principalities in different * Dante, Purgatory, iii. 130. 236 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. parts of the kingdom. The plain which is traversed by the great road which leads to Apulia, rich in corn and olives, is Nourishing and cultivated. If you ascend the Mount of Laura you see the picturesque valley of San Seven no, from which one of the most famous races in the south of Italy derives its name; and you travel by roads which present the pleasantest varieties of landscape and many historical recollections to Salerno and Nocera. FIRST IMPRESSION. 237 CHAPTER III. THE CITY OF NAPLES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Situation and first impression Earliest settlement Normans Hohenstaufens Period of the House of Anjou San Lorenzo and Santa Maria la Nuova The Cathedral San Domenico Maggiore Sta. Chiara Connexion of Naples with Tuscan art and poetry L' Incoronata Giotto S. Martino Buildings of the Durazzo race Antonio Bamhoccio of Piperno S. Giovanni du' Pappacoda S. Giovanni a Carbonara Palaces and houses of the last Angevin period Corporations and streets named after them Aragonese era Triumphal arch of Alphonso I. Prin- cipal gate of the Castelnuovo "Wall of Ferdinand I. Palace upon the Poggio Realc Pietro and Polito del Donzello Villas of Alphonso II. Cardinal Pompeo Colonna Montoliveto Modanino's group of the Pieta San Severino Palaces of private individuals : Carafa, San Severino, Orsini Pontano's chapel Santa Maria del Parto Sannazzaro Increase of the city since 1530 'Consumption Number of inhabitants Trades Com- merce Enlargement under Don Pedro de Toledo General view of Spanish Naples San Giacomo degli Spagnoli Tomb of Toledo Art of painting in the 14th and 15th centuries Zingaro The Donzello Art of painting in the 16th century Andrea del Salerno Earlier sculpture Agnolo Aniello Fiore Giovanni da Nola Girolamo Santa Croce, Domenico d' Auria, and others Changes in the last half of the 1 6th century Art in the 17th cen- tury M. A. Naccarino General condition of the town Palaces of the nobility, and their establishments Magnificence of the churches Carthusian monastery of S. Martino Cosimo Fansaga Chapel of St. Januarius in the Cathedral Pictures in the chapels Contention of Neapolitan artists with those of Eome and Bologna Cav. d' Arpino Guido Eeni Belisario Correnzio Domcnichino Lai:franco Michelangelo da Caravaggio Lo Spagnoletto G. B. Caracciolo The Painter- knights II Cavalier Calabrese. IT has often been remarked that in hardly any instance are the changes, which the lives and actions of men stamp upon objects greater, that never are the traces of one generation more suddenly, and, at the same time, more completely, ob- literated by the actions of the succeeding one, never is the 238 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. memory of the past more rapidly forgotten, than in the external aspect of cities and of countries. This truth, which is a general one, finds its exemplification in, and from, Italy. Nevertheless, it sometimes seems as if since the lofty soaring of the middle ages, and since the ex- hibition of the examples of the first decades of the sixteenth century, the progress of the human intellect, judged of by its material expressions and records, were slower the clinging to existing things more resolute the influence of tradition more l;i>tiii'jf the power of resistance more determined and concen- trated in Italy, than in many other countries. The standard is not everywhere the same : geographical position, the influence of neighbourhood and of foreign lands, political revolution and war are, naturally, incidents which produce their effects in various modes and under various con- ditions. Even amidst epochs eminently revolutionary, there are times more or less imbued with the spirit of reformation, the effects indeed of which are sometimes rather transient than permanent, just because they have set at nought the ordinary laws of nature and the gradual progress of events, and thus have conjured up a reaction, which, in its turn, cannot pos- sibly be lasting, and is so much the more transient the more violent it is. It was particularly during the period of the Viceroys that Naples obtained the form and development which it exhibits at the present day, and received that impress which now cha- racterises it. Naples is also essentially of Bourbon origin : Naples, by which is meant the sea-strand reaching from the foot of Posilipo to Castelnuovo, and to the great Custom- house, which astonishes and dazzles at the first glance the newly-arriving stranger, and preserves the same charm for all time and at each repetition of the prospect. Probably no city in the universe possesses a more beautiful site. A wide bay in the form of a crescent, a spacious plain in which a great city can expand itself, the ridges of the hills drawing nearer and nearer to the sea, in some places with soft, luxuriantly overgrown declivities, in others with sharp lofty (\trrmities jutting out into the sea like headlands, and afford- ing only just space enough for narrow rows of houses in a long line. Then, suddenly, masses of rock appear to cut off all connexion with the world lying beyond them, with those EARLIEST SETTLEMENT. 239 famous countries of the Grecian mythology, and those days of the earliest traces of union between the East and the West ; so that the hand of man, availing itself of the guidance of na- ture, could here open a subterranean passage, there level a steep in the view of sea and islands and coasts, which, all bright, all radiant, all instinct with life and motion, form one of the most enchanting highways of the world, the Strada- nuova of Posilipo. The locality has been applied to the different uses of culti- vation and residence at different times. Now the rich and the noble, seeking sea and sun and prospect, whether these were to be obtained on the rugged heights of the Pizzofalcone, which intersect the horizon with the rocky cliff of the Castel del Ovo, or whether the strand itself could abundantly offer them, have pressed on, more and more, towards the West upon the space which, becoming gradually smaller from the Royal Palace, terminates in the grotto of Pozzuoli, namely, the Chiaja of modern creation, which a century and a half ago did not form a part of the town. This town, like all towns of the middle ages, was confined within a narrow circle of fortresses. The Naples of the Normans and Hohenstaufens extended as far as the first range of hills from the sea-shore, where the line of the walls, now either concealed by houses or entirely obliterated, with half-ruined gates, afforded pro- tection. Eastward it ended by the entrance to what, at a later period, became the great market. Westward, it did not much extend beyond that portion of the harbour which ends with the Little Mole, where at this day is the usual landing- place, hard by the Quarantine office, which, from the statue of the Madonna which crowns its fagade, bears the name of " Ponte dell' Immaculatella." At the north-eastern extremity of this city, King William I., surnamed the Wicked, built the Castle of Capuano, which long remained the habitation of kings, and has for three hundred years been the seat of the tribunale ; whilst to the south-west the Norman prince con- verted the insular rock, under the declivity of the Pizzofal- cone, where Lucullus Vnd Romulus Augustulus dwelt, and to which the Benedictine monks had given the name of the Re- deemer, into a fortress named after its shape, which was that of an egg. King Conrad caused a part of the walls to be destroyed. 240 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. lie was the son of Frederick II., and on the 1st of October, 1253, three years after the death of his grandfather, made his entrance into the city, which he had captured after' a siege of three months, having lain encamped in the country to the north of the Castle of Capuano, on the spot before the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara, where, under the last kings of the house of Anjou-Durazzo, was the place for tournaments and knightly exercises. Naples, even under its first French sovereign Charles, had acquired a very considerable circumference ; and while east- wards he brought within the walls the great market-place, towards the south-west he built the strong castle to which, after the lapse of nearly six hundred years, the epithet New is still applied ; a strong fortress for that time, and even at this day, after manifold additions, which have left the main part of the building in its original form, it is a citadel of great conse- quence, although not important in a military point of view. In his and in his son's time the city, now the king's permanent residence, was not only enlarged, but became also, year by year, richer in remarkable and beautiful buildings. Just as the abbey of Sta. Maria della Vittoria, now for a long time sunk in ruins, owes its erection to the victory over Conrad upon the field of Tagliacozzo, so the church of San Lorenzo, begun by the first, completed by the second, Charles, is owing to the victory over King Manfred at Benevento. Of all the beauteous forms of its pointed architecture it only now pre- serves the neglected choir, whilst the remaining portion, like most of the other old churches of Naples, has been environed with buildings, and deformed in a barbarous manner. Santa Maria la Nuova, erected for the Franciscan monks on an elevated site at the farthest extremity of the circumference of the city, has preserved nothing more antique than the new building undertaken at the end of the sixteenth century, to which is annexed the gorgeous chapel of the Gran Capitano. The foundation of the new cathedral, which occupies the room of an ancient temple at wliat was then the highest point of the city, near the old cathedral, occurs during the reign of the same king. The finishing of it belongs to the days of Charles II. and liis son Robert. Great have been the altera- tions of later years, but in its whole appearance, notwithstand- ing the additions of modern times, it has still preserved the SAN DOMENICO MAGGIORE. 241 stamp of the middle ages, besides the memorials of many im- pressive occurrences in the history of the city and of the kingdom, together with the monuments of the Founder and his wife, Clemenza, and the simple sepulchre of the unfortunate Andrew of Hungary, and that other one where " Hie superis dignus requisscit Papa benignus " that Innocent IV., against whom the power of the Ilohen- staufens was wrecked. Of the same epoch is the San Domenico Maggiore, historically and artistically one of the churches most deserving of attention. It was built in consequence of a vow by Charles II. on his liberation from the captivity, into which he had fallen after the sea-fight in which he was worsted by Ruggiero di Loria, in the second year after the Sicilian vespers. This church remained in the style of the architecture of the middle ages so late as the second half of the fifteenth century, then fell a prey first to one restorer and then to another, until only that was left to it which could not easily be destroyed ; the slender proportions of the aspiring columns, and the arches of the nave still boldly rising, although encumbered with additions of a more recent date. Yet more disastrous has been the fate which the Santa Maria Donna Regina has experienced, founded by Mary, wife of King Charles II., and selected by her as her resting place both in life and death; and that of the Santa Chiara, the beautiful structure of King Robert, the campanile of which in both its two lower stories presents a noble earnestness of form, and a simplicity of proportion and arrangement, which would reflect honour on a work of ancient time, and surpasses all that has come down to us from the Neapolitan middle ages. Let any one stroll in the close, in the church, and in the cloister, separated as they are from the noisy street, and he must be reminded of the middle ages ; but the interior, from the ground upwards, has been modernised with all the unmeaning gorgeousness of the preceding century and of our own time, covered with gilded stucco and crowded with wretched paintings and tasteless altars, from which one gladly turns away to behold the monuments of the choir, as splendid as they are remarkable : there repose Robert and his family, his prede- ceased son, Charles Duke of Calabria, his daughter the 242 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONT. first Joanna, her sister Maria, from whom descends the Du- razzo line,' and titular Empresses of Constantinople and French-Neapolitan princesses, with the pomp of their empty titles, the only heritage remaining to the races of Princes of the nineteenth century, from those times, and from the claims of the Western families to the empire of the East. It is impossible to consider the period of the Angevin family at Naples, without calling to mind the celebrated Florentines, those especially, who under King Robert and Joanna I. with so much activity and with such great results kept up the inter- change of active relations between the two parts of Italy. The impulse proceeded from Florence. In whatever way, amid the confusion of the history of Neapolitan art, (the names and partly mythical personages of which may with propriety be ' omitted,) we are to understand the narrative of Maestro Buono, who built Castel Capuano, and Castel del Uovo, for King William, and of Niccolo Pisano, who completed them for the Emperor Frederick II., we must more readily believe the share of Giovanni Pisano in the construction of the Castel Nuovo ; and the various political relations between Naples and Florence made the points of contact of a literary and artistic kind still more numerous and productive of greater resuhs. The poetry of the south of Italy, especially that of Sicily in the thirteenth century, which, though rife with confusion and misfortune, was yet rich in splendour and in elevation of intellect, had once exercised a modifying influence upon that of Tuscany. Now, when after the fall of the Hohenstaufens these countries had been stripped of their intellectual life under the entirely foreign elements of the harsh and oppressive domination of the first sovereigns of the House of Anjou, and their power had become weakened by the long and bloody \v;\r between the divided portions of the former kingdom of the Nornrms. the Tuscan poetry, raised again to a gladsome, no less than brilliant, existence, in unison with the art of r cnlpture, made its influence to be felt in the south. This in- fluence was rather confined to the Court and upper classes than diffused among the people ; and herein the great differ- ence between the Florentines and Neapolitans, between the originators and the recipients, is to be seen. The author of the " Divina Commedia " never visited the city, the princes of which were the great props of that party by which he had I >A NTE 1'ETKARCII BOCCACIO. been robbed of his home and of the hope of returning to it. But as in his great work the whole history of Italy in his own, as well as in the preceding century, was reflected, so were also there depicted the destinies of the Apulian kingdom of the Normans with its rulers of German descent, the forms of the second Frederick, whom the Ghibelline prejudices of the poet could nevertheless not save from the fate of the Heresiarch ; of his mother, the " Great Constance," who " from the second Swabian storm produced a third ;" and of the flaxen-haired Manfred ; the battles of Benevento and Tagliacozzo, and the treachery at Ceprano ; Charles I. with the high nose bears the stamp of the House of Anjou as faith- fully delineated in the poem as in the marble statue at the Capitol ; the wicked rule which drew down Palermo's cry of vengeance ; Charles the Second, his lost sea-fight and his captivity ; and the base traffic with his daughter; the early death of Charles Martel, his eldest son, whose amiable character put forth only the leaf, but did not ripen into fruit ; finally, the treachery, which took away from his sons the crown of Naples, which belonged to them, and not to their uncle Robert, a treachery for which the latter, when no son was left to him, sought to atone by uniting one of his nephews in marriage with his granddaughter and heiress, a marriage which, as everybody knows, brought fresh guilt of blood and fresh destruction upon the House of Anjou, and war and untold misery upon the country.* If the Naples of the times of the Hohenstaufens and Anjous cast only a reflected lustre upon Italy's greatest poem, and upon the life of the poet, it was otherwise with Petrarch and lioccacio. The one, who thought himself competent to give a new ./Eneis to his country, caught by the delusion, then, and even later, widely prevalent, that ancient literature and lan- guage were still in existence, tarried by the grave of Virgil and at the polished Court of King Robert, who awarded to him the Laureate wreath which he went to the Capitol to receive. The other, drawn by business to the enchanting sea- coast, recognised, by a glance at the spot where Rome's greatest epic poet reposes, his true calling, and bade farewell for ever * La Divina Commcdia, Hell, x. 119; Paradise, iii. 118; Purgatory, iii. 103-130; Purgatory, vii. 113; Paradise, viii. 73; Purgatory, xx. 79 ; Paradise, viii. 55 ; ix. 1-6. R 2 244 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. to the transactions of commerce, however they might promise him a more lucrative entertainment than Poetry, with her ever changing and capricious gifts. In the church of San Lo- renzo, on Easter Eve 1311, he saw for the first time that Maria, who is said to have been of royal descent, and who was celebrated by him as Fiammetta, the third with Beatrice and Laura, in the circle of women, for whom the poets of Italy have created an imperishable name. With the poets were other Florentines who contended for the king's favour. Favoured by fortune more than any other was Nicholas Acciajuoli, who from being originally a merchant at the Court of Robert's sister-in-law, the Princess of Tarentum, rose quickly by his mental and bodily endowments, and became Grand Seneschal of the kingdom, when Louis of Tarentum, son of/ the said Princess, was selected by Queen Joanna as her second hus- band. To this day the magnificent Carthusian establishment, situated upon the eminence of Montacuto, not far from Flo- rence, calls to mind the greatness and riches of this man. We find also the Genoese in those days already active in Naples, some in trade and monetary transactions, others in scientific pursuits ; by their side Greeks, who rekindled in Italy the knowledge of their own language and the taste for their ancient literature, for fifty years almost entirely forgotten. Men like- wise from all parts of tiie peninsula, attracted thither by the fame of the splendour, and of the joyous and brilliant doings of the Court of the Angevin princes. Art also drew support from Tuscany and from the northern ]>arts of the Peninsula. Not far from the new castle of King Charles I., in the street called delle Corregge (Corteregia), is situated the little church of the lucoronata, towhich, in con- sequence of the elevation of the ground which lias taken place since the sixteenth century, there is a descent, instead of an ascent, of several steps. Quite unsightly outside, and concealed by the building of modern houses, at present it only reminds one of the date of its erection, by the sculptures on its now dirsegarded portals : there, are to be seen the arms of the Neapolitan princes of the house of Anjou, on the right the red cross of Jerusalem, on the left the golden fleur-de-lis of France with the border of difference. Next to them, angels holding the crown of thorns, whence the name of the little church. A portion of the interior is of the deepest interest, on GIOTTO. 245 account of the paintings of the Sacramento in the ceiling which must be classed among the finest works of the Giotto School. Whether they are by Giotto, or whether this part of the church was the old chapel built by Charles II. for the hall of justice, whilst the remaining, but later, part was built by Queen Joanna ; whether the words of Petrarch, when he speaks of the works of the masters of the Flo- rentine School in the King's Chapel, refer to these frescoes ; who, lastly, was the master, if they are to be denied to him whose name, as the beautiful inscription announces, "IXJNGI CARMINIS INSTAR ERAT ;" all this, notwithstanding the many critical discussions, has not been clearly ascertained. One hy- pothesis has been stumbled upon after another in the endeavour to clear away the anachronisms of earlier authors. The influence of Giotto, however, upon the Neapolitan art of his time is manifest, although his own labours in Santa Chiara have vanished even, so to speak, to the last trace. The frescoes in a large room of the Castel Nuovo, which contain many portraits of contemporary persons, were destroyed in the time of Alfonso I.; and the painting in the refectory of the mo- nastery already referred to, which represents King Robert and his family kneeling before the Madonna, may be attributed, with much more justice, to a contemporary Neapolitan, than to the renowned Florentine. Unquiet and evil as were the days of the kings and the queens who succeeded the long government of this monarch whose virtues, too highly praised, are paraded in the in- scription on the Mausoleum in the words " CERNITE Ro- BERTUM REGEM VIRTUTE REFERTUM," yet Naples Can exhibit during exactly these years, viz., from 1343 unto 1435, a considerable number of important works. The first Joanna completed the Carthusian house, dedicated to St. Martin, on the hill in the higher part of the town, called at one time St. Erasmus, but now usually St. Elmo. It had been begun by her father. Duke Charles of Calabria, and rebuilt by her grandfather; and from its wonderfully beautiful situation a spectator sees at his feet the city and bay, and all the surrounding country. Almost entirely in- closed by buildings, and adorned in the most gorgeous, if not in the best, taste of the 17th century, the Carthusian House shows, even at this day, many remains of its original fouuda- 246 THE CARAFA8 OF MADDALONI. tion in the style of the middle ages. If little was accomplished under the immediate successors of Joanna, and of this little hardly anything lias kept its ancient form, excepting always the numerous monuments (amongst which those rn the choir of San Lorenzo to the most ill-fated princes of the Durazzo line are especially worth notice, and remain melancholy memorials of their former circumstances), on the other hand, the times of King Ladislaus, and his sister Joanna II. were all the more active. The buildings and sculptures of this epoch are not so peculiarly distinguished by cliasteness of style, as they cer- tainly are by gorgeousness, by lavish expenditure on the materials, and by liveliness of imagination. They may be described as the Rococo of the Gothic ; to such an extent do the accessory parts, those, that is, which are merely orna- mental, overpower by luxuriance of shape the purity of coin- position ; to such an extent also are the essential proportions sometimes stunted, whilst pyramids and turrets, and pin- nacles with rosettes and volutes, and every fantastic decoration imaginable, soar on high. To these last times of the Angevins belong the facades of two Neapolitan churches, the consi- deration of which will clearly show the correctness of the character just described. Both are by Antonio Bamboccio, of Piperho, for whom his art procured the enjoyment of a rich abbey ; they are, the facade of the Cathedral, and that of the small church of St. John, which goes by the name of De' Pappacoda, after its founders. The time between 1407 and 1415, that is to say of the reign of King Ladislaus, witnessed the completion of these works, the last of which is in itself the most perfect and cha- racteristic, although at the same time the most adventurous of this kind. It partakes more of the portico than of the facade, for the rest of the wall, which is almost covered by it, is without decoration. Twisted pillars, the capitals of which serve as a support for niches containing saints, rest upon lions. Above these niches are entablatures and pedestals, and niches again and again repeated ; a quadrangular somewhat low door is shut off by a high lunette with a broad and sunken frame- work, in which is the group of the Madonna and Child, near whom the Baptist and the Evangelist are kneeling. Over this is an obelisk with coats of anns and relievos, and the richest foliage, terminating in a luxuriant capital of leaves, SAN GIOVANNI A CAEBONARA. 247 upon which stands the Archangel Michael, the writhing dragon at his feet, his sword brandished aloft, shaking his giant-like wings ; whilst on either side, a little more in recess, upon similar capitals, with which the tops of the door-posts are finished, the two other archangels crown this fantastic marble edifice. Cavaliere Artusio de' Pappacoda, the seneschal of King Ladislaus, and an ancestor of that Giovan Lorenzo Pappacoda, the favourite of the Queen Bona Sforza, who induced her to return to Italy after the death of Sigismund King of Poland, caused, as we learn from the inscription, the completion of this remarkable, and of its kind perfect, work, which, in its disregard of the principles and proportions of architec- ture, by a predominance of ornament, exhibits a deviation from the rules of art, but yet fully makes up for that deficiency by its flights of fancy, and by a splendour which is not without its charms. The richly adorned monument of Ludovico Alde- moreno, to be seen in the convent of San Lorenzo, furnishes a fresh proof of the skill, somewhat mechanical, and not wholly free from trivialities, displayed by Bamboccio, then threescore and ten years old, who has entitled himself in the same monument, " FICTOR ET in OMNIBUS LAPIDIBUS ATQUE METALLORUM SCULPTOR." The church of San Giovanni a Carbonara is situated on the spot where once, as has been already mentioned, the tourna- ments used to be held, and where noble families, such as the Caracciolo of Santo Bruno and others, built their palaces; whilst now, the great world has long since withdrawn itself to other quarters of the town. It received from King Ladislaus its more modern form, which, from the irregular construction of the chapels, as also from the display of the altars, has lost all architectural unity. Behind the high altar rises the gigantic memorial of the King tasteless enough in its out- line, but remarkable in its details. The equestrian statue of the " DIVES LADISLAUS" forms the summit. The horse is there with trappings and hangings of rich undulating dra- pery ; and there is the last of the rulers of the French race, who brought so much disquiet upon Rome and Tuscany, in full armour, the crown on his head, with uplifted falchion a genuine chivalric monarch of the middle ages. Andrea Ciccione, the decorator of the church for Ladislaus, 248 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. and the builder of Monte Oliveto for Gurrello Origlia, the great prothonotary of the kingdom, erected this mighty work of sculpture for Joanna II., just as, years afterwards, he set up the monument for the Queen':* favourite, Ser Gianni Carracciolo. This last is erected in the striking and richly adorned chapel, imitating the antique more in its forms, but comprehending, in this instance, the principles of the antique as little, as, in the other, those of the so-called Gothic. It is not indeed without talent and facility of execution in the huge figures of the knights in the lower part of the structure, although devoid of that loftier inspiration of the Florentine school which is impressed on the nearly contemporary monu- ment of the Cardinal Rainoldo Broncacci in the small church of Sant' Angelo a Nilo, a work of Donatello and Michelozzo. for which Cosmo de' Medici is said to have given the order. There still remain, in spite of many revolutions, some build- ings besides churches and monuments, of the period of the later princes of the house of Anjou. Only the neglected exterior of the palace of King Ladislaus is visible from the street which, from one of the fountains belonging to the brief reign of Alphonso II., bears the na:ne di Mezzo Cannone. The gateway exhibits the broad flat arche* which continued in use here throughout the whole century, and possesses some affinity with the so-called Tudor style in England. It is adorned with the heraldic shield of the king. The buildings surrounding the court-yard are en- tirely new and contemptible. The present hospital of the Benfratelli, also called La Pace, in the Strada dei Tribunal!, was the residence of Ser Gianni Carracciolo, who, as already related, met with a bloody death in the neighbouring Castel Capuano, where Queen Joanna held her court. One can at this day recognise the style of building of that age, the tracts of which are equally preserved in the Strada di Portanova, on the former palace of the Grisani, one of the families now extinct, whose origin was Amalfi. The facade, however, of the house of Onofrio di Penna is perfectly preserved. He was private secretary to King Ladislaus, and was laid side by side with Giovanni di Penna, " SECRETUS KEGIS CONSILIATOR," in the beautiful tomb in Santa Chiara, by the hand of the often-named Antonio Bamboccio. Both belonged to a family learned in the laws, which sprang out of " Citta di Penna," in REMAINS OF 14TH AND 15TH CENTURIES. 249 the Abruzzi, and of which Luca di Penna, the learned com- mentator of the code, made himself a name about the same period, in the history of Roman jurisprudence in the middle ages. The house, situated upon the small square S. Demetrio, belongs now to the Monticelli family. The fa$ade consists of smoothly-hewn square stones, with sunken joinings ; plumes of feathers and lilies alternately thereon, as tokens, the former calling to mind the owner, the latter the Sovereign House ; doors and windows of a broad depressed form, like the remainder of the still-existing house-architecture of that and the succeeding period. There are only few of these, for the greater part have been two or three times rebuilt. The never-ceasing extension of the city, and the circum- stance that the life and action of the nobility had been chiefly withdrawn from the inner and lower parts towards the newer and higher portions of the western side, by which means the greater number of the palaces of the nobility of that age, emptied of their possessors, and given over to occupants of inferior station, fell into a decayed and filthy state. This circumstance is the cause why, if we except the churches and a small number of the public buildings, much less that is remarkable and well-preserved has come down to our times of the Naples of the middle ages, than of many other Italian cities. Whoever strolls through the older streets in the semicircle from Castelnuovo by Montoliveto up to the present street of Santa Maria di Constantinopoli, and as far as the Strada Car bonara, and thence to the great market-place, will find many architectural remains of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but not many which are uninjured or calculated to give him much satisfaction. The names of many streets will here remind him of foreign nations who in Naples, as in Rome, settled them- selves down in bodies, chiefly with the object, of pursuing par- ticular branches of trade, from which as a matter of course they derived a considerable profit. Such is still at this day the case in both cities, however much their industrial con- dition, no less than the circumstances of their corporations and nationalities, may have been changed. He will find in the near neighbourhood of the harbour, hard by the square before the Castelnuovo, and as far as the narrow street of the gold- smiths, which adjoins those of the drapers in woollens and 250 THE CAR AF AS OF MADDALOM. linens, and tradespeople of every kind, even to the Mercato. a Rua Catalana, a liua Francese or Francesca, a liu . Tn.-art changed its aspect, that is, in the neighbourhood of the palace, of the castle, and of the mole, principally by means of the noble projects of the King, Ferdinand II. Nearer the sea, as far as the Strada Medina and Montoliveto, much that is an- cient yet remains, and the names of many of the streets bring to mind the callings of those who inhabited them, some of which are at this day still carried on there, as they have been handed down traditionally with the spot from father to son such are the streets of the Panettierri, Armieri, Guantai, Orefici, Ramari, Baullari, Ferrari, Zagarellari, Calzettari, of the Sellaria, &c. Many, too, and tins is the worst feature in the case, even now pursue their old trades in their ancient state of imperfection. Between the Angevin Sovereigns and the Viceroys comes the time of the Aragonese rulers, a period rich in activity of every kind, political, artistic, literary. King Alphonso I. was too much occupied by struggles, first for the acquisition of the kingdom, then for securing it against the pretens: of his Provenal kinsmen of the extinguished branch and their confederates, to accomplish much for Naples. The triumphal arch, however, at the entrance of the inner portion of the Castelnuovo commemorates his services: one of the n considerable and most beautiful works of sculpture, is the square hemmed in between the two gigantic towers of the old castle, and overtopped by their pinnacles; it is not very favourably situated, and the height of the present building is in curious disproportion to the other dimensions and to the PERIOD OF ARAGONESE RULEES. 251 character of a true arch. " ALPHONSUS REX HISPANUS SICUJLUS ITALICUS PIUS CLEMENS INVICTUS" is the inscription which celebrates the virtues of the founder of the new dynasty. It is uncertain who prepared the original design and model for this work. The assertion of Vasari, that it was the Florentine Giuliano da Majano, is contradicted, even on the first blush, by the evidence of chronology, since the decree for the erection of the arch was passed by the deputies of the city in the year 1443, when Giuliano had not numbered more than eleven or twelve years. An epitaph, now no longer legible, in Santa Maria la Nuova, is said to have designated a Milanese, Pietro di Martino, as the original constructor ; that divers artists, one a native of Pisa, two from Aquila, and others were still working at it in 1460, is ascertained by records. The upper part, however, with the statues of the archangels and of two saints, is of the time of Don Pedro of Toledo. Although the cha- racter of the sculpture of the sixteenth, does not accord with that of the middle of the fifteenth, century ; although in the architecture neither system nor harmony is to be found ; and although a second arch is raised without scruple on the top of the first, which, with its upper story, had already a consider- able height ; nevertheless, not only historical association speaks in behalf of this work, but it is distinguished also by the richness of its sculpture, whether regard be had to the ornaments or -to the representation, which it is the object of the memorial to express the triumphal progress of King Alphonso. But the brazen leaves of the inner gate, which, adorned with the arms of Aragon, admits one to the court- yard of the Castle, relate in the remarkable although very unskilful relievos, which have been already spoken of in the earlier part of this history, the struggles and occurrences of the untoward war of Ferdinand I. with the Barons; the meeting of the King with the Prince of Tarento, at Teano ; the Victory of Troia over the Angevin party, led by Giovanni Cossa and Ercole da Este (1462) ; the inva- sion of Accadia ; the capture of Troia, and other warlike deeds. Many speculations have been formed upon the in- scription "GuLiELMus MONACUS FECIT," which is legible under one of these relievos, for Guglielmo lo Monaco was, as Is shown in the books on the history of the fortress, not a 252 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. sculptor by profession but Master of the Artillery, and Knight and Surveyor of the King's shot-foundry. The city is much indebted to Ferdinand of Aragon, for thus, generally, the whole government of this powerful prince is such a mixture of good and evil, of a splendid spirit of enter- prise with cruel artifice, of zeal for the material and spiritti.il welfare of his dependents, and of tyrannical oppression of them, that one often stands irresolutely before his portrait, and can well understand the diversity of the sentences passed on him by his contemporaries. The building of the new town-wall from the Carmine gate to S. Giovanni a Carbonara (by which the square before this church, so often mentioned, as well as that quarter inha- bited by the lowest class of the common people, only too noto- rious in the history of the insurrections, and called Lavinaro from the Sewers of the City, were included in the circuit of the walls) commenced on the loth of June, 1484. Fran- cesco Spinelli, and after him Antonio Capecelatro, superin- tended the work ; Giulianoda Majano has been likewise named as the architect, and certainly with greater probability than when the triumphal arch was in question. On a set day the first stone was laid in the presence of the king at the Carmine gate. The gate preserves on its exterior a likeness of him in marble relief, which represents him on horseback, with tin- inscription, FEUDINANDUS REX NOBII.ISSIM.I: FATRUE. The gates to this eastern line of wall at the present time are thrc". the construction of which, out of blocks of lava, cost 28,460 ducats. The arrangement of all of them is the same, riaim-ly, two strong round towers flank the gate, bearing titles which may be read on marble tablets : on the Carmine gate, " The most faithful and Victoria ;" on Porta Nolana, " Faith and Hope ;" on Capuana, '' Honour and Virtue." Whilst, however, the first two gates are tolerably simple, Porta Capuana p<>- great architectural beauty, and would give no occasion to find fault, had not a high and hideous niche been superadded, about the middle of the seventeenth century, to the upper story. which originally, like all the gates of Naples, contained a fresco painting by the Cavaliere Calabrese, as a thank-offering for the cessation of the great plague ; then, as this became dim, a modern picture, in brilliant colouring, of the Assump- tHE CARMINE GATE AND BASTION. 253 tion of the Virgin, was substituted for it. Two fluted pilasters of the Roman order of architecture support the gate, the posts of which are richly ornamented with representations of tro- phies in relief; whilst two figures of Victory copied from those on the Roman triumphal arches fill the vacant space. A representation of the coronation of King Ferdinand is said to form the frieze in the upper part of the building, between the statues of the patron saints of the town, Januarius and Ag- nellus ; but it perished with the fall of the house of Aragon, and Don Pedro de Toledo, at the entry of Charles V., caused the double-headed eagle, the Emperor's coat of arms, to be placed in the front of it, as it is now to be seen. A well-conceived, and not too heavy entablature supports the upper story, adorned with trophies and the arms of the house of Aragon. No other piece of architecture in Naples of ancient date can compete with the Porta Capuana in harmony and elegance, and there- fore it is so much the more to be lamented that it stands on a spot not often visited, since the great road from the north no longer leads through this gate, as it did even as late as our time. The Carmine bastion forms the bulwark of the town on the south-eastern side, and here also are now to be found, the stations of the railroads leading on one side to Castellamare and Nocera, and on the other to Capua, and traversing the suburb as far as the Magdalen bridge. These stations pro- claim day by day more extensive changes and increasing bustle and activity. If any one turns his steps towards the north beyond this bastion, he passes the Aragonese wall before described, in a straight line until near the Capuana gate, afterwards with a bend towards the north-west until it reaches the newly built, fortress-like barracks behind San Giovanni a Carbonara, which, with its towers, is visible upon striking out of the direct road from the Bourbon Museum to the field of Mars. The present town has, sometimes more and some- times less, overgrown this enceinte of the walls, which yet, however, serves to enclose a considerable tract of land, but no longer protects it, as in the days when the Marshal of Lautrec attacked Naples from this side. The soil has thrown itself up all around ; the wall and numerous semi- circular towers are deeply fixed in the ground, and the ever-increasing population has nestled itself about, upon, and 254 'HIE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. in tiiem. The wall has been pierced for windows, and little < I'.-ns dress the roofs of tiie towers with fresh given. The old wall, however, from the bastion near the Porta Capuana is entirely concealed between the new buildings and streets which, in the direction of the Albergo dei Poveri, the prnate f ]x:or- housc in the world, form a respectable suburb for the opulent classes. Kiiig Ferdinand usually occupied the Castel Capuano, or the palace of the second Joanna, situated to the north-east of the city, upon the Poggio reale, all traces of which have now \ani>hed; whilst the not very distant height of Capodimonte saw the chateau of Bourbon date arise, which, although not indeed of elegant form, was yet preferred on account of it> wonderful situation and magnificent park. About the middle of the seventeenth century Poggio reale was a place of plea- surable resort for the Neapolitans. The Duke of Ossuna there gave leasts to the people, and Henri de Guise, in his Memoirs, mentions its beautiful gardens and fountains. A century later, too. people were wont to drive out thither. Giuliano da Majano is said to have built upon the Poggio reale ; the Neapolitan.-* Tietro and Polito del Donzello represented there in fresco painting the most memorable events of the War of the Barons. It is no favourable testimony to the King's disposition that Ill- strove to perpetuate, in bronze and by pencil, the circum- stances of such a melancholy struggle with his own sub- jects. It is true that he had not much military glory of {.is own to set forth, for when he was yet only Duke of Calabria, and took the field for his father against the Florentines, he sat down, with a powerful host of twelve thousand men complete, for more than thirty days, before Fojano, an insignificant castle in the valley of the Chiana, defended only by a small number of 'soldiers, and by the inhabitants, men and women. There- upon the whole campaign was shipwrecked, as has been already mentioned in an earlier chapter. Moreover in the wars of which his son Alphonso assumed the command in chief in hi> stead, equally few laurels were reaped, although that prince defeated the Venetians at Bondeno on the Po, and the Flo- rentines at Poggibonzi on the road to Siena. Nicolo Ma- ehiavelli * describes in lively colours how the mercenary host of the latter took to flight ; and the excellent chronicler Marin * Machiavelli, Istoric Florentine. B. viii. WORKS OF ALPHOXSO. 255 Saimdo * relates how the Venetians, in defiance of their adver- sary, and under his nose, let fly the falcons in the rock at Ferrara. But the name of Campo JViorto bears testimony even to this day to Alphonso's sitting down in the pestilential Roman plains between the Albanian hills and the sea-coast near Nettuno and Antium. The same Alphonso showed before he ascended the throne afterwards he had other matters to think of a great love of building 1 . He caused no fewer than three chateaus, or villas, to be got ready for himself near the city : the localities, long since included within the circuit of the walls, may be easily indicated, but scarcely any traces of the original foundations remain. At the Porta Capuana the name of the street, as well as of the barracks, della Duchessa, calls to mind the gardens and palace which the Duke of Calabria there designed, out of love to his wife Ippolita Sforza, the daughter of the great Francesco Sforza the inscription reminding one of springs and baths, of hedges of myrtle and citron, of roads for riding and driving, for pleasure and for bodily health. The foun- tain in the court-yard of the great hospice of the Annunziata still preserves some excellent sculptures which adorned the fountains of the Duchessa. At the foot of the heights where now the palace of the Museo Borbonico stands, formerly a long way outside the town, and called La Conigliera (the rabbit-warren), Alphonso possessed another chateau, the place of which is at this day occupied by the residence of the Muscettola Princes of Luperano. But the villa and gardens situated between the Chiaja and the foot of the height of the Vomero are celebrated in history: in later times they have been in part converted into barracks and stabling for the royal guards ; but part has been preserved to its original purpose of a beautiful house with smiling gardens, belonging, since the time of Charles V. to the Toledo family, and, together with the adjoining street, bearing the name of Palazzo and Strada Ferrandina, after the title of the eldest son of the head of that family. The popular wit ridiculed the spots chosen by the Duke of Calabria for his country seats : one, said they, had neither air nor water ; the other, water and no air ; the tnird, air and no water. In the palace on the Chiaja, which, now * Itinerario di Marin Sanudo per la Terraferma Vcneziana nell' anno M CCCC.LXXX.III. Edited*by Rawdon Brown. Padua, 1847. P. 51. 256 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. divided into two equal parts, has preserved little more than its original foundation, dwelt the Cardinal Pompeo Colonna, only too well known as having been, from his violent hatred of Pope Clement VII., one of the authors of the boundless misery which visited Rome under this Pope of that misery at which he him- self burst into tears when he rode through the city after its sack by the hordes of the Constable. After the death of the Prince of Orange, the Imperial Lieutenant in Naples, the man whose ambition had been so destructive, was satisfied with the culti- vation of the beautiful garden which surrounded his dwelling, and himself planted flowers, and grafted fruit-trees. Already ailing in health, he was walking in this garden with Pier Antonio Carafa, Count of Policastro, whose residence adjoined his own, on a morning at the beginning of the summer of 1532, when he ate some early ripened figs. Presently after this his disease became so much aggravated that he died at the age of fifty-three in the first days of July. Poison was spoken of in this, as in almost every case of unexpected death ; but the celebrated physician Agustino Nifo, known also from the life of Vittoria Colonna, was present at the opening of his body, and contradicted the report which sought to designate French vengeance as the cause. The refectory of the monas- tery of Santa Maria la Nuova calls to mind in the most vivid manner King Alfonso II., for in it are to be seen in the great fresco paintings of the brothers del Donzello the likenesses of himself and his son Ferdinando ; so also do the church and monastery of Montoliveto remind one of him. Alphonso built the church, and adorned it with many works of art ; and, ns the families of the D'Avalos, Piccolomini, and others vied with him, and the pious zeal continued during the following cen- tury, the most brilliant for the Neapolitan, and for Italian art in general, Montoliveto thus became rich in the choicest works, especially sculptures, not only of Antonio Rosselino, of Bene- detto da Majano and of their time, but also of the national school of Giovanni da Nola. The Aragonese monarch, who cherished a particular pre- dilection for the Olivetan order (called also the order of the White Benedictines), as has already been related in the first part of this history, sometimes came into the refectory to take his repast with the monks, and presented them with rich revenues, and great gardens and building-ground?, which since SAN SEVERING. 257 the end of the last century have been applied to various pur- poses, whilst the monastery itself became the seat of the municipality of the town, and, recently the centre of the republican attempt at insurrection, which was crushed by the fidelity of the royal troops on the 15th of May, 1848. On this spot Alphonso wished to leave a speaking memorial of his affection. In the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is to be seen before the altar a group of figures much larger than life. Upon the ground lies the dead Saviour ; his mother, having sunk down lifeless, is upheld by the Maries ; John the Evan- gelist, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus surround her, part kneeling, part standing, participators in the anguish for the crucified one. The countenances are full of living truth, although not free from exaggeration, and the effect is the more striking as the figures are coloured with burnt earth and with the colours of nature. The harmony of colours is now destroyed, and the statues have been much mutilated and wretchedly repaired ; but this, of its kind remarkable, work of the Modanino (as Guido Mazzoni of Modena was usually called), who in the manly forms of Alphonso and Ferdinandino represented Sanazzaro and Pontano, must still be contem- plated with lively interest.* Besides the two above-cited churches there yet belongs to this period, another, which hitherto has survived the overturn of political relations, that of San Severino, with its great Bene- dictine monastery, where room has now been found for the archives of the kingdom. Alphonso II. employed Francesco Mormando, a Florentine artist whom the historian of Floren- tine art has overlooked, to begin the building, to which the noble family of the Mormile contributed assistance in money. The interior of the beautiful and rich temple is too much altered for any one to pass a correct judgment on the style ; but the exterior, and a part of the court-yard of the monastery, bear favourable testimony to the refined aesthetical sentiment of form and fruitful invention of Mormando. Private persons vied with the prince in architectural under- . takings, and not only the nobility, but also statesmen and poets. Three palaces of the Aragonese period have been specially celebrated by contemporary and subsequent writers. Mention * Yasari, Life of Giuliano da Majano. 258 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. has already been made in this history of the first, which > built by Diomede Carafa, Count of Maddaloni. Of the other, alas ! there is nothing left beyond the memory of it. Novello da San Lucano built it about the year 1480 for Koberto Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, whose fortunes were nearly as changeable as those of his successor in Charles V.'s days, who lost his great feudal domains and dazzling wealth in the king- dom, to die an exile and faithless to the Roman Catholic faith in a strange land. Naples has beheld no more beautiful palace. In an advantageously elevated situation near the then Porta reale, it commanded the lower part of the town. As strong as it was beautiful, it j>ossessed walls of astonishing thickness, inlaid with regularly hewn blocks of travertino marble. This building was long an object of the admiration of the Neapolitans ; and when, a century afterwards, it was sold, the city wished to have bought it for itself. " The Neapolitans," writes the Tuscan agent on the 23rd of March, 1584, "are angry in their language against his Excellency (the elder Duke of Ossuna was then Viceroy) on account of the preference shown to the Jesuits at the sale of the palace of the Prince of Salerno. The commonalty of Naples tried hard at the same time to get possession of it, because they wished that the mansion might keep its original form, since it contributed particularly to the ornament of the town, and was so advantageously situated. But the fathers, who strive after undivided power, have overcome all difficulties, and obtained their object, and already is the building begun, of which they announce that it will not be inferior to the splendid one (Car- dinal Alessandro Farnese's church and college of Jesus) at Rome." * The new church and monastery of Jesus, so called as a distinction from the original Jesuit College, have in them- selves nothing of any interest. The inscription announce- that the house of Robert Sanseverino was, in the year 1587, converted into a church by Isabella della Rovere, Princess of Bisignano. But the date of the most important of the palaces of Naples, old or new, coincides exactly with the termination of the Aragonese dominion. Ferdinando Orsini built it. He was * Pietro Riccardi to the Cardinal Ferdinand of Medici ; Palermo and other place?. P. THE OKSm PALACE. 259 the son of that Duke of Gravina celebrated in the time of Pope Alexander VI., whom, together with Vitellozzo Vitelli and Oliverotto da Fermo, and two more of his cousins, Caesar Borgia caused to be strangled at that notorious as- sembly, in the year 1502, at Senegallia, the relation of which, by Machiavelli, excites scarcely more horror on account of the deed than on account of the cold-bloodedness of the re- later. The Neapolitan historians name Gabriel d'Agnolo as the builder of this palace, which they likewise call the Sanseve- rinian. The Florentines attribute it to their countryman, Baccio d'Agnolo, among whose works, nevertheless, Vasari, not usually backward when the glory of a countryman is concerned, does not mention it. But however that may be, the style is Florentine. It is an imitation of the style of building of Brunelleschi and Michellozzi, by which we ac- count for the gradual but entire disappearance of the former shape of the arch. The palace is unfinished, because, as the tradition is, when the Emperor Charles admired it, Orsini answered, " It is your Majesty's so soon as it is finished." Therefore, it is said, neither Orsini nor his descendants ever thought of completing it. A similar story is told to account for the ruin of the Villa Mondra'gone, near Frascati, which originated in Mark Sittich of Hohenembs, but now belongs to the Borghese family. The more probable solution, how- ever, is, that Ferdinand Orsini did not complete the great edifice because the jealousy of the Spanish lords was thereby excited. For, as one of the chiefs of the French party at the time of the last war, and of the investment of the city by Lautrec, he suffered exile and a confiscation of his goods, and his family, like that of all others of the Angevin colours, received a blow from which it never again recovered. The palace in our time fell into the hands of the Biceardi family, and later into those of the Government, after that, during the last attempts at revolution, it had been burnt from the inside, and, still later, the beautiful ground-floor, built in bossage (opus rusticum), had been disfigured by being broken into tor booths. The love of architecture was not confined to dwelling- houses among the Neapolitans during the times of the last kings, and, by a singular coincidence, two churches preserve s 2 260 THE CARAFAS OF MAUDALONI. the names of men who stood by the side of the Alphonsos, the Ferdinands and Fredericks, assisting them with counsel and action men of different reputation, but both deserving well of science and of poetry. Giovanni Gioviano Pontano, before the fall of the house of Aragon, built the chapel which bears the name of the Evangelist St. John, in order to prepare a bury- ing-place for himself and his wife Arianna Sassona, and for his family. In the most thronged and bustling quarter of the city, surrounded by much tasteless architecture, that little church causes surprise by its decent purity of form, and the simpli- city of its arrangement. It is a square, built of freestone, with flat pillars of the Roman order, and an attic with marble rablets alongside of the windows and doors, upon which are ingenious Latin sayings, containing the doctrines of the moral philosophy of the ancients. Sanazzaro, however, built for himself a villa at some distance from the city as it then was, but close to the present city, on the strand of the Margellina, upon a piece of ground presented to him by the last King of Naples of the Spanish collateral line. It is situated on a promon- tory, which commands both sea and land ; and when the war had destroyed this villa, he endowed the Tuscan order of the Servi di Maria with space and means for a church, in which his tomb was set up, which, like his much- praised poems, combines in appearance the mixture of ancient art with Christianity, and mars the effect of the one by the other, so that David and Rachel are made to supply names to the statues of Apollo and Minerva in the sculptures on the monu- ment of this inspired imitator of Virgilius Maro. A century and a half had elapsed from the fall of the royal house of Aragon, up to that time the description of which is attempted in the present recital. The city of Naples, which from the invasion of King Charles VIII. to the safe establish- ment of the power of the Emperor Charles V. in Italy, had been oppressed in manifold ways by change of rulers, by war, and by all the evils following in their train, increased in a rapid measure from the year 1530. It was calculated, under the administration of the Marquis Von Mondejar, 1575, that it had been enlarged by more than a third in thirty years, whilst the number of inhabitants had risen to 200,000. The circumference of" the town comprised six miles, two of which had been enclosed within the enceinte of HOUSES AND POPULATION OF NAPLES. 261 the walls, during the time of Don Pedro de Toledo. The daily consumption of bread was reckoned at somewhere about 3000 bushels of corn, which waschieHy supplied from the province of Capitanata. The numerous monasteries and benevolent insti- tutions were not included in this calculation, because, from their privileged position, the victualling office had no juris- diction over them, and so their wants were not known. Nine and fifty years later, under the administration of the Count of Monterey, the number of houses and population had again been considerably augmented. The estimate at that time was 20,000 buildings, large and small, 44,000 fire-places, and 300,000 inhabitants. Rome under Pope Gregory XIII. had only 14,000 fire-places, and 80,000 inhabitants. The daily consumption of corn amounted to 4000 bushels ; above 35,000 ducats monthly were expended in vegetables and garden stuff; the yearly consumption of oil amounted to 100,000 staja (6400 hectolitres) ; that of salt meat to 15,000 hundred weight : that of fish to above 20,000 ; and that of cheese to 6000 ; upwards of 100,000 head of cattle were killed. In the public magazines alone 30,000 casks of wine were annually consumed, without counting the consumption of private households. The tax on fruit at one time brought in 80,000 ducats; about 6000 chests of sugar were brought yearly into the custom house ; 2000 chests of white wax ; 20,000 hundred weight of almonds; 300 chests of various sorts of spices ; about 400,000 ducats were expended in foreign cloths ; 200,000 in those of home manufacture ; 300,000 in Venetian linen ; 290,000 in Dutch ; 150,000 in wrought gold and silver; the importation of pins amounted to the yearly ralue of 40,000 scudi ; and much money went out of the coun- try for articles of luxury, gold and silk and stuffs for clothes and household gear, embroidery, and the like. Any one. how- ever, need only wander through the streets of Naples, says the informer to whom we are indebted for these particulars,* in order to observe what a populous city it i*. Besides the handicraftsmen who carry on their trade in the open streets, besides those who have their workshops in their houses, in every street, in every alley, every corner is to be seen a crowd of people, pressing, pushing, and pursuing their callings, so * Giulio Cesare Capaccio, II Forastierc. Naples, 1634. P. 846-848. 262 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. that a man has often a hard matter to pass through them. If you fjo inro the churches where there is preaching, as surely do you find them filled with human beings. Should you betake yourself to the courts of judicature, you are astonished at the concourse. And the streets themselves, not one, not ten, but all, are full of people, on foot, on horseback, and in vehicles ; so that there is a turmoil and a hum as though it were a swarm of bees. Everywhere, and at all times, and to anybody, nothing is more laborious than to wander about Naples. If business and trade did not increase in the same proportion as the increase of the population might have led us to expect, the blame must be laid upon the perverted economical prin- ciples which checked at the same time both production and circulation. A remarkable expansion had taken place under the native princes of the house of Aragou. Alphonso I. had introduced the finer sheep of Spain, and so caused the im- provement of the common Neapolitan breed, which from that time especially, flourished admirably in the pasture-grounds of the Abruzzi. In accordance with the principles of that age, Ferdinand I. thought he was helping this branch of industry when he prohibited the introduction of foreign woollens, while, on the contrary, to foreign manufacturers desirous of settling in the kingdom, he accorded privileges, and moreover secured the remission of taxes to the sale of home-made cloths. There arose indeed then considerable cloth manufactories, as well in Naples as in other places of the Abruzzi, Aquila, Teramo, Ascoli, Arpino, I sola di Sora, Alife, at the foot of the mountains in Calabria, &c., &c. The names by which the Neapolitan woollen cloths were known at the close of the fifteenth century are partly indicative of the locality, and partly of the home of the manufactures. In equal, if not greater reputation, stood the silk manufactures, especially after King Ferdinand had removed the burthensome imposts upon the silk dyeing. To this branch of industry is ascribed in great measure the important increase of the population of Naples, which took place under the said rulers. One-half of the inhabitants of the capital and of its environs lived by the manufacture of silk. It is well known that even now this manufacture is as active as it Is profitable. Florentines and Genoese were induced to settle in Naples. A corporation of silk workers was formed, with consuls and jurisdiction. Silk FISCAL LEGISLATION. 263 was manufactured especially on the coasts of Calabria and Amalfi ; the factories supplied every sort of stuff, even to velvets and the heavy brocades interwoven with gold, for the preparation of which the Venetians gave instruction.* The use of them by the court and by the nobility was very great, not only for clothing, but for household furniture. The wearing of velvet was the fashion even with the priestly order, f The vexatious fiscal legislation of the Viceroys on the one hand had not been able to promote the advancement of this branch of industry ; on the other hand the change in the great commercial highways had brought with it, as well in regard to Naples as to the whole of Italy, a sensible diminution, or more properly a complete stoppage, of the trade, once so pro- fitable, with the distant East. The policy employed on behalf of the corporations, and the limitation of all free efforts by the fixing of still narrower bounds to the divisions and sub- divisions of the trades, must have been an impediment instead of a protection. A monopoly had unawares been esta- blished by the narrow circumscription and the formal nature of the statutes. The Duke of Arcos, in the year 1647, wished still further to augment these restrictions on behalf of the silk- workers' guild, and whilst he subjected it to a surveillance by the police of a completely inquisitorial character, he endea- voured also to restrain the making of silk to the capital alone, with its suburbs, in order by these means to appease the repre- sentations, already degenerating into threats, of the Neapolitan guilds, which, infected by the giddiness of revolutionary doc- trine, thought that they could turn the helplessness of the government to the advantage of their schemes of monopoly.^ How far the delusion extended is shown by a prohibition issued in the year 1685, by the otherwise sagacious Marchese delCarpio, against the introduction of new inventions in the manufacture of silk. Such stuffs only as were manufactured according to the ancient prescripts, and at a fixed price, were to be brought to the market. And, as a consequence, yet another limitation was added, that the prescripts existing for the Spa- * Summonte, &c. Vol. iii. p. 480. t Bianchini, &c. Vol. ii. p. 170-176. J Capccelatro, Diario. Vol. i. p. 142. Notes. P. 83. Eivas, Insurrec- tion do Naples (Sublevacion de Napoles). Vol. i. p. 276 ; vol. ii. p. 261. 264 THE C.VUAFAS OF MADDALOXI. nish manufacture should have exclusive value in Naples. If, notwithstanding these impediments, arising out of senseless legal technicalities, the manufacture of silk nevertheless preserved considerable activity, this favourable result is to be attributed solely to the industry of the people, and their necessities, which obtained the victory over such impediments.* The vast increase of the population was just as much to be ascribed to the situation of the city, particularly favourable to trade and business, as to the circumstance that its inhabitants were less given up to the arbitrary will of the civil fuix:- tionaries than the people in the provinces. The Spaniards did not like to see this increase ; partly because the villages of the neighbourhood became depopulated thereby ; partly because the common people in the capital paid fewer taxes and enjoyed many privileges ; partly also, because, with the increase in the population, and in the circumference of the town, was increased the difficulty of suppressing an insurrection, which, with this changeable and easily excited people, was an event always to be feared. On this account the wish had already often been excited of giving greater extension to the Castle of San Elmo, which, from its elevation, commanded the city with which it had been united since the time of Toledo. Naples was held to be one of the richest cities of Europe, and with each year the trade became more active, with each year the number of merchants increased, who flowed in from all quarters, drawn thither by the almost certainty of gain, as well as by the facility of acquiring considerable possessions in land, and, together with them, high rank and honours, f Beyond all people, as has been already explained in a former section of this work, the Genoese were they who profited by the commercial cir- cumstances of Naples, and their natural frugality increased yet more considerably the advantage accruing from those cir- cumstances. The Spinola, the Serra, the Ravaschieri, the Mari and others, fixed themselves in this manner in the king- dom, and partially succeeded to great wealth and princely titles, and many of them, who by landed property and alliances became completely domesticated, belong even at this day to the most distinguished families. After them two merchants, sprung from the German Netherlands, Romer and Van den * Bianchini, &c. Vol. ii. p. 606-609. t Lippomano, Rclazione di Xapoli, 1575, &c. P. 265 FORM AND EXTENT. 265 Einden, laid the foundation of brilliant possessions ; and whilst the first, of whom we shall more than once have to speak, built churches and palaces, the last allied himself with the Carafa of Belvedere, and his arms, united with those of the Carafa, are to be seen on the palace Stigliano, in the street Toledo, and in that most beautiful chapel of S. Domenico, which, erected at the beginning of the 16th century by the Count of Santa Severina (the only Neapolitan who ruled under the Spaniards in Naples, as Cardinal Trivulzio was the only Milanese who ruled in Milan), has now descended to the heirs of Belvedere, the Saluzzo of Corigliano. The city of Naples had, about the middle of the 17th cen- tury, in all essentials, the form and extent which Pedro de Toledo more than 100 years before had given to it. Only, the new parts were more closely built and inhabited. At the Carmine fortress, the most south-eastern point, began the wall of King Ferdinand already described. Taking in the gates of Karmel, of Nola, and of Capua, this wall encom- passed S. Giovanni a Carbonara in a northerly direction ; here it adjoined the bastions of Toledo, which, making a turn towards the west, with the gates S. Gennaro and Sta. Maria di Costantinopoli, near that which is now the square of the Holy Ghost (Mercatello), reached to the King's Gate at the upper end of the Toledo Street. This gate, long since become useless, like many others in our day, the Porta Alba, S. Gennaro-, Costantinopoli, and others, which stand in the middle of the town, was removed under the administration of King Ferdinand I., Bourbon, as the inscription in its place testifies. In the middle of the town also this upper part of the wall and bastions can be traced, if any one from the new barracks, already mentioned, near S. Giovanni a Carbo- nara, ascends the broad street of the Largo delle Pigne, the former ditch of the fortress, and descending the hill near the Bourbon Museum to the corn magazines, the Fosse del Grano, arrives at the Square of the Holy Ghost, the tasteless decoration of which is, with the crescent, a work of the pre- ceding century. Here it is said that the statue of Charles III. was intended to stand ; and a plaster cast was set up in 1759 ; but the tumults of the period hindered the execution of the intention, and, when at length the erection of a monument to the King, to whom more than to any other of its rulers, THE CABAFAS OF 3LVDDALOXI. Naples was indebted, was set about, the square before the King's castle was the spot selected for it. From the Porta Reale the wall ascends the steep hill, the Montesanto first. then the Carthusian house of St. Martin, and the Castle uf St. Elmo. One bye-gate only was opened, and that later, in this whole extent : it was called the Porta Pertugio, until the Duke of Medina, in the year 1640, gave it the form which it retains, together with the name of its founder, to this day. From the Castle the wall of Toledo now descends preci- pitously ; single points where the ground itself seems to offer protection are undefended, at others again there are fortifica- tions, even to the former Chiaja Gate, near the Square of Sta. Caterina, where the projecting paiace of the Prince of Cellamare stands upon a part of the walls and bastions, which are still very easily to be distinguished there, although the gate was miths, with which are connected those of the linen and woollen drapers, and of traders of all kinds, even to the fish and meat stalls, from the neigh- bourhood of which everybody in this climate, and in this circumscribed space, escapes with twofold speed. lint the most eminent work which Don Pedro has be- queathed to the city, over which lie ruled for one and twenty years, more as a sovereign than as a deputy, is the Church of San Giacomo, with its adjoining hospital and bank of the Spanish nation. Externally there is no longer anythin<_r to be seen, since the church was enclosed in the palace of the royal offices of state. Although the architecture of Giovanni da Nola and Fcrdinando Maiilio, marred as it is by the sur- rounding buildings, excites little interest in itself; yet, one beholds with so much the greater pleasure the imposing monument of the Viceroy, set up behind the high altar. With respect to style, it is not indeed tint purest, but, from its design, it is perhaps the noblest, work of Merliano. Upon the huge sarcophagus, at the four corners of which Skill, Justice, Moderation, and Power, keep watch together; the sides of it are ornamented with reliefs, representing the deeds of Toledo, and the enterprise against Otranto, and the victory over Chayreddin Barbarossa, as well as the entrance of Charles V. into Naples. Don Pedro and his second wife, Donna Vicenza Spinelli, are kneeling, the latter reading a book of devotion ; the imperial commander and minister holds the book in the one hand, the other rests upon the hilt of his sword, whilst he looks around with a resolute carriage and demeanour that well becomes a ruler so active and so commanding. With the time of Don Pedro de Toledo, that is, with the middle of the sixteenth century, ended the purer and more graceful epoch of art, for Italy in general, as well as for Naples. In the course of this narrative, architecture, with which we were chiefly concerned, has been especially COU.M- dered. Painting and sculpture can only be treated of in general outlines. As in the fourteenth century, the influence of Giotto was paramount, so in the fifteenth was that of the LO ZINGARO AND HIS SCHOOL. 275 Flemish school. As the great painting already spoken of, on the walls of the refectory of St. Chiara (the family of King Robert before the Madonna), has been ascribed by foreigners to Giotto, so the Neapolitans attribute to their Colantonio del Fiore, who flourished about the middle of the fifteenth cen- tury, the celebrated picture, without question belonging to the school of Van Eyck, of St. Jerome in his cell, which is to be seen in the Bourbon Museum. Even up to the present time the doubts about the origin and history of the beautiful Epi- phany, with the portraits of the King and his son Ferdinand, iu the chapel of the Castelnuovo, have not been cleared up ; and whilst some assume it to be a work of John Van Eyck, which has probably been restored by Zingaro, or the bro- thers Donzello, on which supposition the portraits have been painted in afterwards others, without any conclusive reason, ascribe it to the Neapolitan master first mentioned. By the blending together of the more ancient religious elements of the Trecento with the later naturalistic elements, was de- veloped the art of Zingaro, the most remarkable painter which Naples can point to before the Cinquecento. The history of the life and education of Antonio Solario is to this day a web of contradictions, and of unproved assertions. Whilst some call the Civita di Chieti, in the Abruzzi, his home, others remove him to Venice; and the legend makes him, like Quentin Metsys, to have been metamorphosed from a black- smith into a painter, out of love for the beautiful daughter of Colantonio del Fiore. The most remarkable productions which Naples possesses by him are the frescoes of the life of St. Benedict in the court-yard of the monastery of San Severino, exhibiting, in composition and grouping, a skill and freedom of touch, notwithstanding the great predominance of tradi- tional stiffness ; in the figures, a propriety and individuality ; in the subordinate parts of building and landscape, a richness of invention, a taste and an ability, which shine forth, even from the present atrocious over-painting ; and, when taken in con- junction with the exactness and skill of the mechanical part, and the, if not graceful, yet, firm and always well adapted form, bear the most favourable testimony to the mind and edu- cation of the artist. How the school of Zingaro formed itself is shown by the works of the already named painters, Pietro and Ippolito del Donzello, whose frescoes in the palace upon T 2 276 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. the Pojrgioreale, celebrated by the muse of Sannazzaro, have, it is true, perished, but whose great " Bearing of the ( in the monastery of Santa Maria la Nuova, vividly represents the Aragonese age. Simon Papa the elder has perhaps apr propriated to himself beyond any of his contemporaries the style of the Flemish school as regards form and colouring. Thus, towards the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Neapolitan school of painting could not withdraw itself from Peruginese-RafFaellian influences, and Andrea Sabbatino of Salerno was one of the most excellent of Sanzio's scholars. While he sought to approach the high degree of sweetness of his master, he preserved much that was characteristic, which enables us to judge of his able previous training, as well as of his intellectual self-dependence, while he strove to reconcile the national elements with the rules, now by the number of imitators become nearly stereotyped, of the new Umbrian- Roman art. With the scholars of Andrea, as with the whole over fruitful young scions of the Rafiaellian school, this com- bined tendency gradually produced insipidity ; and, during the remainder of the sixteenth century, the Neapolitan school of painting was so much the more disagreeable, because Marco di Pino of Sienna sought to force admittance for the Buonarotti taste, which ruined the mid-Italian schools of that age, the Florentine and the Roman, and with its lavishness of the means of producing effects, is so much the more repulsive from combining spiritless vacancy with weak colouring and careless rapidity of painting. In the century which succeeded this style, elements of a different kind developed themselves in Naples through a co-operation of favourable circumstances, and guided into new paths some, at all events considerable, minds, one of whom we shall presently have to consider. Already, in the account of the times of the Angevins, has the discourse turned upon the sculptors who decorated the churches with gigantic monuments and rich facades, more fertile in invention than correct in style, with a skill in ex- ecution which is more calculated to call to mind the me- chanical craft of the Lombardic sculptors, of the same stamp of intellect with them, the author of the Scaliger monument, of the Summons of St. Ambrose and Peter Martyr, and of Minilar works, than the more intellectual productions of the Florentines. We then sav/ the latter step forth in the GIOVANNI DA KOLA. 277 Naples of the Aragonese princes, with works both of sculpture and architecture, and point in a direction in which, with more or less success and talent, with greater or less self-dependence, the gifted sculptors, at the close of the fifteenth, and in the first half of the sixteenth century, followed. They were no longer the Gothic forms, at best only half understood, which exhibited little else than fantastic excrescences, in which there was no longer any trace of the fundamental principles of mediaeval art. It was also no slavish translation or echo of the antique. The older churches of the city, San Domenico, Santa Chiara, the cathedral, those of the Quattro- cento, as well as Monteoliveto, S. Giovanni a Carbonara, and others, contain, particularly amongst their monumental memorials, interesting works of the epoch and of the tendency here indicated. Agnolo Aniello Fiore, son, or nephew, of that Colantonio, who was father-in-law of the Zingaro, is one of the ablest masters of this period. By him is the beautiful monument in S. Domenico, which, as was already explained in an earlier section, probably encloses the bones of the first Count of Maddaloni ; by him is the memorial of Giovanni Cicciniello, in the chapel belonging to this family in Sau Lorenzo ; by him is the relievo in the chapel of the AfHitto, in Santa Maria la Nuova, St. Eustace in adoration before the Crucifix, which appears to him between the antlers of the stag. The author of one of the best of these works, the magnificent altar of Miraballo, in San Giovanni a Carbonara, is unknown. In these sculptures is foreshadowed (as Raphael was in Perugino) the master who is allowed to have raised the sculptor's art in Naples to the highest grade, which it has for the most part attained. The name of Giovanni da Nola must be repeated, for churches, palaces, squares, and streets preserve in abundant measure the memorials of his activity and also of his influence. Uniting the Tuscan and domestic elements of the Quattrocento with the yet more awakening study of the antique, Giovanni Merliano created for himself a style which assigns to him, as to Matteo Civitella of Lucca,' his elder by about thirty years, an independent, separate position in the history of art, whilst a whole active and fruitful school has found in him its origin and its starting point. Of a religious mind, in the midst of the sympathies of the antique ; full of 278 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. freedom in touch, but repudiating caprice ; with peculiar cha- racteristics, although, in conformity with the manners of the {inn-;, devoted to the use of allegory; at once powerful and tender; true in the expression of the affections; and equally removed from flatness and coldness as from affectation ami extravagance ; with a refined perception of the beautiful, which also, with the approach to elegance, does not forget simplicity ; a correct draughtsman ; retreating before no difficulty, but not seeking out difficulties from caprice or vain-glory ; indefatigably active and enterprising, as his num- berless achievements in Naples testify : such is Giovanni da Nola. By foreigners he is not known as he deserves to be, because the Neapolitan school, especially in foreign lands, is not sufficiently esteemed. With his great fertility it was impossible that all his single works should be of equal merit. Hut whoever considers the monuments of the three brothers, Giacomo, Ascanio, and Sigismonde, who perished by poison on one day of the year, and above all, the statues of the youths themselves who are sitting in varied attitudes, not in a conven- tional manner, but both suitably and naturally, upon their sar- cophagus, with a truth and genuine feeling of expression in their bearing and countenance which would tell their tragical story even without the inscription " VENENO MISERE OB AVA- RITIAM NECATI ;" whoever sees in Sta. Chiara the monument of Antonia Gandini, deceased when a bride in the bloom of her youth ; and that of the little boy, Andrea Bonifacio, in S. Severino, this, like the former, not adorned by the art only, but by the excellent verses of Antonio Epicuro and of Sa- nazzaro ; whoever, lastly, gives his attention to the number- less sculptures, to the altars, the fountains and other works, will not refuse this testimony lo Giovanni da Nola, that he was rich, fertile, and appropriate, no imitator of the ancients or of his contemporaries, the founder of a prolific school, to which Naples owes the majority of it* great works. The rival of Merliano, Girolamo Santa-Croce, made himself specially famous by the tomb of Sanazzaro, to which there has already been more than one allusion, and which certainly be- longs to the most considerable sculptures of the time, even though it should be reckoned inferior to the best of Da Nola's. Domenico d* Auria, Annibale Caccavello, Pietro Parata. and other individuals more or less gifted, sought to hold fast the ARCHITECTURAL CHANGES IN NAPLES. 279 principles of this school, which, even when it became insipid, preserved a certain grace and fascination of form, as well as a richness of ornament, with which it joined an indus- trious finishing of the whole. Its latest result brings us to the close of the sixteenth century, when other elements ob- tained the upper hand which will soon offer matter for con- sideration. He who would form to himself a notion of the truly astonishing activity of the Neapolitan school of sculp- ture in this century would learn to estimate the wealthy if not always well adapted means, and, at the same time, would measure the splendour and love of enterprise of the nobility, must visit the churches which were especially filled with altars and monuments, San Domenico Maggiore, in an especial man- ner the Pantheon of Naples ; the chapel of the Caraccioli Rossi in S. Giovanni a Carbonara, where the best artists of the first half of the Cinquecento vied with one another ; San Se- verino with its many monuments ; Monte Oliveto, where the sixteenth, strives to snatch away the palm from the preceding, century ; Sta. Maria la Nuova, and in it, before all, the chapel of the great Gonsalvo, perhaps the most beautiful, at all events the most extensive in size, in the city, possessing the tomb of the Marshal of Lautrec, which Gonsalvo's grandson, Fernando, Duke of Sessa, erected, QUAMVIS HOSTIS, to the unfortunate, but brave, general, GALLO DUCI HISPANUS PRINCEPS, next to the monument of Pedro of Navarre, who, a Biscayan, went over to the standard of France^and, nevertheless, was honoured by his countryman and adversary, QUUM HOC IN SE HABEAT FR^ECLARA VIRTUS UT VEL IN HOSTE SIT ADMIRABILIS. Even had, as has been said, the extent of Naples, taking the town itself, remained to the middle of the seventeenth century essentially the same as after the enlargement by Don Pedro de Toledo, many changes must, nevertheless, have taken place in more than a hundred years. The street of Montoliveto, one of the most considerable of the inner town, and adorned with many palaces of the most illustrious families (for this district, from S. Domenico to the Strada Toledo, was then the centre of the life of the higher orders), was built under the elder Duke of Alcala, towards the close of the sixteenth cen- tury. A hundred years afterwards it received the fountain with the bronze statue of Charles II., bereft by a nocturnal depredation of the sword and dagger, just as if it was intended 280 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXL to say that these were useless to the weak rulers of Spain and Sicily. Churches upon churches had arisen, gorgeous for the most part, and not without a certain grandeur, with a super- abundance of pictures, works of marble, statues of bronze and reliefs, but void of intellect and in a style of art less and less refreshing, the facades also, if not, as in Florence, unfinished, nearly all exteriorly insignificant. The great church of the Gesu Nuovo, begun, as has already been stated, in the last times of the sixteenth century, upon the site of the palace of the Sanseverini, that of the Gerolamini, which is only a little more recent, Sta. Maria la Nuova, entirely rebuilt at the same time, and others, besides, bear the most complete testimony to the then prevailing taste. This corruption of taste was not, however, confined to the south of Italy ; Rome and Florence, Milan and Venice were scarcely better in this respect. The artists of the seventeenth century had in some measure magni- ficent means at their command, yet, even where it is impossible to refuse them admiration, a real delight can seldom be pro- duced by their achievements. They are characteristic as they are a lively expression of their age. This age, however, is, with few exceptions, that of errors. It is all connected toge- ther : Life, Literature, and Art. The taste for the florid me- taphor and bombastic poetry of Giovan Batista Marini, went hand in hand with the relish for the unnatural attitudes, and the wreaths of drapery of Michel Angelo Naccarino. From the simpler beauty of form and the propriety of the figures and compositions of Merliano, 'sculpture had passed on, first to the excess of the Graces, so-called, and of the merely orna- mental among its pupils, then to the meretricious character, the confused masses, the exaggeration in the structure of the limbs, and particularly of the extremities, the predominance of the mechanical part, and the desire for the conquest of ma- terial difficulties, which are to be found with his successors, who carry us from Naccarino to Fansaga, and so to the middle of the seventeenth century, when it was believed that the masterstroke consisted in avoiding straight lines in architec- ture, and the natural form in sculpture. One cannot leave unheeded these artists; nearly all of them possessed talent, they represented the spirit of the age more than words and writings, and what they could accomplish in a technical manner is proved by the bronze-works of Naccarino, the most ENLARGEMENT OF SUBURBS. 281 excellent of which are the statue of St. Matthew, in the cathe- dral of A main, arid that of St. Andrew, in the crypt of Robert Guiscard's cathedral at Salerno, which, even in respect of their style, have no little value. If any man takes a general view of the seventeenth century in respect to art, especially to sculp- ture and architecture, he can find no fitter comparison for art- ists and the public than that of great children. Art, which to the preceding centuries was an object of cultivation, was to them a plaything. They longed only for an enchantment of the senses, splendour, and luxury, they understood only the exterior : they desired coquetry instead of grace, display in- stead of dignity, the horrible instead of the earnest; they broke out into flourishes in everything, in poetry, in sculpture, in familiar and domestic life. The more gilding and facets, the more ringlets and knots, the more parade and fanfaronade the better. One thing must be taken with another if we would avoid passing a false judgment on this singular style and execution, which again in this day finds many followers. Whilst the circuit of the walls of Naples remained the same, suburbs had advanced beyond it on more sides than one. On the north side, towards Capodimonte, and close by the foot of the hill, monasteries and other buildings had arisen, all be- longing to the end of the sixteenth, and the beginning of the following, century ; the monastery of the barefooted Carmelites of Sta. Theresa, that of the barefooted Augustines, that of the Mission of S. Francesco di Paola, and of others not worth recording. Upon the height beyond the broad ditch of the town, where the garden of Alphonso II. formerly existed, with its distant prospect, the first Duke of Ossuna, in 1586, built a riding- school and stables ; there, thirty years afterwards the second Count of Lemos established a university, a more in- convenient place for which could nowhere have been found. There was therefore no lack of jests and complaints at the banish- ment of study outside the town ; as little as there was in our days in another place and another country. In the course of the year this building once more more changed its destination : enlarged and new built in various ways, it became a Museum competing with the Vatican and the Louvre, which must in more than one respect yield it the palm. On the Borgo de' Vergini, a name which is to be traced to the old conventual community of the Eunostidae, dwelt many of the most illus- 282 THE CARAFAS OF MADDA1/.XI. trious families, attracted thither by the purity of the air, as well as by the combined advantages of town ami country. Nut-walks covered the slope of the hill, where Charles IIl.'s colossal almshouse raises itself; the greatest hospital was then near the church of S. Gennaro, which was on that account called de' poveri, and at one time extra moenia, to mark its situation. It is worthy of notice from its architecture, but more famous on account of the thousand-years' old catacombs, the steps of which penetrate the tufa masses of these heights, an inexhaustible subject for the investigations of archaeologists, whether their object be Christian or profane learning. Near this northern Borgo, that by the 8. Giovanni a Carbonara, and outside the Capuan gate, extended itself eastward, of which there is nothing historical or artistic to be told. Towards the bridge of the Magdalene, outside the gate near the Cannine bastion, the dwellings of fishermen and husbandmen were by degrees collected along the strand. It is not difficult to form a notion of the condition of Naples as it was two hundred years ago, if any one strolls through the older streets of the town, and calls to hLs aid the numerous records and relations of contemporaries. The streets, with few exceptions, were narrow, dark, ill-paved with tiles, dirty, and damp. It was about one hundred and fifty years after the time here described before the names of the streets were marked at the corners, and the houses numbered. Street-lighting was considered a luxury in many Italian towns, even to the end of the preceding century ; whence was derived the custom of ordering in times of disorder a general display of lights at the windows, as was the case during Masaniello's rebellion. A custom which even at this day, in another case, the exhibition of lamps and lights calls to mind, when in the night the little bell of the sacristan announces the approach of the priests who an- bringing the holy viaticum to a dying person. The dwellings of the people were wretched and unhealthy be- yond measure. Many quarters were the constant refuge of infectious diseases, which, from 1494, again and again broke out, and readied their climax in the fearful plague of the year 1656, which exacted from the city alone 350,000 victims, and of which one is still reminded by the statues and busts of St. Cajetan of Tiene, set up over the gates under the admini- stration of the Count of Castrillo, as also by the frescoes of PALACES, ETC. HOTEL RAMBOUILLET. 283 the Cavaliere Calabrese, now in part destroyed. The houses of the middle class, Avhich by degrees had obtained more im- portance, were yet in some instances, as is the case even now, wholly uninhabitable ; in others, particularly in those of the numerous people who had newly acquired wealth, they vied in expense with the nobility. The palaces of this aristocracy were numerous, for almost all the feudal families spent the greater part of the year in the town, here and there they were built in a commendable style, but on the average they were nothing less than distinguished in an artistic point of view. What they want in the latter respect they make up by the splendour of the interior, which was more peculiar to the seventeenth century than to any other age, The modern style of palace, in so far as domestic arrangement is to be considered, is essentially of Italian origin, and belongs espe- cially to the fifteenth century. The earlier period of the middle ages built for the most part aloft, and instead of houses raised up towers, into which there was great difficulty in clambering by the narrowest steps and a winding staircase. The palaces of Florence, unsurpassed in style, which, notwith- standing many deficiencies and discomforts, as in the ever steep staircases, yet, in the interior display a great progress ; those of the Medici, Eucellai, Gondi, Pitti, Strozzi, all arose in the century just named. They furnished the rule, more than the Venetians, with whom special local conditions came into consideration. They were not patterns for Italy alone, namely, for Naples, where, as has been already ex- plained, Florentine influence preponderated in architecture, but also for foreign countries, and, first in order, for France. How Italian art was made available in the Kenaissance, draw- ing advantage from national elements, and amalgamating them with itself, the buildings f the most elegant and graceful epoch of architecture in France bring to light, from Jacques Coeur's house at Bourges to the castle of the Cardinal d'Amboise, at Gaillon, the splendid buildings of Francis I., and the castle of Diane de Poitiers, at Anet, in which it is usual only too readily to overlook the native principle, and too liberally to attribute to foreign influence the beauty which has grown in French soil.* Nevertheless, for appropriate residences for towns, Italy * Leon de Laborde, La Renaissance des Arts a la cour de France. Paris, 1850. Vol. i. p. xxxviii. 284 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL furnishes the pattern. The hotel Rambouillet was not only famous in a literary aspect, but also remarkable for the cir- cumstance that it produced a better taste and greater conveni- ence in the entrance into houses. Not until this precedent was the floor raised, were lofty and wide doors and windows made, which opened in their whole height and were symmetrically cut ; not before this pattern was the staircase so arranged that a connected suite of apartments was obtained, whilst up to that time no one had known how to build in any other way than a large room on the right, a small one on t lie left, doors and staircases in the middle. Catherine de Vivonne, Mar- quise de Rambouillet, who, in the first half of the seventeenth century built this house, which was not without influence upon the palace of the Luxembourg, was the daughter of a Roman mother, Giulia Savelli; and at that time Rome already possessed many of its palaces which, in respect of noble beauty, are not surpassed at this day.* The luxury of the interior arrangement of the Neapolitan palaces is described by many contemporaries as excessive; but, we must be careful about taking too literally such descriptions, and especially the statements as to the love of splendour of past times. Our standard will very possibly prove a false one. The fashion of making furniture of mosaic in wood (tarsia) had come from Florence to Naples under the kings of the Ara- gonese race. A high pitch of perfection in labours of this kind had been reached in Tuscany in the fifteenth century ; and besides those who made the art their means of livelihood, there were also the monastic clergy who employed themselves in it, representing on a flat surface figures and groups, a.s well as flowers and ornaments, and even landscapes and buildings in woods of various colours, which were at the same time also interspersed alternately with ivory and other substances. After that the churches, chiefly the stalls and the sacristy chests (on which the tarsia by degrees supplanted the earlier custom of decoration by painting, which was in use in the age of Giotto, and even in that of Fiesole), had been thus ornamented, came the turn of the palaces. The Duke of Calabria, after- wards Alphouso II., had the furniture for his study made in tarsia by Benedetto da Majano, after that the latter had * Historiettes dc Tallcmant des Reaux. Vol. iii. p. 233. Due de Noailles, Histoire de Madame de Maintcnon. Paris, 1848. Vol. i. p. 87. DECORATION OF CHURCHES. 285 supplied chests of the same sort for Alphonso's brother-in-law, King Matthias Corvinus, which, unfortunately for him, suffered from damp at sea.* In later times the costliness of the materials was the chief thing looked to. Numerous works of art filled the palaces ; pictures, as well as sculptures both in marble and bronze ; splendid carpets of velvet and silken stuffs, inwoven with gold, or of a richly figured texture which bore the ancient name of Arazzi ; lofty Venetian mir- rors, with elegantly cut glass ; costly vessels, some of the precious metals, with enamel and chasing of which so many and such wonderful specimens have remained to us, others of porcelain from the distant East, and of skilfully wrought rock-crystal, which was much sought after. Silver and gilt ware was used in abundance for tables ; and the furniture was principally gilt, and of heavy and richly-ornamented forms. A curious order by the Duke of Ossuna, of the year 1618, prohibiting, under pain of the gallies, the employment of gilders in private nouses until the completion of a certain galleon then in course of construction, shows how great was the demand for gilders.f The returns of the works of art and household furniture burnt, or otherwise destroyed, during the rebellion of Masaniello of itself puts us in possession of the fact of the gorgeousness of the Neapolitan palaces. With this splendour of private residences the churches at least kept pace, if they did not even surpass it. The eager- ness not only to endow churches and monasteries richly with lands, but also to ornament them extravagantly, rapidly in- creased, especially towards the end of the sixteenth century, and reached its climax in the second half of the following century ; and this decoration no longer by preference applied to the beautiful works of art, but, as was the case in the dwelling-houses, to the costliness of the materials. It is a circumstance worthy of remark that this eagerness augmented more and more in times when the public misery was dreadful, in times when the people were turbulent, because they had no bread. Only five years before Masaniello's insurrection, 200,000 ducats were expended upon the altar of the Annun- ziata, a work of Cosimo Fansaga, who was more extravagant in execution than ingenious in invention, a work which was * Yasari, Life of Benedetto da Majano. t Zazzera, Governo del Duca d' Ossuna, at Palermo, &c. P. r>34. 280 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. consumed in the flames a century later. The pix belonging to the Theatine church executed at this period was the most costly in the whole city, as well from the value of its precious stones, as from the excellence of its workmanship.* The treasure of St. Januarius was, just at that time, enriched by many of its rarest articles, whilst about a million of ducats were disbursed for the chapel of the patron saint. Yet these presents increased in one of the epochs immediately following that just described, namely, after the great plague by which ao many families were bereft of their members. The Vice- roy, Count of Penueranda, beyond all others, confirmed this propensity, by encouragement and by his own example a propensity which the Neapolitan people were, never- theless, unable to bring into better repute with foreign na- tions. They were used to stealing, as it is said of them, from their cradle, and left to the church at their death a portion of that of which they had robbed her in their lifetime. Two buildings in Naples give us a complete picture of art in the first half of the seventeenth century. Those in which it has striven to do its best are, the Carthusian church of St. Martin, near the fortress of St. Elmo, of which notice has already been taken, amongst the buildings of the Angevin period ; and the chapel of the cathedral, which is named after the treasure of St. Januarius. When any one enters the church of St. Martin, he is justly struck with astonishment at its gorgeousness a gorgeousness which will only be found equalled in La Certosa, at Pavia, and here and therein the buildings of the seventeenth century in Palermo. That which single chapels in Rome exhibit, and not in so great a degree, is here shown by a whole large monastic church. All the walls are covered with the most skilful marble mosaic ; all the altars shine forth with the richest labour in precious stones, amongst which are seen the agate, jasper, lapislazuli, and the choicest amethysts. All the balustrades of the chapel are of the most beautiful marble, and of different kinds of porphyry ; everywhere are rosettes, leaves, and ornaments in mezzo-relievo, the execution as excel- lent as the material is costly, in short, a richness which even one used to richness only contemplates with astonishment. Had the taste equalled the expense few things could have * Dispatches of the Tuscan Agent, in the year 1642, at Palermo, &c, P. 324. NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING. 287 stood beside it. But it was just the seventeenth century which achieved this work, and from it it will be evident that the spirit of enterprise, perseverance, richness of invention, and a power of wielding great material resources, which can- not be denied to the artists of that period, can, nevertheless, not make up for the want of a more refined feeling and a purer taste. The less rigid was the adherence to the rules of art, the less can the errors of the epoch indicated be palliated. And yet how much talent shines forth in many of these works ! The man who built this chapel gave the tone to Naples. Cosimo Fansaga di Bergamo was a scholar of the elder Bernini, and studied chiefly in Naples. He possessed much architectural capacity, but a propensity for that which is uncommon, and a delight in extravagances corrupted him ; and the nonsensical pyramids with which he endowed the city (those before St. Gennaro, and particularly those before the Domenican church, which served as a model for the later ones before the Jesuit church) strikingly resemble the ornamental pastry-work of the confectioner. These pyramids are an indi- cation of the tendency of the age, the faults of which are indeed carried to a climax of extravagance in them. In other points there is improvement, and much respect is due to the imagination, boldness, solidity, and grandeur. The sweeping and ignorant condemnation of the age of periwigs, as the period of Bernini and Boromini to the middle of the preceding cen- tury is styled, is for the most part at an end. Cosimo Fansaga had also a hand in the chapel of the patron saint of Naples. By him is the rich facade which separates it from the side aisle of the church ; but the design for the chapel itself belongs to the Theatine Francesco Grimaldi, of Oppido. It is no original style of architecture, but one throughout proper and well conceived. Like Rome's most beautiful buildings of this kind, the chapels of Sixtus V., and of Paul V. in Santa Maria Maggiore, and of the Corsinischen in the Lateran, it is in the form of a Greek cross, with a large cupola. This last part is said to have received mosaic decorations after the patterns of St. Peter's cathedral, but was finished al fresco. On the altars are the handsomest pillars of that Spanish marble which goes by the name Brocatello ; the brazen lattice-work alone, in exquisite taste and finely wrought, occasioned an outlay of more than 32,000 ducats. A very host of statues in bronze 288 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. and marble, both allegorical and representing saints ; every- where porphyry, lapislazuli, gilt brass, huge candlesticks of silver, exclusive of the peculiar treasure which is preserved in the adjoining room of the chapel, and which the piety of the rulers and of the mighty has increased even to this day. This was just the period in which the art of painting at Naples entered upon a phase which, independently of its fer- tility, must be designated as most peculiar to, and characteristic of, itself. This tendency arose principally out of the contra- dictions of two schools in opposition to each other ; and if an explanation of the power which it carries with it is partly to be found in its origin, so is it by no means without its de- pendance on local elements. These elements are in some measure national, in some measure are they the necessary result of Spanish influence, that is, of that of the school of Seville. The contention amongst the schools into which the Italian art of painting was split at the beginning of the seven- teenth century, between the Roman Mannerists, Bolognese Eclectics, and the Naturalists, was nearly fought out with swords by the Cavaliere d'Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari), by Annibal Carracci, and Michael Angelo da Caravaggio. It is explanatory of the times and persons, that D'Arpino did not accept the challenge of Caravaggio, because he was a knight and the other not (the other also afterwards became a knight), whilst Carracci declared that the brush was his sword. In Naples, however, the contest became in a certain degree a personal matter. The architectural committee of the chapel of St. Januarius had resolved to have the frescoes for it executed by Cesari, who had recommended himself by his finished paintings on the wall of the sacristy of the Carthusian monastery. The agree- ment was made through the medium of tn9 Spanish Envoy at Rome in the year 1617. Materials and money in advance, objects and figures decided on, were sent to the painter, a multitude of stipulations made, and arbitrators for fixing the price appointed. But the Chevalier d'Arpino had a fear of Naples, where the native painters had already made war upou him to such a degree, that he had fled away to Monte Cassino. So prevailing was the dread, that he preferred giving up the glorious commission to resolving upon his return. In October, 1619, the committee struck a new bargain with JEALOUSIES AMONG ITALIAN PAINTERS. 289 Guido Reni. It is not without interest to consider such a contract. Everything was laid down before hand, not only the subject, but also the arrangement. It was a great thing that they did not prescribe to the painter the attitudes ; but this was to be giusto il parere del medesimo, that is, was en- trusted to his discretion. Here he had angels to paint, " with such sacred symbols or ecclesiastical attributes, as express the episcopal dignity of the saint ;" then the cardinal virtues, " always two-and-two, with some angels, according to his liking." For each figure as large as life he was to receive 130 ducats; for every one larger or smaller always in propor- tion (with Domenichino the price of the mezza figura was after- wards settled at 50 Roman scudi) ; regard was to be had to loss by remittance of exchange. According to a further sti- pulation, a complete domestic arrangement was to be made for the painter, as, for instance, the sum of 450 ducats 66 grains was paid for silver spoons and forks, for table and bed furniture, and so forth. Guido Reni at last arrived, in the year 1621, and the task was to be begun. But instead of that it began the intrigues of the Neapolitan painters. The history of Italian artists can furnish some isolated cases of tragedy. The murder of Domenico Veneziano, by Andrea del Castagno ; that of Guido's pupil, Elisabetta Sirani ; and of Masimo Stanzioni's pupil, Anna di Rosa, with other traits of passion and iniquity, are sufficiently known. All this, however, cannot be compared with the actions of a whole society of artists during many years, which cast a melancholy light upon the moral condition of that period. Belisario Cor- renzio, by birth a Greek, but long since settled in Naples, after that he had in his youth visited the school of Titian, could not bear that a foreigner should be called upon to execute a work of such importance, that it must render famous the name of any artist. He hired the dagger of a bravo, Gian Domenico, of Capua, to destroy Guido and his colleague. The latter indeed was murdered. The assassin came to the gallies ; Belisario lay a long while in prison, but was afterwards released on bail. Guido had had enough of the affair, and returned forthwith to Rome. In vain the committee sought to come to fresh terms with Giuseppe Cesari ; nothing could induce him to return to Naples. So then the task was committed to two native artists, Fabrizio u 290 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Santafede and Gian Batista Caracciolo ; and with lla^v \\as joined the Bolognese Francesco Gessi. But not much was to be looked for from these second-rate painters. Their fraMoes met with no approbation ; and the poor tormented committee of architecture issued a notice: that any painter, Neapolitan or foreigner, might undertake the task, only on tin- \nn -> condition that he was not to receive anything for his labour, his colours, or other outlay, if his painting was not approved of. Belisario Correnzio, full of haughtiness and self-conc"eit, ima- gined himself at the summit of his wishes. In conjunction with Simon Papa, the younger of this name, he offered his services to the committee. They painted one of the pendentives of the cupola, but neither did their performance fulfil the expec- tations which lad been formal. Thirteen years had elapsed since the transactions with the Cavaliere d'Arpino ; much money had been spent, and nothing was achieved. It was then, at the beginning of 1630, resolved to summon Doineni- chino. The news was scarcely rumoured through the city, when he was warned by an anonymous letter, that if he ac- cepted the commission, it should fare worse with him than with his countryman Guido. The intervention of the Cardinals Buoncompagno and Caetani, of the Viceroy the Duke of Alba, and of Count Monterey, the then Spanish Envoy at Rome, was necessary to prevail on Domenico Zampieri to undertake the task. He insisted on particular guarantees on the part of the government. If these protected him from assassination, they did not preserve him from those everlasting persecutions and vexations, which had so much the more effect upon him, in that he was already by nature shy and anxious. He began the work in the year 1631 ; but the years which he passed in Na- ples were not happy ones. There was on all sides nothing but blame and ill will : with one he was too cold, with another too slow ; this person said he stole his thoughts from other people, that person said he had no execution. To prove the latter, they spoilt his chalk and colours. When Correnzio was weak from age, and Caracciolo dead, Giuseppe Ilibera and Giuseppe Lanfranco of Parma continued the war of malice against Domenichino ; they even accused him of overfilling his pictures with figures, because he was paid by the piece and by the head. They made it so irksome at last, that poor Zam- pieri, accompanied by a servant, ran away on foot, took horse THE NATUKALISTIC SCHOOL. 291 at the second post, and reached Rome, whilst the Viceroy shut up his wife and daughter, in order to force him to return. Once again were the Cardinals obliged to mediate, but he did not return for a year. Domestic misunderstandings arose in addition ; and Domenichino died, aged sixty, in the spring of 1641. There was talk of poison, but affliction probably killed him.* Four of the altars of the chapel have paintings on copper plates by him ; as also to him belong the frescoes of the lunettes, of the pendentives and vaultings. Meritorious as they are, they are yet inferior to his works at Rome, and Grottaferrata ; to the wonderful frescoes of the life of St. Cecilia ; to the Evangelists in St. Andrea della Valle ; to the healing of the possessed. Other painters, amongst them Ribera and Stanzioni, painted the pictures of the remaining altars ; Giovanni Lanfranco the cupola, with the richness and multiplicity of figures and groups, but at the same time with the thoughtless and soul-less conception, and with the mannerist facility, which makes most of his performances uninteresting and disagreeable. The paintings in the chapel cost upwards of 34,000 ducats. This history of the chapel of the Treasure has brought before us the names of the more considerable painters who lived in Naples in the first half of the seventeenth century ; but it is necessary to contemplate them in their struggles and in their character, from a nearer point of view. The Naturalistic school here gained a decisive victory, not, however, until it had incorporated with itself other elements from other schools. Michael Angelo Caravaggio had worked in Naples personally. He effected, however, infinitely more by his example. The whole importance of this man is apparent when the feeble style of the Roman painting of that time the time of Gregory XIII., of Sixtus V., of Clement VIII. is considered, the conventional drawing, and dull as well as false colouring of these last offsets of the Raffaellesque and the Michael-Angelesque, which are scarcely worth looking at. Michael Angelo da Cara- vaggio is wanting in refinement of feeling, and also in mode- ration, but he thoroughly understood nature, colouring, and effect. The Neapolitan school was, as it were, re-animated by * Account of the Chapel of St. Januarius, from the Archivio del Tesoro, in M. A. Gualandi's Memorie risguardante le Belle Arti. Bologna, 1844. VoL v. (Bologna, 1844) p. 128. u 2 292 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. him. It was not, perhaps, either a hidden life or one of de- monstration. It arose in all its vigour : it M-as powerful and unattractive like the time ; like tliat, gloomy and desolate. \\ nit little eesthetical sentiment, but with effective truth. It was more dreadful than demoniacal, with that predilection for that which was horrible and bloody, which is chiefly to be ascribed to Spanish influence, inasmuch as it is more in accordance \vitli the hard and melancholy nature of the Spaniard, and with liis extravagant love of painful subjects, than with the character of the Neapolitan, passionate but unstable, excitable to mad- ness, but, with all his want of discipline, thoroughly good- hearted. The school of Caravaggio was here, as has been said, tempered with other elements. Amidst numerous shades of distinction, the principal tone cannot be mistaken ; and its influence, moreover, makes itself felt with those who, in their whole culture, belong to another school, and assume an in- dependent position. This was the case with Belisario Cor- renzio, who, in colouring and design, formed himself after the Venetians, and especially after Tintoretto, and, like him, a rapid painter, did not shrink from the most gigantic under- takings. His works, that is, his frescoes, are everywhere to be met with, and they would be met with still oftener had his ap- petite for labour been always satisfied. His productions are to be seen in the Gesu Nuovo, in San Martino, and many other churches, in the royal palaces, and in other places. Among the most beautiful is accounted the cieling of the chapter-room of S. Severino, now the Registry of the Archives of the Nota- ries, where he creates astonishment by grace and carefulness, as also by intellectual beauty, qualities which are often missed in his labours, more remarkable for grandeur of plan and ani- mated grouping, than for the correctness and expression of the figures. He closed his life in a violent manner, at more than eighty years of age, by falling from a scaffold in S. Severino, when he was retouching the pictures in the cieling, which he had completed many years previously ; after he had lived nearly half a century in Naples, full of envy and discontent ; had quarrelled with almost all his contemporaries; and, in union with two other painters, had exercised a despotism which liad even plunged him in a public crime. Giuseppe Ribera, surnamed Lo Spagnoletto, and Giovan Batista Caracciolo, were the two masters who, although LO SPAGNOLETTO. 293 differing much from one another, chiefly assisted in the propa- gation of principles allied to the Caravaggiesque. Ribera, not an Italian by birth, although indeed one by his activity, softened in some degree the gloomy harshness of his pattern by Correggesque elements, without however perceptibly weak- ening his intrinsic nature. In the art of that effect, which rests upon something more than mere contrast, in the cha- racteristics full of significance, in the conjuring forth of the reliefs, he is equal to Caravaggio ; but, whilst of the latter it was said that his material was human flesh painted, the colours of Ribera's palate became richer as his conception showed greater nobleness. Whoever wishes to take a view of the differ- ence between the two, let him compare Caravaggio's celebrated " Laying in the grave of Christ," in the Vatican collection, awfullv true and striking in its literal apprehension of the commonest human nature, with Spagnoletto's " Taking down from the Cross " in the chapel of the Tesoro S. Martino. A better picture he never painted, and it is a speaking proof of the perfection of which this style is capable. Colour, light, drawing, vie one with the other ; and the attitude of the body of the Saviour, laid upon a linen cloth, is in its rare art both difficult and natural ; the modelling is perfect. The position and bearing of the byestanders are thoroughly suitable and speaking, whether their grief expresses itself passionately or calmly. The churches and collections at Naples are full of the works of Spagnoletto, who, better than any one, understood how to avail himself of favourable circumstances, and to make himself a good position to outward appearance, after that, by the favour of the Duke of Ossuna, he had been drawn forth from the ob- scurity of his youthful years. He became court painter to the Viceroy, and arbitrator in matters of art. He lived en grand seigneur, and with Spanish grandeur : he kept carriages and liveried servants ; his wife had her cavaliers, who attended her when she went out ; he had a gentleman to hand him his painting brush, and, when he had painted for a certain number of hours, three in the forenoon, two in the afternoon, to say, ' ; Signor Cavaliere, you have worked enough, recreate yourself by a walk." In the evening he was wont to see people at his house : he lived in a beautiful house, which Luca Giordano afterwards occupied. He was not large, but had a good car- riage and much dignity in his behaviour, even towards the 204 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. most illustrious. His pride was mingled with natural cheer- fulness, and he loved jests and joke-, but was too easily san-a^ti'- and passionate. Hi< wife, Leonora Cortes, was beautiful and full of intellect, but withal immoderately addicted to display and pleasures. Of her five children the eldest daughter, Maria liosa, was of rare beauty ; this beauty, however, brought dis- honour and ruin upon the family. When during the disturb- ances which are called after Masaniello, King Philip's son, Don Juan, came to Naples, and as a young man loving plea- sure, was anxious to know the town and people as much as circumstances would permit, Giuseppe Ribera also sought to pay his court to him. He invited him to his house to attend a musical representation, because Don Juan was usually pleased with such invitations. In this way the king's son became acquainted with the painter's daughter, and an intercourse en- sued between them, which ended in the damsel following her seducer into the palace, and, afterwards, to Palermo. The proud artist, thus wounded in his honour, cursed himself and his vanity, which had brought him to this pass. He forsook his house, and withdrew to Posilippo, went out no more, and would see no one. But quarrels with his wife, and mutual recrimination made even this retirement a hell. He dis- appeared one day, accompanied by a single servant. What became of him is not known. Spanish historians make him die poor and unknown in Naples, after a year's wandering up and down. The historians of Neapolitan art know nothing of his end.* He was not more than fifty-six years of age when he disappeared ; the guilty daughter died young, of a broken heart. Tradition relates of Spagnoletto that horrible story of the youth nailed to the cross, that he might serve as a model for the dying Saviour ; a story which has been diversely put, first upon one artist and then on another, even on Buo- narotti and on Rubens, and has been so beautifully treated by a German poet of our day. It is a mere fable, and thoroughly without any foundation in fact. The psychological founda- tion, however, will be evident to any one who has reflected upon Giuseppe Ribera's barbarous pleasure in the most horrible scenes of martyrdom (a singular taste, from which even a mind so classically nurtured as that of Nicholas !' * De Dominid. &c. Vol. iii. p. 139. LATER NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. 295 was not exempt), on his violent contrasts, his passionate ex- pressions, and gloomy colouring, and has heard of the wild strife and bloody enmities, the malicious snares and low crimes, which would render the history of Neapolitan art of that time a tragedy, if the commonness of these practices did not overpower the tragic part in them. There is much less decision and unity of purpose in Giovan Batista Caracciolo, and therefore much less power and effect than in Spagnoletto. He laboured to reconcile the principles of the Bolognese school, to which he peculiarly belonged, with that of the Naturalists, an attempt which, in spite of his unde- niable abilities, he succeeded in less than did his pupil Masimo Stazzioni, one of the most gifted of the masters of that period. Elements which appear hardly, or rather not at all, compatible with each other, are blended together harmoniously by him ; and if it were not that such an endeavour easily leads to insipidness (from which even Stazzioni's later works suffer), we could not but praise that style which has succeeded in uniting the truth, the striking character, and the powerful effect of the Natu- ralists with the finer forms and the nobler expression of the Eclectics. First one and then the other tendency prevailed among the later Neapolitan painters. So far as they come within the bounds of the present history, that is until about the middle of the seventeenth century, they are, with all their indi- vidual peculiarities, only the minutely shaded productions of the aforesaid schools in their more or less successful assimilation. All the foreign painters who worked in Naples left behind them there some impression of themselves. Excepting Spagno- letto, Salvator Rosa, and a few others, most of the Neapolitans were practised fresco painters, and thus, like the Bolognese, the Correggesque, and the school of Pietro da Cortona, fell in with the wants of the age for the pictorial decoration of large spaces, were they churches, palaces, or halls. The seventeenth century has in this respect nearly outdone the preceding one if we look only to bulk and magnificence ; and the last considerable painter of Naples, Luca Giordano, has shown, especially in his wonderful paintings in the cieling of the gallery of the Medicean-Riccardish palace at Florence, how far, apart from a want of style, ease in composition and bril- liant colouring in this sort of painting, approaching to deco- ration, can be 1 carried. One of the few who remained a stranger to the art of fresco painting was Andrea Vaccaro, who, placed 296 THE CARAFAS OF HADDALONI. between Caracciolo and Stanzioni, and the founder of a school much sought after, weakened yet more the character for which these artists were still distinguished. It is now almost time to part from the Neapolitan artists. The adventurous life and wild pursuits, of which mention has already been made, lasted even beyond those times of hostile rivalry, and seemed to be an inheritance of the school. How the battle-painter, Aniello Falcone and his pupils, Salvator Rosa among them, exercised their profes- sion during Masaniello's insurrection, will be told in the next section. Even if the truth alone be told, Sal valor's life is a romance. The artists of those days seized their swords as readily as their brushes ; they did not wish to be styled Cava- lieri to no purpose. The fashion of making them knights had arisen especially since the middle of the sixteenth century, and also with the period of the prevalence of Spanish customs and of the Spanish " Sossiego." Baccio Bandinelli, the grandson of a collier in a Tuscan village, became a knight of St. Jago ; Michael Angelo Buonarotti, descended from an ancient and illustrious race, disdained outward distinction. The Pope made numberless cavalieri, partly of the Militia Aurata, partly of the Order of Christ, which in Portugal had taken the place of the suppressed Order of Templars. It was not until later that the French kings converted to this purpose the Order of St. Michael, which, until the time of King Henry III., had been the highest mark of honour in France. The Maltese Cross was seldom bestowed in this manner, yet, Michael Angelo da Caravaggio obtained it, notwithstanding his dissolute life, of which his style is a true picture, from the Grand Ma.-u-r Alof de Vignacourt, for his picture of the " Beheading of the Baptist," in the principal church at La Valette. Mattia Preti also, surnamed II Cavalier Calabrese. with whom this group of Neapolitan painters will conclude, belonged to the Order of Hospitallers, and his life also abounded in ever-changing circumstances. He was born at Taverna in Calabria, and sprang, it is said, from an ancient family. No original mind, he took upon himself just what attracted him, so that he grafted upon Guercino (after whom he chiefly formed himself) the reminiscences of Rubens and of the French style, which he had brought home with him from his travels. He had already, at the intercession of Pope Urban VIII., received the cross of the Order from the Grand Master, FRA MATTIA PRETI. 297 Paul de Lascaris, when, in a contest with a fencing master who had been the instructor of the Archduke Leopold, he so roughly handled his adversary, that the Imperial Envoy in Rome not only lodged complaints against him, but also sought to get him into his hands, so that Fra Mattia was with all speed obliged to ship himself off to Malta. At Malta an associate told him in derision that painters should busy them- selves with their paint-pots, and not with knightly pranks. Fra Mattia left him half dead on the spot, and only avoided arrest by escaping to Leghorn in a felucca. He went to Spain with the Pope's nuncio ; journeyed in Upper Italy from city to city, painting in Venice, in Florence, and Bologna ; returned to Rome, where Innocent X. had ascended the Papal throne ; had an affair with a rival in his art, and dangerously wounded him. Now must he again seek his fortune in the wide world. The Neapolitan was the nearest frontier : thither fled this un- quiet spirit. But a short time before the plague had raged in Naples, and, though it had ceased, there was fear of its being introduced afresh. A quarantine was enjoined at the gates. Fra Mattia was ignorant of this. When he was about to enter the city, a sentinel rudely seized him ; as he strove to free himself, the soldier aimed his arquebuse at him, but fell to the ground at the same instant, pierced by the sword of the painter-knight. Enraged, he disarmed a second, took flight, and ran straight into the hands of a patrol of the city militia, who were coming to relieve the guard. Caught and im- prisoned, he was called upon next to give an account of himself. But he had run away from Rome so hastily, that he was not provided with a passport. The Sanitary Committee pressed for a sentence of death ; but the Viceroy, Count of Castrillo, brought the affair before the Collateral Council, and among its members there chanced to be one who had known Fra Mattia at Rome, in the house of Olympia Aldobrandini. To this circumstance he owed his preservation. To obtain his release he offered the Viceroy, if he was restored to his liberty, to execute without pay the votive picture designed to be placed upon the city gates by the Committee of the Sediles. His offer was accepted. The frescoes of the Cava- liere Calabrese have now entirely vanished from the gates of Naples, or are not to be distinguished, but the older de- scriptions of the city commemorate with especial praise and satisfaction the truth with which the Naturalistic Mannerist 298 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. had represented the dragging away of the plague-smitten corpses. He remained after that a long time in Naples, and narrowly escaped a shot from an arquebuse, which was intended for him, by a farmer whom he had pourtrayed as the flayer in a picture of the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew. Among the many works which he completed here are the pictures in the cieling of S. Pietro a Majella, effective and powerful in colouring, although too much darkened. These pictures the Celestine monks would not by any means accept, because they saw only daubs of colour and heavy shades, thick noses and goggle eyes, for so the pictures appeared before they were fixed in their place, at a considerable distance calculated before hand, in the gilt frames of the cieling, which was ornamented with carving. At length, in the year 1657, Martin de Redin, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, summoned him to Malta, and gave him the commission to adorn witli pictures the principal church of the capital. Fra Mattia spent the last forty years of his life, with few intermissions, at Malta. His hasty, passionate temperament had had time to grow cool ; he had become a staid man, had received the Commandership of the order of Syracuse, laboured assiduously, and gave nearly all his earnings to the poor. He was one of the most popular knights. He painted in large tableaux the history of the Bap- tist, in the remarkable, although too gay and tasteless, church of St. John, which the Grand Master, La Cassiere, had built in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and on the numerous monuments of which may l>e studied the genealogy of a great part of the French, Spanish, and Italian nobility, just as in the cathedral at Mentz that of the German nobility m:iy he learnt. The walls consist of the white limestone of the island, which receives nothing that is put upon it, so that the paintings are executed in oil colours upon the stone, after it has been smoothed and saturated with linseed oil. His chef-d'oeuvre, however, is the colossal picture of the " Martyrdom of St. Laurence," in the church on the Borgo, dedicated to that saint. After having survived seven Grand Masters, he died at Malta, in his eighty-sixth year, at the close of the century, and under tho administration of Ramon Perellos de Roccafull. REBELLION AGAINST THE DUKE OF ARCOS. 299 BOOK III. CHAPTER I. MASANIELLO. The years 1547 and 1647 and their consequences Insurrection at Palermo The gabelles. The fruit tax Tommaso Aniello In- creasing discontent of the populace Giulio Genuine. Festival of Our Lady of Carmel Beginning of the dispute on the morning of the 7th of July The deputy of the people Naclerio's interview with the Duke of Arcos Attack upon the palace. Danger and flight of the viceroy Cardinal Filomarino as peacemaker The viceroy in the Castle dell' Uovo and in Castelnuovo Disturbances in the night from the 7th to the 8th of July Progress of the rebel- lion, 8th July The Duke of Maddaloni as an officer with a flag of truce The privileges of Charles V. Destruction of the toll-houses and of private houses Maddaloni detained by the rebels His flight to Torella Filomarino again a mediator. Monsignor Altieri Storming of San Lorenzo Masaniello's great influence Attack of the banditti upon Masaniello and his followers Murder of Don Giuseppe Carafa Destruction of the dwellings of the Carafas Negotiations of the Viceroy with the rebels Treaty of the Duke of Arcos with the people Masaniello in the royal palace Continua- tion of the rebellion. Masaniello's acts of violence. The captain- general of the people Aniello Falcone and his death troop. , Salva- tor Rosa Solemn convention in the cathedral, 13th July The beginning of Masaniello's delirium Senseless rage. The palace of Maddaloni Plot of the Duke of Arcos against Masaniello Murder of Masaniello in the Carmelite convent His funeral. Two years in two successive centuries have acquired a melan- choly celebrity in the history of Naples, on account of the insurrections by which they were characterised, and, by a still more singular coincidence, the leaders of the people in both rebellions bore the same name. In the year 1547, as has been related in the introduction to this history, the people of the capital took up arms against Don Pedro de Toledo, who at- tempted to introduce the Spanish inquisition in the kingdom. In the year 1647 a rebellion broke out against the Duke of Arcos, because, in this same kingdom, everything was taxed, 300 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. even to the light of the sun. A man of low condition, one of the hundred thousand, who, so to speak, without shelter or clothing, led a life in the great capital of southern Italy un- like that led in any other town of Europe, threatened the Spanish authority on both occasions, especially on that which we are now describing, if not with ruin, at least with serious danger. And if the superior power and wisdom of Spain issued victorious out of these struggles, the country and its inhabitants were left in a still more deplorable condition. The revolution apparently attained its aim each time. In the year 1547 the Spanish inquisition was not introduced; in the year 1647 the obnoxious taxes were abolished. But the dis- sensions between the two great parties of the nation were more deeply rooted and widely extended, and every free move- ment was stifled more and more by the oppression of the most dreadful of all governments in modern times, which was des- tined to last a century longer. In May, 1647, a rebellion broke out in Palermo amongst the lower class of people, which the viceroy, Don Pedro Fajardo Marquis de Los Veles, was not in a condition to re- sist. The constant increase of the taxes on articles of food, which, especially in the manner in which they were then raised, were the most felt and the most burdensome kind of taxation for the people, excited a tumult which lasted many months, occasioned serious dissensions between the nobility and the people, and was only subdued by a mixture of firmness and clemency on the part of the Cardinal Trivulzio, the successor of Los Veles. The news of the disturbances in Sicily reached Naples, when everything there was ripe for an insurrection, which had for a long time been fermenting and agitating men's minds. On all sides the threatening indications increased. Notices posted up on the walls announced that the people of Naples would follow the example of the inhabitants of Palermo if the gabelles were not taken off, especially the fruit-tax, which pressed the hardest upon the populace ; the hotter the season was, the more the poor felt themselves debarred from the enjoyment of a cheap and cooling food. The viceroy was stopped by a troop of people as he was going to mass at the church of Santa jMaria del Carmine ; he extricated himself from his difficulty as well as he could, laid the blame on the nobility who had ordered the tax, and promised what he never ORIGIN OF MASANIELLO. 301 iutended to perform. The associations of nobles assembled, but they could not agree. Some were of opinion that the tax should be kept, because the change would interfere with their pecuniary interests ; others because the money asked for by the government could not otherwise be procured. Notwith- standing these unfavourable circumstances, the Duke of Arcos allowed most of the Spanish and German troops to march into Lombardy ; he was deliberating how to meet the attack of the French in the north of Italy without considering that he was stripping the country of armed forces, at a moment when the continuance of the Spanish rule was more than ever in jeopardy.* On the great market-place at Naples, the scene of so many tragedies and so many disturbances, stood a miserable cottage, with nothing to distinguish it from the others but the name and arms of Charles V., which were placed on the front wall. Here a poor fisherman lived, Tommaso Aniello, generally called by the abbreviated name of Masaniello. His father, Francesco or Cicco, came from the coast of Amain, and had married in 1620 Antonia Gargano, a Neapolitan woman. In the Vico Rotto by the great market, which is only inhabited by the poorest people, and where the pestilence began in the year 1656, four months later, the son was born who was des- tined to act so remarkable a part. Tommaso Aniello was baptised in the parish church of Sta. Catherina in Foro on the 20th of June, 1620. On the 25th of April, 1641, he married Berardina Pisa, a maiden from the neighbourhood of that town. I Their poverty was so great that often Masaniello could not even follow up his trade of a fisherman, but earned a scanty livelihood by selling paper for the fish to be carried in. He was of middle height, well made and active ; his brilliant dark black eyes and his sunburnt face contrasted sin- gularly with his long, curly, fair hair hanging down his back. Thus his cheerful, lively conversation agreed but little with his grave countenance. His dress was that of a fisherman, * Principal source of information about Masaniello's rebellion ; Diario di Francesco Capecelatro de Messo a stampa dal Marchese Angelo Granito, Principe di Belmonte. Vol. i. Naples, 1850. f Luigi Vfllpicella, Delia Patria e della Famiglia di Tommaso Aniello d' Amain, amongst the Acts of the Academy of Cosenza. Vol. iii. p. 96. Capecelatro, Diario, note xiii. 302 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. but as he is in general considered a remarkable person, what- ever may be thought of the part he performed, so he under- stood, in spite of the meanness of his attire, by his arrangement and his choice of colours, to give it a peculiarity that stamped it in the memory of his contemporaries. The life of this re- markable man a nine days' history clearly shows us that he possessed wonderful presence of mind, and a spirit that knew not fear. It happened once, in the midst of the discontent which was everywhere excited by the exorbitant increase of taxation, that Masaniello's wife was detained by the keepers of the gate whilst she was endeavouring to creep into the town with a bundle of flour done up in cloths to look like a child in swad- dling-clothes. She was imprisoned, and her husband, who loved her much, only succeeded in obtaining her liberation after eight days. Almost the whole of his miserable goods went to pay the fine which had been imposed upon her. Thus hatred was smothering in the mind of Masaniello, and the flame was stirred when he, it is not known how, quarrelled with the Duke of Maddaloni's people, and was ill-used by them in an unusual manner. Then the idea seems to have occurred to him to avenge himself by the aid of the people. Many have related that instigators were not wanting: Giulio Ge- nuino is named, formerly the favourite of the Duke of Ossuna, who, after he had encountered the strangest fate, and after wearing the chain of a galley slave at Oran on the coast of Barbary, had returned an aged man, in the habit of an eccle- siastic, to his native country, meditating upon new intrigues as the old ones had failed : also a captain of banditti and a lay brother of the Carmine, who gave Masaniello money, were amongst the conspirators. Perhaps all this was only an at- tempt to explain the extraordinary fact. Thus much only is known with certainty that Masaniello sought to collect a troop of boys and young people, who, amongst the numerous vagrant population, thronged the market and its neighbour- hood from the adjacent districts, as whose leader he intended to appear, as had often been done before, at the feast of the Madonna of Carmel, which takes place in the middle of July. At that festival it was the custom to build a castte of wood and canvas in the middle of the market-place, close to which, as has already been described, was the church and convent of CAUSES OF THE OUTBREAK. 303 the Carmelites, and this castle was besieged and defended by troops of the people. The great mass of the assailants was formed out of a band of lads of the lowest class, about four hundred in number, who painted the greatest part of their bodies and their faces black and red ; their tattered clothes gave them an Oriental appearance ; they were armed with sticks, and called the company of the Alarbes,* perhaps an Arabian name. They were drilled by Masaniello, and con- sidered him as their chief. It is easy to conceive how ill the people spoke of the tax- gatherers, who, by their severity and roughness in their daily treatment, kept up perpetual quarrels and ill-will with the equally rough populace, who therefore tried to deceive them. On one beautiful summer night the custom-house in the great market-place flew up into the air. A quantity of powder had been conveyed into it by unknown hands, and in the morning nothing remained but the blackened rums. It had been in- tended by this action to oblige the viceroy to take off the taxes ; but, without loss of time, in an opposite building a new custom-house was established. The collectors were only the more angry and unmerciful, and every day seemed to bring the outbreak nearer. Thus the morning of July 7th, 1647, approached. It was Sunday, and a number of fruit-sellers, with carts and donkeys and full baskets, came into the town very early from Pozzuoli, and went as usual to the great market. Scarcely had they reached it when the dispute began. The question was not so much whether the tax was to be paid, as who was to pay it. The men of Pozzuoli maintained that the Neapolitan dealers in fruit were to pay five carlins on an hundred weight ; the others said that it was not their business : thus the disturbance began. Some respectable people who foresaw the evil hastened to the viceroy, who commissioned Andrea Naclerio, the deputy of the people, to go immediately to the market-place, and restore peace. Naclerio was getting into a boat to sail to Posilipo, where he intended to spend the day with his colleagues belonging to the association of nobles, when he received the order. He turned back, coasted along the shore of the Marinella, and got out by the tanner's gate, near the fort which takes its name from the * Alarbcs, a name given to those Arabians who dwell in tents, and who are distinguished by their dress from others who live in towns. Reefs Cyclopaedia. 304 THE CAKAFAS OF MADDALONI. church of the Carmelites. Here a different Sunday scene awaited him from that which he had promised himself in the fragrant and shady gardens. The market was filled with riotous people, and the uproar was so much the worse because Mu-:miello, with his troop of Alarbes, had met there in the morning for a grand review. The people of Pozzuoli. of bad fame since the days of Don Pedro de Toledo, quarrelled and protested ; the Neapolitans were not a whit behind them in fluency of speech. The tax-gatherers would listen to no re- monstrances, and insisted upon the payment. Andrea Naclerio tried in all ways to obtain a hearing and to ap[>ease the tumult. He said to the Pozzuolans that they ought to pay, that the money would be returned to them : they would not. He de- manded to have the fruit weighed ; he would pay the tax out of his own purse : this also they refused. The tax-gatherers and sbirri now lost all patience. They fetched the great scales, and wanted to weigh the fruit by force. Then the venders pushed down the baskets, so that the fruit rolled along the ground, and called out to the people, " Take what you can get, and taste it ; it is the last time that we shall come here to the market !" From all sides boys and men flung themselves upon the baskets and the fruit. The signal was given for an insurrec- tion. The tax-gatherers drove the people back ; the people made use of the fruit as their weapons. Andrea Naclerio rushed into the thickest of the crowd ; the captain of the sbirri and some of the respectable inhabitants of the adjacent bin quarter hastened hither, and bore him in their arms out of the knot of men who in one moment had increased to a large mass ; for idle people had flocked thither from the neighbour- ing street, from the dirty and populous Lavinaro, as well as from the coast. The deputy was rejoiced to reach his boat, and made the rowers ply vigorously that he might bring the news of the tumult to the palace. But the populace pro- ceeded from fruit to stones, put to flight the tax-gatherers and sbirri, crowded into the custom-house, destroyed the table and chairs, set fire to the ruins as well as the account-book:-, so that soon a bright flame rose up amidst the loud rejoicings of the bystanders. Meanwhile Andrea Naclerio had reached the palace. He related the whole proceeding to the viceroy, and pointed out to him at the same time that only the abolition of the fruit- tax could appease the people. The Duke of Arcos resolvci DEMAND THE PRIVILEGES OF CHARLES V. 305 to try mildness. Two men of illustrious birth, who were more beloved by the crowd than the others, Tiberio Carafa, Prince of Bisignano, and Ettore Ravaschieri, Prince of Satriano, re- paired to the market-place as peacemakers. Naclerio was not satisfied with this ; he feared that Don Tiberio would, in his kindness, promise more than could be performed, and so only make matters worse. What he had foreseen happened. When Bisignano reached the market and found the crowd still wild with rage, he announced that the viceroy would not only abolish the fruit-tax, but all the other gabelles : they might make merry and be satisfied. The rioters listened. A promise from the viceroy of the abolition of all the gabelles that was worth hearing. Masa- m'ello had kept quiet during the assault upon the deputy and the tax-gatherers, and to a certain degree had acted as me- diator. " Now," he exclaimed, " we will march to the palace." The great mass of the people followed him; another troop surrounded Bisignano, who would gladly have freed himself from his wild escort, and trotted his horse when he came to the king's gate ; but they soon reached him again, and so much forgot the respect due to his rank, that they laid their hands on him and compelled him to accompany them to San Lorenzo, the residence of the superior town magistrate. Arrived here, they cried out for the privileges of Charles V., an idea instilled into them by Giulio Genuino, who, disguised and with a long beard, made one of the procession, and was the soul of all the intrigues that were hidden under the wild impulses of the masses. Don Tiberio Carafa esteemed him- self fortunate to escape from his oppressors ; he crept into a cell, and went to Castelnuovo, from whence he repaired to Rome, so exhausted from the scene he had witnessed that he died mad not long afterwards. Meanwhile the far more numerous band was on its way to the royal palace. Drummers marched in advance. Masa- niello had mounted a horse, and held up a banner, some of his followers were provided with sticks, and others armed with poles. They had in their haste seized upon any imple- ments that they could find ; numerous lads, old guards of the leader, accompanied the strange procession. Whistling and making a blustering noise, most of them in rags and bare- footed a genuine mob, who soon became aware how much x 300 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. was left to their will and discretion. The duke was in the palace, and with him many of the nobles belonging to the town, who advised him to strengthen his Spanish guard imme- iliatcly ; but he would not, whether from fear of irritating the people, or because he did not consider the danger so imminent. The grand master of the horse, Don Carlo Caracciolo, \vitii Don Luis Ponce de Leone, a cousin of the viceroy's and nor of the vicarial court, were standing on one of the balconies at the moment when the crowd reached the square before the palace, and Masaniello waving his banner three times before the royal guard, called out " Long life to the king of Spain ! Down with the gabelles !" a cry which was repeated by thousands of the people. Caracciolo went down, and began to talk to the people. They remained standing ; they com- plained of the oppressive taxes ; they complained of the bad bread ; they held him out pieces of it ; he might judge for himself whether it was food for men or for dogs. They urged above all the deposition of the Eletto, on whom, as usual, tin- blame was laid that things were not more prosperous. At first affairs went on tolerably well. With great dex- terity Don Carlo kept the crowd away from the entrances, whilst he corresponded by means of his vassals with the vice- roy, who consented to Naclerio's deposition to the abolition of the duties on fruit and on wine. Now the audacity of the crowd increased. Why not ask for more when even' thing was granted to them ? The flour-tax also ! Caracciolo ol> jected ; things could not go on so. But in the same moment new masses of many thousand men crowded into the square, uttering wild noises. The negotiator was obliged to give ud had only time to inform the viceroy that he might withdraw into Castelnuovo. When the people found the outer gate of the palace un- guarded, they rushed into the court and forced their way up the great stairs. At the end of it, at the entrance of the hall, stood the German body-guard. They crossed their halberds to ward off the crowd, but the pressure was too violent. After a short struggle their arms were wrenched from them ; ill- treated and bleeding, they could no longer defend the en- trance against the assailants. Meanwhile the Duke of An -ON had made his appearance at one of the balconies, and told the crowd in the Spanish language to compose themselves, he THE PALACE STOKMED. 307 would do tlieir will. But they did not understand him, and cried out that he must keep to what he had promised them by the Prince of Bisignanr The viceroy saw that he was losing time. Already the foremost of the assailants stormed at the doors of the first saloon, which had been locked in haste. Now every moment was precious. In vain did Don Carlo Caracciolo try once more to appease the people : a blow from an iron staff wounded him in the arm, and he was hit by two stones. The doors of the first saloon fell with a loud crash to the ground. Now the crowd saw no further impediment. Everything remaining in the palace was torn asunder : the viceroy causing the various doors to be bolted behind him, hastened to the gallery that he might reach the spiral staircase leading into the courtyard. Now he repented that he had not followed Caracciolo's advice, who had desired him to make his escape to the castle. Andrea Naclerio concealed himself in the apartments of the vice-queen, let himself down by a rope into the garden, and fortunately reached the fortress. But the mob broke everything that they found in the royal apart- ments, the panes of the high windows clattered upon the ground, and in the midst of wild rejoicings and laughter all the valuable household furniture was flung down from the balconies into the streets, including the chairs, the great para- sol of the governor of the Collateral Council, and the mangled papers of the secretary. Even the balustrades of the bal- conies did not escape the Vandal fury of the populace, and with heavy iron poles and hammers they dashed, in pieces the beautifully polished works of sculpture. The Duke of Arcos had descended the spiral staircase, when he perceived that the bridges of the castle were already drawn up, the portcullis let down. He believed that he could save himself by crossing the square to the opposite convent of the Minimi, as he imagined that the rebels were too much occupied with plundering the palace to attend to him. But he miscalculated. Scarcely had he reached the square, when he was recognised and surrounded. A knight of St. Jago, Don Antonio Taboada, was accidentally passing by, he suc- ceeded in penetrating through the crowd to the viceroy, and lifted him into his carriage. The rescue of the Duke of Arcos turned upon a hair. One of the people, it is said Masa- niello himself, wanted to thrust his sword into him, but the x 2 308 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXL blow was parried by Don Emanuel Vaez. A runaway Au- gustinian monk seized him by the hair and screamed " AbolisJi the taxes!" The carriage could not go on. The horses pranced ; some of the people seized the reins ; the coachman was on the ground. Then many of the nobles pressed through the crowd, making themselves a passage partly by violence, partly by fair words the Count of Conversano, the Marquises of Torrecuso and Brienza, the Duke of Castile Airola, the prior of Rocella Carafa, Don Antonio Enriquez, and Carlo Caracciolo the viceroy was indebted to them for Ids rescue. They surrounded the carriage with drawn swords. The rebels had already taken the harness off 1 the horses ; two noblemen took possession of it, put it on as well as they could, and Caracciolo jumped upon the coachbox, fastened in the loose horses, whilst the other nobles remained at the door. But there was no getting further the cries, the uproar, the mass of men increased every instant. So few against so many if there was any delay no exit would remain. Don Carlo Caracciolo's mind was quickly made up ; he opened the doors of the carriage, dragged out the half-dead viceroy, seized him by the arm, whilst the rest of the nobles surrounded them, raising high their swords, and warding off the pressure of the mob. Wilh the cry "Make room for the king!" they got through the crowd. Thus they reached the gates of the convent ; it was shut up. The populace yelled, and threatened the monks with a thousand maledictions if they opened it. The General and the Provincial of the order were present, both Spaniards. They ordered the gate to be half opened to admit the viceroy. Thus it was accomplished Caracciolo gave the duke a push, and he was saved. But the noblemen to whom he was in- debted for his safety remained without, exposed to the fury of the mob, now become so much the more savage as they saw that their victim had escaped. Carlo Caracciolo saved him- .-cll 1 with difficulty. A stone wounded the Marquis of Brienza in the neck. The people tried to break open the gates of the convent, which the monks had barricaded in haste. " Long life to the King of Spain ! Down with the bad government !" This was the cry, echoed from a thousand voices. The Duke of Arcos showed himself at the window he repeated that lie would grant what was desired he threw down a declaration ACCOUNT BY AKCHBISHOP OF NAPLES. 309 signed by himself : nothing was of any avail. The rebels tried to get into the convent through the church ; they threatened to drag the viceroy to the market. The alarm spread through the town. At this momentous crisis, the Cardinal Archbishop Ascanio Filomarino appeared. The more important the part which the Archbishop of Naples acted during the revolutions of the kingdom, so much the more interesting is the account of it written by himself, in a letter addressed to Pope Innocent X. " When I left my house yesterday," he writes on the 6th of July, at the 21st hour, " to go to the Capuchin convent, I perceived that the viceroy was besieged in his palace by from fifty to sixty thou- sand of the people, who wished to extort by any means the abolition of the fruit-tax. This tax has agitated the minds of the people for some days : the crowd was alike exasperated against the ministers and the nobles, and threatened to plunder their houses, and even not to spare the convents, for it is said that from fear of an insurrection a great number of treasures, jewels, as well as plate, have been concealed in these last places. Upon this news I changed my purpose, and turned back towards the town by the gate of the Holy Ghost. On the way I met numbers of my acquaintance who were making their escape, and advised me not to go further, but to return home, which only stimulated me to hasten my speed. About a hundred steps from the palace of the nuncio (on the Toledo) I met a troop of armed men, who were marching on in the greatest excitement, whilst people streamed from all the ad- jacent streets. I expected kindness from this people, that I have always found full of respect and affection for their pastors, and amongst whom I saw many that were personally known to me. When I gave the crowd the blessing for which they longed so much, that they were unwilling to let me pass without it, and spoke kindly to the people, they replied that at all events the fruit-tax must be abolished. I assured them that I would stand by them, and willingly sacrifice my life for them, and labour for the abolition of this and of the other gabelles. They must be quiet, and let me act, they would certainly be satisfied. The further I proceeded the greater was the crowd, so that to get more space some of the leaders of the people, who were well inclined towards me, accompanied me and made room for me by making signs that I was on their 310 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. side. Thus with great difficulty I reached the square before the palace, that I found full of frantic people. When I r.mlii stood that the viceroy had taken refuge in the convent of the Minimi, I sent him word by one of my noblemen that 1 wa> arrived, but that he must submit to the people. I re- ceived for answer that the viceroy as well as the officers with him were extremely rejoiced at my arrival ; and as I was getting out of my carriage to go into the convent, the Marquis of'Torrecuso brought me a note written by the viceroy irim- self, in which he promised the abolition of the gabelles. After I had read the note, and communicated its contents to the people, I ordered them aloud, and in the presence of all, to pull clown the custom-houses ; and that on the next morning better and more substantial bread would be sold. I cannot describe to your Holiness how this order pacified and con- tented the people. When I returned to my carriage the crowd surrounded me ; they knelt before me, they kissed my hands and my clothes ; those who could not reach me, made signs at a distance 1 with their hands and moutlis. As I re- turned by the same road, I made it known everywhere that the gabelles were abolished, and that the bread would be better. This announcement had such an effect, that in the abovementioned part of the town the tumult considerably sub- sided, and people's minds were tranquil, and I desired the leaders of the mob to go into the other quarters of the town, there to proclaim the same good tidings, and restore peace."* But the cardinal deceived himself, and assisted perhaps even more than did Tiberius Carafa by his imprudence to in- crease the rebellion. The passions of the multitude once ex- cited, evil-minded persons were not wanting who availed themselves of this excitement. Scarcely had the archbishop departed, when the uproar began again. Neither the Prince of Montesarchio, nor Don Prospero Tuttavilla, nor any others were able to restore peace, however lavish of their words. The populace attacked the Spanish guard belonging to the palace, broke in pieces their drums, smashed their pikes, and were so violent that the soldiers were obliged to fire. This produced an effect. Five or six of them fell, and the crowd dispersed in a wild flight. The viceroy had profited by the interval, * Lcttere del Cardinal Filnmarino, published by G. Aiazzi. Florence, 1843 (printed again at Palermo and other places). Pp. 379-393. ESCAPE OF THE VICEROY. 311 going out by the back door of the convent, to reach a house situated on the slope of Pizzofalcone. Here he got into a closed sedan-chair, and, accompanied by many noblemen, went to the castle of St. Elmo over the bridge built by the Duke of Medina, which unites the hill of Pizzofalcone with that of San Martino. Part of the way the mountain was so steep that the bearers of the sedan-chair in which was the viceroy could not proceed. He was obliged to get out, and by a great exertion this corpulent man climbed the height. Other cava- liers attached themselves to this procession which met with no impediment from the masses of the people who had all moved down to the lower parts of the town. The Duchess of Arcos, into whose apartments the populace had penetrated, had fled with her children and servants, with her maids of honour and many other ladies of illustrious birth belonging to the town, into Castelnuovo. But the Spanish troops had left the neigh- bouring posts, too weak to be able to defend them against the mob, and all the army had assembled under the Prince of Ascoli in the park, which joins the palace as well as the castle, to maintain this advantageous post by their united efforts. The night came what a night ! A hundred thousand men marched with loud cries through the town. The churches were open, and resounded with prayers for the restoration of peace. The Theatines and Jesuits left their convents and arranged themselves in processions, singing litanies to the Madonna and the saints, but the Ora pro nobis was over- powered by the fury of the crowd. Although the first forced their way down the Toledo to the palace, and the others pene- trated to the great market-place, they were obliged neverthe- less to withdraw without having accomplished their object. All the highwaymen and murderers, of which Naples was full, left their hiding-places. The first thing done was to break open the prisons and set the prisoners at liberty all, except- ing those confined in the prisons of the vicarial court, for the castle of Capuano inspired the rebels with respect, whether because of a very large imperial eagle of Charles V., fixed over the portal, or because the garrison of the old fortress, together with the sbirri, stood with lighted matches behind the cross-bars, and threatened the assailants with a bloody wel- come. The prisoners in the vicarial court now sought to set themselves free, and began by destroying the cross-bars with 312 TUB CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. heavy beams ; but some shots, which laid two of them dead on the ground, warned them to desist from their attempt. All the otiier prisons were cleared, and the archives and every- thing tiiat could be found in them was burnt ; the toll-booths throughout the town were demolished ; the mob went from one gate to another. Everywhere the toll-gatherers had escaped nobody thought of making any resistance, and as there were no more prisons to be broken open, no more custom- houses to be destroyed, the populace began to attack the houses of those whom they knew had, by farming tolls or in any other way, become rich at the expense of the people. There was no mention of defence the proprietors were glad to save their bare lives. Many rewarded with gold the ser- vices of the rowers, who conveyed them to a villa at Posilipo, or to any other place beyond the town. But the houses were emptied : first that of the cashier of taxes, Alphonso Vagliano. Beautiful household furniture, plate, pictures, everything that could be found was dragged into the streets, thrown together in a heap and burnt ; and when one of the people wanted to conceal a jewel, he was violently upbraided by the rest. Hitherto but few, comparatively, of the rebels had been armed : they felt this deficiency, and wanted to procure them- selves arms and artillery. With this view they attacked the convent and belfry of San Lorenzo, but the small Spanish garrison received them with sharp firing, and they were obliged to retire: they only committed the more acts of wanton cruelty. The most fearful confusion prevailed : first in one place and then in another the sky was red with the conflagra- tion. Suddenly a lurid light illumined the towers and pro- jecting buildings. The market-place was the principal quarter of the insurgents, who still wanted a leader. There towards midnight four men, masked, wearing the habit of one of the holy brotherhoods, entered a circle of men composed of the dregs of the populace amongst them was Masaniello. Giulio Genuino, one of the four men, took off his mask. He had excited and fanned the flame the whole day, and now he sought, in the darkness of the night, to complete what he had begun. They had done right, he said, to let the King of Spain live, for it was not a question of taking the crown of Spain off his head, but to put an end to the oppression of the people by his covetous minister. They must not rest MORNING OF THE 8lH JULY. 313 till they had obtained this, but to obtain it, it was necessary above all things to procure themselves arms, and, by the choice of a leader, to give union and steadiness to their under- taking. They all agreed with him, and that very same night they followed his advice and provided themselves with arms. They stormed the shops of the sword-cutlers, and took pos- session of five pieces of light artillery belonging to the pro- prietor of a ship, and even during this first night the name of Masaniello passed from mouth to mouth. Meanwhile the Duke of Arcos had not lost his time. He quickly stored the castle of St. Elmo with provisions, con- certed signals, issued orders respecting all the powder that the town contained, and went at midnight, accompanied by num- bers of noblemen and a strong escort of Spanish infantry, to Castelnuovo, the governor of which, Don Nicola de Vargas Machuca, was prepared for a vigorous resistance, and even for a regular siege. The royal palace remained desolate and for- saken. After the first tumult was over, the Spanish guards had occupied it again, and Don Francesco Toraldo, Prince of Massa, who was destined soon to take one of the most promi- nent parts in this insurrection to his own ruin, undertook the command. Many persons of consideration did not shun the danger, but went to the corn-magazines with the order to take more nutritious bread for the following morning. If the vice- roy did not give up the hope of appeasing the people in this manner, on the other hand he did not neglect to take prudent military measures. The park at the palace, from which a bridge leads over the deep ravine to the castle, and the bar- racks upon the Pizzofalcone, were all secretly occupied by all the troops that could be collected, and thus the morning of the 8th of July was expected. The morning came, but it brought neither assistance nor re- pose. When the day dawned there was a beating of drums, a ringing of bells, and country people pouring in from all sides. The discontented vassals of the barons in the neigh- bourhood, the banditti, and vagabonds of all kinds, increased the masses of the populace of the capital, who were augmented by troops of horrible women and children more than half naked, making the most dreadful uproar. Arms of all kinds were in the hands of the insurgents ; some of them made use of household and agricultural implements both for attack and 314 'HIE CA11AFAS OF MADDALONI. r defence. Unfortunately, various powder-magazines fell into their liands. At Little Molo they stormed a house in which ammunition had been placed ; it caught fire and blew up : above forty persons were killed and double the number wounded, most of them severely. The exasperation only increased. It was soon observed tliat it was not blind fury alone which con- ducted the rebellion clever management was evident. The Count of Monterey had given the people a sort of military constitution, as he divided them into companies according to the quarters of the town, which resembled those Hermandades which the Archbishop of Tortosa, afterwards Pope Adrian VI., formed in the time of Charles V. in Spain, and that afterwards caused an insurrection of the Communeros. This practice in the forms of war was now of use to the insurgents, and when on the second morning some of the working classes and mecha- nics, and persons indeed that belonged to a higher class of citi- zens, joined themselves to tiie actual mob, thinking to obtain a better government in consequence of the insurrection, the danger increased. The two principal leaders were Domenico Perrone, formerly a captain of sbirri, and Masaniello, whom the people about the market-place, and the Lavinaro and its vicinity, had chosen : but Giulio Genuine conducted the whole affair by his counsel. A formal council of war was held in Castelnuovo. The viceroy was quite aware that the utmost he could do with his few troops would be to defend the fortresses of the town againsr the people, but that he could not subdue them. He was, more- over, reluctant to make use of fire-arms, as the insurgents pro- claimed aloud everywhere their loyalty to the king. So he resolved to o\ten a negotiation, to regain his lost ground, or at least to gain time. The Duke of Arcos has been accused of having, even in these early moments, conceived the plan to push the nobles forward, with the view to make them more hateful than ever to the populace, and thus to annihilate their influence completely, a policy that was so much the more knavish the more faithfully the nobles had stood by him during these last eventful twenty-four hours at the peril of their own lives. Whatever his plan may have been, the result was the same ; whether the idea proceeded from the Duke of Arcos, or his successor the Count of Onate, the insurrection of 1647 caused the ruin of the aristocracy. The Prince of Monte- PEACEFUL MEASURES OF THE VICEROY. 315. sarchio was the first whom the viceroy sent as a messenger of peace. The name of D'Avalos was through Pescara and Del Vasto closely associated with the warlike fame of the times of Charles V. His reputation had been brilliant from the period of the Moorish wars till now. Great possessions secured him great influence in many parts of the kingdom. Montesarchio rode to the market-place provided with a written promise of the viceroy's touching the abolition of the taxes. He took an oath in the church of the Carmelites that the promise should be kept : the people refused to believe him. Then the Duke of Arcos resolved upon sending others. The general of the Franciscans, Fra Giovanni Mistanza, who was in the castle, directed his attention to the Duke of Maddaloni. Diomed Carafa had been for some time again a prisoner in Castelnuovo. Transactions with the banditti and arbitrary conduct towards the people had brought him to captivity, which was shared by his brother Don Giuseppe. For what, reason he was selected for this work of peace, who had so heavily oppressed the lower classes, and had committed such acts of violence that he had the credit of being the leader of the most licentious cavaliers, is uncertain. It was said to be because he, as a patrician of the Seggio del Nido, had most counteracted the mischief of the tax, and therefore the popu- lace was better inclined towards him than towards the mem- bers of the other sediles. But others said, and indeed with more justice, that the acquaintance which he had with Domenic Perrone was the real cause of it ; for this man had been first a leader of sbirri and then of banditti, and Diomed Carafa had had a great deal to do with both. However this might be, the viceroy summoned him : he was to go to the great market- place and try to conclude a peace with the leaders of the people. There should be no further mention of his crimes or of punishment : Don Giuseppe Carafa was also received again into favour. The duke mounted his horse and rode with several noblemen to the market-place. Arrived there, he employed all his elo- quence. In the name of the viceroy he promised free trade in all articles of food, and a general pardon. At first Maddaloni was well received. He was but too well known to many of the in- surgents, and his mad conduct had procured him followers as well as enemies ; but as he only repeated the same promises 31 G THE CABAFAS OF MAPDALOXI. wnich had been made by the others, the crowd were out of humour. " No deceitful promises !" screamed a thousand voices : " the privileges, the privileges of Charles V." These privileges had long possessed the minds of the people. During die disturbances under the Duke of Ossuna many fabulous tales had been told about them. Genuino had then, as now, brought them forward. Not only freedom from taxes was contained in them, but an equality of power between the people and the nobility in the affairs of the town, by increasing the votes of the first, and by conceding a right of veto on resolu- tions affecting the people through the intervention of their deputies. This privilege they would have this the viceroy should confirm to them. They all screamed at the same time, but at last Maddaloni obtained a hearing. He promised to bring them the document he would ask the viceroy for it without delay. He was glad to escape the crowd, who pre- vented either himself or his horse from moving. Negotiations for peace could not check the fury of the people or its mania for destruction. As on the day before they had demolished the custom-houses, now the houses of all who had lately become rich were destroyed. They had already begun on the previous evening, but this was only a prelude. Masaniello, who had not left the market-place the whole day, drew up a catalogue, in concert with his associates, of all the houses and palaces, the effects of which were to be destroyed. Many noblemen who believed that they might have some in- fluence with the mob, had ridden and driven to the market- place, but they returned home without accomplishing anything, or went again to Castelnuovo, where numbers of them took refuge from the pressure of necessity. In the evening the flames burst forth in all parts of the town : much valuable property was sacrificed amidst the rejoicings of the frantic populace, who screamed, " That is our blood ; so may those burn in hell who have sucked it out of us!" As on Sunday the Jesuits and Theatines, now the Dominicans tried to appease the people. Their long processions were to be seen in the square of the obelisk, moving on to the houses of Sangro, Saluzzo, and Carafa, with burning torches ; but the populace interrupted their prayers and litanies with angry words and many reproaches, and sent them home. Till late in the night the brilliantly-lighted churches were filled with agonised sup- plicants. DESTRUCTION OF PALACES BY THE MOB. 317 Early on the morning of the 9th of July a more dreadful scene took place than on either of the earlier days. The de- struction began at daybreak. All the property of the coun- sellor Antonio Miroballo, in the Borgo de' Vergini, was burning before his palace. Andrea Naclerio had caused the best fur- niture to be removed ; the people traced it, destroyed it, dashed to pieces everything in the house and in the adjoining beau- tiful garden. At Alphonso Valenzano's everything that he possessed was ruined. In a place of concealment two small casks were found full of sequins, a box containing precious pearls, and a small packet of bills of exchange it was all thrown into the fire. All the rich and noble persons who were concerned in the farming of tolls, as well as all members of the govern- ment, saw their houses demolished. Five palaces of the secre- tary-general of the kingdom, the Duke of Caivano, together with those of his sons, were burnt. In one of them at Santa Chiara the valuable pictures which that noble, a lover of the fine arts, had collected were destroyed ; the carpets of silk- stuff interwoven with gold, the sumptuous silver vessels, and every sort of work of art, the worth of which was valued at more than 50,000 ducats. The mob had already become so brutal that they stabbed the beautiful horses in their stalls and threw the lapdogs into the flames, whilst they trampled down the rare plants in the gardens and heaped up the trees for funeral piles. Above forty palaces and houses were consumed by the names on this day, or were razed to the ground, whilst the unhappy possessors looked on from the forts and watch- towers of Castelnuovo upon the rapid conflagration, heard the threatening of the alarm-bells and drums, and the howlings of the unbridled populace, amongst which many thieves were pursuing their business and filling their pockets with plunder. News came out of the neighbourhood that the peasants were rising on all sides, and that many beautiful castles belonging to illustrious noblemen were already in flames. Stupified by the uproar, by the advice of a hundred coun- sellors, by a two days' insurrection, the Duke of Arcos did not nevertheless give up the attempt at a reconciliation. Certainly he risked nothing by it, for he had no other means in his power ; but the hazard to the noblemen who delivered his messages was so much the greater. With great difficulty Montesarchio and Satriano escaped the rage of the populace ; six cavaliers were enclosed by barricades, and only regained 318 FBI ' AHA! AS OF MADDALOXI. their freedom by promising to obtain the transmission of their privileges. To oblige the viceroy the Duke of Maddaloni rode once more into the market-place, carrying with him a manifesto, according to which all the gabelles which had been introduced since the time of Charles V. were abolished, and a general amnesty granted for the crimes already committed. Scarcely had Diomed Carafa read the paper when the tumult beiran again worse than before. The bystanders screamed out that tliis was not what they wanted ; he was deceiving them in concert with the viceroy. In vain he sought to appease them the tumult increased. Suddenly Masaniello sprung upon the Duke. It was said that he had once received blows instead of gold from one of his servants when he had sold fish at his palace. Perhaps it is only one of the many fables that are attached to the name of the fisherman of Amalfi. Amidst wild imprecations he seized the reins of his horse, took hold of the knight by his belt and long hair, tore him from the saddle with the assistance of his followers, and caused his hands to lie tightly bound together by a rope: then he delivered the pri- soner to Domenico Perrone and liis associate Berardmo Grasso, to be strictly guarded. The last remnant of personal respect for the nobility, which the populace had preserved on earlier occasions in the midst of all their disturbances, had now quite disappeared. The hand of Masaniello had torn asunder the tie of centuries of habit. The Viceroy was dreadfully shocked when he knew the danger into which Maddaloni had fallen for his sake. He sent the Prior of the Johannites, Fra Gregorio Carafa, brother of the Prince of Roccella, and afterwards Grand Master of Malta, to try and obtain the freedom of the Duke. The sensible and placable words of the Prior were as useless as his promises: the populace only answered him by screaming for the privi- <>f Charles V. for the privileges, in gold characters, which Giulio Genuine affirmed that he had seen. Gregorio Oaraf'a felt himself in the same danger as Maddaloni, and re- turned to the castle without having accomplished anything: but the populace swore that they would allow no parliament which did not deliver up the document. .Masaniello's prisoner did not remain long in confinement. The man into whose charge he had been committed was under old obligations to him. He conducted him into the convent NEGOTIATIONS BY CARDINAL FILOMARIXO. 319 of the Carmelites and confined him in one of the cells ; but when the night came he favoured his flight. Diomed Carafa escaped out of the convent in disguise the fearful tumult and the drunkenness of the people were favourable to him. Unre- cognised he gained his liberty ; he ascended to the foot of the heights of Capo di Monte, which overlook Naples and its gulf. He wandered to the farm-house of Chiajano, a considerable distance from the town : here he met a physician who was riding home after visiting a rich man, and he borrowed his horse. Thus, towards the dawn of day, crossing the streets that were known to him, he reached Cardito, a place on the road leading from the capital to Caserta. Maria Loffredo, to whom the place belonged, received him, and procured him the means of escape from the imminent peril of his life by for- warding him to La Torella in Principato, where the day before the uncle of his wife, Don Giuseppe Caracciolo, had retired with his family. Hefe the duke found his wife and children, who, upon the news of his imprisonment, had placed them- selves urder the protection of their relations. The nobility fled on all sides when they not only saw their property but even their lives in danger. But we must return to Naples, where one event fol- lowed another in rapid succession. When the Viceroy saw that the efforts of his messengers proved ineffectual, he resolved to invoke the aid of the archbishop. He did it unwillingly, for the Spanish rulers never trusted the spi- ritual superior pastors of Naples, with whom they had per- petual disputes about jurisdiction. Moreover Cardinal Filo- marino endeavoured to stand as high in the favour of the people as lie was low in that of his fellow nobles. But the Duke of Arcos had no choice, and so he followed the advice of the papal nuncio, Monsignor Emilio Altieri, afterwards Pope Clement X., and sent to the archbishop to request him to come to the castle. Ascanio Filomarino declared, in the presence of the members of the Collateral Council, that without producing the old document and the ratification of its con- tents any negotiation was useless, and he would only undertake it under this condition. Then an eager search was instituted, and the charter of privileges was found amongst the archives of the town in the monastery of San Paolo. Armed with this the archbishop went to the Carmine, where he was received 320 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. with rejoicings. The adjacent market was now the head- quarters of the leadens of the people. Here business was transacted, from here orders were issued ; here Masaniello, Genuino, and their adherents took counsel together, as did the Duke of Arcos and his faithful followers in the castle. None thought of returning home this fine summer evening. The archbishop soon perceived that he had deceived himself in fancying that he could still the waves of this stormy sea. He became conscious that it was not this or that privilege which the tumultuous populace desired ; that their minds were chiefly bent upon destruction and murder, and after that upon obtaining quite different rights. Whilst he read to them the old charter, and announced the new concessions of the Vice- roy, he perceived how orders were issued and arrangements made that were in direct contradiction to his mission of peace. He saw the mischief spreading rapidly, that every moment was precious, and tlwxt the ruin of the city was no spectral illusion. He resolved not to leave the convent that night, indeed to remain in it till the peace was entirely concluded.* The apprehensions of the prelate were but too well founded. Another fearful evening ensued. The rebellion had gained new strength from the successes of the afternoon. The people had stormed the convent of St. Lorenzo, and thereby got pos- session of the artillery of the town. Masaniello, with his troops, had made prisoners of war two divisions of troops which the Viceroy wished to gather round him out of Pozzuoli and Torre del Greco. All this only excited men's minds the more. The proscription list of the day before did not appear long enough to the people ; they desired the destruction of thirty- six jmlaces of the nobility, and many were consumed by the flames. Houses were burning in the principal streets of the town, and the squares blazed with gigantic piles of furniture, pictures, books, and manuscriptseverything that was found was cast into the flames. The mothers ran to and fro with their children, whose little hands dragged after them what they could. As if around charcoal piles, the cliarcoal-burners, those half-naked, half-savage inhabitants of the caves and alleys of the poisonous quarters of the poor in Naples, hovered with a fearful activity about these holocausts to the fury of the * Lettcre del Card. Filomarino, p. 383. ORGANISATION OF THE REBELLION. 321 people, in perpetual motion and with unceasing cries and howl- ings. The entrances to the principal streets were secured by artillery: the bells were ringing incessantly, daring which they carried about in procession effigies of Philip IV., pro- claiming " Long life to the King of Spain !" and planted the royal banner to wave together with that of the people, upon the lofty steeple of San Lorenzo. In this manner passed the night. The Cardinal Filomarino remained in the convent of the Carmelites in active negotia- tion with the heads of the people. Many were the difficulties. The insurgents went so far as to demand that the castle of St. Elmo should be delivered up to them, and a wild storm burst out when the words of pardon and rebellion were mentioned in the concessions of the Viceroy. " We are no rebels !" they roared confusedly ; " we want and need no pardon." The archbishop was exhausted, when the morning came and still no result. As the former day had ended in fire and desolation, so the present one it was Wednesday, the 10th of July commenced with desolation and fire. The news of Maddaloni's flight was like pouring oil upon the flames. If he had escaped, his effects should atone for it. Already the day before they had wanted to set fire to his palace, as well as those of many of the Carafas, that of Don Giuseppe, of the Prince and of the Prior of Roccella, of the Prince of Stigliano, and others be- longing to the family. Now a dense multitude moved towards the Borgo de' Vergini, where, by the church of Santa Maria della Stella, without the then city walls, Diomed Carafa re- sided. But the affair turned out differently from what they had expected. Armed servants occupied the house ; numerous arquebuses glittered from the windows ; and the people from the market and from Lavinaro, who knew Masaniello's bravoes only too well, contented themselves for the present with smash- ing some of the panes of glass, by flinging stones, and reserved their vengeance for a better opportunity, which did not fail them. Masaniello had meanwhile, with a presence of mind and a dexterity to which our admiration cannot be denied, pro- fited by the time to extend and strengthen the authority so rapidly acquired over his contemporaries and superiors. He held council and issued decrees with his associates with Genuino, who continued the soul of the insurrection, with the new deputy of the citizens, Francesco Antonio Arpajo, Ge- Y 322 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. nuino's old accomplice in his intrigues, and some insignificant persons. If during the first three days everything luid been done in wild confusion, now the insurrection was formally organised. The people were informed that they were to ass< -mMr according to their quarters in the town, and meet in the market-place. The companies were formed immediately ; more than one of them consisted of women belonging to the lowest da -.-. It may be imagined what a band they formed when we consider the horrid race of women belonging to this class at Naples, in which corrupt blood struggles for pre-eminence \\ itli dirt and rags. Masaniello now placed himself at the head of this troop of people, and marched with them in procession through the town. They were 1 14,000 in number, most of them provided with fire-arms ; for all the shops and magazines for arms, as well as the houses of the nobility, had been ran- sacked. Those amongst the citizens who would not march with them were obliged to stand armed before their own duell- ings at the command of a fisherman ; and in the name " of the most faithful people of the most faithful town of Naples, and in those who, by the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, hold in their hands the government of the same." Oppressive decrees were issued ; on one side were the royal arms, and on the other those of the people. " This Masaniello," writes the Cardinal Filomarino, "has risen in ;i few days to such a height of authority and influence, and has known how to acquire so much respect and obedience, that he makes the whole town tremble by his decrees, which are exe- cuted by his followers with all punctuality and obedience. He shows discretion, wisdom, and moderation ; in short, he has become a king in this town, and the most glorious and triumphant in the world. He who has not seen him cannot imagine him ; and he who has cannot describe him exactly .to others. All his clothing consists in a shirt and stockings of white linen, such as the fishermen are accustomed to wear; moreover, he walks about barefooted and with his head uncovered. His confidence in me and respect for me are a real miracle of Go !'s, whereby alone the attainment of an end or understanding in these perplexing events is possible." How the pious archbishop deceived himself, in thinking tliat he had attained his aim I Still he subdued the first storm which interrupted the negotiation, but the following one neither he SUPPOSED POISONING OF SPRINGS. 323 nor any one else could get the mastery over. He had been to Castelnuovo to obtain from the Viceroy the ratification of the conditions stipulated for by the leaders of the people, and was on the point of concluding the agreement in the Carmelite monastery when in an instant the most dreadful tumult began. Domenico Perrone, who had remained near Masaniello, had showed himself but little since the Hight of the Duke of Mad- daloni, because the suspicion was abroad that he had favoured his escape. The church was full of men, who prevented the termination of the conferences, when this Perrone stepped up to the Fisherman and took his place by his side, as if he had something to tell him. At this moment a shot was fired. Masaniello hastened to the gates and cried out " Treason !" Many shots were fired behind him, none hit him. Things went on wildly in the market-place. From two to three hun- dred banditti attacked the populace, who quickly recovered themselves and easily defeated the assailants. The most hor- rible carnage followed. " The people," relates Ascanio Filo- marino, " thronged with great violence to the convent, in the belief that there banditti or their adherents were concealed. They ransacked everything, but found nothing excepting six barrels of powder. Your Holiness may imagine the state of indescribable confusion of the town, whilst thirty thousand armed men, breathing rage and vengeance, rushed about, murdering all suspicious persons. The worst part went on in the church and convent of the Carmine, where I was staying. In my own room I gave many dying persons the absolution ; amongst them a tailor, who was shot down by my side. When the carnage came to an end it was suddenly rumoured that the banditti had poisoned the springs at Poggio Reale, which sup- ply the greater part of the town with water. The fury of the people was again roused. I caused a pitcher of water to be brought, and drank it in the presence of many persons, which silenced the suspicion ; and as your Holiness is much respected in this town, and even from the time in which you were a nuncio here they have a pleasant recollection of you, so in the time of utmost need I bless the people in your name, and ad- monish them to be quiet for the love of you, which also does not fail of its effect."* * Lettere del Card. Filomarino, p. 383, 384. Y 2 324 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. Domenico Perrone was one of the first who fell a victim to the furious crowd. Bleeding with a deep wound on his head, he fled into the cell of a Carmelite monk, and clung to him in his mortal agony ; but his persecutors tore him away by main force and chopped off his head at the threshold of the entrance. So it fared also with his brother and his associates. Perrone's pockets were ransacked, and a note was found from which it appeared that the Duke of Maddaloni and Joseph Carafa had hired the banditti to avenge themselves of the outrage com- mitted against the first. Now the rage of the masses had a settled aim. Armed men from all sides flew to search for the, Duke, but he had been in safety long ago. He was sought for in vain in the convent of the Conception and in other places : not so fared it with his unfortunate brother. Masaniello had extorted from a dying bandit that Don Giu- seppe Carafa and his cousin the Prior of the Johannites of Rocella, with several of their followers, were staying in the convent of Santa Maria la Nuova. Upon a height that in- clines too precipitately to the harbour, the declivity of which is covered with steep and in general damp little streets and bad houses, stands the great Franciscan convent, in which a large number of monks are lodged. Giuseppe Carafa awaited here the news of the result of the attempt upon the life of Masa- niello, when suddenly a troop of more than four hundred armed Popolans attacked the convent. The gates were closed, but the people set fire to them without any scruple, and they were opened. " Where is the chief of the banditti ? " With this cry the frantic populace rushed into the broad cloister alley, and the square and the refectory were filled immediately. A ser- vant of Carafa was recognised and knocked down ; thus the persecutors knew that their victim could not be far distant. " Save yourselves ! save yourselves !" exclaimed Fra Giovanni da Napoli to both the noblemen, who knew not how they could _ escape. But they still hoped that the large space occupied 'by the old, irregular monastic building would afford them a hiding-place somewhere. Don Giuseppe wrote in haste a few lines to the Viceroy to inform him of the danger in which he was placed : then he changed his clothes and put on a monk's dress. Whilst the persecutors were searching another part of the convent, the persecuted persons descended a secret staircase and reached the open space by a side door which, constructed MURDER OF DON GIUSEPPE CARAFA. 325 in the high, dark back wall of the building, leads out into the narrow mean street of the soap-manufacturers. Here all was quiet one faint hope shone upon them both. They separated, not to be observed. The prior fortunately arrived at the dwellings of the Tipaldi, put on woman's clothes, and thus reached the convent of St. Domenico, where nobody sought for him, and from whence he escaped during the obscurity of the night. But Giuseppe Carafa had only proceeded a few steps when he heard in the distance the roar of the approaching pursuit. The lay -brother, who was carrying the note in his cowl to Castelnuovo, was detained ; his embassy discovered, and again they were upon the track of the fugitive. He sprang into a cottage which was open, and ran up the staircase. It was the miserable dwelling of a common woman of low cast. He promised her treasures : she hid him under the bed. But as his persecutors approached, she called out to them from the window they might come up. The knight came out of his hiding-place. He was seized at the same moment ; they dragged him down ; he offered twenty thousand ducats for his life no one listened to his words. They struck him and wounded him with their knives and daggers, whilst they dragged him to the near Piazza del Cerriglio, where once stood the gate of Petruccio, next to the great tower of the old castle, where the royal crown fell from the head of Lewis of Tarento, as he rode to the coronation of the first Joanna, and his horse shied from the showers of flowers poured from the windows. His haughty spirit was roused by the ill-treatment he received. " What are you about, you rabble ?" he exclaimed. " I am Don Peppe Carafa. Do you want to kill me?" " Precisely, you traitor!" answered a hundred voices, and a hundred weapons were drawn upon him. Bleeding, but still alive, he sank down, then a man, one of the people, by name Michele de Santis, pressed through the crowd. He had to avenge himsell of a personal insult : with one stroke of his heavy butcher's knife he separated the head from the body. Thus tragical and painful, says Don Francesco Capecelatro, was the end of Don Giuseppe Carafa, the first in these citizen riots who steeped the ground with noble blood. He was of an illus trious family, lively and acute in mind, captivating and noble in appearance. But he could not control his anger, and was easily led into acts of cruelty and murder, by which he 320 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. became allied in a degree little becoming a man of his illus- trious family with adventurers and people of depraved conduct, who under his protection perpetrated a number of crimes which were not punished by the royal officers, as they ought to have been, out of consideration for Don Giuseppe. These and other causes drew upon him the hatred of the lower class of people, and occasioned his untimely end. But the murder was not enough ; the populace vented its scorn and fury upon the disfigured corpse. The body was dragged through the town, and remained lying upon the bank of the stream Sebeto till it was privately buried in the chapel of Sta. Maria Mag- dalena, situated upon the bridge of that name. But what did not happen to it before it got there ! One man of the people cut a foot off the corpse, and declared that he would devour it, because Carafa had once made him kiss his feet. When the bystanders, barbarous as they were, shuddered, and wrested the foot from him, he flung himself down and lacerated the dead man with his teeth. The head was stuck upon a pike, and so carried about in triumph till it reached the market-place. Masaniello addressed the pallid head in the coarsest and most abusive language, beat it with the stick that he held in his hand, and caused it to be sec up, with seventeen other heads, in the middle of the place, with a tablet upon which was in- scribed, " This is the punishment for betrayers of their coun- try." Afterwards the head ai.d foot were placed in an iron cage over the Porta San Gennaro, and remained there in a state of putrefaction till the morning after the fall of Masa- niello, when Don Girolamo Carafa and many relations of the family knocked down the cage, and buried the melancholy re- mains privately in the neighbouring church of S. Giovanni in Porta. Masaniello gave Michele de Santis a thousand ducats as a reward for the execution of this deed. He set four thousand upon the head of the Duke of Maddaloni, and he promised eight thousand to any one who would deliver him up alive. He was supposed to have been observed first in one place and then in another. A woman reported that he had been seen in Arenella, a small village behind the Vomero. Immediately a number of armed men rode there after him ; but Diomed Carafa had been beyond the reach of his pursuers for many hours. He had escaped ; his goods and those of many of his SACK AND PLUNDER OF CONVENTS. 327 servants, who were murdered because they wore tlie livery of the Carafas, atoned for it. Masaniello marched with a strong force to the palace of Maddaloni, in the Borgo de' Vergini, that was no longer defended as it had been before. "What they found of valuable furniture was dragged out. But the richest spoils were taken by the mob in the adjoining convent of Santa Maria della Stella and that of the barefooted monks of St. Augustin, where the duke fancied that he had secured his best efiects. The most beautiful curtains of gold brocade, and wrought with stuffs, Arras carpets with compositions of many figures, rare pictures, vessels of silver and gold adorned with jewels, magnificent carriages and noble horses, and a quantity of gold everything was brought out. The plate only was valued at ten thousand scudi, and was afterwards given into the care of a rich merchant, Marco di Lorenzo, by whom it was kept back, notwithstanding the just claims of Carafa, who to indemnify himself laid waste the lands of the merchant in the territory of Capua, and drove away his flocks. The hero of the people did not yield these objects to the flames, but caused them to be brought to the market-place, with other beautiful furniture, which had been delivered up to him from terror by the monks and nuns of several convents, where stood all these valuable things, exposed to the sun, the dust, and other damage. But the number of victims which fell upon this and two following days was above a hundred. The viceroy was so much the further from coming to any agreement, the more Masaniello's power and authority in- creased, and the more uncomfortable and dangerous his own position became, in the midst of a rebellious city, in the con- fined space in the castle, and a scarcity of provisions. He therefore thought himself obliged to disown in writing a know- ledge of the unsuccessful plan of Diomed Carafa, and pressed the archbishop to hasten the business. This was not easy, owing to the savage excitement of the victorious and drunken populace, and the intrigues of the artful advisers of the Fisher- man, who were pursuing at the same time their own selfish aims. The streets were become to such a degree the theatre for deeds of violence, that Masaniello issued an order that each person was obliged to keep a lamp or torch burning before his own dwelling. The assaults made with daggers, pocket 328 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. pistols, and other short weapons were so frequent, that after the leader of the people had been twice shot at, a prohibition was issued against wearing cloaks and long clothes that could conceal such weapons. Even women were no longer allowed to wear certain articles of clothing, which on account of their size were called guard infante, and even the Cardinals rilo- marino and Trivulzio laid aside their robes. In the most im- portant positions of the city barricades were built with baskets full of earth and heavy planks for the double- purpose of re- pelling the sallies of the Spaniards from the castle, and pre- venting them from receiving supplies from without. The people were masters of the whole town, with the exception of Castelnuovo, the park, and the adjoining artillery, and of the castles dell' Uovo, Sant' Elmo, and Pizzofalcone, positions which placed it in the power of the Spaniards to turn Naples into a heap of ruins if they made use of the artillery. But the Duke of Areas wished to spare the town as long as pos- sible, and the castles were weakly garrisoned, and still less stocked with provisions. At length on Thursday the llth of July, on the fifth day of the insurrection, an agreement was concluded. In the church of the Carmelites it was solemnly announced that the viceroy had formally confirmed the old privileges of the town, and increased them by new ones, which were immediately made known. As a proof and seal of the reconciliation, Masaniello, who had now, besides the power, the title also, of a captain- general of the most faithful people, was to have a conference with the viceroy. It was difficult to persuade the Fisherman to take this step. He owned that he saw the gallows before him : he would confess thoroughly before he went, and it re- quired all the archbishop's power of persuasion to decide him. At hist he consented, under the condition that the conference Minulii be in the palace and not in the castle. He previously issued a proclamation through the whole town to know how many armed men could be marched out. The answer was, a hundred and forty thousand, but three hundred thousand if there were arms ready for them. A number of men indeed poured forth from the environs, but it is easy to perceive the exaggeration of the numbers. When everything was arranged, Masaniello began to dress himself; lie had fasted the whole day, excepting some white bread dipped in wine after that the PROCESSION AND DRESS OF MASANIELLO. 329 cardinal's physician had tasted it, for he was possessed with the idea of being poisoned, and almost starved himself. Hi* dress was of silver brocade ; he wore at his side a richly orna- mented sword, his head was covered with a hat with a white plume in it. In such pomp he is represented in a remarkable picture by the hand of Domenico Garguilo, called Micco Spa- done, whose paintings have represented to us many of the scenes of this revolution. The Fisherman of Amalfi is riding at the head of a tumultuous crowd, surrounded by adults and boys ; his white horse is made to gallop, upon his breast is to be seen a medallion with a picture of the Madonna of Carmel. In the middle of the market-place, where the scene opens opposite to the church of the Carmelites, there are bloody heads ranged in a double row round a marble pedestal on which no statue is any longer to be seen, and the gibbet and the wheel await the new victims amongst those who are persecuted, or have already been dragged hither by the popu- lace. The afternoon was already advanced, when Cardinal Filo- marino got into his carriage before the church, with his house-steward, Giulio Genuine, and two persons of his suite. Masaniello rode at his right hand, and at his left Arpaja, the deputy of the people. In the streets through which the pro- cession passed, from the market-place to the square of the castle, the people were anned, and formed into bands of sixty hundred companies, who lowered their colours before the cardinal and the captain-general. Thousands and thousands had hastened hither to witness so remarkable a spectacle. In the square of the castle were placed over the gate of the palace of the prince of Cellamare the effigies of Charles V. and Philip IV. under a canopy. Masaniello stopped, drew out the charter of the old privileges, together with the new, that he carried before him on his saddle, and spoke to the assembled crowd, to whom he announced tliat everything was settled. The people replied that what he had done was well done, and so the procession marched on, preceded by a trumpeter, proclaiming " Long life to the king, and the mast faithful people of Naples !" The viceroy had repaired to the palace, which had been hastily prepared. He received the deputation of the people in the saloon of Alva, where the frescoes recalled the most 330 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. glorious times of Spain. The environs of the palaee, on the contrary, recalled the stormy interview. At the entrance of the square, on the side of Castelnuovo, the Spanish infantry guarded a strong barricade, which only left a narrow thorough- fare, so that the carriage of the cardinal with difficulty got on further. At the gate of the old palace of Pedro de Toledo, by that of the stables and of the park, ramparts of earth were thrown up. Upon the opposite Pizzofalcone you perceived trenches and a half-moon. With the Italian infantry was Prospero Tuttavilla, a son of the Duke of Calabritto, an illegitimate scion of the illustrious race of D'Estouteville of Normandy, who descended from the Cardinal-Archbishop of Rouen, who built the facade of the church of S. Agostino at Rome, and had obtained important possessions in the king- dom. The great gate of the palace was also strongly fortified. The courtyard was full of Spanish, German, and Walloon soldiers, the cannon was ready mounted. In short, everything indicated war, whilst the word was peace. This, as well as the unusual precautions, made a deep impression upon the man of the people. The Duke of Arcos stood at the end of the saloon, Masaniello flung himself down before him ; the viceroy raised him up, with friendly words, embraced him, went with him and the cardinal into the adjoining royal saloon, and when the throng of people filled the square and the uproar continued to increase, he entreated him to show himself on the balcony. Masaniello did it ; but when he re- entered the saloon he was so overpowered by the sensations of the day that he sank unconscious on the ground. Now the viceroy became uneasy, when he thought of the vengeance of the people if anything happened to their idol. But Masa- niello recovered, and the actual conference began. The ar- ticles of the treaty were confirmed, and their publication was to take place two days afterwards. Masaniello was recognised in his office as captain-general of the people, received a golden chain, and was conducted by the proud duke to the stairs, and publicly called a faithful servant of the king, and a glorious defender of the people ; he kissed the hand of the viceroy, and was dismissed by him with another embrace. Night had come on. The streets waving with people, glittered with a thousand lights, through which the procession passed back to the archi- episcopal palace opposite the cathedral. It was not till late PEACE CONCLUDED TRIUMPH OF THE POPULACE. 331 that the Fisherman returned to his humble dwelling in the carriage of the cardinal. The peace was concluded, though not yet solemnly ratified ; but how little did the state of the town correspond to it ! In the same night, whilst Masaniello was entertained by the Cardinal Filomarino, a cry was again raised of treason and banditti ; watch-fires were kindled, and the clatter of arms heard. The captain-general of the people governed, as there was no magistracy in Naples. In the obscurity of the night he caused the heads of fourteen persons to be cut off, without trial or judgment, upon the accusation of their being ban- ditti. He had a wooden scaffold erected before his house of the same sort as the booths of the mountebanks. Here he issued his orders, and printed decrees appeared : " By the command of the illustrious Lord, Maso Aniello of Amalfi, Captain-general of the most faithful people." He had me- morials and petitions brought to him on the point of a halberd, and read to him by his secretary, upon which he issued his orders like an absolute ruler. The price of oil and of corn was fixed. It was forbidden to show oneself in the streets after the second hour of the night, excepting to administer the last rites of the church, or to visit the sick and women in labour. All priests were to present themselves, that it might be investigated whether they were real ecclesi- astics, or banditti in disguise. A number of burdensome directions about costume were published. It was a rich harvest for spies and accusers. What had been at the first a defence against tyranny and arbitrariness became now only worse tyranny. No families of noble rank could remain. None could trust, or even order about their servants, for Masaniello summoned the domestics to arms, and rewarded their treachery to their lords. Armed bands, under known leaders, had formed themselves, and went their own ways un- checked. Five days were sufficient to put an end to all dis- cipline and order. During these wild doings no privacy could be had. If the errors of the nobility had been borne hitherto, now began the saturnalia of the populace, and they were far more bloody and horrible than those of the nobles. If it had only been those of the populace, but the depra.ity had spread more and more ; the tendency to confusion had tainted even their superiors. Amongst these were a number 332 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. of young artists. Aniello Falcone, especially famous as a painter of battles, as in Rome Gaspar Poussin had adorned churches with landscapes, the courts of convents with scenes of battle, he was not satisfied with only painting such scenes. He was himself a practised fighter, and had already joined in many frays. When it happened that one of his relations was killed by two Spanish soldiers in some quarrel, Aniello ran into his workroom, summoned his pupils, and attacked the sol- diers. These obtained help from their comrades ; a bloody fray began, which ended with one of the young painters re- maining dead upon the spot, the rest were obliged to fly. Aniello Falcone swore vengeance against the Spaniards. A few days afterwards the insurrection of the people began. The opportunity was favourable ; the young painters joined with alacrity. They abandoned their pencil and brush, fetched their relations and friends, procured themselves arms, elected their master as their captain, and called their troop the Death Alliance. One of these men had obtained a name in art and poetry Salvator Rosa. He was then thirty-two years old, and the time was past when the brother-porters, monks of the bare- footed Carmelites of St. Theresa, beat him because he had drawn his youthful compositions with black coal on the white walls of their convent ; or when he received some grani for his little landscapes, whilst the dealers sold them for just ;is many carlins, and the Cavalier Lanfranco, who considered himself as a Raphael Sanzio, recognised as he passed by the merit of the little pictures offered cheap for sale at the corner of the streets. Salvator Rosa had seen much in Rome and in Florence, when he returned to Naples. Here it was that his mind, being inclined to adventures, seduced him to join the troop of Aniello Falcone. There were besides him that Micco Spadaro, who has already been mentioned, and who has left behind in his pictures, rich in figures, such animated repre- sentations^ of the melancholy events of those days, as also of the succeeding ravages of the pestilence, Carlo Coppola and other of Aniello's pupils ; both the Fracanzanos, scholars of Spagnoletto, who taugiit themselves to be great painters, but had to struggle with many difficulties all their lives; Viviano Codagora, who made himself a name by his perspective and his views of cities ; Andrea Vaccaro, one of the painters of his day the most sought after in the style of Guido Rene, who THE DEATH SOCIETY. 333 forgot his wife and his fifty years to join in the bravados of the others, and even made his son, a youth of fourteen, do the same. A number of others attached themselves to those whom we have named. The Death Society marched through the streets armed with sword and dagger. Where they perceived one Spaniard they pursued and murdered him without any mercy, and as they spent their days in these heinous actions, and yet were obliged to support themselves, they painted during the night, in haste, and by such a vivid light, that one of them, Carlo Coppola, lost his sight in consequence. At first, Giuseppe Ribera, availing himself of the great favour in which he stood with the Spaniards, protected these ill-advised persons, and ex- cused them to the Duke of Arcos as well as he could ; but as they went madly on, and the complaints of them increased, Spagnoletto withdrew his protection that he might not fall into disgrace himself. Some, as Micco Spadaro, Vaccaro and others, repented, and returned to their easels, but the remainder only became more audacious the more Masaniello looked upon them with favour. But at the sudden fall of their protector they dispersed like frightened deer. Salvator Rosa, who had painted the Fisherman of Amalfi more than once, escaped with Aniello Falcone to Rome, where he remained whilst Aniello went to France and became known to Louis XIV. by his pictures of battles, and recommended by Colbert for mercy to the Viceroy the Count of Castrillo, so that at last he returned to his country. Francesco Fracanzano met with the saddest fate. After that he, through the protection of the family of Filomarino, had escaped persecution in the time of the Count of Onate, he was imprisoned during the great famine of the year 1656 because he had endeavoured to stir up tho people to rebellion by circulating reports that the Spaniards had in- fected the town with poisonous powder : he himself died of poison iu his prison. This was the condition of the town of Naples at the time when King Philip's Viceroy and the Captain-General of the most faithful people met in the cathedral on the 17th of July to publish solemnly the new treaty. The venerable church had witnessed many changes in the relations and destinies of the kingdom proclaimed in her vaulted halls, with the history of which it had, so to speak, grown up ; but never had it been the theatre for such a degradation of the royal power. Before 334 THE CARAT AS OF MADDALONI. the ceremony took place, the Duke of Arcos was obliged to submit to many humiliations. No cavalier was allowed to accompany him in the procession, because Masaniello had for- bidden it. The Fisherman had disarmed all persons of rank, but armed Popolans stood in double rows along the .Mnvts, which were necessarily cleansed from dirt and rubbish, and the balconies were hung with tapestry. The Cardinal-Archbishop, in pontifical attire, took his seat under the baldachin, whilst at some distance from him sat the Viceroy and Masaniello. The Knight of Alcantara, Donato Coppola, Duke of Canzano, read the articles instead of the secretary of the kingdom. The principal contents were the confirmation of the old privileges of Ferdinand of Aragon till the time of Charles V. ; a remis- sion of all guilt and punishment for crimes of leze majesty, and, on account of the disturbances, an equality of the nobility and people with reference to the number of votes in affairs of the town ; the abolition of all gabelles and taxes which had been introduced since the time of the Emperor Charles V.. \vith the exception of those upon which private persons had rights ; liberty of the market, and remission of punishment for the ex- cesses committed in the destruction of houses and property. The ratification of the treaty from Madrid was to follow within the three months ; till that time the people were to continue in arms. During the reading of these articles Masaniello had been very uneasy, and had made observations first on one point and then on another. When Donato Coppola had finished reading, he wanted to take off his sumptuous dress of silver brocade in the middle of the church, because he declared that he was now nobody. When he was hindered from doing this, he flung himself upon the ground and kissed the feet of the cardinal. The Duke of Arcos swore to the contract, with his hand upon the Gospels. The archbishop sang the Te Deum, and the people snouted " Long life to the King of Spain !" The com- panies fired their rifles ; the Viceroy returned through the streets, swarming with men, to the castle, and everywhere re- sounded the cry, " Long life to the King and the Duke of Arcos !" Then, as Masaniello returned home 011 foot, the companies all lowered their colours as he passed. The power of the Fisherman of Amalfi was at its height ; but already he was near his ruin. The unusual way of life, the always increasing excitement, the constant speaking and MASANIELLO'S MADNESS AND FALL. 335 watching, the small quantity of nourishment which he took from dread of poison all this, in the most fearful heat of summer, affected him bodily and completely turned his head. His actions can only be explained by their being the beginning of insanity. If a crowd of people did not please him, he at- tacked and wounded them right and left. All the persons, amounting to a thousand, that lived near his cottage on the market-place, he expelled from their dwellings, that these might be destroyed and he might build a large palace for him- self. He lavished gold and silver with prodigality, and gave a number of prostitutes rich dowries ; he distributed the titles of princes and dukes, gave great banquets at Poggio Keale and at Posilipo, to which he invited the Viceroy, and sent his wife and mother in magnificent dresses to visit the Duchess of Arcos. ".If your Excellency is the Vicequeen of the ladies," said the Fisherman's wife, " I am the Vicequeen of the women of the people." But fear of the Duke of Maddaloni haunted him like a spectre. He ordered his beautiful villa at Posilipo to be destroyed, and made his people ransack once more his pillaged palace at Santa Maria della Stella. The barber of the Duke and a Moorish slave bought their lives, the first by giving him various jewels that had been concealed, and the other told him that it was Diomed Carafa who had caused the admiral's ship to be set on fire, which had been blown into the air last May. The Moor, for this lie, obtained the com- mand of four companies of the people, but Masaniello's fall was brought about by his own people. The Fisherman put to death many poor musicians, merely because they had been in the service of Maddaloni. The Duke's correspondence was intercepted, but as it was written in cipher it only increased the suspicion. The new master of Naples repaired himself to the desolate palace of Carafa and wanted to dine there ; but he changed his mind, and had a dinner served up with great pomp at a neighbouring convent. Whilst he was eating there, some of his people dragged hither two portraits of the Duke and his father Don Marzio. Upon them he vented his childish rage ; smashed the frames, cut out the heads, which he put on pikes, which he commanded to be placed upon the table before him. On his return from the market he put on a suit of Carafa's clothes, of blue silk embroidered with silver ; he hung on his neck a gold chain, and fastened in his hat a diamond 336 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. clasp, all the property of his enemy who had escaped. Then he flung himself on a horse, drew forth his pistols with both hands, and threatened to shoot any one who approached him, or who showed himself at the windows, galloped to the sea, where was the gondola of the Viceroy, undressed himself in it, was dried with fine Dutch linen, and put on a shirt of Mad- daloni's trimmed with lace ; and hearing that Maddalorn had gone towards Piedimonte d'Alife, he ordered a troop of two thousand men to march thither and seize him. But as these men, undisciplined in arms, as usual played their part as heroes better in the streets than in the open field, they fared wretchedly. The Prince of Colobrano, a cousin of the Duke's, with some other friends, surprised them suddenly in the mountains with not more than a hundred men. Many perished in battle, others of their exertions and of hunger, and when the intelli- gence of Masaniello's unfortunate end reached them, the wretched remainder of the troop returned to Naples. Masaniello's supremacy was approaching its termination madness and cruelty strove within him. It was the worst kind of mob rule. At the entrance of the Toledo, not far from the royal palace, a high gallows was erected. Every complaint was listened to, and no defence ; no one felt secure in their home or in their family ; the houses of the nobility all stood empty, and the most sensible of the people saw that the con- tinuation of this state of things could only lead to universal ruin ; the churches were profaned under the pretext that trea- sures or banditti were concealed in them ; the terrible decora- tions of the great market-place were increased by above two hundred heads, and spread a real plague under the scorching rays of the sun. The Cardinal Filomarino had either lost his influence, or else the dread of losing his popularity made him impotent. Yet he wrote to the Pope : " The wisdom, the acuteness, and the moderation first shown by this man are en- tirely gone since the signature of the capitulation, and are changed into audacity, rage, and tyranny, so that even the people, his followers, hate him. Amongst these followers, before all, were Genuino and Arpajo ; but when they saw that they could do nothing with this hair-brained man, that every- thing was going to ruin, and that their own ill-acquired position was therefore in the greatest danger, they came to an under- standing with the Viceroy and his collateral council. The MURDER OF MASSANIELLO. 337 Viceroy, in his own person, conferred with common mur- derers, and the feast of our Lady of Carmel, Thursday the 16th of July, was fixed for the execution of the plan. During the night all the military posts were strengthened, soldiers were concealed in different houses, and the galleys were brought near the shore. Silently and gloomily the masses filled the streets, a dull mood seemed to have taken possession of every one. The archbishop was celebrating high mass in the church of Santa Maria del Cannine. Scarcely was it ended and the prelate gone, when Masaniello, with a crucifix in his hand, mounted into the pulpit. His speech was a mix- ture of truth and madness ; he complained of the inconstancy of the people, enumerated his services, described the oppressions that would fall upon them if they deserted him ; he confessed his sins, and admonished the others to do the same before the Holy Virgin that they might obtain the mercy of God, and as he raised the crucifix to bless the people, a woman called to him to be silent, that the Mother of God would not listen to such nonsense. But he began to undress himself in the pulpit, to show how emaciated he was by labour and sleepless nights. A Carmelite monk then sprang upon the lunatic, compelled him to descend the steps, and dragged him, with the assistance of the rest of the monks, into the convent, where, in a com- plete state of exhaustion, he flung himself upon a bed in one of the cells and fell asleep. The mercenaries hired by the Duke of Arcos and nine men belonging to the people had been for a long while in the church armed with daggers and pistols. Scarcely was the divine service ended, which had been interrupted by this scan- dalous scene, when these men hastened to the convent and in- quired for Masaniello. The monks wanted to defend him an uproar took place. The sleeper awoke, believed that they were some of his followers, and hastened to the gates. At the same moment the murderers pressed into the passage and perceived their victim. Five shots were fired. Mortally wounded by one of them he fell to the ground, whilst he covered his face with his hand, uttering the cry, " Ah, ye vagabonds !" Sal- vat ore Cattaneo cut oft' his head with a blunt knife, seized hold of it by the hair, and hastened out with the cry, " Long life to the King of Spain !" The populace stood there thunder- struck ; no sound was heard, but none detained the murderers, z 338 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. who hurried off. They soon met some small bands of Spanish soldiers, whom they joined, and exclaiming " Long life to Spain !" they went on. The Viceroy, accomjwnicd by nume- rous noblemen, liad just left the castle to go into the park when the news of the accomplishment of the deed reached him. It is said that he showed his joy in a way unbecoming his liiuh rank ; but Don Francesco Capecelatro, who was pre- sent, only remarks that the news arrived at the moment that the Duke of Arcr-s had said he would pay ten thousand ducats to anyone person who would bring him Masaniellodead or alive. The tumult began immediately afterward. The murderers came, bearing the head upon a pike ; boys seized the corpse, dragged it through the streets, and buried it outside the -city walls by the gate which leads to the market-place. Many best kliown as partisans of the murdered man atoned by their lives for their short day of power his relations were secured. But still the humour of the people was so little to be trusted, that the Viceroy caused the fortifications to be hastily put into repair. The news of the deed reached the Cardinal Filomarino whilst on his way from the Carmine to his own house ; he went directly to the palace, and then rode with the Duke of Arcos and many of the principal nobles to the cathedral, and from thence through the streets to the market. The armed troops of people still stood everywhere: they lowered their colours with the cry " Long life to the King and the Duke of Arcos !" The privileges were confirmed and a general pardon proclaimed, from which only Masaniello*s brother and brother-in-law were excluded. Francesco An- tonio continued to be deputy of the people; Giulio Genuine entered upon his promised office as one of the presidents of the chamber : on the very same day many of the nobles returned to their deserted mansions. The jMipulaee was still as if stunned ; but, as soon as the following morning, when the price of bread was raised because the Commissary-General of provisions and the bakers declared that it was quite impossible to subsist upon the hitherto low prices, the humour of the people suddenly changed. The mob complained that its hero and deliverer had been given up ; they hastened to dig up the corpse ; they sewed the head to the body, washed it, put it on some sumptuous clothes, and laid it with his bare sword and staff of command upon a bier EXHUMATION AND FUNERAL. 339 covered with white silk, which was bome by the captains which Masaniello had appointed. Above four thousand priests con- ducted the procession by the order of the archbishop, who wavered incessantly between the two parties, and excited more evil than good. The standard-bearers dragged their banners upon the ground, the soldiers lowered their arms, the dull sound of muffled drums was heard. Above forty thousand men and women followed the coffin, some singing litanies, the others telling their beads. The bells pealed from all the steeples, lights were burning in all the windows. The procession passed by all the sediles of ijue nobles, and everywhere it was saluted by the armed troops. A Spanish company was sta- tioned by the street of the harbour, and the people were de- sirous that it should also salute the body. " Depart with the blessing of God," replied the captain ; " nobody orders me but the Duke of Arcos." The procession had left the Carmine at the twenty-second hour of the day ; it did not return till the third hour of the night. The corpse was lowered into the earth with the usual ceremonies in the vicinity of the church doors. Never had a viceroy or a great prince been borne to the grave as was Tommaso Aniello of Amalfi. z 2 340 THE CABAFAS OF MADDALONI. CHAPTER II. WAR DURING THE YEA.RS 1647-1648. An imperfect and only apparent tranquillity after the death of Masaniello Flight of Genuine The Gabelles Open war Advantages gained by the troops of the people Francesco Toraldo captain- general of the people New treaty of the 7th of September The Carafas of Maddaloni outlawed by the people Giovann' Angelo Barile Arrival of the Armada of Don John of Austria Measures taken against, many of the leaders of the people Attack of the Spaniards upon the town Victory of the people Don John retires to Bajac Destruction of the pictures and arms of the king The Nuncio Altieri French intrigues Attack of the people upon the posts garrisoned by the Spaniards Murder of Toraldo Gennaro Annese captain-general Siege of Castelnuovo Pictures of Salvator Rosa Condition of the provinces Extension of the rebellion in the feudal principalities and in the royal cities The Count of Conversano in Nardd Dcccitfulness of the Duke of Arcos Persecution of the Duke of Maddaloni Rising of the nobility in behalf of Spain Battles in the vicinity of Naples Skirmish at Scafati Conquest of Accrra and Aversa Successes of the barons at Castellammare, &c. Don Vincenzo Tuttavilla undertakes the com- mand of the roval and baronial troops Defence of the bridges of Scafati Don Francesco Capecelatro's description of the state of the neighbourhood of the capital Want of union amongst the royalists Blockade of Naples Don John's ineffectual negotiations with the rebels Henry of Lorraine Duke of Guise Landing of Guise at Naples the 16th of November Naples a republic Homage performed in the cathedral Conference with the nobles Advan- tages of the rebels in the provinces The fleet of the Duke of Richelieu on the coasts Deplorable condition of the town at the beginning of the new year, 1648 Dissensions between Guise and Gennaro Annese The Duke of Arcos resigns his office Don John of Austria takes his place provisionally Rapid change in the for- tunes of war in the provinces The Count of Onatc viceroy, the 2nd March, 1648 Guise's attack upon the island of Nisida Onate's negotiation with the leaders of the people Re-conquest of the town on the 5th April Guise's flight and imprisonment Ineffectual attempts' of the French, later, against Naples. THE insurrection which derived its name from Masaniello had lasted nine days. The war and revolution, of which he performed the first act, lasted nine months. The whole king- dom of Naples was, during this melancholy period, laid waste in the most dreadful manner. The ties of order and discipline OPEN WAR. 341 were completely loosened, the old relations were entirely de- stroyed. Cunning adventurers profited by the faults, as well as the weakness of the Spaniards ; and if the Spaniards, not- withstanding their faults and weakness, were in the end victo- rious, they were indebted for it, next to the eminent talent of one individual, to their own perseverance, the devoted assist- ance of a large part of the highest order of nobility, and also to the dissensions amongst their enemies, and the fickleness of the people. It is not our intention, or within the limits of this present work, to give a detailed account of this long rebel- lion, and of the bloody battles which laid the whole king- dom desolate from the Liris and the Tronto to the Ionian sea. The position which the aristocracy then assumed the last appearances and forms of war under the feudal system the reward which the Neapolitan nobles reaped from their Spanish rulers is the more to be considered because it was essentially characteristic of that crisis. The peace that reigned in Naples after the death of Masa- niello was only apparent. The expression peace is perhaps an unfit one. For no day passed without noise and tumult. Suspicion and hatred were not silenced. The people continued in arms, and regarded the cavaliers and soldiers with threaten- ing looks whenever any intercourse took place ; it seldom ended without murder, and intercourse did continually take place. The absence of the murderers of the Fisherman in- creased the discontent, so that the Viceroy was obliged to send them to Rome, with the price of their crime, to with- draw them from the fury of the people. A trial about the effects that had been robbed and burnt, raised an angry storm against Giulio Genuine, who was only saved by a kind of ho- nourable exile to the island of Sardinia, and not long after- wards laden with deserved and universal hatred ; he went to Spain and to Port Mahon, in Minorca, where he ended a life as long as it had been mischievous. The gabelles were once more the cause of an insurrection in the capital. Their abo- lition had been solemnly promised, with the exception of those which had been farmed out to private persons. But as this was the case with all the taxes, the concession was completely illusory. The populace was enraged, the old bands appeared, the great market-place was once more the place of meeting, the Viceroy shut himself up again in Castelnuovo, tried to 342 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. amuse the people with evasive answers, to gain time, and was obliged again to promise what he had no thoughts of fulfilling. Scarcely had breathing time been gained, when all was air; tin confusion, and from a skirmish of the mob with a German sentinel at the palace, a fight arose which left far behind in horror the days of July. This time it was a rebellion in the worst sense of the word. The masses of the people, without a general leader, fought like madmen. They took by storm most of the important positions in the town, the custom-houses, the Carthusian convent of San Martino, close to the castle of Sant' Elmo ; even the Pizzofalcone, which commands Castelnuovo as well as Castel del' Uovo. The Archbishop had no longer any influence over these mad- men, who began to besiege the fortresses in form. The trenches and barricades prevented communication on all sides. The soldiers that could be seized, whether Germans, Spaniards, or Walloons, were all murdered. The castles held out. The rebels saw, that without a common ruler they could do no- thing, and they offered the supreme command to Don Carlo della Gatta, a valiant warrior, wiio had acquired a well-de- served fame by his defence of .Orbitello. As he declined, they chose Francesco Toraldo d'Aragona, Prince of Massa, the brave defender of Taragona against the French under the command of Marshal De la Motte Houdancourt. He also refused to undertake the dangerous office ; but the populace surrounded his palace, and cried out that it was felony against the people, who had only taken up arms to defend themselves and the crown of Spain against a bad minister ; and a hint from the Viceroy, as well as the prayers of his terrified young wife, induced him to accept the command. Toraldo, without anticipating it, sealed his own sentence of death. He wished to preserve his fidelity to his king, and soon found himself in a completely false position with regard to the mob, who plunged every day a step further into rebel- lion, and would not listen to anything. Sant' Elmo and Castelnuovo were besieged, and the first was in imminent danger from a well-placed mine ; but the Captain-General prevented the people from making too rapid progress in their military operations. After an armistice, a new treaty followed, which was sworn to, and concluded with the same ceremonies as the first, on the 7th of September, 1647. It was so disgraceful to AETICLES OF THE NEW TREATY. 343 Spain, and so unjust towards the nobility, that the oath of the Duke of Arcos can only be explained by a mental reservation Eeservatio mentdis. Besides the confirmation of the earlier concessions, it was desired that all Spaniards should leave the town which was to be given up to the care of the people ; the number of the noble-sediles to be reduced to two, Nido and Capuano, all the rest to be abolished ; all the judges' places to be given to native Neapolitans. Only native Neapolitans to be appointed as captains of the galleys, and Gianettino Doria to be deposed from the Admiralty office ; the Castel of Sant' Elmo to be delivered up to the people, and everything besides. Those persons whose houses had been destroyed by fire during the past disturbances were to be banished, to protect them from the vengeance of their enemies. Several families, even to the fourth generation, were to fly the kingdom ; the king having no power to pardon them Carlo Spinelli, and the brothers Sanfelice, Giovan Angelo Barile, Duke of Caivano, the Secretary-General of the kingdom, with all his male pos- terity lastly, Don Diomed Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni, and his sons, grandsons, and great-grand-children in infinitum they were to quit the kingdom within a month. If any of them dared to show themselves, they might be shot at with impunity. There were good reasons for the hatred of the Duke of Caivano. For Don Giovan Angelo Barile, of a poor noble family of the seggio of Capuana, had been the most active and useful tool of the last Viceroy's in assisting them to obtain their ends, especially when it was to move the sediles to a grant of money. This man had practised a system of corruption to an unheard-of degree, lie had made the poor members of the sediles, who could not live at Naples because of the expense, come thither ; had paid for their journey and their residence ; had procured places for them ; and when they were persecuted for debt procured them a safe conduct to dis- pose of their votes, and to conquer the resistance of the inde- pendent barons. He had also constantly kept in view his own advantage, and that of his followers ; and mention has already been made, how, at the beginning of the disturbances, the people vented their fury upon the dwelling and the effects of Barile. The Duke of Arcos ratified the articles, reserving only to himself a right of appeal to the king about the departure of the Spaniards and the surrender of Sant' Elmo : no viceroy could 344 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. jonsent to such articles of his own free will. The populace vas tranquillized, and the Viceroy gained time ; but how dis- graceful was the part that he acted ! The news of the dis- turbances in Naples had excited the greatest consternation at Madrid ; and as the kingdom was almost destitute of troops, it was resolved to send fleets and men. On the 1st of October, the sentinels from the towers of Sant' Elmo descried the ar- mada in the horizon. The royal flag waved upon the Castle of Sant' Elmo, and not long afterwards forty-eight ships anchored off Santa Lucia, under the command of Don John of Austria, the natural son of Philip IV. by an actress. He was eighteen, captivating in appearance, and engaging in manners; brilliant and amiable, like that Don John who seventy years before had excited the admiration of Naples, valiant, but not favoured by the fortune of war, like the conqueror at Lepanto. The number of troops conveyed by the fleet corresponded neither to the strength of it, nor to the importance of the under- taking. The intention was to secure the coasts of Italy from the French, and there were only four thousand men on board ! Don John began to treat with the town before he would allow them to land. He refused to recognise the concessions of the Duke of Arcos, till the people had laid down their arms, and returned to their obedience. Don Francesco Toraldo, per- ceiving that this was the decisive moment, did what he could to induce the people to yield. He was outvoted, and the suspicion that had been already excited against him, increased to such a degree, that an inferior officer was joined with him in the command, in fact to watch him. A master gunner, Ger.naro Annese by name,, rose in credit with the lower classes of the people, in the same proportion as the Prince of Massa lost his authority, and their confidence. The nego- tiations with the chief of the people led to no result. The Duke of Arcos urged on the negotiation. In his gloomy ha- bitation at Castelnuovo, he brooded over gloomy plans. He wanted to revenge himself for the many humiliations which he had experienced during three months, and for the state of incivility to which he had been reduced. Contrary to his will and his better knowledge, Don John of Austria gave his consent after four days to an attack upon the quarter of the town occupied by the rebels. When this resolution was settled the Viceroy wanted to strike another blow. On the evening CONFLICT UNDER DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA. 245 of the 4th of October, he caused many of the leaders of the rebels, and the deputy of the people, Arpaja, to be seized. They were examined at Castelnuovo before a special commis- sioner, and convicted of a treasonable correspondence with the French ambassador at Rome. They were conducted into the deep ditch of the castle, where between gigantic walls an icy wind blows even in summer. Here they were all strangled, except Andrea Polito, who laid the mine to Sant' Elmo, and was hanged within the sight of the same by one foot ; and Arpaja, who might have saved himself if he would have .en- tered into the Viceroy's plans. He refused, and died in prison at Oran, on the African coast. On the same night, the majority of the crews were landed, and they joined the troops contained in the arsenal and Castel- nuovo. The battle began at midday on the 5th of October. The artillery of the castles and of the fleet opened their fire upon the lower town. The royal troops, under cover of it, took the Pizzofalcone, and all the heights. They would have been victorious if their numbers had not been so small. But from the moment in which the thunder of the cannon began, the red standard was raised upon the tower of the Carmel, near the great market-place, and thousands and thousands of Popolans rushed on, no longer to defend themselves, but to attack others. The heavy cannon-balls swept the streets and destroyed the houses ; but the people could not be kept back. Their principal object of attack was directed against Castel- nuovo ; trenches were intersected by trenches, barricades were erected against barricades. One of the batteries erected by the people thundered against the strong tower of Sta. Chiara, one of the most important positions, because it commanded the lower part of the town. If the populace, commanded this time by Marcantonio Brancaccio, and many others, besides Don Francesco Toraldo, did not attain their object, this was still less the case with the Spaniards. Valiantly as they fought, they only succeeded in maintaining their positions, and not in driving out the people from theirs. The unfortunate town was exposed to all the devastations of war. Churches and convents were not spared ; a number of buildings were in * ruins ; the squares were changed into fortresses ; the prisons of Castel Capuano were burst open ; the galley slaves let loose. On both sides pardon was unknown, and the prisoners were murdered. 346 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL The battle had lasted many days, when the ammunition begun to fail in the castles as well as in the advanced positions of the troops. From the first moment when Don John of Austria had perceived the fearful exasperation, and the wild courage which animated the people, he had repented his attack. He had been deluded with the idea, that one earnest demon- stration would be sufficient to restore tranquillity to the masses. Now he saw his brave troops decimated by mas- sacres as bloody as they were useless; and his ships, which were anchored close to the shore, severely injured by the bullets of the enemy. He withdrew his troops to Bajae. The garrisons of the fortresses still held out ; but the Viceroy was the more apprehensive of their exhaustion, as provisions be- came scarce, as the rebels had cut off their supplies almost on all sides. The leaders of the people also wished to 'make terms, for they were conscious that their undisciplined bands could effect but little against the castles and the perseverance of the Spaniards. But everything failed, owing to the tenacity with which the people clung to the confirmation of the last concessions made to them by the Duke of Arcos, and to the surrender of Sant' Elmo. So the battle went on, though not with the same fury as at the beginning. An important change meanwhile took place. Hitherto the people had at least recognised the external sovereignty of Spain. Whilst they fought against the Spaniards, they pro- fessed their allegiance to the king of Spain ; they rejected the accusation of rebellion, decidedly as well as vehemently ; they had respected the pictures and arms of Philip IV. and his ancestors, and always called themselves his most faithful people. But by degrees this had changed, and the unsuccessful expe- dition of Don John had given the last blow to this feeling of attachment to the royal family. Marcantonio Brancaccio forbade the use of the cry, already become rare, of " Long life to the King !" and removed the arms of Spain. A manifesto of the people on the 17th of October, 1647, set forth the grievances of the nation against their rulers, and invoked the aid of the Pope and the Emperor, of kings and of princes. Political parties were formed ; the most active at first were those who cried " Long life to the Pope ! were he but our liege lord." The Cardinal- Archbishop leaned to this side ; the Nuncio Altieri was familiar with intrigues, and his brother NEGOTIATIONS. 347 was mixed up in it. But Pope Innocent X., and his secre- tary of state, Cardinal Panciroli, had no desire to quarrel with Spain, for so hazardous an enterprise, and Panciroli warned the Nuncio to abstain from such things or at least to be more cautious. " It is better for you to remain at your post," writes Panciroli to Altieri, " and so your Holy Father will allow you ; but his Holiness wishes you for the future to abstain from sending- notes to the people, and in general to transmit anything of any kind in writing, as it might lead to false explanations and conclusions, and cause disagreeable mis- understandings." * Others, and amongst them some of the nobility, inclined towards France, and intriguers were not wanting who laboured in behalf of this power ; and they were especially supported by the Marquis de Fontenay Mareuil, the ambassador of Lewis XIV. to the Holy See. Others again, considered a republic as feasible ; but the great mass of .the middle class began to perceive the danger into which they had fallen by the last steps taken in the revolution. They had been desirous of the abolition of burdens which were too op- pressive, but not of a change in the government and dynasty. They had allowed the populace to have its own way about the gabelles. But when the populace prevailed, they changed their minds, as one insurrection followed upon another, when all commerce was at a stand-still, when all security was at an end, when the town was threatened with being turned into a heap of ruins, and that they were on the point of losing every thing, because they wanted too much. It was this middle class which later gave Spain an easy and bloodless victory. But till this happened, Naples continued the theatre of hor- rible scenes. As the negotiations with Don John of Austria led to no results, the people tried to drive away the troops from the posts which they still occupied within the town. Thus Michele de Santis, the butcher who had murdered Don Giuseppe Carafa, led six hundred men against the Spanish post at Porta Medina. The Viceroy, after whom it was called, as has already been mentioned, had built this gate in the wall of Charles Vth, upon the heights of Montesanto, on the slope of the mountain upon which is situated the Carthusian con- vent and Sant' Elmo. Here stood fifteen Spaniards, armed * Despatches in Cipher, of the 4th January,} 1648, in the Archives Altieri at Rome. 348 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. only with pikes and swords ; they drove back six hundred men. The leaders perceived that, without the advantage of a com- manding position, all individual detached successes were of no avail. Santa Chiara had resisted all their attacks. On the 21st of October a mine was sprung under the tower. Don Francesco Toraldo, who had been too weak to extricate him- self, as he might possibly have succeeded in doing from his false position, and who now acted as a sort of check upon the people, commanded the attack in person. The mine was sprung, but being improperly laid, it only injured the neigh- bouring buildings, which buried numbers of the champions of the people under the ruins. The garrison of the convent made a sally at the same time, and the bands of the assailants with- drew, with the cry of treason. Their unfortunate leader was to atone for the treason ; they seized him and dragged him to the market-place. In vain did Don Francesco Toraldo attempt to speak, in vain did his adherents try to silence the mad men. He sank down at the fish-market ; they cut off his noble head upon a stone fish-stall. They stuck it upon a spear ; thus had first Carafa's head been carried in triumph, then that of Masa- niello. They tore the still warm heart from the mangled corpse, and carried it in a silver dish to the convent, where Donna Alvina Frezza, the very beautiful wife of the unfortu- nate man, was staying. The savage murderers desired that the princess would show herself at the gate of the convent to receive the heart of her husband. The nuns, horror-struck, refused to deliver the message: then these savages collected the wood and faggots that were about to set fire to the con- vent. Toraldo's widow, informed of the danger, appeared at the threshold, and was obliged to receive from the hands of the barbarians this dreadful though beloved present. Many even of the mob wept at this sight. The corpse remained hanging on the gallows for two days, then they took it down, and in one of those sudden revulsions of mind that so often take place amongst the rude masses, they buried their mur- dered Captain-General with great pomp.* Marcantonio Brancaccio had hoped to occupy the place of the Prince of Massa ; but a gunsmith was preferred to this nobleman. Geunaro Annese had from the beginning of the * Narraziono di Heroes Stampa at Palermo, and at other places, p. 394. NAPLES DECLARED A REPUBLIC. 349 revolution made himself more remarkable for a savage hatred of the Spaniards and of all around him, than for bravery or judgment. He had been one of the most violent opponents of Toraldo, and as commander of the small fort, or, more correctly speaking, the tower gate of the Carmine, the only post of the fortifications that had always remained in the hands of the people he had known how to work upon the mob in the neighbouring part of the town. Gennaro Annese, repulsively ugly, with vulgar manners, dirty and covetous, inexperienced in the art of war, and of equivocal personal courage, was ap- pointed, it is said by French intrigues, on the 22nd of October, to be commander-in-chief of the town and kingdom of Naples, and he immediately issued "a proclamation from the royal fortress of the Castle of the Carmine," in which he com- manded obedience to his signature and seal, under pain of falling into disgrace with the most faithful people, together with death and confiscation of goods. The last traces of Spa- nish dominion were now obliterated ; Naples was declared a republic ; the pictures of our Saviour and of St. Januarius were placed under a canopy in the great market-place ; a train of corrupt lawyers, and of the lowest kind of intriguers, clung to the new commander-in-chief, and governed with him, as " the council of the people." The rebellion meanwhile was in as helpless a state as the Viceroy, who continued in Castel- nuovo, and corresponded with Don John of Austria, with the Archbishop and the Nuncio, and with the leaders of the nobility. All mutual confidence was destroyed. The people kept their quarters garrisoned, the troops maintained posts and fortresses on much the same extent of ground as they had occupied after the battle against Don John's sol- diers. The upper town belonged to the Spaniards ; the lower, which was very thickly inhabited, to the people. Broad trenches separated the hostile parties. The royal lines began at the Carthusian convent, S. Martino, under the artillery of the castle of Sant' Elmo, passed along the edges of the moun- tain to the Porta Medina, from thence along the wall to Porta Alba, that is at present entirely within the walls, bend- ing to the new church of the Jesuits and Santa Chiara into the heart of Naples, and so reached to the sea, cutting through the harbour quarter which was commanded by the artillery of Castelnuovo ; but the people had thrown up a strong en- 3f)0 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. trenchiiient there, and fired perpetually at the gate of the castle. The whole eastern division of the town, ancient Naples, was thus in the hands of the rebels.* An excellent picture of Salvator Rosa's, one of the orna- ments of the collection of St. Angelo, in the former palace of Carafa of Maddaloni, represents a scene of the siege of Ca>td- nuovo. The gigantic gloomy building of the fortress of Charles of Anjou, with its lofty towers, rises in the middle, with a view of Molo and the sea. Dark masses of the people are storming it. In the front, you see Genuaro Annese on horseback, as Generalissimo with the staff of command, with a plume in his helmet, a steel coat of mail inlaid with gold, which the former armourer was passionately fond of. Horse- men are riding their horses to and fro, in the smoke of the powder. One of them in a military dress springs upon An- nese tradition says Salvator Rosa himself. Such was the state of things at Naples in the autumn of 1647. Every one was aware that it could not last. For the space of three months complete anarchy had prevailed more or less. The people were terribly wild ; almost all the nobility had forsaken the city, and only in the parts garrisoned by the troops some families had ventured to remain. The supplies were cut off on both sides. The castles suffered most. For whilst the people knew for a time how to keep the roads open to the south-eastern parts of the Terra di Lavoro, towards Nocera and Salerno, and consequently could get provisions into the town, the castles received their supplies generally from the sea, for vessels from Capua sailed down the Vol- turno, and the ships of Giannettino Doria protected the trans- port. But in stormy weather, such as often happened at this season, this was always a difficult thing. The roads by land had been closed for some time to the royal party: immediately upon leaving the grotto of Posilipo, you fell in with ditches and abattis which interrupted communication with Pozzuoli. But before we follow the further progress of the revolution in this unfortunate capital, it is necessary to take a survey of the provinces, and keep in view the nobility who had forsaken Naples. From the moment in which the news of the insurrection of * Narrazione di Hermes Stampa. REVOLTS AGAINST THE NOBILITY 351 the capital had reached the provinces, the disturbances com- menced in a hundred places far and near. The majority of the feudal districts rose against the barons; in the royal cities, the mob revolted against the officers. In the environs of Naples the rebellion began, which soon spread to the Abruzzi, to Basilicata, even into Calabria and Apulia. In the royal cities, the real object was to plunder the rich, and to oppress those who had hitherto been influential from their wealth. In the feudal districts, the hatred against the barons was partly vented in horrible cruelties. Where the nobility had been milder, on the contrary much of the old attachment was shown them, and they could, with the help of their vassals, resist the bloody struggle which broke out not long afterwards. It would lead us too far here, if all the places were to be named where the rebellion burst out. Some few only we will men- tion to show how the flame spread itself from one end of the kingdom to the other. Aquila and Chieti rebelled in the Abruzzi Capua in Terra di Lavoro, one of the most im- portant fortresses in the whole country. Lecce and Trani in Apulia, Cosenza in Calabria. The insurrection first began in Aquila, the ancient capital of the Abruzzi, the inhabitants of which could not forget how their liberties had been destroyed in the year 1465, by the cunning of King Ferdinand and his son Alphonso,* and that since then they had adhered in all the revolutions to the French side, and amongst others as re- lated, were severely punished by the Prince of Orange, in 1529. But here it was not, as everywhere else, the lowest of the people ; but the nobility and the rich citizens, who could not endure that the governor of the province had taken up his residence and placed his tribunal in their town, and checked their hitherto uncontrolled actions. In Eboli, a town of Prin- cipato Citra, on the road from Naples to Calabria, which is to be seen upon the slope of the mountain if you travel from Salerno to the ruins of the temple of Paestum, the people rose up against the illustrious families, who were excluded, by their privileges as nobles, from bearing the common burdens. Se- venteen members of them were, under pretext of an amicable agreement, lured to the market-place, and there beheaded un- mercifully. The executioners said scoffingly, that it was the best agreement that could be made with them. * Machiavelli, Istorie Florentine, b. yii. 352 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALCLXL The feudal districts nearest to the capital were most of them set on fire even in Masaniello's time. In Ottajaao the people revolted against the Medicis ; in Melito against the Muscettolas ; in Bosco against the Piccolominis ; in Nocera against the Carafas ; in Caserta against tlie Caetani ; Serra- capriola, in the Capitanata, rebelled against the Marquis del Vasto ; Sulmona, in the Abruzzi, against the Borgh<- | Nardo, in the Terra d'Otranto, against the Count of Coiiver- sano ; Monteleone, in Calabria, against the Pignatelli ; Dur- razzano against the Garganos. Innumerable larger and smaller places followed their example. Sometimes the people were satisfied with promises, and did no mischief to the barons or their possessions. Sometimes things went on worse. Fran- cesco Maria Carafa, Duke of Nocera, with great difficulty saved his life, whilst his palace was set on fire, and his do- mestics murdered. After some days he returned with many armed men, and took a bloody revenge. The Count of Con- versano compelled Nardo to surrender, but pardoned the in- surgents at the exhortation of the Duke of Arcos, who then and always believed, that he could, by moderation and fair words, tranquillize the country, and gave his instructions in this spirit to his military and civil governors. But scarcely had the Count left the town, and moved towards Conversano, leaving behind him a garrison of a hundred men, when the rebellion broke out afresh. The soldiers were obliged to retire into the castle, where the people kept them as if in a state of siege. When the news reached Conversano, the Count mounted his horse and rode with four hundred of his followers to Nardo. Tradition preserves in the minds of the people of those districts to this day, the cruelty of GianGirolamo Acquaviva, or, as he u as wont to be called, the Cyclops of Apulia. It was the revolution of 1647 which so worked upon the passions of this man, for otherwise he was, though severe and violent, no un- just master to his vassals, whose interests he promoted in various ways. That amongst the barons who then took up arms, he possessed the most military talent, and performed considerable services to the crown, has been acknowledged by all. The Count appeared before the walls of the rebellious city. Many of the inhabitant.- had retired with the garrison into the castle ; they now took courage, made a sally upon the people, and Nardo was obliged to surrender. Acquaviva revenged himself BOLICY OF THE DUKE OF ARCOS. 353 fearfully. One of the principal authors of the rebellion, the Baron Sambiase, an old man of seventy, was hung by one foot. Four canons were shot, and their heads, with their ecclesiastical insignia, were stuck up in their seats in the choir of the cathe- dral. The Syndic had fled to Gallipoli ; but he likewise did not escape imprisonment and death. Many others, like those condemned by the governor of Nardo, died by the hand of the hangman in Conversano, and the place is still called the ' Gallows street.' Their houses were levelled to the ground, the empty place strewn with salt, property to the value of a hundred thousand ducats was confiscated. Thus did Gian Girolamo act ; a dreadful instance of the excesses to which the fury of excited passions led both one side and the other, in the wild time of civil war. Many of these places returned by degrees to tranquillity, and gave their lords important assistance in the war of the Barons, which those attached to the royal side began against the rebels. When the Duke of Arcos saw that his efforts were unavailing, he tried to win over the nobles to himself. The cunning policy of the Viceroy was never at fault. At the beginning of the disturbances, he made use of the nobility to appease the populace : when the nobility were outlawed by the populace he let them fall, to come to an understanding with the victors. This may be excused by the urgent neces- sity of the moment, but his conduct afterwards was not at all better. How the people and the ruler behaved towards the aristocracy is best shown by the example of the Duke of Maddaloni, whom we left at Torella with his wife's uncle, Don Giuseppe Caracciolo. The people had set a price upon his head, had laid waste and burnt his palaces and villas, destroyed his effects, annihilated a great part of his city wealth, perse- cuted his family unrelentingly with disgrace and murder, ba- nished his posterity for ever out of his native country. Diomed Carafa thus severely dealt with, turned to Rome and Flo- rence : it was said that he wished to go to France, and this may well have given rise to the suspicion which was enter- tained of him later. In Rome he tarried only a few hours in the palace of his cousin, Cardinal Carafa ; this was sufficient to cause the Pope to reproach the Cardinal vehemently for having admitted him. In Florence the Archduke Ferdinand II. Medici refused to receive him. The head of a great 2 A 354 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI* family, and one to which Spain owed much, was treated by its adherents as a vagabond. Cardinal Filomarino, a personal enemy of Carafa's, highly extols the prudence of the Medici. When the news was spread in the palace ami in llie town that the duke mentioned, who is so much hated here. \\as not received there, every one poured forth their applause of your Highness," so wrote home the Tuscan agent at Naples.* There was soon a sudden change in this servile feeling, but the state of things did not improve. When the people under Toraldo's compulsory guidance besieged Castelnuovo, when most of the places in the direction of Castellammare and Salerno, from which provisions could with greater facility have been procured, were in the power of the rebels, and, as we have already said, want prevailed in the royal fortress, the only hope left was upon the assistance of the Barons. Their con- duct may often have been criminal ; but in this case they fulfilled with alacrity and with all the energy of their power, their duty to their king and their country, not recollecting old grievances and new vexations. It may be said, that they did it in self-preservation. But it must not be forgotten, that the nobility might long ago have taken advantage of the fearful hatred of the people towards the Spanish government, if they had been so minded ; that Don Francesco Toraldo, had he been am- bitious, might have profited by the public opinion in his favour, when the masses of the people in the heat of the combat cried out, " Come on, Prince, and we will make you king of Naples." It must not be forgotten that the aristocracy re- mained as faithful, when from Rome and from France many allurements were offered, and the loss of Naples to the House of Hapsburg hung by a single hair. That this did not happen was principally owing to the nobility. We shall see later the reward they received. In Capua, at the beginning of the autumn, many chiefs of the Cavaliers assembled by degrees. The Duke of Maddaloni, the Prince of Torella, the Duke of Gravina, and many others, arrived there. Many members of the government had fled thither from Naples. They consulted together, and entered into an alliance with the Duke of Arcos, who saw his position * Report of the Tuscan resident minister, Yincenzo Medici, 20th August, 1647 (correspondence in many volumes, MS., in the Mediccan archives at Florence). SCENERY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF NAPIES. 355 fetting every day worse, from the failure of the attack of Don ohn of Austria. In order to procure provisions, it was ne- cessary to clear the environs of the capital of the rebels, and to confine them in their town quarters. A great number of the places round Naples were, as we have said, in the hands of the insurgents upon the side towards Capua, as well as towards Salerno. When at this present clay we consider the inexhaustibly fertile, thickly inhabited, well cultivated country which surrounds the crater of Vesuvius, hundreds of large and small districts, the dwellings most of them with flat ceilings in- stead of roofs, vines, fig and olive-trees covering every height ; the plains, most of them cultivated as gardens for daily use ; all the roads enclosed by rows of fruit trees clustered with garlands of vines ; everywhere a rich, beautiful, and flourish- ing cultivation ; the horizon bounded by magnificent moun- tains, across them a chain of the same green heights : if we contemplate this country, we shall have some difficulty in realizing that of the environs of the capital of Southern Italy, in the time which we are now describing. Three great roads issue from Naples. The Capuan, which leads off in two ways to Rome, by a third to the Abruzzi and the papal territory. The Apulian, which passing through Avel- lino, Ariano, and Foggia, and then to the left by Tavoliere, and through the flat country to Monte Gargano, and to the right in the fertile plains of corn and olives in the Terra di Bari and Otranto. Lastly, the Calabrian, which between the slope of Vesuvius and the sea, and leaving behind it those districts so often destroyed by the lava-streams of the moun- tain, and so quickly restored, of Portici, Resina, Torre del Greco, and Torre dell' Annunziata, traverses at Scaferno the river of Sarno, and behind the little town of Nocera de' Pa- gani, in the picturesque and thickly wooded bays that separate the magnificent mountains of Castellammare and Amalfi from that of the Principato Citra, and so by the charmingly situated La Cava at Vietri reaches the sea, and shortly afterwards Salerno, one of the most beautiful roads in the world, from the variety of its views, the number and importance of the places, the perpetual productiveness of the soil, the care with which it is cultivated. He who wishes to be conversant with all its beauties in one view, must ascend one of the summits of the mountains at Castellammare, and the heights 2 A 2 356 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. of the northern slope, where is situated at the present, the de- stroyed but very picturesque in its ruins, castle of Lettere. A boundless garden lies before the spectator numberless towns and villages, with their white-shining houses and steeples, peer forth out of the green enamel of the meadows. The Samo winds through fields and woods of the rich plains, which are traversed in nearly the same direction by high roads and rail- roads. Next Angri, a fief of Doria the Genoese ; to the left, Sea tat i and Torre dell' Annunziata ; to the right, half con- cealed by projecting heights, Nocera and the adjacent Pagani ; in the background the mountain, which divides the two Prin- cipati, Citra and Ultra, from each other, on the heights of which glitter Sarno, Palma, and still further, Nola, the burial-place of Augustus ; famous for its potteries in the middle ages it was a nef belonging to one of the many branches of the family of Orsini. But the most beautiful end of this enchanting picture is to the left, where rises above Torre dell' Annunziata near the sea, the mighty mass of Vesuvius, the crater of which is always .changing in shape, after it has produced earthquakes and eruptions, which leave behind them in all the neighbour- hood, a thousand old and new, sad as well as salutary vestiges. But more prominent than all is the buried Pompeii, whose green heap of ashes, in an enclosed field of ruins, is visible at the foot of the mountain, to which it owed its preservation, when apparently destroyed. It was in this plain that the battle between the nobles and the Neapolitan people began. When the summons of the Duke of Arcos sounded in their ears they did not deliberate. The friends of Spain, the indifferent even her hereditary enemies the raising of banners was universal. They saw the kingdom threatened with anarchy ; this imminent dan- ger put an end to every other consideration. As in the times of old, the barons summoned once more their vassals to arms. The system of war had undergone a complete trans- formation, but the new arrangements and rules could not be applied in the present case. The land was stripped of troops with the exception of the few small garrisons in the fortresses; it had been left defenceless to strengthen other and perhaps less threatened points. Gaeta, Castel-Volturno, Capua, Poz- zuoli, wanted their soldiers, and could only lend slight assist- ance. The barons took arms with the greatest haste, and MUSTER OF THE BARONS WITH THEIR VASSALS. 357 undertook in their own persons the command of their followers and vassals. The troops furnished by some of them as early as the latter end of October, a few days after that the Viceroy had implored their assistance, gives us no insignificant idea of the power and wealth which they still possessed. Diomed Carafa was the first of them all to take the field. No rebellion had taken place in his fief proof sufficient that his government was not so bad. He raised 350 horsemen and 342 foot soldiers ; no other noble led so large a troop into the plain of Capua. After him came the D'Avalos, the Marquis del Vasto, with 190 horse and 220 infantry, the Prince of Montesarchio with 130 of the first and 70 of the others. As during the middle ages the great mass of the troops of the barons consisted of cavalry ; the Duke of Jelsi and Prince of Forino, both Caracciolos, levied 146 horsemen; the Duke of Sora Buoncompagni 60 ; the Piccolomini 70 ; the Prince of Torella and some of his friends the same number ; the Duke of Martina and other Caracciolos 50 ; not to mention smaller bands, which numbered from 20, 10, even to 4 men. It was a motley army, without union or discipline, varying in their arms and in their dress, and unwilling to obey orders. Great part of it was composed of peasants snatched from the plough, with unbroken cart-horses ; part of it from domestics of the nobles, a great part of it also of the bulk of those lawless and licentious bravoes and banditti, who now took the field for honourable war as they had for years marched forth on pre- datory excursions. Noblemen of inferior condition, expert in the profession of arms, conducted these companies. There was no question of military discipline or co-operation. Many of the nobles had united from necessity, repressing their old family hatred for the moment, at times perhaps, even whilst under arms, quarrelling with each other their people did the same. They had one common aim, but, as far as the combination, equipment, and arming of the soldiery was concerned, they acted as if each man was fighting only for himself: even when under one common leader, these troops were very little better. The first object was to deliver the Neapolitan plain and free the blockade of the town from the troop of rebels. With so little disciplined strength of war this was difficult, indeed im- possible. The battle began at the foot of Vesuvius. Don Alfonso Piccolomini, son of the Count of Celano, and, as Prince 358 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOHTL of Valle, the founder of that branch of his family which in- herited the estates of the posterity of Field-Marshal Ottavio, the Bohemian village of Nachod, and the dignity of a prince of the empire, shortly before his own death, rode forth from the territory of his father at Cartel lammare with a small band to Torre dell* Annunziata. But fortune did not favour him. In Scafati, his own barony, the people rose up against him ; the peasants from Bosco and other villages on the mountain rushed hither, and Piccolomini had no other resource but to shut himself up in the small castle. It was important to de- fend Torre dell* Annunziata because the place contained the corn-mills which supplied the town with the most flour. The peasants invested the tower, but Don Alfonso drove back their repeated attacks and killed many of them. Meanwhile it was impossible for him to hold out without aid against the hourly increasing superior numbers. He knew that Don Carlo Cape- celatro, Duke of Sejano, had collected soldiers in the village of Sant' Anastasia. which is situated a few miles from the capital at the foot of Vesuvius, or, more correctly speaking, on the mountain of Somma, in the vicinity of the famous place of pilgrimage of Santa Maria dell' Arco, and he succeeded in in- forming him by a messenger of his dangerous position. Don Luigi Minutolo, Rinaldo Miraballo, and other noblemen, upon the intelligence of the march of Piccolomini to Sejano, set out to join him, and they rode together to the northern slope of the mountain, above Somma and Ottajano, to the convent of San Gennaro, in the plain to the market-town of Palma. Here they met Ottavio de' Medici, Prince of Ottajano, Giovan Bat- tista Caracciolo, Maltese Prior of Bari, and others with them, and they held a council. On mustering the soldiers, they did not number more than 120 men ; these were too few to un- dertake a march through the plain full of armed peasants, and they wanted to give up the enterprise. Meanwhile Don Carlo Capecelatro declared tliat at all events he would ride with his men, whether they were few or many, so the rest went with him on horseback. They were about half way when they met Piccolomini and his small band. He had got out by a successful sally, and was now looking for his friends. United, the whole troop returned to Torre dell' Annunziata. Scarcely had they reached the place when two galleys appeared, sent out by the Viceroy to bring them to Naples ; but they sent FLIGHT OF THE CAVALIERS. 359 him word that they would stay if he would send them rein- forcements to defend the place, the possession of which was of no small importance to him. The barons had altogether only 150 men with them, yet they resolved to remain, the more so as the news had arrived that the Duke of Maddaloni was bringing them 300 men, if they could only hold out till the next day. But scarcely had the evening set in when alarum-bells from all the steeples of the numberless churches resounded throughout the country. The people ran together, the whole neighbourhood was on the alert, and thousands streamed to the Torre dell' Annun- ziata. Still the cavaliers wanted to hold out, when the news reached them that Diomed Carafa could not be there in right time on account of the difficulties on the road. In the middle of the night they mounted their horses : they considered them- selves fortunate that the people were more intent upon taking the place than upon making them prisoners, and that the dark- ness favoured them. With but little loss they took the same way that they had followed the day before. They tried to reach Nola, about fourteen miles distant, a considerable town, where the people were said to be not disaffected towards the nobility, and Don Giuseppe Mastrillo and Luca Cesarini had promised to bring them a reinforcement of 150 men. To- wards midday, when they were only distant about three miles from Nola, some priests, who were coming from thence, in- formed them that the populace had revolted that morning, and had imprisoned all the nobles and many of the better class of citizens. Now the barons were in despair. From all sides came news that the people had revolted, and were aware of the flight of the cavaliers. They wished to retire to Cas- tellammare, but the passes of the Sarno were already guarded. Then they resolved to separate, as they thought that they could easier pass safely in small bands. Piccolomini and Capece- latro turned back : they rode quickly till they were not far from the shore, where, opposite to the mouth of the Sarno, upon a rock surrounded by dashing waves, rises the small, strange, island fort of Revigliano with its towers and pinnacles. Here they passed the stream unobserved and reached Castel- lammare undisturbed, which was scantily garrisoned by the royal troops : the others, who plunged into the interior of the country, had more difficulty in saving themselves. Don Luigi 360 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL Minutulo, after many adventures, at last reached his fief in the Basilicata. Rinaldo Miraballo and others fled to Soimria, the gates of which were closed : they were admitted for four hundred ducats. But much longer and more dangerous was the pursuit after Medici and Caracciolo. At first they believed themselves safe in the Abruzzi. The whole country south-east of Naples within a few days was in one bright blaze of rebel- lion. In Nocera, La Cava, Lauro, Sanseverino, and every- where in the vicinity, the rebellion broke out. It was in the month of October at the time when Don Francesco Toraldo met with his deplorable death at the hands of the mob.* So little encouraging was the beginning of the campaign for the barons. Deep dejection threatened quite to cripple the powers of the royal party; but soon the state of things changed more power and success accompanied the operations in the north. The Prince of Montesarchio, with 200 men, took Acerra, a small town between Naples and Maddaloni, and destroyed the mills and aqueducts there, a heavy loss for the people of the capital, who at the news were so furious that Gennaro Annese caused a daughter of D'Avalos, a nun in the convent of San Gaudioso, to be seized, and she was only saved by the quick and decided intervention of the archbishop. The want of water at Naples is so great, and the actual spring water so scarce, that the aqueducts are of the more importance. From this one is brought that of Carmignano, so called after its founder, an important body of water from Sant' Agata de' Goti through the plain of Capua to the town : in its present circuit it discharges its waters by the wide Strada Foria, not very far from the ravine near Capodimonte, where are the visible remains of Roman aqueducts known by the name of the Ponti Rossi. Montesarchio cut through this aqueduct at Acerra, and the effect was very different from that which Marshal Lautrec tried to his detriment when he destroyed the waterworks under Poggio Reale. But the barons struck a still more important blow at the same time. Aversa is situated half way between Naples and Capua ; in those times it was a weak place but important, because it commanded the great road to the west. Here the remainder of the army of Lautrec, decimated by pestilence and the enemy, assembled for the last * The Barons' War detailed, by Gio. Bat. Piacente. Le Bivoluzioni del Ecgno di Napoli, manuscript. DEFEAT OF THE PEASANTS ON THE SOUTH-EAST. 361 time and tried to halt, but were overtaken and annihilated by the imperial army. The rebels had garrisoned the town : Diomed Carafa, Ferdinand Caracciolo, Duke of Castel di Sangro, and his brother the Prior of Bari, with the Prince of Ottajano (both these last have already been named), surprised them with a thousand men, and took the place after a vigorous battle. The cavaliers, well acquainted with the country, roved to Capodichino, to which place, since the time of Joachim Murat, the battle-field of Naples has extended ; and by pur- suing your way along a broad road, you are immediately re- minded of the extent and industry of the capital of the south. They robbed, plundered, killed everything that fell into their hands : it was the most cruel kind of warfare a civil war. The nobility were not less exasperated than the people, and the people and nobility proceeded against one another without forbearance. Whilst the barons thus advanced from the north, the second expedition on the south-eastern side of the town succeeded better than the first. It was required to drive back the rebels who had taken possession of the locality of Castellammare. The Duke of Sejano and Don Alfonso Piccolomini placed themselves again at the head of their followers : Don Pietro Carafa and the Duke of Regina, Capece Galeota, joined them. In a long narrow valley behind Castellammare, upon the ex- treme verge of the slope of the hill, is situated a considerable village, Gragnano ; at the present time it is a substantial place, flourishing in trades, and known by its manufactures of maccaroni. Here the peasants had assembled, seven hundred in number, but much as the locality favoured them, nevertheless they were put to flight by sixty horsemen ; also in the castle of Lettere, a fief of Miraballo's, they could not hold out, strong and beautiful as it was with its massive walls and towers. The cavaliers pursued them down into the plain, beat the persevering crowds from Nocera and La Cava took the strong castle of Scafati, and thus became masters of the bridges over the Sarno. The city of Naples was reduced to great want. All the roads to the provinces had been blocked up as quickly as pos- sible and the supplies cut off, whilst in the immediate vicinity the houses and farms were burnt, the fields trodden down, the cattle driven away. The roads to the west were blocked up by Maddaloni and Montesarchio ; the Apulian road, by which 3G2 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. the news had just arrived of the Count of Conversa at Foggia, was barricaded by the Prince of Avellino ; those towards Salerno and Calabria were occupied by Sejano and Piccolomiui. The scarcity was every day more felt ; meat and bread rose fourfold in price ; salt meat and fish were hardly less dear, wood almost unattainable. The people and their leaders saw complete ruin and famine at their doors, if they could not get the blockade raised ; the barons on their side knew the difficulty of success against so large a town and such overwhelming numbers when there was no regular system of attack ; accordingly both sides resorted to new measures. The Duke of Arcos had some tune before sent the Lieu- tenant-Greneral, Don Vincenzo Tuttavilla, who has already been mentioned in these pages, with a small band of regular troops to the head-quarters of the barons at Capua. Tuttavilla had only fifty Germans and about a hundred and twenty Spaniards and Flemings, of which the half were cavalry ; but these sol- diers, who were inured to war, were considered as important succours. Two galleys conveyed them to Pozzuoli, from whence Tuttavilla tried next to clear the road which leads through the famous grotto of Posilipo to the capital. He failed, for the rebels, who had thrown up trenches at the grotto, and were favoured by the ground, defended themselves valiantly. Tuttavilla was not more fortunate in an excursion against the village of Marano, which is situated not far from the road leading from Pozzuoli to Aversa. He was surjirix-d by an ambush of peasants lying in wait for him, lost about fifty men, and returned to Aversa with his fugitive troops in wild confusion, hoping in vain for a musket-ball to put an end to his ignominy.* The people of Naples triumphed all the more, and sought with a greedy impatience amongst the heads which had been brought in of those who had fallen, for those of Maddaloni and Montesarchio. From the beginning of Tutta- villa's mission the Viceroy had cherished the design of making him undertake the office of commander in-chief of the united troops. At first the barons objected, but afterwards they volun- tarily recognised him as their chief by a deed of the 24th of October. The " Excellentissimi et Illustrissimi doinini Pro- oeres et magnates et baronis et patricii, et equites illustrissi- * Narrazionc di Hermes Stampa. EXPEDITION TO SALERNO. 363 marum et excellentissimarum platearum nobilium fidelissimo- rum civitatis Neapolis," declare in this remarkable document that they, setting aside all ideas with regard to rank and proper position, and only considering the service of his Majesty and the pressing necessities of the kingdom, as well as the object of delivering Naples from the tyranny and barbarity that now prevail, the barons have appointed by universal consent and with the sanction of the Lord Viceroy, Lord Vincenzo Tutta- villa, Knight of the Sedile del Porto, member of the royal col- lateral council, and Lieutenant-General of the cavalry, to be head of the war department, under whom they will rally, and whom they will obey, as they will allow and transmit to him full power and authority for the attainment of the object mentioned.* The town was now more- strictly invested, but the people, distressed by want, made also numerous and vigorous sallies. The scarcity in corn increased. Whilst the Duke of Maddaloni procured many stores for the royal fortresses, and was always applied to for help by the Viceroy and always commended, he conducted party wars in the neighbourhood of Naples inde- fatigably, appearing here and there with his horsemen ; he was hated and persecuted by the rebels in the same proportion that he injured them, whilst the leaders of the people were unfor- tunate. Since the Spaniards were masters of the sea, the sup- plies from the shores of Amalfi were consequently cut off by land as well as by sea, so the leaders of the people resolved to open by force of arms the road by land to Salerno, this pro- vince so abundant in corn as well as in cattle. The key of this road was the bridge over the Sarno at Scafati. The tete de pont is formed by a fortified tower or small fort on the right shore, strong enough to guard against sudden attacks in those times, and to block up the pass. To this day in many parts of Italy old as well as new bridge fortifications of this kind are to be seen. The tower was garrisoned by a few Spanish sol- diers : this tower Gennaro Annese determined to attack. A captain of one of the companies of the people, Michele, left Naples with five hundred infantry and two hundred horse- men ; at Scafati they were joined by two thousand men from Nocera, La Cava, and San Severino, and invested the tower. * Document in the Appendix to Biva's Sublevacion de Napoles. 364 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL The garrison did not lose courage ; they were short of provisions and ammunition, but they directed their shots with such deli- beration that the enemy, who saw every shot take effect, deemed it advisable to remain beyond tiring distance and to blockade the tower. It could only obtain succour from the side of Cas- tellammare, therefore the assailants placed their principal strength upon the road, which, as soon as you reached the left shore of the Sarno, leads southwards to the right of the place mentioned on the coast, whilst the main road in an eastern direction goes on towards Salerno. At the same time they cut through that road with deep ditches, threw up ramparts of earth, and, standing behind them, directed their shots against the tower, more with the view of tiring the defenders than with the hope of injuring them. On the side of Naples and on that of the mountain they en- circled the small fortress with fortifications, which, weak and hastily put up as they might be, were in a state to resist a first attack, especially against cavalry. The Spaniards did not lose courage. Limited to their muskets, they made so excellent a use of them that in many places the clumsy pioneers were pre- vented from going on with their work. But there was not bread for much more than three days, and the match-cords began to fail. The enemy had learnt this from the inhabitants of Scafati, and resolved to starve out the garrison, whilst the people received supplies every hour from the peasants who hastened thither. The besiegers nearly obtained their object. The fifth day of the blockade had arrived, and the Spaniards had only a scanty residue of bread. They tore their shirts to make matchwebs for their guns. Don Pietro Carafa, who was occupying Castellammare, did not think that he could un- dertake anything with h'is small force for the relief of the tower of Scafati, the importance of which he well knew, had immediately despatched messengers to Don Vincenzo Tutta- villa to summon him to its assistance. The day was already drawing to a close when the vanguard of the royalists ap- peared hither from Somma. The rebels sent a troop of horse against them : they, more used to plunder than to battle, shot off their pistols at a respectful distance and immediately turned their backs. The enemy pursued them rapidly, strengthened by fresh soldiers, and many of the people met their death in DEFEAT AT SCAFATL 365 an inglorious flight. But the principal mass of the rebels re- solved to defend their inlrenchments, in the belief that the royalists, hindered by ditches and abattis, could accomplish nothing against them. Tuttavilla arrived with his troop ; in- stantly he caused an attack to be made on the middle trench by two companies of infantry. For the first moment the others stood their ground and fired: many in the foremost row of assailants fell, but they had already taken the trench, over which the sappers passed in an instant and dislodged the enemy. Now the way was in some degree levelled for the cavalry : the whole troop of besiegers, more than a thousand men, suddenly dispersed. The Spaniards fired briskly from the tower upon those who wished to save themselves over the bridge from the little village of Scafati, where many continued in a savage close fight. The cavalry pursued the fugitives through a large extent of country to the road to Naples, and they were only stopped by the approach of night. Above two hundred and fifty men of the people were killed and as many wounded and made prisoners ; sixty horses fell into the hands of the victors. On the very same evening Torre dell' Annunziata and Bosco, neighbouring places, were garrisoned ; and Torre del Greco, very early on the following morning-, where, however, Tuttavilla left only a small troop, whilst he fortified Torre dell' Annunziata, important on account of its mills and its position, as well as the time would admit of. The intelligence of the defeat soon reached Naples, and excited a violent tumult. More than five thousand of the people immediately took the road to Salerno. They surprised the vanguard, consisting only of fifty men, in Torre del Greco, but turned to the left when they perceived the cavalry in march. They were not more than four hundred in number, part Walloons and fresh recruits ; but even so they were a terror to the troops of the people, however superior their numbers. These last had taken possession of some heights by the village of Recina, where, to descend into the buried dwellings of Herculaneum, you strike into the road lead- ing up by the craters of Vesuvius. The royal troops took the whole road and attacked the enemy on both sides, who had the advantage in position and in numbers. This first line fired at once, but the one behind was careless and clumsy, and by their slowness of movement gave time for 366 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL the cavalry to attack with their drawn swords. Now they were lost. They were surrounded, and cut oft' from the road to Naples. The royal troops gave no quarter generally ; for many months this barbarous war had not been conducted upon the usual regulations of martial law. About ten knights were left, but of the people more than four hundred. But they would not even ask for pardon. A lazzarone, who had been thrown down by a cavalier, who offered him his life if he would let the king live, exclaimed with wild enthusiasm, " May the people live a thousand years !" Another wrote with his heart-blood that was running out of him the letter P. (Popolo) on the sand. The road was covered with wounded men and corpses, from beyond Portici almost to the gate to the bridge of the Maddalena. Only those who had escaped to the moun- tain, where the cavalry could not follow them, saved their lives. Don Vincenzo Tuttavilla gave his victorious troops three days of rest. He put a hundred and fifty men in Torre dell' An- nunziata, strengthened with three hundred men the garrison of Castellammare, and marched with the great mass to Nola,* The appearance of things during these unhappy days in the immediate vicinity of the capital is most clearly described by Don Francesco Capecelatro, whilst he relates his adven- tures when he escaped out of Somma, a little town situated, as has already been mentioned, to the north of Vesuvius.f " I found myself," so he informs us, "in the palace of the Hospice of the Nunziata at Somma in the power of the mob. Before the war broke out, I had, by the command of the Duke of Arcos, repaired thither, to keep the place quiet if possible, and to give him information of the events in this quarter. All my wits were beset to find out how I could leave the place, and reach another, the population of which had remained faithful to the king. For twice already the insurgents who governed in Somma had attempted my life, once because I was a relation of the Duke of Sejano's, who had taken the field against the enemy, afterwards because I had not com- plied with an order of Gennaro Annese's, according to which all the noblemen were to return to the capital, and con- * Detailed in G. B. Piacente's Rivoluzioni del Eegno di iXapoli. f Don Fr. Capecelatro, Diario, according to the MS. Given by 8. Volpicella, Delia vita e delle opere di Fr. C. Naples, 1846. P. 35, and following pages. CAPECELATKO'S NARKATIVE. 367 sequently I was considered as a rebel. Then came to me Onofrio Miglio, one of my clients, and under many obliga- tions to me, who had been sent out to persuade me to return, and to promise me honour and profit if I would place myself on the side of the people, adding that many of the Caracciolos and other cavaliers had done the same. Since death was not more bitter to me than such news, I took Miglio aside, told him that I would die as I bad lived faithful to the king, and would not only not go to Naples, but to the royal camp at Capua, or wherever else it was possible to get to ; for, from the interruption of the communication, we in Somma had no certain knowledge of the march of the barons in Aversa. At the same time I made known to him that it was my intention on the following morning to try the undertaking, to which I was encouraged by two faithful followers on the spot. Ono- frio, who was infected by the principles of the rebels, tried to make me change my mind, but in vain. Scarcely had the morning of the 27th of October dawned it was Sunday when I mounted my horse, disguised in a way not to be recognised, in poor clothes, in the dress of a knight of St. Jago, accompanied by Miglio, who was a very bad rider, and two faithful guides, to whom I said that I wished to ride to my cousin at Nevano, who was master of the place. So I took the direction of Aversa across the fields, avoiding the passable roads and frequented places, only meeting a few peasants, for the alarm of war had penetrated everywhere. Without impediment I reached Fratta, a small place consist- ing of a few houses. Here I found everything in commotion, for the cavalry from Aversa tried to collect taxes, and the peasants had blockaded the streets and prepared themselves for resisting an attack. They received me in a hostile man- ner, although I protested that I was born in the neighbouring Nevano, and was no enemy. They compelled me to dismount my horse and enter their trenches, under the pretext that the hostile cavalry would do me harm. I did not dare to offer resistance, as I feared either death or captivity. So I went through the place to the church accompanied by a priest and Miglio, whilst the guides with the horses and my baggage re- mained outside, and as they heard no more of me, at last returned to Somma. " In the trench I met Don Antonio Guttola, who, like me, 368 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL had taken off the badge of his order, and stood amongst the peasants in the dress of a common soldier to throw obstacles in the way of the royalists. As soon as I recognised him 1 whispered to him that it was my intention to repair to my cousin at Nevano, whereupon I received an answer from him that he was not there at present but in Aversa ; and as I added that it was also my intention to go thither, he advised me to take great care to let nothing be perceived about it, or the people would without doubt behead me. He could not help me, for he was compelled by necessity to be in the dress in which I saw him. Accompanied by the priest and Miglio I left the trenches and took the road to Nevano. By the way we met a number of fugitives who were flying from the cavalry of the barons. Soon even the priest took to flight. Some of the fugitives stopped, and wanted to compel me to go with them, to which they were secretly induced by my companion, who would have been too glad to return to Naples. With difficulty I succeeded in extricating myself from them, and I tried to reach an adjacent Franciscan convent, in the hope of finding some one there who knew me, and would pro- cure me the means of reaching Aversa. Whilst I was has- tening over the fields, I did not observe a ditch ; I fell into it, and lost my cloak without perceiving it in my haste. After I had freed myself from the briers, I reached the walls of the convent. Here my faithless companion came up to me ; he had not been in a state to follow me so quickly, and exclaimed that I must save myself, for the people whom we had met were upon my track to catch me, for they had anticipated my design. The garden of the convent was guarded by a coun- tryman with a halberd; he helped me to climb the wall. Arrived at the top, I saw that on the inner side there was a considerable abyss, but the fear of being overtaken by my pur- suers allowed me but little time for reflection. I jumped down, and was again upon my feet, by God's mercy, unhurt. Miglio gave himself more time, and overtook me again. " In the convent I found the monks and many people from the neighbourhood who recognised me immediately. The prior advised me to take off my boots, because he feared that, when I went on, I should be known as a soldier belonging to the royal family, and should not escape alive. With difficulty I obtained from a peasant a pair of old shoes, quite worn out, DISUNION AMONG THE BARONS. 369 and so large that two of my feet would have gone into one of them. Accompanied by the minister of Grumo and of the above-mentioned prior I now went to Nevano. Here I found that the cavalry of the barons, provoked by some shots which had been fired there by some runaway Neapolitans from be- hind a hedge, had set fire to a couple of houses, the inhabitants of which were not at all to blame about it ; but scarcely had they perceived their error, when they extinguished the fire and gave back the effects. Now I dismissed Miglio, and took with me in his place a country priest from my brother's house ; and as it was impossible in this dreadful confusion and tumult to find a horse, I went on foot to Aversa, which I entered by byways, highly pleased to have escaped the labyrinth of the doings of the people, and to find myself in a place where I could serve the king, as I soon afterwards offered my services to Don Vincenzo Tuttavilla and the Duke of Maddaloni, whilst I related the dangers through which I had made my way." But if the aim of the barons was the same, still a great want of unity prevailed amongst them. Even in sight of the dangers which surrounded them, they did not restrain their passions. Maddaloni and Conversano agreed the least. Once they quarrelled so violently about a measure which Conver- sano had taken upon false evidence against the people of Ari- enzo, a fief of the Carafas, that a division of the whole army would have ensued if the most illustrious cavaliers had not interposed. The Duke of Arcos himself was obliged to write to Maddaloni, and represent to him that the success of the whole undertaking depended upon union. Nevertheless this was only maintained with difficulty in the stormy camp, which was not at all better regulated than the army of the people. But now the unfortunate city was more strictly blockaded, and it became more evident to the leaders of the people that their cause was lost if they did not obtain assistance. But the Duke of Arcos and Don John of Austria, who sought each one for himself to keep up the Spanish interests, were in great sus- pense. Either the town and the people would be completely ruined, or these last would go over to France for ever. In Naples as well as in Rome attempts were made to negotiate ; but all in vain. The viceroy trusted no one, and inspired himself no confidence. Whilst he urged the nobles into action ; 2 B 370 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. whilst, in his numerous letters to the Duke of Maddaloni,* he praised in emphatic terms his fidelity and activity, called him the deliverer of the town and kingdom, promised him supplies of Hour, bread, cloth for the uniforms and other things, and put before him and his followers the eternal gratitude of the King of Spain ; he remarked, in his negotiations with the Pope, that it was the barons who prevented him from coming to an agreement with the people. The barons applied to Don John, to whom they represented that they had drawn their swords for the good of the country and the service of the crown, and that they were by no means averse to an honourable peace. Don John tried to negotiate with the chiefs of the insurrection, but the rebellion had gone too far. Nothing was left but to accelerate warlike measures with energy. This was done, as well by both the officers who had lately taken the command of the castles and of the royal troops in the neighbourhood of the town, the Baron de Batteville, a Burgundian, and Don Dionisio de Guzman, a Spaniard, as by Don Vincenzo Tutta- villa. But they saw every day more clearly how little fitted were the few undisciplined troops, who formed the greatest part of their military strength, to blockade so extensive and populous a town, and to keep in order a peasantry always in- clined to any new revolution. The forces of the barons under the orders of Tuttavilla did not exceed four thousand cavalry and five hundred infantry, who were led by Don Ferdinand Caracciolo and the Duke of Andria. The regular troops who were joined to them did not exceed some hundreds. So little satisfactory was the state of things, notwithstanding the progress of the royalists, when an event happened which appeared to give at once a new turn to the fate of Naples, and revived the recollection of the wars between Anjou and Ara- gon in the fifteenth century. Whilst French diplomatists and Neapolitan commissioners intrigued at Rome, the Spanish ambassador, the Count of Ouate,. was thoroughly informed of their proceedings without being able to stop them ; the Pope sought in vain for an adjustment of the war which raged at his frontier, a French prince availed himself of the confusion to attempt the establishment of a kingdom of his own in Italy. Henri de Guise, Duke of Lorraine, was the * In abridgment, by Aldimari, Historia gcncalogica della Casa Carafa. HENRY OF GUISE. 371 head of a family who, by their ambition and intrigues, in the melancholy times of the civil and religi6us wars of France, had made themselves a name not to be envied, but had, by their valour and brilliant talents, attained to the highest rank. His great grandfather, Francis I., had commanded the French auxiliaries in the wars of Paul IV. against the Spaniards, and had acquired immortal fame by his defence of Metz against the Emperor Charles V. and the conquest of Calais. His grandfather, Henry I., le Balafre, had fought with equal valour against the Turks in Hungary, and the Huguenots in France, and had atoned by his bloody death in the castle of Blois for the night of St. Bartholomew and the League. His father, Charles, had once had in view to be proclaimed King of France by the states of Paris, in opposition to Henry IV., who, having quarrelled with Richelieu and the court of Louis XIII., died in the territory of Sienna. Henry II. of Guise was inferior to none of his race in his plans of ambition. He sought for the hand of the Princess of Mantua in marriage, the only daughter of the Duke Francesco Gonzaga, whom Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Rhetel, married, whose mother was a Guise, and who died before his father as hereditary Prince of Mantua, the first of the line of Nevers. Deceived in his hopes of this rich inheritance, he concluded at Brussels an apparently un- suitable marriage with the widow of Count Bossuet, Honore de Berghes ; he repented this step and repaired to Rome to obtain a declaration of nullity ; and here he entered into an alliance with the Neapolitans, who sought, through the Mar- quis de Fontenay-Mareuil, to obtain his help. Guise, with his love of adventure, had taken up the business just as zea- lously as the French ambassador and the Cardinal Mazarin, notwithstanding their wish to humble Spain, had been cautious and dilatory in their offers to the Neapolitans. A couple of spies were hung in Gaeta, but the negotiation came neverthe- less to so speedy a conclusion that Henri de Guise embarked on the 1 oth of November at Fiumicino, a Roman port on the right bank of the mouth of the Tiber. Fortunately he and his small troop of faithful followers escaped being waylaid by Don John's feluccas, and even on the following day landed at the fort of Carmel, under the thunder of the artillery and the re- joicings of an innumerable crowd of people. He immediately rode to the cathedral to thank God for his prosperous voyage ; 2 B 2 372 THE CABAFAS OF MADDALONI. then he spent the night in Gennaro Annese's dwelling in the castle of the Carmine. What a contrast the two formed 1! The armourer ugly, coarse, dirty ; the prince young, brilliant, and accustomed to luxury spoilt by women, valiant as the Guises were formerly, but not a clever calculator of circumstances, as his ancestors Francis and the Balafre had been. But, however inconsiderate he may have been in engaging himself in the business, he was too acute not to perceive how critical his situation was ; the fickleness of the populace, by whom almost entirely the rebellion was supported, the discon- tent of the middle classes, the danger of the blockade, and the want of union amongst the leaders. He determined to oppose as quickly as possible these united evils. The republic of Naples was solemnly recognised in San Gennaro, and the Car- dinal Archbishop, who had long broken off from Spain, pre- sented the new chief of the republic with a consecrated sword. Nothing serious could be determined upon till the Spaniards were driven from their positions in the town. An attack upon these, which in the first onset was successful, was after- wards repulsed with great bloodshed. Discouraged by this failure, Guise now turned his aim upon Aversa with the de- sign of breaking through the line of blockade. But before the combat began, he wished to try a negotiation with the barons. It took place in the convent of the Capuchins situated between San Giuliano and Aversa. The Duke of Andria, Don Carlo Carafa, was the spokesman selected by the feudal nobility. He rode thither from Aversa with nine noblemen : Henri de Guise arrived there at the same time with an equal number of followers. When they perceived each other in the di.-tance, they galloped their horses, greeted and embraced one another. The interview lasted long. The French prince re- minded Carafa of the times of the Angevins, from which he was descended by his mother. Carafa declared that the barons Avould never waver in their fidelity towards Spain. They sepa- rated, personally satisfied with each other, though the con- ference led to no result. The battle began again soon afterwards, and although an attack of Guise's upon the cavalry of the barons, at the bridge of Frignano not far from Aversa, failed, nevertheless the war took a favourable turn for the people in all directions. De- cided leaders of the populace, some of them old banditti-chiefs, BATTLE NEAR AVERSA. 373 gained ground everywhere. Ippolito Pastena took Salerno, and chastised the city for its fidelity by a fearful pillage; Paolo di Napoli surprised Avellino, and made almost as much havoc there as the other had done ; Domenico Colessa, of Roc- caserra, called Papone, took San Germane and Sessa, and threatened Montecassino with pillage ; Giuseppe d'Arezzo, of Itri, garrisoned this place with Fondi and Sperlonga. Thus in a short space of time were the roads to the States of the Church, those towards Apulia, with the exception of that of Ariano, strong from its high position, and those of Calabria, were in the power of the rebels, when a still harder blow hit the royalists. The Baron de Modene, the most skilful warrior of the followers of Guise, besieged Aversa. Tuttavilla, cut off from almost all sides, believed it to be impossible to hold out. In a council of war it was determined to evacuate the place and retire to Capua ; but the undisciplined troops changed the retreat into a flight, and the unfortunate general reached Capua with only two men, whilst the barons with their irre- gular bands were dispersed on all sides. Modene garrisoned Aversa ; the garrison of Nola evacuated the place. The whole of the Terra di Lavoro, with the exception of Capua, was lost. Don Vincenzo Tuttavilla, who throughout this cam- paign had met with more misfortune than success, was soon after replaced by Don Luigi Poderico, who had acquired fame in the war with the Catalans, in the Netherlands, and in bring- ing relief to Orbetello. " You come to revive a corpse," said the general on his departure to his successor. He replied, " Greatly as the bad condition of the royal cause afflicts me, I rejoice that the conqueror's good fortune cannot prevent me from dying with arms in my hands." A French fleet under the orders of the admiral Duke of Richelieu soon appeared off the Neapolitan shores. It tried to seize Bajae and Castellammare, began a battle with the ships of Don John of Austria, was separated from them by stormy weather, and left the gulf without performing anything of im- portance. Fortune was not more favourable to the French before Naples this time than it had been formerly. But Ma- zarin was not inclined to do anything for the Duke of Guise ; the Duke of Guise acted against the French rather than sup- ported them, and they laid upon one another the blame of the failure. 374 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Thus the unfortunate year of 1647 closed. The beginning of the following year was sad, but a change could be anticipated in the state of tilings. Six months of the revolution were over. Notwithstanding some partial successes in amis, the revolution had gained but little solid footing; the castles and strong positions of the capital continued still in the hands of the Spaniards. The faction for the people was diminished and divided, for all who had still anything to lose had long wished for peace even from Spain, and the war was only continued by the mob and its crafty leaders. The condition of the town was deplorable. When oh the 1 st of January, the Lazzari, a name that came into use at this time, and remains in use amongst the lowest of the populace, went to Borgo de' Vergini to congratu- late the substantial citizens on the new year, and as usual to ask for a present, they replied to them, " What shall we give you, when you have taken everything from us, even to the last farthing?" Then so bloody a fray arose between them that the Duke of Guise hastened thither to protect the citizens against the populace, whom he had long hated. There could not fail to be dissensions between the Duke and the leaders of the people : they wanted to keep the power entirely in their own hands ; he wanted to retain it for his own purposes. Both sides managed ill. The Duke of Guise was a seeker of pleasure, frivolous, full of foolish self-confidence, extravagant, and rash ; he estranged some by intrigues with women, others by the indulgence which he exercised towards some of his de- pendents, others again by the contempt which he manifested towards the plebeian leaders, who caused him many humilia- tions in consequence. Gennaro Annese, who from the first moment had been an uncertain friend, and \vas jealous of the popularity and the rank of the foreigner, which eclipsed that of the rough captain-general of the people, was his worst enemy. Each attempted the life of the other, and the armourer, impelled by hatred as well as covetousness, entered into nego- tiations with Spain. Thus, as the worst divisions had pene- trated into the camp of the insurgents, it was of no avail to G 'list- that he had hit upon some good arrangements ; that he had repressed with energy the perpetual pillage and disturb- ances in the town ; that he had stopped the cruel murder of the prisoners of war, and had introduced the usual military CHANGES IN THE SPANISH HEAD QUARTEKS. 375 law ; that he had received a formal oath of allegiance from the republic, and had had coins stamped with the S. P. Q. N. and his name, with the addition Reip. Neap. Dux, which were current even towards the end of the Austrian dominion in Naples. Many of these measures only increased the hatred of the plebeians to the Duke, whose interests were by no means advanced by a second unsuccessful attack upon the Spanish positions in the town, as well as by the unprofitable siege of Capua. Meanwhile great changes had happened in the head-quarters of the Spaniards. The Duke of Arcos had for long lost all his authority, and all confidence in him was gone. Even those persons who were faithful to the royal party, and principally these, acknowledged that his presence was the great impedi- ment to an agreement as well as to the tranquillity of the country : the whole of the government council were of this opinion. Then Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon placed the power which had been delegated to him by the king two years before in the hands of Don John of Austria, and left Naples on the 26th of January, 1648. The king's son undertook the government provisionally at a moment when everything was ripe for change. The rebellion had exhausted itself; the re- public was an empty name ; the fortune of war changed rapidly ; the Prince of Rocca Romana defeated Papone's troop at Teano between Garigliano and Volturno, took Sessa and Mondragone, and restored the communication between the country and the fortress of Gaeta. In this last town, which it never seems to have occurred to the rebels to besiege, and which continued the strongest bulwark of the kingdom in this as in many other wars, the Duke of Maddaloni had retired since the misfortune at Aversa and the dispersion of the forces of the barons. Now he marched out with four hun- dred infantry and took Atri, which, although its fortifications were weak, yet by its position on the top of a steep hill, com- manding the narrow road between the mountain and the deep torrent in the wood, was not without importance. After this happily accomplished stroke, Don Martin de Verrio, the governor of Gaeta, brought him six hundred Spaniards and four pieces of artillery. The enemy did not dare to guard the mountain-pass between Atri and Fondi, which is so easily de- 376 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONT. fended, against the regular troops, who captured Fondi with- out difficulty, and soon afterwards Sperlonga, and so cleared all the western part of the Terra di Lavoro. Whilst Diomed Carafa was thus active, the fortune of war often changed in Apulia. Once all the towns were lost, with the exception of Lucera and Manfredonia, but two noblemen, often mentioned in this history, obtained at last a complete victory : these were the Prince of Montesarchio and the Count of Conversano. "With disproportioned forces they brought the whole province into subjection Acquaviva as commander of the royal troops, D'Avalos with merely his own vassals. When, after a bril- liant feat of arms, Foggia, where once the great Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick built his palace, opened its gates to them and paid amply for their rebellion by money, the news of the rebellion being at an end reached the capital. Both noblemen made great sacrifices to their king and their duty. Conversano saw one of his sons, Don Giulio, fall at his side from a shot, and Montesarchio lost his health for ever, so that he had scarcely strength to hold his sword when he rode back at the head of his vassals. The crisis was at hand caused by a man who exercised a decided influence upon the form of the internal circum- stances of Naples during the last half of the century of the Spanish dominion. When the news of the departure of the Duke of Arcos reached Madrid, the suspicious policy of Spain was alarmed. Such a stretch of authority could not be overlooked either in the king's son or in the government council of the kingdom. It might be a matter of rejoicing to be rid of the old viceroy, but with the king alone rested the choice of a new one. After a long hesitation it fell upon the ambassador at Rome, the Count of Onate, whom we have often mentioned. Don Inigo Velez de Guevara y Tassis had followed up the progress of the disturbances at Naples, as well as of the negotiations and intrigues, with indefatigable attention. He had baffled the plans of the French party iu Rome with great dexterity, and had materially assisted the success of the undertakings of the royalists in the provinces adjoining the States of the Church, especially in the Abruzzi. Acute, cold, determined, wary, he was the right man for this difficult position, in which indeed his coldness degenerated ISLAND OF NISID A. 377 into cruelty and his wariness into cunning. His father had once during the thirty years' war in Germany, especially during the Wallenstein business, done good service, but these services were quite surpassed by those of his son. Scarcely had the Count of Onate received the message from Don Luis de Haro when he left Rome. First he repaired to Gaeta, then to Bajae. He entered the harbour of Naples with five galleys. He was saluted by the artillery of the castles, that of the fort of the Carmel killed two galley-slaves in his vessels. Both signs of the condition of the town. It was the 2nd of March, 1 640. Don John of Austria immediately gave up the command to the new viceroy. The Collateral Council arranged that he should take possession of his office the same day. The count brought with him money, ammunition, and fresh troops ; he immediately visited the fortresses and the lines, increased the pay of the soldiers, sent reinforcements to Ischia, Calabria, and the papal territories, and continued the negotiations begun by his predecessors. Whilst he thus daily gained ground Henry of Lorraine lost it in the same propor- tion by his caprice and arbitrariness, and by the quarrels of those who were hostile to him even amongst the party of the people. A conspiracy, of which he was fixed upon as the victim, on the 25th of March, on the feast of the Annunciation, was frustrated merely by an accident ; but he himself soon gave not only the conspirators but the viceroy an opportunity of putting an end to his dominion which every day rendered more uncertain. When you reach the end of the magnificent street of Posi- lipo, which has already been described in an earlier chapter of this history, and which ascends gently under the name of Strada Nuova, amidst villas, vineyards, and gardens, touches the farthest promontory, descends into the plain of Bagnoli, and joins the road leading to Pozzuoli, you look down upon the charming gulf of Bajae, Cape Miseno, and the whole coast, which, long before our era, was the object of Grecian emigrants, and during the last century of the republic was the boasted country residence of rich Romans. Close before you, or, to speak more correctly, below you, you perceive the little island of Nisida, only separated by a small arm of the sea from the point of Posilipo, the round tower of its prison shining from far, which occupies the place upon the rocky point where once 378 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. stood a villa of Queen Joanna's, then a Spanish fortress, whilst detached upon a rock projct-tiiiir out of the sea is the quaran- tine establishment founded by the Duke of Alva in the year 1624. This island Guise wanted to take, whether it was to revive the drooping martial ardour of his countrymen, or that he hoped to oppress Pozzuoli. His artillery fired upon the fort from the commanding point of the peninsula ; he himself was in the camp, to be present at the expected surrender. But Henry of Lorraine miscalculated. The Count of Onate had a nobler prize in view than a rocky island. Don Alonzo had brought him from Spain a reinforcement of five hundred men : now he resolved to be on the offensive. On the night of the 5th of April, everything was prepared for an attack. Don John of Austria made his troops confess, and receive the sacrament. At morning dawn, the Maestro di Campo, Don Manuel Carafa, took possession of Porta Alba, which is situated above the square of the Holy Ghost, and formed tLe entrance to the quarters of the town occupied by the people, and the bastions to the Porta di Constantinopoli. Thus the quarters of the rebels were encompassed by a half circle, when the Viceroy moved out of Castelnuovo, Don Diego de Portugal with the vanguard of three hundred sol- diers, Don John of Austria leading the rear-guard, with a guard of nobles of fifty men under the orders of the Duke of Andria. The Viceroy marched quite the last with the cavalry from Burgundy. The Princes of A veil i no and Torella, the Marquis of Torrecuso, Don Vincenzo Tuttavilla, and many other most illustrious nobles, were present. The resistance of the people at the garrisoned posts was insignificant. "Without much trouble, the Spaniards, Germans, and Walloons, took the strong positions by storm. The more they pushed forward, the more their numbers increased ; for from all sides, armed men of the better classes hastened to join them. As soon as the junction of the detached corps was effected, they marched at the same time, without stopping, through the different streets to the great market-place. Here the rebellion had begun, here it was ended. A contemporary artist, it may have been Micco Spadaro, or Carlo Coppola, has represented in a picture which is to be seen in the museum of Naples, the moment in which Don CAPTURE OF THE CAPITAL. 379 John of Austria garrisoned the market-place, which had been the scene of so many disturbances and so much bloodshed. A splendid array of noblemen, all on horseback, in sumptuous clothes, with waving plumes, amongst them the archbishop in his cardinal's dress, surround the son of King Philip, to whom the keys of the town are presented. His troops are marching from all sides ; the steady infantry, the arquebusiers with their sunburnt faces, their erect carriage, proceeding in a straight line, fixing their arquebuses on the ground, still prepared for the attack of an enemy who has long given up all thoughts of resistance, whilst the melancholy remains of the victims of the rebellion disappear from the place, to leave room for the chiefs of the victims of the reaction against the sway of the multitude. One single leader of the people alone, appears still unwilling to submit himself, Gennaro Annese. He trusts in the strength of his fortress, but the Viceroy causes a couple of petards to thunder against the gates, and the armourer appears trembling. Don Carlo della Gatta garrisons the tower with Spaniards and Germans, from the top of which the royal banner is soon seen waving. The Castle of Capuano, and the tower of San Lorenzo, and the gate of Nolano, were already taken, and soon the remainder of the rebels were driven also out of Chiaja and the heights of Romero. At the ninth hour of the day, the Spaniards were masters of the whole of this great city. A Te Deum was sung in the cathedral, the houses were adorned with tapestry, white flags and handkerchiefs waved from the windows. In many places the image of the king was set up, and hailed with great rejoicings. Every one appeared to rejoice in the restora- tion of peace ; the citizens embraced each other in the streets. Nine months of mob dominion, the insecurity, the war, the confusion and lawlessness, had made such an impression, that the party of "Peace at any price" carried off the victory without any struggle. The thunder of the artillery of the capital roused Guise. Soon the news of the victory of the Spaniards reached him. He mounted on horseback, and rode with a few noblemen to Aversa, in the hope that the troops who were besieging Capua, would hold together, and that he would be able to resume the war with them. But at the news of what had happened, these undisciplined troops dispersed. The Duke THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. still made an attempt to reach the papal frontiers ; but Don Luigi Poderigo sent his cavalry there after him. When th<-y had reached the fugitive, he drew his sword and defended himself valiantly ; but his wounded horse threatened to give way under him, and he was obliged to surrender. He jested, at any rate he lost nothing of his own. Many French noble- men shared his captivity. At first Poderigo detained him under arrest as a cavalier at Capua, then he was brought to the Castle of Volturno. His fate was long a subject of dispute at Naples. The Viceroy and the Collateral Council condemned him to death. Don John of Austria prevailed with them, to resolve that the King's will and opinion should first be known. The prisoner was brought under a strong escort to the rocky fortress of Gaeta, till the order came that he was to be sent to Spain. He did not obtain his freedom till the disturbances of the Fronde took place, when it was vainly hoped that he might be made use of to strengthen the Spanish party in France. But the levity of Henry of Guise was not of that kind which would have seduced him into treason to his country, even though the infatuated Prince of Conde, led by the vio- lence of party, and persecutions, gave him so melancholy an example. Never had France had so fine an opportunity to snatch from the crown of Spain her richest Italian possessions. The old jealousy against the house of Guise prevented any advantage being taken of it. It was one of the great faults which Mazarin committed, for in the condition in which Spain then was, it would have been easy for the French to establish themselves firmly at Naples. When the mistake was perceived, it was too late. In June of the same year, 1648, a* second expedition was undertaken against the kingdom under Prince Thomas of Savoy. It had no other result than to cause numerous imprisonments of those persons who were inclined, or suspected to be so, to the French party. Amongst others, Gennaro Annese was also impri- soned and executed. It was said, that he was surprised in the act of forming a conspiracy in favour of the French. No one pitied him. Many executions followed, and Onate's in- exorableness terrified all. Years afterwards, under the go- vernment of the Count of Castrillo, the Duke of Guise appeared once more on these shores. It was in November, 1654, when DEPASTURE OF THE FRENCH. 381 he arrived with no inconsiderable French fleet before Castel- lammare. The place was soon taken, and Guise called him- self Viceroy to the King of France, and Captain-General of Naples. But the defensive measures taken by the Spaniards put an end to his progress ; no one stirred at Naples, and the French soon weighed anchor. They never set foot again in Naples till the great war, in consequence of the revolution which convulsed Europe in 1789. 382 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. CHAPTER in. LAST V 1 A Its OF DIOMED CARAFA. Condition of Naples after the return of the Spaniards Activity and policy of the Count of Onatc Measures against the disturbers of the peace Corn-law system and laws Abuses of the corn-trade Measures of finance Expedition against Piombino and Elba Re-conquest of Porto Lungone Departure of Don John of Austria Disposition of the Neapolitan people Conduct of the Viceroy towards the nobility Secret motives Rumour of a conspiracy Imprisonment of the Prince of Montcsarchio and the Prior of Roccclla Transactions with the banditti New proceedings against the nobility Measures against the Count of Celano, the Princes of Avel- lino and Forino, and the Duke of Maddaloni Persecution of Diomed Carafa Vain attempts at reconciliation The Duchess of Madda- loni and the Viceroy Diomed Carafa presents himself, and is par- doned Condition of the provinces Don Francesco Capecelatro in Calabria Family life of Diomed Carafa Caspar Romer Construction of the palace of Maddaloni Festivities under the Count of Onate The influence of Spain upon Italian literature, morals, and the way of life Marini, Gongora, Sal- vator Rosa The Spanish power during the second part of the 17th century Recall of the Count of Onate The Count of Castrillo Viceroy in 1653 Donatives and feast Maddaloni and Cardinal Filomarino Renewal of the robbery system The Count of Conversano Imprisonment of Diomed Carafa His departure for Spain, and his death, 1660 The Carafas of Madda- loni in later times Results of the Neapolitan revolutions Sub- sequent viceroys Weakness and decline of the aristocracy Extinction of the Spanish line of Hapsburg Attempt at an insur- rection by the Prince of Massa Charles III., King of Naples, 1734 His system of government Bernardo Tanucci The nobility during the revolutions of the year 1799 Dissolution of the Scdiles and of the old constitution The Spanish era with reference to the present time. " EJECTOS procul a regno hostes, pacem urbi, urbem civibus restitutam, locupletatum eerarium, amplificatam annonam." These words, inscribed upon a marble tablet in the courtyard of the vicarial court of the former castle of Capuano, describe the services of the Count of Onate. It cannot be denied, that Don Inigo de Guevara, next to Don Pedro de Toledo, did more for this country than any other Viceroy. The victory ANARCHY OF THE KINGDOM. 383 of the Duke of Guise, and the reconquest of the capital, was only the beginning of his achievements, and the most brilliant, if not the most difficult, of them. He found the kingdom in a dreadful state of anarchy. It was almost worse than it had been in the year 1530, because it had been now more than heretofore severely lacerated by civil war. The spirit of the revolution had blazed everywhere. For a time the Spanish government, in its weakness, had imagined that, in order to counteract the causes of disorder, it should adopt the tone of condescension and popularity. When the emancipation of human passions had set at defiance its policy, civil and eccle- siastical, it had recourse to violence and had been defeated. It lost all the efficacy of its humiliations and condescensions : it only regained its superiority by a concurrence of circum- stances, a share in the merits of which hardly belonged to it, when the increasing tide of the desires and passions of demo- cratical materialism had so overflowed all bounds, that it lost its original power and was exhausted. The consequence of all which was, a complete end of the order which existed in the land. To restore this was the task of the Count of Onate. He set to work with great energy ; the kingdom was filled with banditti and vagabonds, the remains of the dispersed bands of the people. With these, Frenchmen and adventurers from the States of the Church, had united themselves in the Abruzzi, so that it was necessary for Don Luigi Poderigo to send considerable forces against them. The armed rebels made a last attempt to defend themselves in Salerno. But these partial disturbances were soon crushed, and the governors sent into the provinces succeeded by degrees in restoring them to a condition bordering on tranquillity. Great prudence was necessary in the capital, especially as long as the coasts were still threatened by the French fleet. On the smallest occasion the storm was ready to burst out again. The common people, who during the last months had supported the revolution almost entirely, were full of perpetual suspicion and on the watch. The reinforcement of the Spanish garrison, the im- provement of the fortifications, the removal of the town artil- lery from the tower of San Lorenzo, and transplanting it to Castelnuovo ; the imprisonment of many of the leaders of the people in spite of the amnesty, all this kept up suspicion. A new insurrection was threatened more than once upon the 384 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. market-place and the Lavinaro ; the Viceroy tranquillized the masses by great wisdom and circumspection. The nobles, especially the young men, proud of the success obtained, treated the people haughtily, and were constantly repeating this offence ; he censured them for this conduct, in which he was supported by many sensible men. He often rode into the town with Don John of Austria, and expressed himself in a friendly manner to the citizens.* He punished with severity abuses of power on the part of the soldiers and others. He ex- ported corn, not only from Apulia, but from the north, to relieve the distress. The people in Naples again made an attack upon the barons, that they kept these provisions secret : the barons offered to import wheat out of their Apulian fiefs at a lower price than what it cost to bring it from the ports of the Netherlands ; but they would not submit to an arbitrary tax. Thus new subjects of misunderstandings arose whilst the old ones still remained. At the present day, people are often surprised when they read of such repeated famines in countries formerly so fertile. But the fault lies, with the exception of some cases in years when the crops have entirely failed, not with the soil and the climate, but mainly with the inhabitants and their arrange- ments. The capital often suffered from pressing want, whilst in thft provinces it was not known what to do with the supply of provisions. The means of intercourse were deficient, and the expenses of carriage considerable in the same degree, whilst the economical regulations about trade placed as many impediments in the way. The store-office (Annona) of the capital was always to be provided with corn and flour for a year ; and the government, who fixed the price, believed that they could compel the great proprietors to write down their names and the sum total of the provisions, or the expected harvest. The proprietors, especially the great feudatories, disputed this claim, and so it happened that the store-office often fell into the hands of speculators, who quoted the sums according to their pleasure ; and then when it came to dis- charging their engagements, they were not able to fulfil them. Consequently every opportunity was opened to the mono- poly that it was wished to avoid, for the corn-dealers united * Capecelatro, Diario, part iii. MS. FAILUKE OF THE ANNONA. 385 together to govern the market. It often happened that the Annona was bought at very high prices, or what was bought was procured at great expense, to be disposed of again at a low rate, at the command of a viceroy, when threatened by an insurrection, or when other unfavourable circumstances occurred, or that the government, as was easy for it, liked to be generous and magnanimous at the expense of the city ad- ministration. Hence the immense debt of the store-office, which amounted in the year 1680 to more than eleven millions of ducats, so that it was compelled to strike into another way to stop complete ruin.* In Rome, where a similar system was pursued, the Annona failed in the year 1798, after con- stant losses for two and twenty years, with 3,298,865 scudi.f How little the Count of Onate, with all his acuteness and his good will towards the country, entertained sensible views, with reference to the system of corn laws, is proved by the single fact, that he not only fixed generally an arbitrary price on corn, but modified the same in the different provinces, so that in Capitanata and Molise, the price of the bushel was twenty carlins ; in Terra d' Otranto and di Bari, in Basilicata and Principato Citra, eighteen ; in Calabria, seventeen ; in Princi- pato Ultra, Apulian wheat of the first quality was five and twenty, and more. It was thought by such rules to prevent the fluctuations of the prices, which often were very consider- able. But this was playing into the usurers' hands instead of checking them, or compelling the adoption of ruinous expe- dients, such as buying in foreign countries and abating the prices, to produce relief by this means from temporary failures. Moreover, that men of the highest rank had no scruples in making dishonest gains by traffic in corn, is but too certain. The Prince of Montesarchio, Don Giovanni d'Avalos, be- longing to a rich family, had, as president of the Annona under the Count of Monterey, made a great deal of money ; but he did not long rejoice in his ill-gotten wealth.J A cele- brated warrior of the same nation, who was descended from the D'Avalos, had long ago set a bad example. " In May and June of the year 1505," relates the old chronicler who has * Bianchini, vol. ii. p. 587. t Nicolai, Memorie nelle Campagna e nell' Annona di Roma. Rome, 1803. Vol. iii. p. 156-159. J Capccelatro, Annali, p. 139. 2 c 386 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. given us so many interesting details, " there was a great scarcity of bread in Naples and throughout the kingdom. -> that the price of a bti-liel of corn rust- to one ducat, and even fifteen carlins, so that the bread in the houses was cut into a> many thin slices as there were persons in them, and non- \*.i- to be found in the town. For this, Paolo Tolosa was to blame, who had concluded a contract till the end of July, to deliver two hundred thou-and bushels, at the price of five carlins, sub- ject to a penalty of a thousand ducats for the non-fulfilment of the contract. When the deputies found that Paolo did not fulfil his engagement, they wanted to fine him according to the sum stipulated. But the illustrious Gran-Capitano, who repaired to San Domenico, to advise with his counsellors upon the matter, said that the decision rested with him, and that he exempted Paolo from the fine. Paolo had bought up all the corn everywhere in the country. Then it was perceived that the previously mentioned noble, the Gran-Capitano, had a hand in the business, and had made above forty thousand ducats profit by it.* Compared to such a transaction of Gon- salvo de Cordova's, that of Ives d* Allegro appears less guilty though highly imprudent ; when he, on account of the pressing want of money of the French army in Apulia, sold the larger stores of corn at Foggia, to Venetian merchants, and conse- quently supplied the enemy with provisions. After that the Count of Onate had procured bread, it was necessary to regulate the system of finance. The gabelles had been abolished by a concession of Don John's ; but how was the government to be carried on? The treasury was not only empty, but most of the private individuals were nearly ruined. For almost all the public revenues, let them be called by what name they would, were, as we have seen, partly fanned, and partly assigned to the state creditors. If atiairs remained in their present state, it was a state of bankruptcy in a new form. From the first moment that the payments had stopped, the evil was so terrible, that the Sediles, without even except- ing that of the citizens, interfered. They applied to the Viceroy, and a provisional measure was had recourse to. On every hearth a tax of two and forty carlins was collected, and the gabelles were reduced to one-half their former amount, with * Cronaca di Xotar Giacomo, p. 277. EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH FROM PIOMBIXO AND ELBA. 387 the exception of those on fruits, vegetables, German wheat, maize, which remained entirely abolished. The diminution of the tax upon hearths has been mentioned in an earlier chapter. Rather above half the proceeds flowed into the trea- sury, the remainder was made over to the fundholder-s. Thus the finances of the state were regulated for the exigencies of the moment.. The preceding chapter ended with a new attempt of the French to effect a landing on the shores of Naples, and their entire failure. After the departure of the hostile fleet, Don John of Austria had also sailed away. The Neapolitans had seen him depart with reluctance, for his presence appeared to them a kind of guarantee for the maintenance of the promises made to them, and his mild and benevolent character was a counterpoise to that of the severe and stiff Viceroy. But Don John had been commissioned to go to Sicily, where the rebellion mentioned in the narrative of the Masaniello disturbances first began. From thence he returned once more, to effect, in common with the Count of Onate, another not unimportant enterprise the expulsion of the French from Piombino and Elba. Like everything that he did, the Count set about it with equal caution and energy. On the 3rd of May, 1650, the Spanish fleet assembled in the harbour of Gaeta. The magnificent bay is of wide extent, in its recess lies in its ever green zone, Mola, with its villas and mansions, and the rich plain with its orange and citron groves, whilst the gigantic masses of rock of the promontory against which is built the fortress of Gaeta offer a secure pro- tection to the ships against the south and east wind. Here Don John of Austria met the Viceroy. Three and thirty great ships and thirteen galleys anchored in the deep and still water, where, two hundred years later, a still greater commo- tion was produced by vessels sailing in and out. When the head of Catholic Christendom had directed the eyes of the east and west upon this his place of refuge, once more the nobility of the kingdom had streamed hither to devote them- selves to the service of the crown. It was equally honourable and a less melancholy battle than the earlier one. On the 21st of May, the fleet sailed into the channel of Piombino, where on the left are the shores of Elba, intersected by steep little bavs; to the right are the marshy, and in general 2 c 2 3SS THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Hat shores of the Maremma. Before the blow was struck against Porto Longone, it was desirable to secure Piombii-n. One thousand five hundred infantry, with four hundred cavalry, and seven pieces of artillery, were landed : the Count of Con- Vfisano, as general of the cavalry, undertook the command. Gian Girolamo Acquaviva had raised out of his own resources three hundred infantry, eighty cavalry and six tartanes, for this campaign ; he received a reinforcement from the soldiery of Niccolo Ludovisi, the governor of the town. Scarcely had the Count reconnoitred the place, when he led his followers to the storming of it. This was not without difficulty ; for if the works were not strong the position was secured by the sea and the marsh. The royal troops attacked with threat valour, and Conversano was master of the town in a few hours. Only the small castle still held out. The Count of Onate himself now landed with fresh troops, and orders were given to storm the fort. Then the French garrison hoisted the white flag. They obtained leave to retire, with all the honours of war, to one of the harbours of Provence. Meanwhile the Spaniards had effected their landing at Elba. Scarcely was Piombino taken, when the Viceroy passed over to the island. He had with him seven thousand men, among them a German regiment, brought to him from Lombardy, by Ernies Visconti. The siege of Porto Longone cost many men. After a violent struggle the assailants got possession of the place, and of some detached outworks ; but a general attack upon the fort, undertaken in the night, was repulsed with great loss. The discharge of one mine by the French did great harm to the besiegers'; but this did not prevent them from opening the trenches. The works were but little damaged, but the men had suffered much more. De Novillac, who commanded the fortress, still tried to hold out, but the insubordination of the troops compelled him to capitulate. The same conditions were granted to them as had been allowed to the defenders of Piombino ; the French were even permitted to take away some pieces of artillery. Still a certain time was reserved, in case succours should arrive meanwhile. On the 15th of August, the fort surrendered. The Spanish army stood arranged in two rows from the outworks to the sea, headed by the Count of Onate and Don John of Austria. The French governor had a short conference with the Viceroy, MEASURES AGAINST THE ARISTOCRACY. 389 after which he marched past the victors, with drums beating. About seven hundred men embarked with him ; at the begin- ning of the siege he had fifteen hundred. But the besiegers had not suffered less during the struggle of two months and a half; the losses, especially amongst the Neapolitans of officers as well as men, were so considerable, that it was said that the Viceroy had exposed his people intentionally to the firing, to get rid of the cavaliers, and to punish the people for their past rebellion ! So well known was his inexorable severity. Don Inigo Guevara might justly be proud of his success, when he ordered the Te Deum to be sung in the church of Porto Lon- gone. Don Juan returned with his galleys to the shores of Sicily ; the Count of Conversano visited the towns in Upper Italy, and sailed from Venice to Apulia, where he went to his own estates. The Viceroy caused the fortifications to be im- proved, and returned to Naples. His energetic measures had long ago restored tranquillity in the city, though at the expense of much bloodshed. The people were as if stunned by the numerous imprisonments and executions. New rebellions were not to be thought of, the people had been disarmed, and troops were stationed everywhere ; you might believe yourself in a conquered country. But as the hand of the Viceroy fell much heavier upon the barons than upon the lower classes, and he maintained order with the utmost severity, these last bore this severity patiently, because the others suffered even more than themselves. " The people of Naples," says a contemporary writer, " began to consider as a favour from heaven what had formerly appeared to them as a great misfortune the restora- tion of the Spanish dominion. They considered only their own momentary interests, and cared little for putting an end to the general evils of the kingdom." * Already before the campaign against Elba and Piombino, the Count of Onate had undertaken a series of measures against the aristocracy, which had grown into a system, which exer- cised great influence upon the ulterior progress of Neapolitan affairs. The historians of that time have dwelt much upon ex- ternal appearances, so that we are the more obliged to one of them, when he relates the events of the days of the Duke of Arcos, and of the Count of Onate, the same author, whose * G. B. Piaccnte. 390 THE CABAFAS OF MADDALONL volumes upon the revolutions of Naples have often given us matter for detailed accounts, when he gives us an insight into the internal motives which prompted the Spanish policy.* " Because the Count of Onate," says our author, " wished to maintain the interests of the crown, and to destroy the sources of new disturbances, he laboured above all things to counteract the secret conspiracies. The first conclusion that he drew, was, that the origin of the last rebellion was to be found in nothing else than the overgrown authority of the barons, who, taking advantage of the ready compliance of the officials, had, in contempt of all justice, trampled under foot in such a manner the liberties of the unhappy people, that, not con- tent with the natural privileges of their birth, they liad changed their dependents from a state of vassalage into one of slavery. He likewise considered that the services that they had ren- dered during the war, and the glory of the victory, would increase the haughtiness and the demands of the nobles, to such a degree, that the concession of whole provinces would hardly appear to them an adequate reward, since, not only had many of their number fallen in the service of the king, but they had also suffered considerable loss of property. Many, not content with repeatedly asking the Viceroy for proofs of his gratitude, had even presumed so far, when they perceived his hesitation, as publicly to declare that they re- pented having served his majesty so faithfully and zealously during his past exigencies. The Viceroy, te win the favour of the populace, had made use of the authority of the crown to check the extravagant claims of the nobility ; but he had also taken into consideration the service* of some individuals to reward them. Nevertheless, men's minds -were so little tran- quillized that he feared to drive the barons to rebellion, if he proceeded against them with severity j on the other side, he foresaw the discontent of the populace if he yielded to their demands. To avoid both dangers he resolved to temporise, and to wait for a convenient opportunity. But convinced from the first, that it was easier, by the prospect of future rewards, to preserve the nobles in their allegiance, than the fickle populace, he had internally resolved to gain over these last first of all by favours." G. B. Piacentc PLAN OF THE COUNT OF ONATE. 391 Before long the Count of Onate had two occasions of putting into execution his plan against the barons. Towards the end of December of the year 1648, the Prince of Mon- tesarchio, so often mentioned in the foregoing pages, who had assisted so actively the prosperous issues of the opera- tions in Apulia, was imprisoned on board a galley. The ship was just going to weigh anchor, to proceed to Messina, when the auditor-general arrived and announced the imprisonment of the Prince in the king's name. Andrea d'Avalos landed at Sta. Lucia, he was conveyed to the Castle dell' Uovo, and there kept in strict custody. All his household were impri- soned. His fiefs were garrisoned by royal troops. The whole town racked their brains to find out the cause ; the Prince had performed so prominent a part in the last war, that every one sympathised in this unexpected event. At the same time his brother, the Prince of Troja, received an order not to leave the town, under pain of a fine of thirty thousand ducats. Not- withstanding, as January 1649 drew near, it was perceived that Troja had escaped. The mother and wife of the pri- soner, the first a Sangro and the other a Guevara, arrived : everything was in excitement. The fugitive as usual had hastened to Benevento. By the way, he had reposed at the Castle of Arienzo, belonging to the Duke of Maddaloni, and had dined with him.* . Soon afterwards it was whispered in Naples, that a conspi- racy had been discovered, which had for its object to make Don John of Austria king of Naples. Philip IV. had no sons. Don John was beloved by the people and the nobility ; the oppressive position of a province had long been felt by all. The object of Montesarchio's journey to Messina was to persuade the king's son to enter into the plan. We may remember the differences between the Prince and the Viceroy, because he claimed the right to garrison Ischia after the death of his aunt Isabella d'Avalos del Vasto. A number of im- prisonments amongst the barons increased the agitation. Nevertheless, the Prince of Troja soon appeared after his flight ; he was imprisoned first in the Castle of Manfredonia, but even in April he was brought to Naples, and not long afterwards set at liberty. His brother was lying sick in the * Report of the Tuscan agent, Vincenzo Medici, of the 29th Dec., 1648, 26th Jan. and 2nd Feb., 1649. MS. 392 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. castle ; nobody dared go to him ; the most alarming reports were circulated about him. In June the prior of Roccella Carafa was arrested, whose wonderful escape during the Ma- .saiiiello insurrection has been related. The consternation was the greater, because it was perceived that inquiries were carried on with the utmost severity. Even the women of the house were put to the torture ; all the domestics were imprisoned for three months. Montesarchio was conveyed to Spain. His mother died of grief; his wife wavered long between hope and fear. At last, at the end of the year 1651, Don Luis de Haro gave her in writing a decided hope of the liberation of the Prince. But it was long before he, although excul- pated, could return to his country. A duel with a Spaniard of the House of Anduada led him to Tangiers. Only in Fe- bruary, 1653, he and Roccella, who had likewise been sent to Madrid, were allowed to kiss the king's hand. He obtained the permission, or rather he was desired, to serve in the royal army in Portugal, where the Spaniards suffered one loss after another, and where a few days later the same Don John of Austria, that a part of the aristocracy of Naples had wishi-d for as their ruler, lost the bloody battle of Almeyrial, against Villaflor and Schomberg, which put an end to his favour with the king, and was only a prelude to the defeat at Villa Vi9osa, which secured the independence of Portugal, where an order of knighthood was established in honour of the victory. Towards the beginning of April, 1658, after a banishment of nearly ten years, the Prince of Montesarchio returned to Naples with the title of a General of the Galleons.* Such was the first kind of interposition of the Count of Onate's against the nobility. But soon after the beginning of these proceedings against Montesarchio, other opportunities occurred of taking measures against many of the nobles. Giovan Battista Piacente expressly remarks the excitement in which the breaking out of the disturbances of the Fronde placed France, and that the power of the government was weakened thereby, which had caused the Viceroy uneasiness at the intermixture of Frenchmen in the administration, and had summoned him to decisive action. The disturbances by the banditti and bravoes, and the protection granted them by the * Report* of the Tuscan agents, Medici and Lorenzo del Rosso, of the years 1649-1658. MS. PEOCEEDIXGS OF THE COUNT. 393 barons, were the ostensible reasons ; but the Viceroy's real object, in the meantime, was to destroy entirely the authority of the aristocracy, to change the condition of the vassals into that of subjects, and to annihilate for ever the authority of the great families. He had already therefore begun to summon the barons one after another to the capital. The pretext was, that by this measure he would prevent acts of tyranny, and a collision of interests between them and the peasantry ; but, in fact, Onate wanted to watch the great nobles closely, whilst his officers in the provinces could act witii greater authority. Agostino Mollo was nominated judge of the open country, for the purposeof makingstrict inquiries about the doings of the ban- ditti, and especially whether any understanding existed between them, and the noblemen and peasants, and the corporalsof'militia. With this view the militia was also changed. The soldiers in Terra di Lavoro were sent into the Abruzzi, and a detached corps, under known leaders, who some of them had been for- merly chiefs of banditti, and consequently knew the people and their hiding places. A formal search was commenced. The steep mountain which separates the gulf of Naples from that of Salerno was, notwithstanding its vicinity to the capital, filled with vagabonds ; the highwaymen, not terrified by the warlike preparations, appeared rather to seek than to avoid battle. Not one house was secure at La Cava. At Gra- gnano, behind Castellammare, the bands of a chief, called Brennacotta (for then, as is the case now in these countries and in the States of the Church, all these people had nick- names), killed by a sudden surprise twenty Spanish soldiers. It was said that the Count Celano Piccolomini, to whom the place belonged, harboured these packs of robbers on his estates. The viceroy availed himself of the opportunity. Celano received an order to appear within three days. Not he only, but many of the other barons who were reported to give shelter to the banditti, and had protected them, especially during this last time, from the pursuit of the royal troops, were called upon to justify themselves. The Princes of Avellino and Forino, and their cousin the Duke of Maddaloni, were amongst these. Piccolomini, older and more sensible than the others, obeyed, and was sent into exile for some time in the Terra di Bari. At first both the Carraccioli refused to appear ; they declared 394 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. it was unworthy of their high rank to present themselves for so trivial a cause as dealings with banditti. The Duke of Jelzi, one of their relations, persuaded them to give way ; they came, were imprisoned, and sent to Castelnuovo. But their imprisonment lasted only a few days, and it was so slight that they were present at a play which was acted in the castle: the viceroy was satisfied wii'h keeping them at Naples for a time. Diomed Carafa did not present himself: he would not re- turn as a prisoner to the town, where he hoped to enter as victor and to avenge the murder of his brother. He was con- scious that he had contributed more than almost any other person to the success of the royal cause ; he had received dozens of letters of gratitude and commendation from the Duke of Arcos and Don John : the king himself, even in the year 1648, had commended the zeal, the fidelity, and the love with which he had been one of the first to assist in subduing the rebellion, and thus had reminded him of the old attachment and services of the Carafas, and had placed before him his grateful acknowledgments as a reward for him and his family.* Don John had, in July of the year mentioned, recommended Carafa personally to the king, who with his family had been in Rome since the end of the rebellion. None had felt more heavily the vengeance of the people than Diomed Carafa with regard to the members of his family and his own possessions : even now his position was more perplexing than that of the other noblemen, for the lower class of people did not trust him, as they suspected him of meditating revenge : f his majesty also might be graciously pleased to protect the duke. Whilst Maddaloni stood thus with reference to the people, he saw that the viceroy was no less disinclined to him. He had returned to his country in the autumn, but without vi>itiim the capital. He lived upon his fiefs principally in Arienzo, the situation of which between the mountains and the road to Benevento seemed to him more secure. When the banditti affair broke out, suspicion fell upon him immediately, because of his former mode of life. Nevertheless he had done his ut- most to avert suspicion. He caused a robber chief to be seized who had fled to Arienzo ; he set at liberty Paolo Spi- * Aldimari, vol. iL, and in many places. f Ibid. POSITION OF DIOMED CARAFA. 395 nola, a rich Genoese, and his sons, whom the mob had dragged to him in hopes of a large ransom ; then it was said that he himself had a hand in it. Thus he knew how both parties were affected towards him : he refused to appear. It was the beginning of April, 1649, when Don Dionisio de Gusman received orders to proceed against Maddaloni. Five hundred Spanish infantry, as many Germans,- four com- panies of horsemen, comprising together three hundred men and eight pieces of artillery such forces were summoned against one feudatory. One might suppose that the times of Ferdinand I. were come back. It was said that Diomed Carafa had fortified the castle of Arienzo, and intended to defend him- self there ; but when he became aware of the march of such superior royal forces against him, he gave up the idea of de- fending himself. He left the castle and went to the mountain of Airola. The Spanish commander entered Arienzo quietly, with two counsellors and other officers. An inventory was made of everything that was found in the palace, and in the castle a quantity of arms and powder were seized. The de- pendents of the duke and many others were examined : one part of the soldiery and half of the artillery returned within a few days to Naples, the remainder were quartered in Arienzo and Maddaloni. In both places many of the duke's vassals were imprisoned ; the troops were maintained at the expense of Carafa ; his revenues were sequestered : the jurisdiction was entirely in the hands of the royal officers. At first it was said that the fugitive would present himself to answer the accusations raised against him. With this expectation the troops were recalled in the beginning of May. But Diomed Carafa was too proud to submit : the Spaniards had still a great deal to do before they could make him humble and sub- missive. Meanwhile intelligence reached the commissioner against the banditti system, Agostino Mollo, that the duke was quietly staying in the vicinity of his place Cerreto. In all haste he caused it to be broken into by two hundred men ; but when they arrived they found the nest empty. A report was spread that Maddaloni intended to leave the country. To prevent him the viceroy commanded the duchess, who had remained in Arienzo, to come to the capital under a pain of a fine of fifty thousand ducats. Antonia Carracciolo was tenderly loved THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. by her husband, who often found means to visit her unrecog- nised. At the beginning of July she obeyed the order, and afterwards attempted, by means of her friends, an adjustment of the affair. The Prince of Avellino and the Duke of An- dria repaired to Arienzo, where a conference took place be- tween them and Maddaloni. He was to present himself, and might feel certain of pardon ; but they found him deaf to all their entreaties and remonstrances. Scarcely had they left him when Spanish soldiers surrounded the Capuchin convent into which the fugitive had retired : but he was soon over the mountain again. Once more four companies of soldiers were sent to Arienzo, and as the duke, notwithstanding, ventured to visit the place, he only narrowly escaped his pursuers ; his wife was in full possession of her liberty at Naples, and laboured to arrange the matter, but every day made it more difficult. Thus passed the year 1649 and a great part of the succeed- ing one. In the autumn it was said that Diomed Carafa had resolved to repair to Madrid : he had actually applied to King Philip to implore the favour of being allowed to justify him- self personally to his sovereign. A royal letter granted him what he desired. Two ships belonging to the armada were to sail to Spain ; he wished to profit by the opportunity. More- over he had four feluccas freighted for this purpose. However, he did not go, and for what reason is unknown: he was fined >i\ty thousand ducats for this new fault. The garrisons upon his baronies were reinforced. If this state of things continued he must be quite ruined. He offered to compound for sixty thousand ducats, but it was not accepted : the Count of Onate wished at all events to have liim in his power. The duchess at last succeeded in bringing about a recon- ciliation ; at the end of December she had given birth to a daughter. In February, 1652, a ball was given in the palace by Girifalco to celebrate the marriage of the only daughter of the Marquis of Gioiosa, Giulia Carracciolo, with her cousin Niccolo Maria Duke of Atella. From this marriage sprung the younger branch of the Dukes of Girifalco, from whom is descended Gennaro Carracciolo, who from jealousy caused his wife Olimpia Colonna, the aunt of the present princes of Pa- lestrina, Barberini Colonna, to be shut up in the dungeon of his castle of Girifalco in Calabria, after he had announced her FATE OF THE BANDITTI. 397 death and attended her funeral. The Capuchins heard her groans through the thick walls of a remote part of the castle, and the governor of the province, by virtue of a royal order, forced open by violence the doors of her prison, an event which has furnished materials for many Italian plays and French romances. The Count of Onate also made his appear- ance at that wedding-feast ; his grave and severe character did not prevent him from taking pleasure in social meetings, in masquerades and plays, and he not only gave brilliant en- tertainments at the palace, but was accustomed also to visit the houses of the aristocracy. He danced with the bride and with many other noble ladies, amongst others with the Duchess of Maddaloni. Not long afterwards the duchess obtained the pardon of her husband on condition that he surrendered him- self voluntarily as a prisoner. It was during the first days of April that Diomed Carafa one evening entered the dark gate- way of Castelnuovo. His wife repaired at the same time to the palace to inform the viceroy of his arrival. Soon after- wards the order for his freedom was issued. He was to pay twenty thousand ducats, and not leave the capital. After all that had happened he got off easily, but his affairs continued in disorder for two years, and the soldiery had made great havoc in his villages. Immediately after he had received the order for his freedom from the viceroy he proceeded in a car- riage to the Madonna del Carmine to offer a thanksgiving for his liberation. Everywhere the people thronged the way from the castle through the streets through which he had once ridden in very different circumstances. Almost five years had elapsed, and what years ! The populace was curious to see the man who had caused himself to be so much talked of. From the church he went to the palace to thank the viceroy. The last time he had descended those steps it was to tranquillise the frantic masses, whose leader was the Fisherman of Amalfi. The revolution had injured few only as it had the life, house and family of Diomed Carafa.* When these last events took place the neighbourhood of the capital had long been quiet. The energy of the Count of Onate had produced its results ; the nobility dared no longer grant protection to the banditti ; they were everywhere obliged * G. B. Piacente. Reports of the Tuscan agent, from the 6th April, 1649, till the 30th April, 1652. MS. 398 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. to seek for refuge amongst the most impassable mountains, where many jx'ri.->lied from cold and hunger ; others disguised themselves and entered the service, tin- miserable remainder were easily destroyed by the sbirri and the royal troops. As long as Onate remained at Naples the town and its vicinity remained quiet ; but the labour which it cost to restore tran- quillity to the provinces, and the general condition of the country after the war, is most clearly described by Don Fran- cesco Capecelatro, who at the end of 1648 was appointed governor on this side of Calabria. " I landed," he says,* " after a prosperous voyage at San Lucido, and repaired from thence to Cosenza, where I took possession according to the usual ceremonies, whilst I swore to maintain the privileges of the town. The province was still full of agitation and confusion. In Cosenza a wicked enmity prevailed between the nobility and the people, and the noblemen, notwithstanding the orders of the viceroy, would not be reconciled to the Popolans. The district of San Donate, the lord of which had been murdered shortly before, was now in open rebellion, and would neither obey the royal officers nor the daughter and heiress. In the town of Rossano the chief of the populace, Pirro Maleno, kept up the insurrection, not without blame to the Archbishop Car; i fa. who granted protection and admission to him and his partisans in the cathedral and the bishop's palace. The inha- bitants of ^Cassano had rebelled, and were in communication with the French ambassador at Rome. The whole province refused to pay the new tax of forty-two carlins which had supplied the place of the earlier fiscal impost. In the place inhabited by the Albanesi Casal dell' Ungaro the collectors had met with a bloody opposition. After that I had informed the viceroy of all thi*, I endeavoured to restore order ; but the pride of the nobles of Cosenza stood in my way above all things ; they hindered my work of peace, as well as the col- lection of the tax, as this last was not to be thought of as long as the internal dissensions continued, and Cosenza set the ex- ample to the province. Whilst I was reflecting how to master this opposition, I had a man hanged who, after the amnesty, had entered into a criminal understanding with the French. After I had collected two companies of Spanish infantry I * Capecelatro, Diario, part iii. ; MS. abridged by Volpicella, Vita di Fr. Capecelatro, p. 45, and following pages. THE BEBELLION SUPPRESSED. 399 marched to Rossano, where the chief of the people had in- trenched himself in the cathedral and belfry. Instead of awaiting my arrival, he fled, whereupon I imprisoned his sons, confiscated his property, sent seven men to the gallows and more to the galleys which completely restored the town to tranquillity. I sent the Spaniards immediately to San Donato, and the fame of my severity, as well as the threat to level the place to the ground, spread such a terror that the rebels sub- mitted, banished thirty of the ringleaders and paid part of the tax. After my return to Cosenza I succeeded, although with much difficulty, in bringing about an agreement between the nobility and the people. A notarial act sealed the peace, with which the viceroy was much pleased. " Now I began to collect the tax : the people were willing, but not so the nobility. The noblemen made a thousand dif- ficulties because, for the first time, they were to pay an equal share, and it required all my steadiness, as well as the dexterity of the royal officers of the exchequer, to conquer their oppo- sition. The payment of the taxes went on quite regularly, when suddenly the rebels of San Donato retook the place, and the old disturbances began. On Christmas night I sent with all secrecy a captain and ninety good soldiers. The rebels feared no surprise during the festival ; the place was not guarded : about forty were made prisoners, of whom the half found their death in prison. After a second execution on the following day, the rebellion was at an end ; and as I discovered a conspiracy of several respectable inhabitants of Cassano, which had for its object to favour a landing of the French on the coast, which was known to many of the barons in Rome, I caused the ringleaders to be seized and condemned to death. One of them, Cosimo Granito, had during the past disturb- ances governed the town as one of the leaders of the people ; he had a gallows erected at the gate to hang those who were well affected towards the royalists, but afterwards he changed his mind and had them shot. The bishop, Don Gregory Carafa, sought to save him because he had claimed the privi- lege of the clerical state ; but I did not mind him, and he ended his life on the same gallows that he had prepared for others. Many shared his fate, and their heads were left for long over the gates of Cosenza as a warning from similar beginnings. After that I had in this manner exercised a 400 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. wholesome severity and established peace everywhere, and put into good train the payment of the taxes, I caused a marble tablet to be erected under the portico of the governor's palace with an inscription, and over it the royal arms, as well as those of the Count of Onate and mine." And this inscription in- forms us of " Don Franciscus Capitius Latro ordinis sancti Jacobi de spata," how he, " concreditam provintiam bonis omnibus acclamantibus prudentia et iustitia, ad totam securi- tatis tranquillitatem confirmavit, oppidorum aliquot orta sedi- tione repressa motisque sedatis, auctoribus cesis, profligatis estoribus ceterisque ad deditionem dedectis noviter molientibus solerter detectis et in eos severe vindicatum demum Regio militari aerario restaurato omnia pacis presidio muni ta comiter cunctando restituit." So wild was the time that the governor of a province ruled in such a sanguinary and despotic manner, and wrote down an account of his own acts with entire com- posure of mind and with many more details than are here given not a man of a rough and hard disposition, but one who had spent the greater part of his life in peaceful concerns and employments, one of the most esteemed poets of his day, as well as one of the best historians of Naples, whose works, from the earlier centuries till the death of Charles I. of Anjou, are of inestimable value for the knowledge they give us of his own times. This was the condition of a province after the Masaniello rebellion, in which, even in later days, many insurrections have taken place, and even to the last revolu- tions of the years 1847-48 an attempt has always been made to excite the hot Calabrian blood, and to change the deeds of the banditti into revolutionary acts. After such long and violent storms Diomed Carafa now enjoyed repose for a season. The viceroy appeared quite to have taken him into favour again. In November, 1652, he took him as a guest to the Carthusian convent of S. Martino. The prior entertained them ; the Princes of Cariati and Cel- lammare, the Duke of Girifalco, the castellan of the adjacent castle of Sant' Elmo, and others, were amongst the guests. Sons were born to him during the next two years. The youngest was baptized in the church of the Madonna dell' Arco at Sant' Anastasia at the northern foot of Vesuvius, which, like most of the religious festivals, became a festal pro- cession for the people, and is known in foreign countries by GASPAR ROMER. 401 the picture of Leopold Robert, which represents it. He ex- changed his palace in the Borgo de' Vergini and his villa at Posilipo called L'Auletta for a dwelling on the Toledo. His great-grandfather, Don Marzio, the third duke, built the palace at the end of the sixteenth century ; but the recollec- tion of the scenes which took place there during the revo- lution, and the desolation caused by the Vandalism of the people, may have disgusted his grandson of the place. Gaspar Homer, a merchant of Antwerp, took the palace and villa in exchange for his own beautiful house in the above-mentioned principal street of Naples, which the Marquis del Vasto built upon a piece of ground that had originally belonged to Pigna- telli. Formerly it had been a villa, and was called 11 Bianco Mangiare (blancmanger), for many of the small streets out of the Toledo remind us, by their names Caro GiojeUo, Pignasecca, &c., of the time when these ridges of hills from Mont- oliveto, where the large gardens of the convents were situated, to the heights of Sant' Elmo, were covered with villas and gardens, which were destroyed by the building of the Toledo. Gaspar Homer, with whom Maddaloni exchanged the ground, has occupied too considerable a position in Naples not to be mentioned here. A native of Antwerp, he had gone to Italy as a merchant, and made an immense fortune. He made a liberal use of his wealth. His house was quite a museum. About twelve rooms and saloons were filled with works of art, and especially with pictures, by the most dis- tinguished painters of Naples ; Spagnoletto, Massimo Stanzioni, Aniello Falcone, Carracciolo, and others that we have already mentioned, were employed by him. Whilst new works were perpetually arriving for him from Flemish artists, amongst which those of Vandyke were not wanting, he collected the works of the older and later Italian masters, and at his house were to be seen the creations of Zingaro, Bassano, Carlo Cagliari, and many others. One of his favourite painters was Aniello Falcone, whom he frequently visited not only for the sake of his pictures, but because he was amused by the lively and witty conversations of the master, who, as has before been mentioned, had seen much in the world. He painted for the Fleming a great picture of the torments of St. Januarius, which Joachim of Sandrart mentions " magna cum laude," besides a number of battle-pieces, partly histories from the 2 D 402 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Old Testament, many of which went to Flanders. When Romer saw at Aniello's any picture begun which pleased him, he wished to possess it. This happened so often, that at last the painter inserted this clause into the contract, that he would finish the work ordered at the time fixed, supposing that Mr. Caspar Romer did not desire to have it. He not only was an acute connoisseur, but a generous man. The whole towji knew it. Was it a question of ainy important sum of money, the Neapolitans were accustomed to say, " How now, do you take me for Caspar Romer ? " He spent profusely, not only in works of art, and in magnificent furniture, of which his rooms were full, but he was benevolent to an unusual desfree, and the nunnery of Sta. Maria Maddalena is indebted to him for its rich endowments. His conduct was full of modesty and nobleness, and his conversation was as refined as it was kind. Thus Caspar Romer left behind him a blessed memory, when he died at an advanced age in the year 1647.* Diomed Carafa began immediately to build the palace which is situated on the upper part of the Toledo, not far from the former king's gate, separated by a narrow street from the palace of Doria of Angri, a branch of the princes of Melfi transplanted to Rome, to which Luigi Vanvitelli in the last century gave its beautiful form, conquering with dexterity the difficulties of the locality, a wedge which stands between two steep ascending streets, Toledo and Mont' Oliveto. The former dwelling of the Carafas of Maddaloni is one of the great palaces of Naples, and preserves to this day, in the midst of neglect and decay, many traces of its former splen- dour. We liave before us a real palace, the dwelling of an illustrious nobleman, not simple and elegant in style, but cal- culated by its plan and extent for a large household, such as was required in the seventeenth century. The exterior is heavy and massive. Cosimo Fansaga, who has so often been mentioned in this history, built the large portal, which would have had an important effect, if it had not been turned to the side of one of the narrow dark streets. On the windows and cornices we find the same heavy projections and strongly rr^rked profiles, the never-failing characteristics of that time ai:d its style. Over the windows are the devices of the De Dominicis, vol. iii. p. 220, and G. C. Capaccio, II Forastiere, p. 862, &c. PALACE OF DIOMED CAEAFA. 403 Carafas, now partially defaced. Under the portal on the roof are the huge arms of the Carafas, three silver horizontal pales on a red field in fresco, with genii and emblems ; the steps also are ornamented with paintings belonging to the time of Diomed's son Marzio. Now spoilt by neglect, now ruined : not deserted, for a hundred inhabitants have divided the large house the Supreme Court of Justice has taken the first story, a printing-office, schools, and other branches of industry are followed up in it. But the brilliant mode of life of the time that we have been describing has vanished the numberless servants in their embroidered liveries, the armed porters, the gilt carriages with the richly-caparisoned horses and running footmen, all have disappeared. It is a house, the proprietors of which have long forsaken it. If we ascend the staircase, we look upon the Piano Nobile, and we may still form some idea of the way and taste of those times. A number of high rooms, out of which now everything has disappeared, without excepting the silk stuff hangings. The great saloon, in the middle of these rooms, still always attracts our attention. It has two floors, which are frequently to be seen in Italy : a gallery above the high windows with gilt carved work and open parapet surrounds all the four walls, and the upper part is lighted upon two sides by two small windows. The roof reminds us strongly of the glories of the house of Carafa. A gigantic fresco-painting which covers the whole of it, represents King Alphonso's so- lemn entrance into Naples. You see the town and its neigh- bourhood, with Vesuvius and the shores of Portici ; the King of Aragon, with his suite and army, riding on ; at the gate of the church of the Carmelites he is received by the deputies of the town and many knights and citizens. Banners are waving, trumpets blow : all is life, motion, and jubilee. Thus the vaulted roof is adorned by the hand of the painter Francesco di Maria ; it is supported by painted Caryatides, whilst orna- mented arches connect it with the gallery. Here, where at present the superior Court of Justice holds its sittings, where so many an eye is fixed on the movement of the lips from which proceeds the fearful word "guilty," where so many a heart de- sponds, where so many pulsations become stationary or else beat feverishly, took place for almost a century and a half splendid entertainments worthy of the rank, of the wealth, and love of 2 D 2 404 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. pomp of the founder, whose revenues had been diminished by re- volution and extravagance, but who would not therefore allow himself to be disturbed in his luxurious ways. Adjoining the saloon is a large terrace with a loggia ornamented with marble pillars, on the sides two fountains, one with a Neptune, the other with an Anadyomene ; near them several sculptures, Roman busts, and modern ornamental flourishes and shellwork. In the remaining parts of the great house every trace of splendour has disappeared before the insignificant claims of everyday life. Only in one of the rooms are hung several great faded portraits, which do not however represent the former posses- sors, but the Carracciolos of Avellino in the dress of lord high chancellors. The Count of Onate was, as we have said, as little averse to feasts and amusements as most of his predecessors. At his accession to the government he could not take formal posses- sion of it : now that peace was restored, he did so. He had a room built in the palace merely for the purpose of giving balls and acting plays in it. At the end of the year 1652 he made preparations for luxurious festivities to celebrate the suppression of the insurrection in Catalonia, then he wished to finish the decoration of the palace. Massimo Stanzioni was to paint in the great saloon the pictures of all the viceroys who had governed the kingdom since the times of Ferdinand the Catholic, a plan which was only carried out by the suc- cessors of Onate. He rebuilt the principal staircase of the palace, as well as the covered way leading to the arsenal. He meant to beautify the shore of Chiaja by planting trees, but this was likewise reserved for one of his successors. The aca- demies revived again under, the protection of the nobility, and one evening, when the viceroy was present at a splendid enter- tainment given by the Duke of Maddaloni, an Italian comedy was introduced of Don Francesco Zaccone's, a member of the Academy of travellers (Erranti), containing many changing scenes. But the most magnificent feast was given by Diomed Carafa, which took place during the carnival of the year 1656, loii after Onate had left Naples. The viceroy, the Count of Castrillo with his wife, his son Don Gaspar de Avellaneda y Haro, and his son-in-law the Marquis de Cortez, and their wives, were present, together with the most illustrious families of Naples. First a comedy was acted, then supper was served. INFLUENCE OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. 405 The viceroy and his family had a table to themselves, of which the master and mistress of the house did the honours. The magnificence of the plate, of the crystals and the china, the table-linen, and the silk stuffs astonished every one, and when the entertainment ended all the guests received presents that were worthy of a royal fete.* In the years which we have here described Spain governed Italy not only with reference to her political relations the way of living, literature, and art were more or less under the same influence, and more or less in the same style. In many cases reciprocal relations took place, the advantages as well as the honours were generally on the Spanish side. Even the lan- guage itself, at least that which was used in society, narrowly escaped the foreign influence. It must, to be sure, be owned that this was the case in a large portion of Europe. Spanish literature, not only the dramatic but romance and lyric poetry, had fostered the classical period of French literature ; a Spanish model flitted before Corneille when he composed the Cid, and the intrigues of French comedy originated from the Spanish school. With reference to literature, Italy has in some degree preserved great independence. After it had received much from the ruling nation, and had cultivated in its own way what it had received, it returned again to its own character.. Giovan Battista Marini, the composer of Adone and of the Murder of the Innocents at Bethlehem, a man who appeared endowed with the richest abundance of poetical imagination only for the corruption of taste and the mockery of sound human understanding, not only governed all Italy but was also the teacher and type of his contemporary Luis de Gon- gora and his followers in the so-called Estilo culto, which could not be destroyed by Lope de Vega's criticism and ridi- cule. The Spaniard was some years older than the Neapoli- tan the first born in 1561, and the other in 1569; but Gongora's true poetical character only developed itself in his later years, when he came to the all-powerful Count of Lerma ; the affectation and extreme exaggeration of this kind of poetry bears more affinity to the errors in taste of mature years than to the extravagances of youth. Marini, with his voluptuous pomp of imagery, his oppressive number of epithets, his perpetual play of antithesis, with which he endeavours immediately to destroy the effect of what he has * Vine. Medici, report of the 22nd February, 1656. 406 THE CARAFAS OP MADDALONI. just said, whilst he fixes a hundred artificial ornaments on the mere " concetto," with an impetuosity which exceeds all nature, and despises it as commonplace Harini and his school are just representatives of the time, and obtained large pensions because they described love as a lynx deprived of sight and as a blindfolded Argus, old men as babies, and old bnys, ignorant scholars, naked warriors, dumb orators, rich beggars, and who knows what besides,* have not only exercised an important influence upon the Spanish poetry of the seventeenth century, that in itself offers a fertile field for an excess of false pathos, but they have also given a riotous tendency to the contents and form of Hoffman's Waldau and Lohenstein, which work is only the more disgusting whether we consider its affectation of foreign manners, or its native prejudice. Some great inde- pendent spirits have understood how to keep themselves free from this pernicious influence, but still it pervades the whole time, that must be considered connectedly and not in separate parts. Can it be supposed that a bold revolutionary spirit, like Salvator Rosa's, could withstand this influence? Read his satires, and especially his miserable criticism on Michel- angelo's Last Judgment, and you will be convinced, to your horror, that this painter of romantic, rocky deserts, and frantic battle-scenes would have become a worse " maker of clothes " than Daniel of Volterra, so praised by him, if he had applied his ready hand and his narrow spirit to the gigantic work.f God the Father in allonge, the Madonna in a stiff ruff, the infant Christ in a rose-coloured skirt, are all amongst the representations of those times. And the mode of life was completely Spanish. If in Tus- cany, where democracy everywhere prevailed, which retained its own and, even with all their vices, its national rulers, which tried from time to time, however vainly, to extricate itself from Spanish bondage and to strike into an independent way of its own ; if in Tuscany the old republican manners were obliged to yield to a ceremonial pathos and the dominion of etiquette which oppressed all nations, and which degraded * Marino's Adone, canto vi. 173. Lince privo di lume, Argo bendato, Vecchio lattanle, e pargolletto antico, Ignorante erudito, ignudo armato, Mutulo parlator, ricc-o mcadico. t Sslvator Rosa's Satire iii., La Pittura. MANNEKS AND DRESS. 407 the masses without improving the condition of the nobles ; which coerced mind and body in stays, and made the neck rigid by stiff collars, whilst even the beautiful diction of the language was spoilt by artificial ornaments, it may be sup- posed how much more this was the case in servile Naples, where all this system found a far fitter and more fertile soil. Everything was Spanish. If we look at the higher classes, the Castilian gravity, with the pomp that had arisen from the conscious dignity of a ruling and victorious nation, had become more and more an empty mask, had long since suppressed the easier, natural, and therefore pleasanter man- ners of the Italians. The Spanish court-dress had become the common dress of the cavaliers, who most of them belonged to orders of knighthood. The graceful and well-covered dress of the women in the times of the Joannas had given place to stays like coats of mail ; disfiguring frills, cocked up dressed hair. A number of Spanish words, indeed whole dialogues, were used to express that kind of civility which differs essen- tially from courtesy, whilst it reminds us, in a manner unplea- sant for both parties, of an existing dependent connexion, or, what is worse, it pretends to do so. In Spain itself the nobi- lity of that time were not better in this respect. From the great shipwreck of the free condition of the middle ages the nobles had saved nothing but pompous forms, and had sought for a compensation in placing this pomp at the head of every- thing. In the privilege of having their heads covered in the presence of their sovereign, the plundered descendants of the conquerors of the Moors saw the Palladium of their rank. Valour degenerated always more into bullying ostentation, the spirit of enterprise into the love of adventure, courtesy into servility, dignity into false pathos, elegance into de- grading luxury. It was long before Italy disentangled itself from these influences it has never been entirely free from their. T Spanish system in those, as well as the character of the Spanish power generally in the seventeenth century, has been only too truly expressed in that colossal bronze statue of King Philip IV. which stands under the portico of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome, a work of the year 1692, when the Duke of Medina Celi, afterwards Viceroy of Naples, was ambas- sador there to Pope Innocent XII. Inflated, unnatural, full 408 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL of false majesty, a restless agitation about it without talent in the attitude, the right hand stretched out imperiously but without power, the left placed upon the top of the sword, which is in the sheath ; the face with a threatening and imperious expression which does not excite fear the statue is a type of the Spanish kingdom at this era, as the last but one of the House of Hapsburg, who, after a mischievous govern- ment of four-aiid-forty years, is buried in the vault of the Escurial; who, alas! leaves behind him such a diminished future empire of the world to his widow as regent for his infant child, who, when four years old, had tasted nothing but asses' milk, and in whose veins the blood of the Spanish kings was quite exhausted. But from these general considerations that have led us to the year 1665 we must retrace our steps, and turn to the in- ternal affairs of Naples and the fate of Diomed Carafa in his last years, and those of his family. We left the Duke of Maddaloni in revels and riots ; but the unfavourable stars which had shone at his birth were not conquered. The Count of Onate had been recalled from his government in November, 1653. He had performed such brilliant ser- vices for the House of Hapsburg that this measure excited universal astonishment ; he himself had had no idea of it, and appears to have considered it as a disgrace. It is said that his excessive strictness, and especially the severity with which he proceeded against the nobility, excited the displeasure of Spain ; that the barons were constantly complaining of him, and that their complaints found an advocate in Don John of Austria, who was not on good terms with the viceroy. The Count of Onate resigned to his successor, Don Garcia de Avellanda y Haro, Count of Castrillo, the government of the country which he had undertaken at a moment when it seemed lost to the crown of Spain, in a better and more tranquil state than it had been for some time. The administration of justice was well regulated ; the highways were cleansed from banditti ; the communities were less burdened with taxes ; the taxes were more equally distributed than had been the case since the days of Toledo. The aristocracy had felt the power of Onate ; they had not received the reward which they had hoped for and claimed. They caused the recall of the viceroy, a measure which had so often been tried in Sicily ; THE SERPENT DANCE. 409 but they benefited little by the change. Their part was over. The Count of Castrillo arrived on the 10th of November^ 1653. Not long afterwards the new attack of the French on the coast took place which has been mentioned at the end of the preceding chapter. Scarcely were they rid of them when that terrible pestilence began which laid the capital and the country desolate during the years 1656-58, perhaps the most horrible plague of mddern times. Thus was the unfortunate country constantly visited first by one evil and then another ; and when war and sickness left it in peace, the government again tried to have recourse to the earlier exorbitant rates and exactions. It availed nothing that this or that tax was abolished. Upon an average little less money was paid than in the year 1658 ; there was again a question of the donative, which had not been mentioned since the revolutionary year of 1647. The birth of an heir to the throne in Prosper Philip occasioned a present to the king of 350,000 ducats, the half of which was raised by a new tax on bread. Thus were the closed doors again broken open, and the old customs prevailed till the end of the Austrian-Spanish dominion, whether the viceroys were Spanish or German. During the festivities of the carnival which took place in 1658 to celebrate the event which had been so long vainly expected, Diomed Carafa appeared once more according to earlier times. He was now seven-and-twenty years old, and the father of a numerous family ; but he took a part with the most brilliant knights in carousals and tournaments. Under the guidance of the Duke of Girifalco they formed one qua- drille amongst others called the serpent (biscia), first inter- twining themselves together and then separating themselves, and thus with great rapidity and dexterity executing a laby- rinth of quickly-changing figures. The scene was the square before the royal palace, which was surrounded with bars and with scaffolds for the ladies, and after that the evolutions and the tournaments had been performed, the knights repaired to the great saloon, where the dancing went on all night. Mad- daloni's life had not been a quiet one even in these years. During a dispute which had arisen between the cavaliers of the sedile of Capuana and the Cardinal Filomarino, with regard to the privileges of the cavaliers on the occasion of the festival 410 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. of the flowing of the blood of St. Januarius, he gave vent to his old enmity against the archbishop. The cavaliers had de- sired their notary to put up on the spot a protest against the restriction of their privileges, but Filomarino had torn the paper from the hands of the notary and hidden it in the folds of his purple robe. Then Diomed Carafa went to the cardinal, took away the writing from him by violence, and amongst other passionate speeches had alluded to the low marriage of Filo- marino' s father : it was natural that the son of a washerwoman should be ignorant of the customs of the nobility. The bad terms which the cardinal had long been on with Spain, especially since the year 1647, caused Uiomed's conduct to be overlooked : but other occasions of quarrel were not wanting. At the beginning of January, 1655, the duke was fined 40,000 ducats : the reason for this was not known at Naples. At the begin- ning of the next April an inquisitor with thirty men was sent to Arienzo to examine the vassals of Carafa, who had com- plained of oppression ; but Maddaloni lived apparently on good terms with the Spanish rulers whilst this inquiry was going on. The severe inquisition to which the Count of Onate had subjected many of the great nobility, and, amongst others, the Count of Conversano, who died at Tarragona some years after his return from Spain, had been relaxed under the Count of Castrillo, who in his general government neither showed the energy nor was gladdened by the results which had made that of his successor so remarkable. Amongst other evils the banditti again increased to a great degree : contribu- tions were levied upon the districts and towns in the neighbour- hood of the capital, on Soninia. Nola, and many others only a few miles distant. Persons of distinction were seized in the high- ways, and obliged to ransom themselves. When the Cardinal Buoncompagno repaired to Sora he bought a safe conduct from the leaders of the banditti. Some of the barons were concerned in the matter, and a man belonging to an illustrious family, after a trial of many months, had Ids head cut off in the square of Castel Capuano. In the beginning of April, 1658, a certain Luigi Biancardo, who for various crimes it had long been wished to apprehend, was imprisoned and condemned to death in contumarium. He had wandered about in different countries, taking first one name and then another, had appeared at several courts with money and servants, and had committed many fraud- IMPRISONMENT OF MADDALONI. 411 ulent transactions. He had reached Rome only a few days before his imprisonment. He was brought from the prison of the vicarial court to Castel dell' Uovo, where he was tried towards evening by several civil officers of high rank. On the same night, at about the fifth hour, the Duke of Madda- loni was imprisoned and conducted to the castle ; he was im- mediately brought before the same junta, which had assembled there since the dawn of day. Here he was confronted with Biancardo, then he was put into one of the segrete, secret prisons, and kept under the strictest guard. On the following morning it was reported that Luigi Biancardo had been strangled for " Materia di Stato." The Duchess of Madda- loni hastened immediately to the viceroy ; she was not ad- mitted. The profoundest secrecy was observed upon the cause of the duke's imprisonment no one durst go to him. Three Spanish captains kept guard before his prison. Each of them received a doubloon a day at the expense of the prisoners. Thus weeks elapsed without the veil being lifted up. In July it was said that the duke would besent to Spain, to be confronted with the Count of Conversano, whose great services to the crown had not protected him from a state trial. Meanwhile this was still considered as only a threat " to fleece him properly." On the evening of the 5th of August, six galleys and thirteen tartanes weighed anchor under the command of the Marquis of Torrecusa. Two thousand men, Spanish and Italian, were conveyed to Finale by this flotilla, where the troops for Lombardy were usually disembarked. On board one of the galleys, called San Giovanni, was Don Luigi Po- derico, the former commander-in-chief of the troops of the barons, destined to be captain-general in Catalonia, and besides him, under a strong guard, Diomed Carafa, Duke of Madda- loni. He had a large sum of money with him ; and it was thought in Naples, that he would not fail in his intention, but would obtain a trial for his defence. For a time the affair appeared to take a favourable turn. In November of the same year he wrote to his wife, to send him as soon as possible his finest carriage, and a magnificent sedan chair. It was said to be for a present to the king.* * Reports of the Tuscan agents, Lorenzo del Eosso, Andrea Pandol- fini, and Paolo Pepi, of the 9th. 16th, 23rd April, 23rd July, 6th August, 3rd December, 1658. 412 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Yet the affair did not go on as Maddaloni had hoped. Little is known about him : he was kept a prisoner in a for- tress in the vicinity of Madrid. Here, as Don Francesco Capecelatro expresses it, he ended his days in misery, in the month of September, 1660.* Such was the end of the stormy life of Diomed Carafa. He was in youth and in manhood a genuine representative of the Neapolitan nobility, brilliant and extravagant, resisting all restraint, despising every law, only recognizing his own pri- vileges ; but sacrificing himself readily in the service of the crown. His last fate and his death were amongst the many warnings that Spain from henceforward would share her sovereignty with none, that it respected no privileges, trusted no one, remunerated no services. Whether the country and the people fared better, when the political power of the aris- tocracy was entirely annihilated? The condition in which the kingdom of Naples was left after the breaking up of the monarchy at the extinction of the Spanish House of Hapsburg may answer the question. . * The Duchess of Maddaloni survived her husband many years. Her eldest son, Marzio, inherited the dignities and possessions. " The present Duke of Maddaloni," says the historian of the Carafas,^ " is a perfect cavalier, adorned with the sublime high order of the Golden Fleece, which had been granted to him by his majesty Charles II., and with all the valiant qualities that belong to the character of a true noble- man. He is noble in manner, obliging, friendly, magna- nimous, generous, and therefore beloved by his equals and respected by his inferiors. He is a friend to the virtuosi, whether they are distinguished for the fine arts or for the coat of mail. He is learned in ancient and modern history, and has drawn from the study of it, in what manner authority is to be obeyed, and vassals to be commanded. His library is very large, arid he always delights to spend a portion of each day in reading. He has with nobleness of mind imitated the example of foreign grandees, as he has travelled through a considerable part of Italy and Spain, with the view of learning the customs and way of thinking of foreigners, in order to communicate them to his neighbours. In short, he is all that a good vassal of the king's and a worthy scion of an illus- * Capecelatro, Annali, p. 179. f Aldimari, vol. ii. DEATH AND FAMILY OF DIOMED. 413 trious family ought to be. His beautiful possessions are in Terra di Lavoro, not far from Naples. And although his fief suffered very much from the earthquake on the 5th of June, 1688, he is nevertheless one of the greatest and richest nobles in the kingdom." Besides Marzio, Diomed Carafa left several children, of whom two daughters went into a convent. Marzio's eldest son, Diomed, died before his father in the year 1696, and his other son, Carlo, succeeded him in 1702. He had by his wife Emilia Carafa of Andria, Charles, who had the title of Prince of La Guardia, and married Teresa Carlotta Colonna of the line of Sonnino. He died in the year 1716; his son, Domenico Marzio, in 1760; and his successor, Carlo, in 1765. One only son of this last re- mained, who was again called Domenico Marzio. As he was imbecile, towards the end of the seventeenth century, and when he attained his majority, his uncle Diomed, under the name of the Marquis of Arienzo, was summoned by a sentence of the great vicarial court to the enjoyment of the Maddaloni estates, which was confirmed by King Ferdinand IV. on the 7th of April. 1790. When the Marquis of Arienzo died, in 1805, his rights went to Francesco Saverio, Prince of Colo- brano, great-grandson of the unfortunate Giuseppe Carafa, and at his death to his brother Diomed, who was succeeded in the year 1824 by his son Marzio Gaetano. Domenico Marzio^ with whom had remained the title and a rental of twelve thou- sand ducats, died first in 1829, since which Marzio Gaetano Carafa united the title of a Prince of Colobrano to that of Duke of Maddaloni. But how little remains of the splendid inheritance of Diomed Carafa, the friend and counsellor of Ferdinand of Aragon, king of Naples ! We are approaching the end. But before we finish this historical narrative, in which the destinies of a kingdom and a nation during three centuries have been interwoven with that of one family, we must introduce a short survey and cur- sory description of the transition of Naples from the condition of a province, into a powerful and once more a flourishing kingdom. Revolutions seldom profit those who make them a truth, often repeated, that has never prevented a single revo- lutionary spirit from beginning again the dangerous game. This was the case with the revolution of 1647. The chiefs 414 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. disappeared from the stage, some during the struggle, some soon afterwards. The fickleness of the populace ruined some. others were destroyed by the axe of the executioner. But even the people did not profit by the revolution. We must not be deceived by the fact, that many of the taxes were lessened, and others abolished. It was scarcely more than an apparent advantage. For the welfare of the town and of the country was at a very low ebb ; and if it was long before the wounds grew stiff, which the insurrection had inflicted upon both, the government meanwhile contrived to draw the reins tighter in again. The donative, as we have already remarked, was reintroduced in the year 1658. And enfeoffments, sales of offices, underselling, and dishonesty, went on in the same way as ever, indeed they were worse. Messina's bloody rebel- lion of four years, from 1674 78, cost Naples seven millions of ducats in ready money. The viceroy, the Marquis d'As- torga, was accused of having enriched himself by sordid trans- actions ; and his immediate predecessor, Don Pedro Antonio d'Aragona, continued publicly and shamelessly in the same course, in all ways, as had once been followed by Monterey and Medina ; and the banditti, the insecurity of the country and of the capital, usury, and the traffic with false coinage, that which went on even in convents, and extended even to copper money, did not diminish. Of all the changes in the go- vernment of the town and the representation, that were desired by the democratical spirit, and granted by an enfeebled royal power in a moment of oppression, not one was really intro- duced. The only result with reference to the representation, was a great mixture in the government, by weakening the power of the nobility. Did the people gain by this? Hardly. The Count of Onate was, if we may compare a large with a limited sphere of action, the Richelieu of Naples. Like him he sought to strengthen the central power at the expense of the other powers. But whilst the Frenchman organised a mighty state, and laid the foundation for the unfolding of its ample resources, which scarcely reached their full deve- lopment even in the next generation, the Spaniard was able to do nothing. The fault of this is less to be attri- buted to him than to the rapidly increasing feebleness of the monarchy. He conquered the anarchy of feudalism, the better TRANSITION OF NAPLES INTO A KINGDOM. 415 elements of which had at first helped him to the victory. Whilst he could not give that compensation to the nobility for the loss of their territorial power and influence, which the French found under the glorious government of Lewis XIV., he did not raise the people ; he educated no able citizen class ; he created nothing that, under more favourable circumstances, might have been introduced neither he nor his successors (Naples had nine more viceroys from the Spanish House of Hapsburg), although two among them were men of talent and of upright will. It was the curse of the Spanish admi- nistration to make the present miserable, and sow no seed for the future. This administration was an example of what a government should not be. It neither developed nor improved the moral and intellectual powers, but supported itself solely upon material force, and sought to secure itself by stirring up the passions of party spirit. It never thought of the particular interests of the country and of the people ; but only how to maintain their connexion with Spain, and only had in view the advantage of that country. For the space of two centuries, Naples sacrificed men and money in the service of a foreign power what did it receive in exchange ? Tyranny, humilia- tion, misery. From the years 1647-48 there was a marked decline in the moral character of the Neapolitan aristocracy. They retained but few of their finer qualities ; some individuals sacrificed their lives on foreign battle-fields for a foreign cause ; most of them passed their time in idleness, without political influence or other consideration ; the great fortunes disappeared more and more ; many had not recovered from the blow given them at the time of the revolution. The forms of the citizen adminis- tration remained, but many new families, some of them Spanish, were enrolled amongst the sediles, and the viceroys were always acquiring more absolute power. No social improve- ment of any importance took place till the Spanish monarchy was ruined and Naples again obtained its own kings. Two hundred and thirty years had elapsed since the fall of the col- lateral branch of the Aragonese, when Charles III. conquered his kingdom. The principle of legitimacy may be said to have conquered in the year 1501, when the illegitimate posterity of Alphonso I. made way for the lawful heirs of his brother ; but unfortunately Naples paid for this victory by a slavery of two hundred years. 416 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Before the south of Italy regained a dynasty, which although of foreign origin became a national one like that of Lorraine in Tuscany, the nobility made one isolated attempt to recover their political importance, and to extricate the country from the condition of a province, to which Ferdinand the Catholic had degraded it. It is a peculiar coincidence that this last design, of the conspiracy called after the Prince of Macchia, was brought about by Providence precisely in an opposite way from that which had been proposed. A fraction of the Nea- politan nobility attached themselves to the German Haps- burgs, and especially to the Archduke Charles, because, under Philip V., who after the death of the last descendant of Charles V. had ascended the Spanish throne in the year 1700, the object of so many intrigues and protracted struggles, they feared to remain dependant on him as they had been on his predecessors. Carlo di Sangro, belonging to the family so often mentioned of the Princes of San Severe, and Ga- etano Gambacorta, Prince of Macchia, were the heads of the conspiracy. This last was descended from that family of the Gambacortas of Pisa, who towards the end of the fourteenth century had for a short time ruled their native country, after the loss of Pisa's principalities in the Tuscan mountainous country of Casentino and in Homagna; they had obtained some imperial fiefs of the widely ramifying race of the Count Palatine of Guidi, and had lost them again before the middle of the fifteenth century, because they had taken part with the Viscontis' and King Alphonso against the republic of Florence. They had afterwards settled in Naples. Others belonging to well-known families had entered into the plan of those two a Carafa, Ceva-Grimaldi Capece, &c. On the 21st of September, 1701, the murder of the Duke of Medina Cell, the last viceroy of the house of Hapsburg, the first of the Bourbons, was to give the signal. The plan was, how- ever, discovered ; but the conspirators did not give up without a struggle. They summoned together the people in the streets, but no one stirred with the exception of some bands of the lowest of the populace and some of the mob who had run in from the neighbourhood, who only did mischief to the undertaking, by pillage and acts of cruelty. In the upper part of Naples the troop of the Prince of Macchia for one moment established and maintained itself in the vicinity of the Mercatello and by the church of San Pietro a Majella. CHARLES IIL 417 Beaten there, the last remains of it defended itself in Santa Chiara and San Lorenzo, where in the year 1647 so much blood flowed. The artillery first put them completely to Hight. Gambacorta escaped with great difficulty ; Sangro was made prisoner and beheaded ; a number of the others were killed in battle, or else ended their days in prison or on the gallows : the estates of many of them were confiscated. The Duke of Ascalona succeeded Medina Coeli ; Philip V. confiscated all the effects of the Prince of Macchia, who died at Vienna in the year 1703: his cousin the Duke of Limatula, who in this attempt at insurrection fought on the Spanish side, was the last of the family. All this happened six years before the conquest of the country by Field-Marshal the Count of Daun, fifteen years before the man was born to whom Naples owed its regeneration. Charles III. conquered Naples in the year 1734. The Austrian government, who under Charles VI., and especially under Maria Theresa, acquired a good name throughout Italy, had already begun to rescue the kingdom from its state of ruin, and would have done more, if it had not been for the war, in which the House of Hapsburg was entangled, for the uncertainty with regard to the future political form of the peninsula, which must be essentially altered by the extinction of the Medicis of Florence, and for the necessarily inherent faults of a viceregal government. Charles III. has been the creator of a new government in Sicily. The energy, the spirit of enterprise, and the caution of this monarch, who was scarcely eighteen years old when he won his king- dom by the sword, eight-and-twenty when he secured the possession of it by the victory at Velletri, three-and-forty when he resigned it to his son Ferdinand, excite the astonish- ment even of those who do not agree with his principles of government. The mania, and precipitate haste to reform, was an evil which all the energetic princes of the time suffered from, and which, by a general want of prudence, assisted almost as much as the many notorious abuses to effect the revolution, and indeed left behind it bad seeds for futurity. The gradual diminution of the aristocratical, and especially of the feudal privileges, and the centralisation of authority, formed part of the system of King Charles and his ruling minister, Bernardo Tanucci, formerly a jurist of 2 E 418 THE CAKAFAS OF MADDALONI. Pisa, as they had grown up in the maxims of most of the sovereigns of the eighteenth century, who did not perceive that by pulling down all the institutions of the states, which ought to have been reformed and not annihilated, they them- selves laid bare the foundation* (if their own thrones, and their posterity have to thank them for the present very inconvenient, unorganised, narrow constitutions. The fidelity of the Nea- politan nobility to their sovereigns upon all occasions, which Mas especially proved during the war against Austria in 1741-44, prevented the government from carrying out their rilans, particularly after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which secured to the House of Bourbon not only both the Sicilies, but Parma and Piacenza.* The persecutions which took place after the attempted in- surrection of the Prince of Macchia destroyed the affection of the Neapolitans for King Philip V. ; the oppression of the nobility under Charles III. gave occasion to one of the most remarkable, although highly lamentable, sights in the years 1798 and 1799. Some of the illustrious nobles took part in the events which led to the formation of the ephemeral Par- thenopeian republic. Already before the royal family had fled to Palermo inquiries had been instituted against members of the families of Colonna. Serracassano, Medici, &c. After the departure of King Ferdinand the deputies of the people would not recognise the authority of the governor, General Prince Francesco Pignatelli-Strongoli. They appealed to the IN institutions of the Emperor Frederick of Hohenstaufen and of King Ladislaus, to the edicts of Philip V. and Charles III. ; they claimed, as representatives of the kingdom and of the town, the sovereign power ; they issued orders and decreed the establishment of a guard of citi/ens. The divisions called forth thereby were increased by the quarrels between citizens and the populace, as well as by the conduct of some actual republicans, and were the real cause of the anarchy which broke out in January, 1799, which after a wild, irregular, and un- fortunate battle of the Lazzaroni against the French, ended in Championet's conquest of Naples. The defence of the town, as well as the reconquest of it by the Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, * P. Collctta, Storia del Ecamo di Napoli. Capolago, 1834. Vol. i. p. 122, &c. (1 vol. p. 57, &c.) THE ABOLITION OF THE SEDILES. 419 can only be paralleled by the insurrection of the year 1647. Two Filomarinos, the Duke della Torre and his brother, met their death during these first disturbances, whilst their houses and effects, like their unfortunate possessors, were sacri- ficed to the flames : and amongst those who, after the return of the king, were executed for high treason, were Giuliano Colonna Stigliano, Gennaro Serra Cassano, five Pignatellis, one Riario, Francesco Caracciolo, the admiral of the Neapo- litan fleet, and many others, not to mention that Ettore Carafa, Count of liufo, with the strength of a lion, who as a leader of a body of republican troops had joined the French, stormed and set fire to the town of Andria, a fief belonging to his own family. Notwithstanding a spirited defence on the side of the royalists, he met his death by the hand of the executioner with the same wild courage which he had shown on the field of battle.* The municipal council of the town of Naples was dissolved by a royal edict in July, 1799; the sediles and the ancient representation of the town and kingdom were entirely abo- lished ; the privileges of the city were materially diminished. Without the knowledge of the epoch already described, the present state of Naples is hardly to be understood. To explain the modern evils it is requisite to go back to their first causes. These causes were in most cases the Spanish dominion. Not only had it completely developed the bad elements of the national character of the inhabitants of southern Italy, it had also added to it foreign agents no less bad than the existing ones. Heavy and perpetual op- pression, tyranny, sometimes violent, sometimes underhand, increasing the old enmity between unequally privileged classes, extravagant dynastic pretensions, all this and many other causes worked together. Then the people tried once more to shake off the enervating habit of political helotism ; thus they fell into the excesses that are inseparable from the libe- ration of uneducated masses, and appear so much the more formidable to posterity because they do not keep in mind the whole of the time, or hold in their hands the right mea- suring rule. Meanwhile in the midst of all the extrava- * Colletta, pp. 273, 277, 308, 313, 317, 413, 420. Coppi Annali d' Italia (edition Borne, 1848), vol. ii. p. 292, vol. iii. p. 93, &c. 2 E 2 420 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOM. gances one prominent characteristic has remained with the Neapolitan people their respect for what they considered legality, their dread of what appeared to them rebellion. In both the revolutionary period* OX the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this peculiarity is obvious during the struggle against the inquisition, and in the far bloodier one against thegabel I e>. This lasted for long, till the dammed up waters of democracy, in the year 1647, burst through the mighty barrier of respect for loyalty; but when it was once burst, the waves carril away everything. It could not be otherwise. Fidelity in 'in- hering to the principle of the divine right, a fidelity to destn<\ which the Spanish government did their utmost, however little it may have been their intention, is to this day unchanged it is the palladium of royal power. On numberless occasions the Neapolitan people, who are reproached for their many re- bellions, have shown a devoted attachment to the reigning family. Good and bad are connected in this ; all tendencies easily degenerate into excesses. The passionate constitution of the inhabitants of the south, together with centuries of ancient habits, make a mixed government difficult if not impossible. The latest events have added new to the old proofs. Consti- tutional ideas occur to many speculative persons who in prac- tice altogether mistake the right proportion, have missed the right aim, and in 1799, as in 1820 and 1848, have, partly by republican caprice, partly by precipitation, as well as by im- potence, failed in producing something really national, have brought discredit upon their theories, and have ruined them- selves and their cause. The multitude adhere firmly to an absolute monarchy, as if they had an obscure consciousness of menacing dangers from a change, dangers that are in great measure to be ascribed to an innate want of moderation ; for the masses have never arrived at real discernment. We nm>t take the Neapolitan people as they are, with their good and bad qualities and habits: their sensitive religious views go hand in hand with their political ideas. It would be difficult and ;it the same time hazardous, it would be dangerous or in- defensible, without a complete change in the constitution of things, without an improvement in the moral principles and sentiments, to undertake an effectual transformation in both. But however this may be, the comparison between Naples THE BOURBONS. 421 under Spain and under the Bourbons is the best panegyric upon the last. If we represent to ourselves the decline which became gradually more visible and more terrible from the time of the Emperor Charles V. to that of King Charles II., from Don Pedro de Toledo to the Duke of Medina Cceli, it inclines us, even without denial of the actual, and some of them, alas ! deep-rooted evils, to be just towards Charles III. and his family. APPENDIX. I. Genealogical Table of the Royal Line of Anjou. II. Younger Line of Anjou. III. Aragonese. IV. Carafas of JIaddaloni. V. The Spanish Viceroys of Naples. VI. Authorities and References. APPENDIX. I. 425 M * h- P Oul O >"a 03 Q g a a 3 . ^* C3 ~5 525 pq ^ K 1 g s^^S-S 1 " - b ~j PH | go l| ^ "g o'? PL, M <* _ X w to O <^ M O " . KS5| bEim S " O-^tt. ffl 1-g S'S^CO^iS 5 "^ 00 ^ fe^^ fc I tn * rt S y i^^co 1 B M C *9 w _ ?1 cfi ^- *" r? 2 '^^s*-! ~* i -4 n ~ f - *^t -^ o_i_ o ^ c c> S . P | j^--W Sg"*" ^H_<)i-l^O MM 1 " 1 " fes i^ ^ciri-* 2 .1 5 TJ 5 1 " 1 M 3 "3 E Q i2 'E -a _; ! | 53 >+- g*> - eo -a fe = 's II fc 2 - I 6< E, 1 Ui - w >S'3-- 426 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. !l j J m in o s APPENDIX. III. 427 g 5 5 |i ii 5 9 = i 1 f f"|l S s*, i I t^ I ^1 c . ,_s<5_ 3 M ' O - 5 tS g a 55 8i -*S 3 l'i I s rt t ^J THE JUST, ;, in the fifth generat eter 111. of Aragon. i L g|-i^ t !-i 51 ^1= " ^1 ? S'C i-. > gl s L | ! s| <( . Jo| S|^_ 1 c 1 ij C^ 5 |1 o 1 M K fc s .3 1C f j' f "g, ^s 1 S" fl o> o ._ 3 r--S " iK J 3 -|^s -| K |_ fH a o"5+- f*i| " i b^g *2s64 1 "o h-i "S 21 <" *g ; a H ;| " N s| |li i w is -g "c^ ' g-t-3 "-T+l'S'a to o & j2 i ri . H 1 ^CiAp^C^ 2 "^ -aj^(5* >5 ^o'2 428 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. o CO 4 .?? ( 429 ) V. THE SPANISH VICEROYS OF NAPLES. 1501. D. Gonsalvo do Cordova, Viceroy of Apulia and Calabria (Louis d' Armagnac, Duke of Xemours, French Viceroy of Naples.) 1507. D. Juan d'Aragona, Count of Ripacorsa. 1509. Don Ramon de Cardona. 1522. Charles de Lannoi. 1527. D. Ugo de Moncada. 1528; Philibert of Chalons, Prince of Orange. 1529. Cardinal Pompeo Colonna. 1532. D. Pedro Alvarez y Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca. 1553. Cardinal Pacheco. 1555. D. Fernando Alvarez y Toledo, Duke of Alva. 1559. D. Perafan de Rivera, Duke of Alcala. 1571. Antoine Perenot Cardinal Granvella, Bishop of Arras. 1575. D. Inigo Lopez Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Mondejar. 1579. D. Juan de Zuniga, Prince of Pietrapersia. 1582. D. Pedro Giron, Duke of Ossuna. 1586. D. Juan de Zuniga, Count of Miranda. 1595. D. Enrique de Gusman, Count of Olivares. 1599. D. Ferrante Ruiz de Castro, Count of Lemos. 1603. D. Juan Alfonso Pimentel d'Herrera, Count of Benavente. 1610. D. Pedro Fernandez de Castro, Count of Lcmos. 1616. D. Pedro Giron, Duke of Ossuna. 1620. Cardinal D. Gaspar Borgia of Gandia. Cardinal D. Antonio Zapata. 1622. D. Antonio Alvarez y Toledo, Duke of Alva. 1629. D. Ferrante Afan de Ribera, Duke of Alcala. 1631. D. Emauuel de Gasman, Count of Monterey. 1637. D. Ramiro Felipe de Gusman, Duke of Medina las Torres. 1644. D. Juan Alfonso Enriquez de Cabrera, Admiral of Castille. 1646. D. Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, Duke of Arcos. 1648. D. Juan of Austria, Governor-General. D. Inigo Velez Guevara y Tassis, Count of Onate. 430 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONL 1653. D. Garcia dc Avcllancda y Hare, Count of Castrillo. 1659. Don Caspar Bragamontc y Gasman, Count of PcnnaranJa. 1664. D. Pascalc Cardinal d'Aragona. 1666. D. Pedro Antonio d'Aragona. 107'2. D. Antonio Alvarez, Marquis of Astorga. 1675. D. Fcrrantc Joaquin Fajardo, Marquis de los Vclez. 1683. D. Caspar dc Haro, Marquis del Carpio. 1687. D. Francisco Bcnavides, Count of S. Estcvan. 16d7. D. Luis della Cerda, Duke of Medina Cceli. ( 431 ) VI. AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCES. A SUCCINCT review and description of the materials made use of in the composition of this book, in manuscript as well as in print, is the more necessary because the annexed notes are merely short references, and do not contain the same informa- tion. But first I cannot help gratefully mentioning the friendly assistance I have received during my work from many persons ; a fresh proof of what I have experienced for twenty years ; the readiness of the Italian literati to assist to the utmost the investigations of those foreigners who are actuated by a real love for their country and its history. In Naples, the Prince of Belmonte, director of the royal archives ; Don Scipione Volpicella ; Michele Baldacchini ; Francesco Palermo, the present librarian of the Palatina at Florence ; Stanislao d'Aloe, secretary-general of the Museo Borbonico all in Naples. Professor Bonaini, formerly libra- rian of the University of Pisa, and Filippo Moise, keeper of the Medecian archives, at Florence ; Pietro Ercole Visconti, commissioner of antiquities and president of the Capitolinian Museum at Rome have especially assisted me in every way, both by their advice and by their actions. To none am I so indebted as to S. Volpicella, who, versed as few are in the local history of his country, has assisted me with the greatest kind- ness and sacrifice of his own time in procuring materials, and has placed at my disposal his manuscripts and his own large library during the whole of my stay at Naples. I. UNPKINTED AUTHORITIES. Diurnali di Scipione Guerra, con aggiunte, by S.Volpicella. These notes, which give us shorter or longer notices of every day, begin with the government of Cardinal Borgia in 1620. The later parts are ascribed to Ferdinand Bucca, of the family of the Marquises d'Alfidena and the Dukes di Montenegro, who 432 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. were related by marriage to that of the Guerras. The Guerra- Bucca journals are particularly valuable for the knowledge they contain of the morals and customs of the times, and have supplied a great many of the materials, especially for the Fifth Chapter of this book. Volpicella has often made use of them in his Descrizione storia de alcuni principali edijicii della cittb di Napoli, of which we shall s|>eak later. Diario di Francesco Capecelatro, contenente la storia delle cose avrenute nel reame di Napoli negli anni 1647-1650. The first part of this Diary, the principal work for the revo- lution of Masaniello and its consequences, has in the mean time been published by the Prince of Belmonte (Angelo Gra- nito, Naples, 1850, xv. 266 & 14 J, S. Gr. 8), whilst the con- tinuation is to be printed. Don Francesco Capecelatro owes his literary fame especially to a work which, useful as it is, is not at all equal in importance to his writings about his own time, which have remained unpublished till our time, namely, the Historia della citta e regno di Napoli detto di Cicilia da che pervenne sotto il dominio dei re, the first part of which was printed in 1640, and which, as far as the author has finished, till the death of Charles I. of An jou, has often been reprinted, lastly by G. Rossini at Pisa in 1820, and at Naples in 1840. With regard to the authenticity as well as the form, this book shows important progress, when we compare it on one side with Pandolfo Collenuccio and on the other with Sttmmonte ; and if we consider how limited the knowledge, for instance, of the Norman era was, when Angelo di Costanzo published the first part of his history (1572). But whilst Capecelatro, in the work mentioned, with regard to form falls into the errors of the time, and still leaves the critic much to wish for, as a judge and narrator of contemporary events he is of much greater importance. From these last writings, especially the ' Diario ' and the ' Annali,' of which we shall speak later, we become perfectly acquainted with the people he associates with. Francesco Capecelatro was of illustrious birth, thoroughly in- structed in jurisprudence, in politics, and in history. Having attained to mature age, he had no small share in the conduct of public events, in which it was necessary, above all things, to steer properly between the viceroys, the nobility, and the people. In the citizen wars after the Masaniello insurrection tie took up arms on the side of the Barons in A versa. He APPENDIX VI. 433 governed important provinces for many years : first Calabria Citra, then Terra di Bari, and died at the age of seventy-five, on the 27th May, 1670, two and twenty years after the cessa- tion of the disturbances, which he has described more exactly, and upon the whole more calmly and faithfully, than any other chronicler. Brought up under a despotic and avaricious go- vernment, Francesco Capecelatro could not keep himself en- tirely free from its disadvantageous influences. In the midst of the oppression of the Spaniards, of the dissensions not only between the nobility and the people, but also between the dif- ferent factions of nobles, lastly of the disturbances caused by a bad government, but which the tyranny practised by the barons first occasioned, he showed himself an aristocrat in the full meaning of the word ; but according to the tendency of the aristocracy in those times, trying mostly for external insigni- ficant honours and speedy gains, he showed little consistency in political principles and a public career, whilst he submitted more to absolute power, and even supported it more than was compatible with his intellectual character, with the opinions which he often expressed, and his position as a citizen. In his youthful years he opposed the encroachments of the Spaniards with a determination which drew upon him persecution and exile ; in his later years he even submitted to be, to a certain degree, their tool. This change in his views and his career, which moreover those who live themselves in a period of violent transitions, and of melancholy proofs of the insuffi- ciency of theoretical policy, will not judge too severely, is easily to be perceived in both the works that are now under our consideration : the Annals which treat of the years 1631 to 1640, viz. the time of the Viceroys Monterey and Medina; and the Diary of the disturbances in the years 1647, 1648. Both (the first written in Capecelatro's youth, the other in advanced age) are invaluable for the information they contain about the condition of Naples in the seventeenth century. We do not become acquainted with this condition by reading through Parrino's Teatro del Vicere, or from the last volume of Giannone's, which are nothing but a compendium of those just mentioned ; but Capecelatro's writings give us a tolerably complete insight, not only into the political relations, but also into the state of morals. With reference to the last, the Annals are far more important than the Diary ; but the last surpasses 2 F 434 THE CARACAS OF MADDALONL all the narratives of events and their consequences in the time of Ma-anit'llo, if not in liveliness of description (for in tiii> respect it is surpassed by the accounts of persons belonging to the popular party), yet by its exactness, and in general by the justness of its criticism. Capecelatro wrote this history twice. He begun it at Cosenza in Calabria, in the year 1649, and finished it at the same place. The viceroy, the Count of Pen- naranda, took with him the manuscript, consisting of three parts, to Spain, in September, 1644 ; and the author once more applied himself in the following year to the tedious work, and finished his second history at Montefuscoli in 1666, when he was governor of the Principato Ultra, (province of Avellino.) The original work was brought back to Naples later, and is at this time in the library of the Filippiui (Priests of the Ora- toire) of that town. Only the second part of the later history seems to be extant, which differs widely from the other in the greater and lesser details, as well as in liveliness of description. It relates the events from the 18th of September, 1647, to the 20th of April, 1648. It is in the possession of Scipione Volpicella. The edition arranged by the Prince of Belmonte renders the first text faithfully, with numerous deeds, advertise- ments (bandi), proclamations, letters, and notes, out of con- temporary authors. The part which has appeared hitherto takes in from June to September, 1647. At the end is Finito di copiare in Cosenza li 10 di Giugno, 1649, governando delta provincia. A detailed account of Capecelatro's life and works, great part of the same in lu's own words, is contained in the industrious memoir of Volpicella, which deserves our thanks: Delia Vita e delle Opere di Fr. C. (Naples, 1846, 74 G. 8), in which mention is made of a small yet unpublished historical work, a narrative of the valiant defence of Orbetello and the Tuscan shores, by Carlo della Gatta against Prince Thomas of Savoy, who commanded the French troops, which is mentioned in the fourth chapter of this book (1,310). Le Revoluzioni del Segno di Napoli, di Gio. Bat. Piacente. The author was from Somma, at the foot of Vesuvius ; and at the beginning of the Masaniello revolution he was governor of the place Lauro, for the Marquis Scipione Lancellotti, to whom the book is dedicated, dated Nola, 4th December, 1648. The work, in six volumes, contains a description of the revolutions of Naples till the reconquest of Porta APPENDIX VI. 435 Longone at Elba. The parts of particular importance, which describe the battles in Terra di Lavoro and the Principata, about which the author could obtain exact information, and which he describes clearly. Although an official of the Barons, still he is upon the whole little inclined to the party of the Barons. He gives us a great insight into the policy of the Count of Onate. There is a beautiful copy of the work in the large library of the Prince of Cimitile (Albertini), and another, by which I have profited very much, in that of S. Volpicella. Carteggio degli Agenti del Granduca di Toscana in Napoli. In the archives of the Medici at Florence, several volumes of the correspondence of the Tuscan agents under the govern- ments of Ferdinand I., Cosmo II., and Ferdinand II. Francesco Palermo has given us (see later), in the Narrazioni e Documenti sulla Storia del JRegno di Napoli, from these despatches a series of extracts which serve to illustrate the statistics and the history of Naples during the years from 1582 to 1648. In this book the unprinted despatches of Vincenzo de' Medici (during the pestilence of 1656) and his successors till the end of 1658, are especially useful for giving us an account of the last years of Diomed Carafa. Memorie di Tiberio Carafa, Principe di Chiusano. Tiberio Carafa was a follower of the Spanish King Charles III. (Em- peror Charles VI.), and took an active share in the intrigues which, during the dispute about the throne between the Houses of Hapsburg and Bourbon, excited a great part of the nobility. The complete manuscript of the Memoirs is to be found at Naples, in the possession of S. Volpicella. Amongst the Foscarini manuscripts at Vienna the first and third volumes, which contain an account of the years 1669 to 1701, 1705 1712. Tommaso Gar. I Codici Storici dellaCollezione Foscarini, conservata nella 1. Biblioteca di Vienna. (In the Appendix to the Foscarini is yet to be mentioned the Storia arcana, p. 384.) A fragment from these Memoirs (which was well worth printing, as well on account of the restless cha- racter of the times as of that of the wild author, who himself confesses his " sfrenate passioni " and " vanita ") was pub- lished by Volpicella in the Neapolitan Pocketbook, Fiori d' Inverno, 1850. It concerns a duel fought in the Prater at Vienna (1,361). 2 F 2 436 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. II. PRINTED AUTHORITIES. For the purpose of judging of the internal circumstances of Naples at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries, and the causes of the terrible fall of the illegitimate Aragonese, as well as the rapid ruin of the French power, next to the well-known French memoirs and Italian historians, (Commines and Guicciardini may be mentioned as of the greatest value, before all others,) the Cronaca di Notar Giacomo, publicata per euro, di Paolo Garzilli (Naples, 1845, 360 S. gr. 8). The manuscript is to be found in the Brancacci library at S. Angelo a Nilo in Naples. Camillo Tutini, who in the seventeenth century wrote upon the constitutional his- tory of the city, knew the value of this Chronicle, and quoted it frequently. Till the middle of the fifteenth century we find only simple notices and extracts out of other chronicles, then when we approach the time of the author himself, the descrip- tion gains in life and description, and often gives an impartial criticism on political relations, and is interesting from the simple national language that it is written in. Our author, a jurist, makes us understand much more of the municipal affairs and the relations between the nobility and the people, as, for instance, in 1787, the printed journals of the silkmercer, Giuliano Passero. The inquiries about the person of the author have led to no result ; and it is merely a conjecture that he is called, in the books of the Camera Notariale of that time, Giacomo della Morte. Smaller in size, but equally im- portant in the way just suggested, are the Diurnali di Giacomo Gallo (Naples, 1846. 54 S. 8), published by S. Volpicella. They reach from the 25th January, 1494, to the 5th June, 1496 ; and thus embrace the period from the first overthrow of the Aragonese sovereignty and the expulsion of the French by King Fernandino. The industrious Tutini has profited by these Diurnali ; and there is a copy of them in the Brancacci library, written by his hand. In perspicuity and interest they are at least equal to the Chronicle of the notary ; and the re- vival of the popular element during the first appearance of the French, and after the return of the Aragonese, who did not understand how to derive any advantage from it, or were prevented from the storms which burst over Italy from profit- APPENDIX VI. 437 ing by it, is shown in this simple narrative better than by other learned or brilliant historians of those times, and of those which immediately followed them, who in general have overlooked this important moment in judging these re- markable events. Giacomo Gallo sprung from an honourable family in Amain' ; his mother was a Florentine, Giulia della Bella. He was intimately acquainted with the famous Marquis of Pescara, Ferdinand d' Avalos. His Notes reach from 1494 to 1536; but it appears that only the part mentioned above has been preserved, and that the original is entirely lost. A few words will suffice about Pietro Nores' Storia della Guerra di Paolo IV, sommo Pontifice contro gli Spagnuoli (Florence, 1847, xxxiii. and 512 S. gr. 8, as vol. xii. of Vieusseux' Archivio Storico Italiano), as the book belongs more to the Roman than to the Neapolitan history. It has been, with the added documents, the principal authority for the narrative of the fate of the Carafas of Montorio, in the third chapter of the first volume of this history. Ranke ( The Roman Popes, fyc., vol. i. p. 290, 3rd edit.) mentions it once as Bromato's authority for the History of the War of the Carafeski against Alva. Nores was born at Nicosia in Cyprus, after the loss of the island to the Turks. Jn 1570 he came with his father to Venice, lived at Padua and Mantua, went to Rome, and entered into the service of the Aldo- brandini nephews of Clement VIII. He finished the volume about Paul IV. in 1644, and must have died not long after- wards. If he is not to be considered amongst the actual con- temporary authors, he knew more than the generality from hearsay and persons to be depended upon. His exactness cannot be called in question, and is confirmed by every in- quiry, historical or local. He hardly does fitting justice to the pope, who, however great in mind, was poor in means for the execution of his unhappy undertaking. The volume of Fr. Palermo's already mentioned Narra- zioni e Documenti sulla Storia del Regno di Napoli dalV anno 1522 al 1667, raccolti e ordinati con illustrazioni (Florence, 1846, xxxviii. and 695 S. gr. 8) contains an endless abundance of materials. It forms the ninth volume of the Archivio Storico Italiano. The most important time of the Spanish sovereignty is explained in this volume by a quantity of documents and papers of every kind ; and the 438 THE CARAFA8 OF MADDALONI. mass which is communicated is as important as the selection of what is characteristic i- skilfully chosen. The principal parts are as follows : 1. The Government of Don Pedro de Toledo, 1532-1553. According to a manuscript of the Filip- pini, the life of Toledo, composed by Scipione Miccio, is published, which Giannone has followed almost throughout without mentioning 1 it. It will be difficult to agree with Miccio in his opinions, stated in many places; he wrote in 1600, and dedicated his work to the Count of Lemos. the elder of the name; but his plain account, founded upon authentic dates, is deserving of all our attention, for he mentions that he had borrowed the materials from his father's papers, who was also a contemporary of the great viceroy's. But a still greater insight into the details of the events of a time in which the Spanish government established a firm footing in Naples, and took a decided form, is iriven by the despatches of the agents of the Duke Cosmos of Florence, of the years 1538-1550. 2. Documents concerning the Muni- cipal Constitution of Naples, and the Claims of the different Families to a share of the same. Instructions and despatches of the years 1557, 1558, at which period a later attempt was renewed to obtain from King Philip II. an extension of the noble sediles, for the purpose of admitting those families who were not enrolled in them, and consequently excluded from the municipal government, of which the second chapter of this present book (i. 168) expressly treats. 3. Extracts from the Despatches of tJie Resident Consuls and Agents of Tuscany and Urbino, on the Administrative, Moral, and Economical Relations, comprehending from the time of 1563 to 1648. The manuscripts, full of information of the Florentine Carteggio, have already been mentioned. The materials are excellent which are here offered ; and these Reports from the embassy assist more than many other books to the knowledge of the condition of the country and of the people. Much that was concealed was known to these diplomatic agents ; for to these same persons were entrusted besides financial matters, because their lords had fiefs and money transactions in the kingdom : thus one obtains, with reference to these, many particulars; besides, those in Bianchini's hook have always value, the dates being drawn from official sources. 4. Materials for the His- tory of the Disturbances in, the year 1647. Amidst the mass APPENDIX VI. 439 of the materials already existing of the time of Masaniello, it will be better here to limit ourselves to a few of the most cha- racteristic. The most important are the seven letters of the Cardinal Ascan Filomarino, from the 8th of July to the 27th of August, to Pope Innocent X. They were first published by the librarian of the Rinucciniana in Florence, G. Ajacci, in 1843, not printed for the trade, but for private circulation. The letters are historical documents, for the cardinal was one of the most prominent individuals in the drama of the fisher- man of Amalfi, whose name is always mentioned first, and sometimes alone, when the revolutions of 1647 are spoken of, though he only acted a short part in them. They describe their author as history represents him : 'Imprudent ; easily deceived ; when undeceived in one instance immediately fall- ing into another deception ; building upon the submission and favour of the people, like the bad politicians of ] 848 ; pro- ducing more mischief by his hardly concealed hatred of the Spaniards and the nobility than he did good by his undeniable popularity. We are conducted through the wildest and most desolate times of the rebellion, during the battle in the streets and the murder of Don Francesco Toraldo (vol. ii. p. 194), by an account (now mutilated since the death of the last possessor,) and communicated likewise by the librarian of the Rinucciana of an otherwise unknown Hermes Stampa, of the 27th October, 1647 (not September, as it is printed at p. 401). 5. Materials for the History of the System of Spiritual Juris- diction, from the accounts of the Nuncios of the years 1592 1605, in the Medicean archives. Any one who knows Gian- none's history, even only superficially, is aware of the im- portance and the influence this spiritual jurisdiction exercised generally over the administrative, legal, financial, and civil relations. Much of it does honour to the court of Rome, as it clearly proves how many of the abuses were fostered especially by the government at Naples. But then the reverse also occurs. Finally, 6. Francesco Zazzera's Journal during the Duke of Ossuna's Government, 1616 1620. There are many copies of Zazzera's ample notes about the most remarkable viceroy which Naples has had since Don Pedro de Toledo, in the Brancacciana at Naples, the Riccardiana at Florence, and even in the possession of Fr. Palermo. For all the general political affairs, which, so far 440 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. as the often discussed quarrels with Venice are concerned, L. Ranke has explained with his accustomed acuteness, and has described with rare clearness, these journals are of lr-- value than they are for the knowledge they give us of the customs, the way of life, and of events, which are now so diffi- cult to prove, that if the authorities were not cited it would be easy to suspect exaggeration. In the printed work the worst improprieties have already been omitted, whilst in the volume in question, there is a great deal in print, as well as in the manuscripts mentioned, which, even if characteristic, could not, with propriety, be turned to account. I)egli Annali della Citta di Napoli di Don Francesco Ca- pecelatro, parti due (1631-1640, Naples, 1849, 252, S. gr. 8), occupy a higher place than the journals of Zazzera. Already, above, mention has been made of this work, which was edited by S. Volpicella, from a manuscript in the library of the Duke of Forli Carafa di Policastro. Here we have not a full and comprehensive history-, the events follow one an- other without internal connection and chain of causes. But as politics and also social circumstances and family history are represented in a detailed and in a lively manner, we gain thus a tolerably complete view of the grievous condition of the country and of the people under both the viceroys already mentioned, who more than others caused the outbreak of 1647. We see that in these annals, composed from memory and acci- dental notices under Medina's government, two years are unfortunately wanting. The later revision of the year 1661 has perhaps added much to the strictly historical part and a retrospection of earlier events ; fortunately the impressions and criticisms of the author, which must have been much modified after the revolution of 1647, have been left unefFaced. No contemporary author has left behind him a more true and effective picture of Naples, with its government and society ; no other book places us in an equal degree in a condition to form a right judgment upon the events at Naples at that time. [In a memoir, Napoli nel Seicento, in the Florentine Archivio storico Ilaliano, Appendice, vol. viii., pp. 217-232, I have made express mention of this and of other works on the Nea- politan history of the seventeenth century.] Great use has been made of two accounts of Naples of the latter part of the sixteenth century : the one is, Re- APPENDIX VI. 441 lazione di Napoli del Senatore Girolamo Lippomano, ritor- nato Ambasciatore dal Serenissimo D. Giovanni d' 'Austria Vanno 1575 ; (Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti al Senato raccolte, da E. Alberi, vol. v. [Serie ii. vol. ii.] pp. 265- 311, Flor. 1841); of Ranke's (Princes and Nations of the South of Europe vol. i. 2nd edition, pp. 266-432). Like most of the ambassador's reports, it gives a comprehensive and, on the whole, a just and very clear description of the country, the people, and the government. Of another kind is the Rela- zione del Regno di Napoli al Marchese di Mondesciar di Camilla Porzio, 1577-1579 (first printed by Agostino Ger- vasio at the expense of the Accademia Pontaniana, published from posthumous writings of Porzio's L'Istoria d' Italia neW anno MDXLVII. (Naples, 1839, p. 133-171) ; then in the Opere di Camilla Porzio per cura di C. Monzani, Florence, 1846, pp. 275-312). Not an historical-political history, like that of the Venetian, but simple, unadorned information for a new viceroy, a kind of geographical-statistical compendium, in which now the only real interest is in the characteristic peculiarities of the different provinces and their inhabitants (compare 1, 181), whilst the financial dates appear to depend in great measure upon accidental acceptances. About the history of the Masaniello insurrection and its consequences, the memoirs of two foreigners come under our consideration who both acted important parts in this whirl of a revolution. They are the Memoir es du Comte (pu Baron) de Modene (a new edition of Miel, Paris, 1827), and the Me- moires de feu Monsieur le Due de Guise (2nd edition, Paris, 1668). The memoirs of Modene had, in the original edition, the title of Histoires des Revolutions de la Ville et du Roy- aume de Naples, Paris, 1666. Esprit de Raymont de Mor- moiron Comte de Modene was born in the year 1608, at Sarri- ano, near Carpentra, in the papal territory Yenaissin, and belonged to one of the most considerable families of the pro- vince. He was in his youth page to Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIII. (Gaston of Orleans) ; he attached himself to Henry of Lorraine during his Neapolitan expedition, became Maestro-di-campo Generale of the army of the people, re- mained in prison at Castelnuovo for the space of two years after the fall of Guise, and returned in April, 1650, to France, where he died in 1670. Modene united military knowledge 442 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI to political acuteness, and judged of Neapolitan affaire in general, and particularly of Guise's position and the causes of his ruin, with equal impartiality and accuracy. He had quar- relled with the duke long before the reconquest of Naples by the Spaniards, and was impeached for high treason and had been brought before the tribunal of the vicarial court, so that he only exchanged one prison for another. The Memoirs of the Duke of Guise give us a very detailed, lively, and amu-mir description of the whole transaction : if we take into considera- tion the condition of the country, the embarrassments of Spain, the old claims of France, and of the house of Lorraine in par- ticular, he is not so adventurous as he appears at first. The narrative begins with the intrigues at the court of Rome, and ends with his liberation from the fortress of Gaeta, where the duke, as he is going away, sees the corpse of the Connetable of Bourbon ; " Qui est debout dans une caisse vis-a-vis de la chapelle, appuye sur un baton de commandement, avec son chapeau sur sa tete, botte et revestu d'une casaque de velours vert avec du galon d'or. II est fort bien conserve. II estoit de fort belle taille et des plus grands hommes de son temps : 1'on remarque* tous les traits de son visage et il paroit d'une mine fort fiere et telle que la pouvait avoir un homme d'aussi grand merite et d'un courage aussi inebranlable qu'il le fit paroitre a sa mort." For any one who undertakes to narrate in detail the rebellion of the years 1647-1648, the memoirs of Guise are of the greatest importance. Nothing, for instance, is more picturesque than the description of his reception at Naples, and of the first night spent in the tower of the Car- mine with Gennaro Annese, foul in mind and body. " Je me couchai le plus promptement que je pus ; Gennare aussitot se vint mettre aupres de moy, et mettant une chandelle sur le lict et se debandant une jambe pour la panser, je lui demandai si c'etait quelque blessure. II me n?pondit qu'etant replet natu- rellement et charge d'humeurs un medecin de ses amis luy avoit ordonne de se servir d'un remede que je ne nomine point de peur de donner autant de degout qu'il me fit mal au coeur." Not less clear is the description of his arrival at Gaeta, and the difference of opinion between the Count of Onate, " fin et habile," whose principle "que le temps et la patience ne gatent jamais les affaires, ce que fait ordinairement la precipi- tation ;" and Don John of Austria, "jeune prince brave et APPENDIX VI. 443 genereux, se laissent emporter aux raouvements de son coeur et prenant le parti le plus beau et le plus honorable." I am indebted for the Memoirs of the Duke of Guise to the friend- ship of Paul Grimblot, the publisher of the Letters of William III. and Louis XIV. and of their Ministers, 1697 to 1700 (2 vols. London, 1848) ; Rene de Bouillon's detailed His- toire des Dues de Guise, upon which Alexis de Saint Priest, in the Revue des Deux Mondes (year 1851), has written a re- markable memoir ; the last part of it, which is applicable to this present work, was not known to me till I had finished it. Had it been my aim in this present work to consider more closely Naples in its state of transition from Spain to Austria, and the period which came to a sudden end with Charles III. (VI.), I should particularly have mentioned the Storia Arcana of the Doge Marco Foscarini (Florence, 1843, XLI., Intro- duction of T. Gar, and 505 S. gr. 8, as the fifth volume of the Archivio Storico Italiano), which investigates and explains the causes of the disaster of the house of Hapsburg in Italy, and the loss of Naples, with the view of a statesman, and is therefore a useful addition to historical literature, however objectionable the form of the book. The Venetian ambassa- dors in Vienna in the years 1732-1735, consequently just during the time when the confusion about the throne of Poland rekindled a war between the house of Hapsburg and Bourbon, and Naples and Sicily were given to the Infant Don Carlos, Duke of Parma and presumptive heir of Tuscany, Foscarini had many opportunities of studying persons and things, and availed himself of them with that judgment and dexterity in which the Venetians have never been wanting, even to the last, when it was a question of foreign policy. Foscarini was of opinion that the many Spaniards who followed the archduke, afterwards emperor, to Vienna, had there attracted to them- selves the guidance of Italian affairs, and had introduced inve- terate dissension into the whole government, and were the principal cause of the Austrian supremacy in Italy. Two authors of the seventeenth century are yet to be men- tioned ; both are of no small worth for their knowledge of that time. First, Camillo Tutini, with his book, Dell' Origine e Fundazione de Seggi di Napoli (first edition, Naples, 1644). The best and most fundamental work upon the old constitution of the kingdom, and the extremely peculiar municipal consti- 444 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALOXI. tution of the capital as it existed in essentials till the French revolution. Unfortunately it contains too much archaeological ostentation and unprofitable erudition ; whereupon practical things, especially political relations, are too easily left out of consideration. What Tutini gives is often rather materials for the work than the work itself, but, as the material, it is very valuable. This work is founded upon great study of the archives, like most of the books of that period. We only wish the conclusions were clearer and better revised. The polemic against other authors, especially Summonte, helps the business little or nothing. The new materials for the history of the Seggi or Sediles in Palermo's book have already been pointed out. Without an accurate knowledge of the system and form of these Sediles, an actual insight into the condition of Naples under the Spanish dominion is not possible. Another book of this kind is // Forastiero, Dialog hi di Giidio Cesare Ca- paccio, Academico otioso (Naples, 1634, a quarto of not less than 1110 pages!). The form of it is as crude and disagree- able as possible, but it is full of notices of all kinds about the town of Naples as it was under the viceroy Monterey ; about the topography, as well as about the administration, finances, families, and now and then also upon the way of life. What this Capaccio, who was, however, a learned man and tutor to the Prince Federigo della Rovere, son of the last Duke of Urbino, has written besides amongst other works, his Puteo- lana Historia, which contains an epitaph on Lucretia composed in Latin of the time of Augustus, (that, it sounds incredible has been reproduced with all gravity by an author of our day) and his descriptions of the lives of some of the viceroys, of which three have been given by the cardinal, Mai Spicilegium Ro- manum, vol. viii., is as unreadable as his Forastiero. III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION. We can here only designate the most important, historical, genealogical, topographical works which we have made more or less use of in composing this book. First we will cite the general descriptive histories of Naples in the time of the Aragonese and of the viceroys. Summonte's four thick quarto volumes, (Istoria della Citta e Regno di Na- APPENDIX VI. 445 poll, 2nd edition, 1675,) which contain from the beginning to the first Duke of Ossuna, are generally known ; and notwith- standing the imperfect criticism and a heavy style, are indis- pensable for the period mentioned. Since we are here only taking a passing view of the Aragonese era, we do not con- sider the detail and works of detail (and amongst the new ones especially that of Domenico Tomacelli, Duca di Monasterace, Storia del Reame di Napoli dal 1458/ 1464, Naples, 1840). The principal work for the viceroys is still the Teatro eroico e politico de' Governi de Vicere del Regno di Napoli, di Do- menico Antonio Parrino (published first at Naples in 1683, then in 1730, and in the Gravier collection of Neapolitan chroniclers and historians, which for southern Italy is still the best Corpus Scriptorum, because the collection begun by G. del Re soon came to an end) ; a very dull book, and ridiculously devoid of taste, without a touch of real historical writing, but for external facts in general, true and useful from its quantity of notices. Parrino wrote upon the occasion of Don Francisco de Benavides Davila y Corella, Count of Sant' Esteban, Mar- quis de Las Navas, Count of Cocentayno, " Caudillo Major " of the kingdom of Faen, and Governor of the royaralcazarey, and whatever may be all the remaining titles of this Spanish grandee, who governed for the unhappy Charles II. and the poor Neapolitans, whose nod appeared to the author " like a mild rustling of a mighty witchcraft." Pietro Giannone has, as we have said, in that part of his Istoria civile del Regno di Napoli which treats of the Spanish time, done nothing but make an extract frqm Parrino, to which he attaches his juridical ac- count. Only the last parts are of value, and full of erudition and acuteness ; otherwise this book has been greatly over- estimated. There is no historical spirit In the narrative part ; it is a dry, heavy, unattractive description, without grace in the style or liveliness in the recital ; it is tedious, and mono- tonous, and does not enter deeply into the circumstances of the times, and is of no value for general historical references. How far behind this author of the eighteenth century, who only takes a legal view in his book, is to the historians of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, who are statesmen, even if Machiavelli and Guicciardini, both master spirits, are left out of the se- ries ! The widely-spread fame of the Storia civile is only to be explained by the excellence of that part which treats of jurisprudence, and above all for its spirit of hostility to papal 446 THE CAKAFAS OF MADDALONI. dominion, that in the former century was sure to make it prosper, and the melancholy fate of the author, who ended his life in the citadel of Turin. Lodovico Bianchini's book, Delia Storia delle Finame del Segno di Napoli, libri sette (3 vols. Naples, 1833-1835), dis- cusses in his second volume the government with reference to the administration of finance, industry, commerce, and the system of coinage, during the time before mentioned, viz. from 1441 till the partition of the Spanish monarchy. Im- portant study of the archives is the foundation of the work, especially in later times : but it is a serious evil that the autiiorities are not mentioned ; that in a work of this sort ought to be known, what Cibrario was well aware of in his writings of the same kind upon the finances of Savoy, and the administration of finance in the middle ages, especially important for the north of Italy. The last part, containing from the time of Charles III. till our time, is, besides, the worse for being too long. The work is useful in many respects ; meanwhile we must always feel grateful to the author for his laborious work. It is a striking phenomenon that precisely a country like the kingdom of Naples, where the principles of finance have been understood so late and only in part, should have produced such distinguished economists ; amongst them the Calabrian Antonio Serra, who already in the year 1613 established the causes of true wealth upon reasonable principles, and showed that the source of it is not in gold-mines ; Carlo Antonio Broggio, to whom lately Fr. Palermo has paid tribute in the periodical paper of Utili Conoscenfe, vol. ii., and who explained the system of taxes in the year 1743, was mis- understood, and rewarded with prison and banishment ; lastly, Galiani Genovesi, far better known and more influential than the other, assisted actively in spreading right views upon the coinage. As in Tuscany under the benevolent rule of the house of Lorraine, the economical condition of the country was very different when the principles of Salustio Bandini on free trade forced their way, and gave an impulse to that sys- tem which was more and more complete under the dominion of Leopold I., at this very day, after an existence of a hun- dred years and a most beneficial effect, it appears exposed to dangers which we are willing to hope are more imaginary than real ; this was also the case in Naples under Charles III. and Ferdinand in the years preceding the French revolution and APPENDIX VI. 447 the Italian convulsions : the last system was adopted gradually and more successfully. If at that time many believed that the salvation of the country depended upon the destruction of what remained of the feudal system, this was surely an error to which futurity soon put an end. For the history of the feudal system, which was more firmly established in the king- dom of Naples than in any other part of Italy, D. Winspeare's Storia deyli Abusi feudali (vol. i., Naples, 1811) is of im- portance : although unfinished and full of prejudices, it is of more use from the quantity of materials collected in the notes than from the text itself. (The different ramifications of the dissolution of the feudal rights in Naples, as well as in the rest of Italy, are represented by A. Coppi, abstractedly and briefly, in his small memoir, Discorso sulle Servitu e sulla libera Propriela del Fondi in Italia, edition, Rome, 1842.) One of the episodes during the Spanish government has been discussed by several authors. Poets and writers of romance have sought to outdo historians, and everything has, so to ex- press it, been forgotten for the person of Masaniello. To assign to the Fisherman of Amalfi his right place in the his- tory of Naples has been one of the objects of this work. Ab- stractedly from the older and mostly contemporary accounts, we have two newer ones to take into consideration the Storia Napolitana dell' anno 1647, scritta da Michele Baldacchini (Italia, Lugano, 1836, 162, S. 12), and the Sublevacion de Napoles capitanaeda par Masanielo, con sus antecedent y consecuenetas hasta el restablecimiento del goberno Espanol; estttdio historico de Don Angel de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas (Madrid, 1848, 2 vols. xvi. and 523, S. 8) ; lastly, a French work by the Baron Leon d'Hervey de Saint-Denys (Paris, 1849), and in German (Leipzig, 1850). Baldacchini's book is concise, vigorous, clear, not leaving out of consideration the effect of foreign policy upon Neapolitan events ; and it would be perfectly satisfactory in every respect if it did not show too visible an inclination to wrong judgment, which is ochlocracy in the worst sense of the word. But the revolution of 1 647 is precisely calculated to place in a right light the horrors of mob sovereignty, with which no other tyranny of the worst kind is to be compared. The detailed historical work of the Duke of Rivas shows his warm interest in a country in which he was first envoy, then ambassador from 1844 till the summer 448 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. of 1 850, when he was recalled on account of a quarrel about the marriage of the Count of Montemolin with a Neapolitan princess. The author was well known as a romance-writer before this historical work appeared, which does credit to his talent for narrative. His impartiality does him no less honour ; the treatment of the subject was doubly difficult for a Spaniard, for it was to describe Spanish sins in a foreign land. The book tells us nothing new ; it is only a repetition of the Italian version ; a perfectly well-written account, a careful use having been made of the printed authorities. A searching inquiry into the internal condition of the country, of the connection of these events with general history, a description of the whole neighbourhood, as well as the locality upon a knowledge of which here so much depended to give pictures of life and to make the details intelligible, will be sought for in vain. An account from a Spanish point of view, the means for which were not wanting, the Duke of Rivas has not given. His his- torical narrative, moreover, does not stop with the death of Masaniello, but comprises also the later events under Toraldo's, Annese's, and Guise's command, till the re-capture of the city in April, 1648. If we wish to make a comparison with another Spanish pro- vince in Italy, there are many new and old works which de- scribe the condition of Lombardy in the seventeenth century ; works which have often been of use in writing this present account. Ripamonti's history, Manzoni's novel and story of the infamous Colonna, Cesare Cantu's excursion to the latter, may be mentioned amongst many. In another place, in a survey of the history of Milan in the book Mila.no e il sue territorio (2 vols. Milan, 1844), Cantii has given a lively de- scription of the Spanish dominion in Lombardy, that may here stand as a parallel to the contemporary Neapolitan events. " The constitution of the dukedom of Milan," he says, " as it existed under the last of the Sforzas, lasted till the Emperor Joseph II. ; considered in itself it was good enough for them, for it depended upon local custom. The use made of it was shameful : kings, who lived hundreds of miles off, provided remedies every time when it was too late, and never considered the measure of their actual wants. The governors, strangers to our customs, ruled with extreme tyranny, like soldiers in a conquered country. They changed almost every three years, APPENDIX. VI. 449 six-and-thirty in a century and a half, whilst thirty years was scarcely sufficient to understand the complicated machine. One proverb of the time shows of what sort they were. It was said, ' the Spanish minister gnaws in Sicily, eats in Naples, devours in Milan.' And when the court had once reversed a decision given by one of them, he answered, ' The king commands in Madrid, I command in Milan !' ' A privy- council consisting of twenty members was added to the governor-general, and supplied his place in cases when he was absent. The new constitution was a corrosive poison for commerce and the arts and sciences ; the sources of the public prosperity were dried up ; after it had become a principle that commerce was incompatible with nobility, the nobility deprived commerce of its capital, and instead of the abundance pro- duced by traffic and cultivation, poverty and a reduced popula- tion were the results. The inhabitants fled and gave up the fields to the insatiable treasury ; the money concentrated in the hands of a few rich persons, who left their fallow estates to their eldest sons, whilst the other sons devoted themselves to the life of the cloister or to degrading service. The taxes were monstrous ; those of the city of Milan amounted to two million pounds, its revenues to one and a half. In the instruc- tions imparted by the king to one of his ambassadors in 1660, the yearly expenses of the living of one single individual were calculated at sixty-five pounds. This was repeated in the year 1690, with the remark that the air the poor subjects breathed was the only thing untaxed. The poor knew that the rich ate golden bread ; they trembled before the executioners placed in all the squares with their instruments of torture ; they trembled before the bravoes which the nobles had taken into pay ; before the inquisition, before the witches, the number of which increased with the number of funeral piles enervat- ing terror and degrading suffering extinguished even the remembrance of a fearful past. The subjects saw the names of their kings on the pardons, at the head of which they were placed ; they were reminded of their rulers by the occasional raising of a tax when they wished to give splendour to their administration by war or building. Ferdinand Gonzaga, who perceived that this district was not secured from its neighbours or protected by the attachment of the people, surrounded the suburbs with a wall, which still exists, and so remunerated 2 o 450 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. the builders that they presented him with the Simonetta, a villa famous for its echo. The Count of Fuentes kept a standing array which threatened the independence of his neigh- bour. The Duke of Sessa would have presented us with the Spanish inquisition if our people had not averted this the greatest of evils. Don Gonsalvo de Cordova was so beloved that at his departure by the Porta Ticinese he was pelted with cabbage-stalks, which he bore with heroic indifference. The soldiers wanted pay, Madrid sent none, therefore Don Pedro de Toledo allowed them to reimburse themselves from the property of the peasants. The Duke of Feria forbade the ex- portation of arms, and thus gave the death-blow to the once great manufactory of the sword-cutlers. And so things went on till the time of the Prince of Vaudemont. \\\\n established himself at La Bellingera, in a villeggiatura, the luxury of which and the festivities held there, engendered discontent, and at the same time a feeling of envy. The only events which interrupted the monotony of the sufferings of the people were the feasts held at the births, marriages, journeys, or accidental deaths of members of the royal family. In a book which has at least the external form of a family history we must consider genealogical books and such kind of works. First of all, Biagio Aldimari's prolix Historia genealogica delta Casa Carajfa (3 folio vols., Naples, 1691), written by the desire of the Prince of Rocella and Butera, nephew of the grand master of the knights of St. John, Fra Gregorio Carafa. Notwithstanding its size, much important information is left out in this book. . For the history of Diomed Duke of Maddaloni (vol. iii.), there are many letters addressed to him from the Duke of Arcos, Don Juan, and others ; but it omits any explanation of his last fate and the causes of it. Jacob AVilhelm Imhof has given us, in his Corpus Histories Genealogiccc Italia et Hispani ; his cruelty, 8 ; his death and character, 9. Ferdinand II. (or Fernandino), King of Naples, expelled l>y the French, 1 4 ; returns, 1C; his death, 17. Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Spain, his treacherous alliance with Lewis XII. of France, 18 ; visits Naples, 21 ; his death, 21. Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, his death in Spain, 20. Fernandino. See Ferdinand II., King of Naples. Feudal system in Naples, 61 ; attempts to modify, by Charles V., 86. Feudal tenures, 82; redemption of, 83 ; inquiry into, 87. Filomarino, Ascanio, Cardinal and Archbishop of Naples, his quar- rels with the Viceroys, 173; acts as pacificator in the insur- rection of 1647, 309 ; further negotiations with the people, 319-329 ; becomes a partisan of the Duke of Guise, 372 ; his quarrel with the nobles, 410 his letters, 439. Finance, oppressive system of, Ifi2. Florentines, eminent, at the An- gevin Court, 243. Foix, members of the house of, cut off in the Italian wars, ;>:5. Fontana, Domenico, his architec- tural works, 191. Fracauzano, Francesco, a painter, death of, 333. Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor, 3. Frederick II., Emperor, 3 ; his laws limit the feudal power, 01. Frederick, King of Naples, his INDEX. 459 amiable character, 1 7 ; expelled by the French and Spaniards, 19; his death, 19. Frederick, Count of Altamura, his popularity, 7. See Frederick, King of Naples. French, invasion of Italy by the, under Charles VIII., 13 ; league with the Spaniards to conquer Naples, 18; quarrel with them, 21; intrigues in the 17th cen- tury, 370. Fruit, tax on, 181, 300; the rebel- lion of Masaniello occasioned by the, 303. Fucillo, a rioter, execution of, 32. Fuorusciti, or Calabrian banditti, 163. Gabelle, a tax, 32 ; insurrection occasioned by its imposition, 32 ; its oppression, 161; abolished, 386 ; partially reimposed, 386. Gaeta occupied by the Duke of Maddaloni, in the barons' wars, 375. Gaming, excess to which carried by the Neapolitan nobles, 200 ; public gaming-houses, 201. Garloni, Ferdinand, Count of Alife, puts his sister to death for adultery, 133; is executed, 134. Gatta, Don Carlo della, refuses the command of the Neapolitan in- surgents, 342. Genoese, character of the, 90; farmers of tolls and bankers in Naples, 90; their usury, 91; Genoese families settled in Na- ples, 91. Genuine, Giulio, a tool of the Duke of Ossuna, 53 ; obliged to go into exile, 54 ; returns to Na- ples, 302; said to have insti- gated Masaniello's insurrection, 302 ; accompanies the mob in disguise, 305 ; counsels their proceedings, 314; comes to terms with the Viceroy, 336 ; is banished, and dies, 341. Giotto, paintings of the school of, 245. Giron, Don Pedro, career of, 48 ; his severity and injustice as Viceroy of Naples, 49 ; attempts to make himself independent, 53 ; fails, 54 ; his death, 55. Gonzaga, Vespasian, founder of Sabioneta, 223. Guaimar, Prince of Salerno, 2. Guelphic or papal principle repre- sented by the house of Anjou, 6. Guerra-Bucca journals, value of the, 432. Guise, Henry of, his views on Na- ples, 370; is received in the city, 372 ; attacks the Spaniards unsuccessfully, 372; becomes hated by the populace, 374; plot against his life, 377 ; flies from Naples. 379; is captured, 380; released, 380; again visits Naples, 380. Hearth-tax, the, in Naples, 32, 158, 386. Henry of Guise. See Guise, Henry of. Hereditary great offices, 100; re- duced to mere titles by the Spa- niards, 100. Hohenstaufens, cause of their ruin, 3; spirit of their rule in Italy, 61. Holy Council of Santa Chiara, its functions, 41. Honorius IV., Pope, arbitrates be- tween Charles I. of Naples and his subjects, 62. Innocent VIII., Pope, leagues with the Neapolitan barons against Ferdinand of Arragon, 8. Inquisition, attempt to introduce the, into Naples, 33. Insurrection at Messina, 48, 414; of 1547, in Naples, 34; in 1622, 57; in 1647, 299; fresh insur- rection, 341 ; in Palermo, in 1647, 300 ; at Rome, in 1 559, 130. Interest of money, 92. 460 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Isabella, widow of Frederick, King of Naples, her distress, 19. Italian artists, jealousies and con- tentions among, 288, 289 ; turn bravoes, 332; the Death Society, 333. Italy, its miserable state in the second half of the 15th century, 1 1 ; reflections of Campanella on its foreign rulers, 25 ; its po- litical condition in the middle of the 17th century, 151 ; fur- ther reflections, 419. Jews, expulsion of, from Naples, 7-2. Joanna I., Queen of Naples, 4; her tomb, 242. Joanna II., Queen of Naples, 5 ; her burial-place, 20. John of Anjou claims the king- dom of Naples, C ; gains a vic- tory, 7 ; defeated, 7. John of Austria, son of Charles V., entry of, into Naples, 43. John of Austria, son of Philip IV., his unsuccessful attack on Na- ples, 345; attempts to negotiate, 370; takes the government, 375 ; is superseded, 376 ; saves the life of the Duke of Guise, 380 ; his popularity, 387; expels the French from Elba and Piom- bino, 387 ; proposal to make him king, 391; is defeated at Al- meyrial by the Portuguese, 392. Jurisdiction, criminal, not granted to the nobles after the time of Alphonso I., 102. Justice, courts of, in Naples, 41; mal-administration of, 168. Justices, establishment often chief, by King Koger, 60. Kings of the Italian banditti, 163. I^adislaus, King of Naples and Hungary, 5; monument of, 247. Lannoi, Charles de, Spanish Vice- roy of Naples, 21. Lautrec, Marshal, his Italian cam- paign and death, 22. Lavoro, character of the people of, 105. Lazzari. origin of the name, 374. Lemos, Count of, Spanish Viceroy, his patronage of learning, 40 ; builds the royal palace at Na- ples. 191. Leon, Don Juan Ponce de, 177. Lepanto, victory of, 4 3. Lewis of Anjou, 5; his adoption by Joanna II., 5. Lippomano, his description of the administration of justice in Na- ples, 41. Lodges, or associations. See Se- diles. Lombard y. its condition under the Spaniards, 448. Longone, Porto, capture of, by the French, 180; retaken by the Count of Onate, 388. Lorenzo, San, parliament in, 77; description of the apartment iu which it was held, 78. Lorenzo, Marco di, a merchant, his dishonesty, 327; his lands ravaged in consequence, by Dio- med Carafa, 327. Loyalty to th^ reigning family a distinguishing feature of the Neapolitans, 420. Lutheran opinions, spread of, in Naples, 33. Macchia, Prince of, his conspiracy against the Spaniards, 416. Maddaloni,castleandvillageof,108. Maddaloni, Counts and Dukes of. See Carafa. Malizia. See Carafa, Antonio. Manfred, King of Sicily, 3. Manfredonia sacked by the Turks, 55. Mangone, Benedetto, a bandit, 1 fi4. Mantuan succession, war of the, 151. Marcone, the king of the banditti, 163. INDEX. 461 Marra, Vincenzio della, a knight of Malta, murders Camillo So- prano, 212; his subsequent career, 214. Masaniello, birth and condition of, 301 ; his wife imprisoned, 302 ; his Alarbes, 303; heads the in- surgents, 305; destruction of palaces, 316; the insurrection organised, 322 ; his insane cruelty, 326; his dress and ap- pearance, 301, 328; his inter- view with the Viceroy, 330 ; named captain-general of the people, 330; his administration, 331 ; his madness, 335 ; is mur- dered, 337 ; his public funeral, 338. Masquerades at Naples, 195; grand masquerade and ball in honour of Donna Maria d' Austria, 217. Massa, Francesco Toraldo d'Ara- gona, Prince of, appointed cap- tain-general by the people in the insurrection of lt>47, 342; suspicions entertained of him, 344 ; is murdered, 348. Mazarin, Cardinal, his dubious policy with regard to Naples, 371. Medici, Lorenzo di, his alliance with Ferdinand I. of Naples, 8. Medina Celi, Duke of, the last Spanish Viceroy of Naples, 416. Medina de la Torres, Duke of, Spanish Viceroy of Naples, his extortions, 154; his plunder of works of art, 226 ; his family, 228. Mergellina, Sannazzaro's villa at, 222. Messere, a title of the nobility in the middle ages, 100. Messina, insurrections at, 48, 414. Milan, its condition under the Spa- niards, 449. Military system of Naples, 45 ; wretched condition of the troops, 46 ; military service of the no- bility, 155. Militia, the Neapolitan, its strength and turbulence, 45. Miranda, Count of, Spanish Vice- roy of Naples, 47. Modene, Baron de, captures Aversa, 373 ; his memoirs of the Duke of Guise, 441. Molise, province of, 106. Mollo Agostino, a judge employed against the bandits, 393, 395. Moncada, Spanish Viceroy of Na- ples, 22. Moudejar, Marquis of, his pomp, 47; his tyranny, 81. Monterey, Count, Spanish Viceroy of Naples, his extortions, 154 ; his fondness for actors, 1 99. Monterey, Countess of, her violent conduct, 218. Montesarchio, Prince of, his acti- vity in the barons' wars, 357, 360, 376; his dishonest gains, 385; is imprisoned, 391; sent to Spain, 392 ; released after a time, 392. Montorio, Alphonso, Count of, his death in a duel, 137.' Montorio, Diomed, Count of, his early death, 136. Montpensier, Gilbert, French Vice- roy of Naples, 16. Monuments, remarkable, in the churches at Naples, 241, 246, 247,248. Mormile, Cesare, an insurgent, condemned to death, but escapes, 37. Municipal institutions of Naples, 63 ; government of the towns, 69. Murat, Joachim, King of Naples, inquiry into feudal burdens under, 87. Murders, frequency of, in Naples, 209. Naclerio, Andrea, deputy of the people, endeavours to appease the tumult caused by the irnit- tax, 304 ; is obliged to flee from the rioters, 307. 462 THE CARAFAS OF MADDALONI. Naples, city of, beauty of its situa- tion, 238 ; earliest settlement, 239 ; under the Normans, 239 ; under the Angevins, 240 ; churches, 241 ; remains of the 14th and 15th centuries, 249; die Arragonese period, 250 ; walls and bastions, 252 ; royal and private palaces, 254, 283; population and taxes, 261 ; form and extent in the middle of the 17th century, 265 ; insurrection and civil war, 303, 349; enlarge- ment of the suburbs, 281 ; deco- ration of churches, 285; paint- ing and sculpture, 274, 287 ; its municipal institutions, 65; sup- posed to represent all the towns of the kingdom, 69 ; the eletti, 69 ; its privileges materially diminished, 419. Naples, kingdom of, under the Normans, 3, 60 ; the Hohenstau- fens, 3, 61 ; the Angevins, 3, 62; . the Arragonians, 6, 250 ; a vice- royalty, 39; again a kingdom, 415; the Bourbon preferred to the Spanish rule, 420. Nardo, rebellion at, 352; cruelty of the Count of Conversano,353. Naturalistic school of painting, 291. Neapolitan school of art not suffi- ciently known, 278; the later school, 295. Nicholas II., Pope, his gifts to Ro- bert Guiscard, 3. Nisida, island of, described, 377. Nobility, the Neapolitan, two classes of, 67, 103; compact with the people, 7 1 ; sale of titles, 87 ; number of the, 99; orders, 102; humbled by the Spanish Vice- roys, 189; amusements, 194; profligacy, 201 ; duels, 205; em- ployment of bravoes, 209; vio I lence towards the citizens, 210; j oppression of vassals, 21 ">; do- ' mestic life, 216; their conduct ' during Masaniello's insurrec- tion, 314; rebellion against them iu the provinces, 351 ; butcheries, 351; the barons' war, 353 ; measures of the Count of Onate. 389; obliged to repair to the capital, 393; oppressed under the Bourbons, 418. Noja, Duke of, quarrel of, with the Count of Conversano, 207. Nola, Giovanni da, his works at Naples, 278. Norman power in Italy, growth of the, 3. Olivarez, Count-Duke of, his po- licy baffled by Richelieu, 148; his treatment of the Catalans, 149. Oliveto, monks of, their kindness to the family of the expelled king, Ferdinand, 20. Onate, Count of, Spanish Viceroy of Naples, his character, 370; recovers the city from the in- surgents, 379 ; his cruelty, 380, 339 ; his measures to restore order, 383 ; recaptures Elba and Piombino, 388 ; his measures against the nobles, 389; his festivities, 404 ; is recalled, 408. Opposition in the Neapolitan par- liament, punished by the Spanish Viceroys, 81. Orange, Prince of, Viceroy of Na- ples, 23; his death, 24. Orbetello, unsuccessfully besieged by the French, 179. Orsini palace, at Naples, why left unfinished, 259. Ossuna, Duke of, his monstrous charge for secret expenses, 48 ; his viceroyship, 49 ; his splendid entertainments, 194; his plots, 51 ; his death, 55. Ottinen, popular colleges in Na- ples, 69. Otranto, character of the inhabi- tants of, 105. INDEX. 463 Pagliano, Duchess of, her intrigues and death, 133. Palace, viceregal, at Naples, 191 ; stormed by the populace, 307. Palaces, Neapolitan, destruction of, by the insurgents, in 1647, 316. Palantieri, Alessandro, an advo- cate, his treacherous conduct to Cardinal Carafa, 134. Palermo, insurrection in, 300. Pandone, Camillo, an ambassador, 13. Parliaments, early, in the Neapo- litan dominions, 60, 63; super- seded by the Sediles, 63 ; under the Spanish Vioeroys, 76; par- liament in San Lorenzo, 77 ; opposition punished, 81 ; abo- lished by Ferdinand I., 419. Parliament, extraordinary, of no- bles only, 80. Parthenopeian Republic, why some of the Neapolitan nobles favour- able to the, 418. Paul IV., Pope, his hatred of the Spaniards, 1 23 ; Alva marches on Rome, 124; peace, 125; ba- nishes his kindred, 129; his death, 130. People, Neapolitan, deprived of their privileges by Alphonso I., 69; these restored by Charles VIII. of France, 70; compact with the nobles, 7 1 ; grants of the Spanish kings, 73; their moral qualities and" peculiarities, 104. Perjury, the besetting sin of the Neapolitans, 29 ; severe but in- effectual laws against, 29. Perrone, Domenico, a leader of the insurrection of 1647,314; his treachery and death, 323. Petrarch, his sojourn at Naples, 243. Philip II., King of Spain, his po- licy, 142. Philip III., King of Spain, death of, 57. Philip IV., King of Spain, ruin of the Spanish monarchy under, 148; his character, 407. Philip V., King of Spain, 417. Piccolomini, Alfonso, besieged at Torre dell' Annunziata, 358; his escape, 359. Piccolomini, Count Celano, charged with harbouring banditti, and sent into exile, 393. Piccolomini, Ottavio, Amalfi grant- ed to, 85. Pilgrims, Norman, at Salerno, 2. Piombino, captured by the French, 180; recaptured by the Count of Conversano, 388. Pisa, Berardina, wife of Masa- niello, 301; is imprisoned, 302; her speech to the vice-queen, 335. Pius II., Pope, favours the cause of Ferdinand I. of Naples, 7. Pius V., Pope, reverses the sen- tence against the Carafas, 136 ; favours Cardinal Alphonso Ca- rafa, 137. Pizzofalcone, the hill of, 269 ; cap- tured by insurgents, 342. Poderigo, Don Luigi, captures the Duke of Guise, 380 ; appointed to the government of Catalonia, 407. Poison, Masaniello's dread of, 335. Poisoning of springs at Naples, supposed, 323. Portugal throws off the Spanish yoke, 149. Pozzuoli, tumult at, 304. Pragmatica, or set laws, of the Viceroy Toledo, their purpose, 28. Preti, Mattia, a Neapolitan painter, his eventful life, 296. Principata, character of the inha- bitants of the, 106. Public debt, formation of a, 89. Ravaschieri, a Genoese family, en- nobled in Naples, 91. Redouts, licensed gaming-houses, 201. Rene, the good king, 5. 464 THE CAKAFAS OF MADDALONI. ii, CJtiido, cabals against, 289. Republic, Naples declared a, 349; ', recognised by the Duke of Guise, 372; the Parthenopeian, 418. Revolt against the nobles, 351. See Harons, war of the. Riclu-lieu, Cardinal, principal ob- ject of his policy, 148 ; his death, 150. Ripacorso, Count of, Viceroy of Naples, 21. Robert, King of Naples, 4 ; his tomb, 20. Robert Guiscard, his Italian pos- sessions, 3. Roger, great Count of Sicily, 3. Roger, King of Sicily, 3 ; his par- liament, 60; establishment of chief justices, 60. Romer, Caspar, a Flemish mer- chant, his love of the fine arts, 401. Rosa, Salvator, his adventurous life, 332. Royal Chamber, court of the, 41. Ruffo, Cardinal Fabrizio, recap- tures Naples, 418; executions for high treason, 419. Salerno, the Saracens driven from, 2. Salvatichi, disorderly clergy so called, 169. Sangro, Placido di, his embassy to Charles V., 35. Sanna/xiiri). Giacomo, his villa at Mergelliua, 222. Sanseverini, the family of, zealous Angevins, 24. Sanseverino, Don Ferdinand, his embassy to Charles V., 35 ; his rebellion and death, 38. Sands, Michele de, an insurgent, murders Giuseppe Carafa, 325; rewarded by Masaniello, 326; is defeated in an attack on a Spanish post, 348. Saracens driven from Salerno by the Normans, 2. Saverio, Francesco, Prince of Co- lobrano, 413. Savoy, Prince Thomas of, makes an attack on Orbetello, 179; his expedition against Naples, 380. Scafati, defeat of the insurgents at, 365. Sciarra, Marco, a bandit, 164. Sediles, their origin, i;.3; privi- leges, 65; admission to, 95-97; political importance, <;; ; a sub- stitute for the parliaments, 7.~> : foreign nobles enrolled in the, 96 ; their privileges violated by the Spanish viceroys, 1 55 ; the body abolished, 4K 1 . Serpent-dance, the, a quadrille, 409. Sessa, Giovanni, an insurgent, condemned to death, but escapes, 37. Severino, San, church and monas- tery of, 257. Sforza, Lodovico, Duke of Milan, 8; causes the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. of France, 8. Sirens, house of the, 223; ill for- tune of many of its possessors, 223; its ruin, 229. Soldiers, Italian, often little better than banditti, 166; Spanish, 167. Soprano, Camillo, irurder of, 212. Spagnoletto,. works of, at Naples, 293; protects his brother paint- ers, 333; his mode of life, 293 ; his family, 294; his death, 294. Spaniards gain possession of Na- ples, 21 ; character of their rule, 25; expelled, 415. Spanish families settled in Naples, 101; language, influence of the, 4i>5; manners and dress, 407. Spanish monarchy, its state under Philip II. and III., 142; under Philip IV , 146. Spiritual jurisdiction, disputes about, between Rome and Na- ples, 44. Springs, reported poisoning of, at Naples, 323. INDEX. 465 Starace, Giano Vincenzo, death of, 47. Taboada, Don Antonio, saves the life of the Duke of Arcos, 307. Tancred of Hauteville, ancestor of the Norman rulers of Naples, 3. Tancred of Lecce, a usurper in Sicily, 3. Tanucci, Bernardo, the minister of Charles III. of Naples, 4J8. Taxation, system of, under the Spanish Viceroys, 157; its op- pression, 162, 181, 300. Taxes, farming of, 89. Theatrical representations at Na- ples, 197 ; in churches and con- vents, 198. Titles, sale of, 87; legal restric- tions on, disregarded by the Spaniards, 99. Toledo, strada, the principal street of Naples, 271. Toledo, Don Antonio, Spanish Viceroy of Naples, his adminis- tration, 152. Toledo, Don Pedro de, Spanish Viceroy of Naples, 24 ; his legis- lation, 28; his severity, 30; his public works, 31, 271; attempts to introduce the Inquisition, 33; insurrection, 34 ; cabals against him, 38; his death, 38. Toledo, Don Pedro de, Governor of Milan, his plot against Ve- nice, 51. Tolosa, Paolo, a speculator in corn, 386. Toraldo. See Massa. Trivulzio, Cardinal, appeases a sedition at Palermo, 300. Troja, Prince of, his imprison- ment, 391. Turks, aid from, solicited by Fre- derick, King of Naples, 13 ; ra- vage Southern Italy, 31 ; destroy Manfredonia, 55. Tuttavilla, Don Vincenzo, ap- pointed general of the barons' army, 362 ; is unsuccessful, and is recalled, 373. Urban VIII., Pope, his quarrel with the Spaniards, 214. Vassals, oppression of, by the Nea- politan nobility, 215; rebellion of, 351 . See Barons, war of the. Vaudemont, Count of, claims the throne of Naples, 22. Venice, Spanish conspiracy against, 51. Vicariat, court of the, 41. Viceroys, Spanish, list of, 429 ; men of merit and good inten- tions among them, 43; character of several, 46; their court, 174; their profligacy, 218; rapacity of some, 414. Waldenses in Calabria, ruthless butchery of the, 47. Walloons, their excesses, and ven- geance of the peasants, 167. William the Bad, King of Sicily, 3. William the Good, King of Sicily, 3. . Zampieri. See Domenichino. Zapata, Cardinal Antonio, his ad- ministration in Naples, 56 ; fa- mine and insurrection, 57. 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