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Sanfedismo (from ''Santa Fede'', "Holy Faith" in
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
) was a popular anti-
Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...
movement, organized by Cardinal
Fabrizio Ruffo Fabrizio Dionigi Ruffo (16 September 1744 – 13 December 1827) was an Italian cardinal and politician, who led the popular anti-republican ''Sanfedismo'' movement (whose members were known as the ''Sanfedisti''). Biography Ruffo was born at ...
, which mobilized peasants of the
Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
against the Pro-French
Parthenopaean Republic The Parthenopean Republic ( it, Repubblica Partenopea, french: République Parthénopéenne) or Neapolitan Republic (''Repubblica Napoletana'') was a short-lived, semi-autonomous republic located within the Kingdom of Naples and supported by th ...
in 1799, its aims culminating in the restoration of the
Monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...
under
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...
. Its full name was the Army of Holy Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Italian: ''Armata della Santa Fede in nostro Signore Gesù Cristo''), and its members were called Sanfedisti. The terms "Sanfedismo" and "Sanfedisti" are sometimes used more generally to refer to any religiously motivated, improvised peasant army that sprung up on the Italian peninsula to resist the newly created
French client republic A sister republic (french: république sœur) was a republic established by French armies or by local revolutionaries and assisted by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. These republics, though nominally independent, ...
s.


Campaign

Ruffo recruited the Sanfedisti in his native
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
. His recruiting poster of February 1799 reads: :"Brave and courageous Calabrians, unite now under the standard of the Holy Cross and of our beloved sovereign. Do not wait for the enemy to come and contaminate our home neighbourhoods. Let us march to confront him, to repel him, to hunt him out of our kingdom and out of Italy and to break the barbarous chains of our holy Pontiff. May the banner of the Holy Cross secure you total victory." The Sanfedismo movement nominally acted on behalf of
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...
. On January 25, 1799, two days after the proclamation of the Parthenopean Republic, Ferdinand appointed Ruffo, while both were taking refuge in
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
,
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
, to act as his
vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
-general on the Italian mainland. Ruffo landed in
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
on February 7 with no money or weapons and only eight companions, but bearing a banner with the royal arms on one side and a cross on the other, also bearing the ancient slogan "''
In hoc signo vinces "''In hoc signo vinces''" (, ) is a Latin phrase conventionally translated into English as "In this sign thou shalt conquer". The Latin phrase itself renders, rather loosely, the Greek phrase "", transliterated as "''en toútōi níka''" (, ...
''." It took Ruffo a month to amass a force of 17,000; mostly peasants, but also "bandits, ecclesiastics, mercenaries, looters, devotees, and assassins." During the campaign, Ruffo corresponded with Ferdinand's agent, Sir John Acton, updating him on the military progress of the Sanfedisti: *"I beg the king
f Naples F, or f, is the sixth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet#Let ...
to order at least a thousand handguns and many loads of lead shot to be sent to me" (February 12) *"I think it would be expedient to send a frigate with a mortar against Cotrone and to destroy it absolutely" (February 26) *"
Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...
has really surrendered; many of the worst fellows have been massacred, others taken prisoner" (March 8) *"
Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...
has been taken and sacked" (March 19) By the end of April, the Sanfedisti had subdued the entirety of Calabria,
Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...
and most of
Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...
, and by June had begun a land siege of the city of
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. In the siege, the Sanfedismo
irregulars Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military orga ...
were supported by the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
under the command of Admiral
Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
, for which Ferdinand gave Nelson the title of
Duke of Bronte The Dukedom of Bronte ( it, Ducato/Ducea di Bronte ("Duchy of Bronte")) was a dukedom with the title Duke of Bronte ( it, Duca di Bronte), referring to the town of Bronte in the province of Catania, Sicily. It was granted on 10 October 1799 at Pa ...
, which Nelson affixed to his signature for the rest of his life. The Parthenopean Republic collapsed on June 19, 1799. Most of the Sanfedisti victories occurred in rugged terrain, which was "well-suited" to the irregular style of warfare employed by Ruffo. Similar to other anti-French uprisings in Italy, the Sanfedisti were not, as a rule, amiable towards Freemasons and Jews, who were perceived as supporters of the Enlightenment ideology. Furthermore, Bishop
Giovanni Andrea Serrao Giovanni Andrea Serrao (4 February 1731 – 24 February 1799) was an Italian intellectual and churchman of the Kingdom of Naples who supported the Parthenopaean Republic of 1799. Biography Early life and ordination Giovanni Andrea Serrao wa ...
, the
Jansenist Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...
leader in southern Italy and despite being a supporter of the Parthenopaean Republic, was
summarily executed A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary justice (such as a drumhead court-martial) are sometimes include ...
on February 24, 1799, by the Republican soldiers of the
Potenza Potenza (, also , ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one ...
garrison, as Ruffo's forces were drawing near to the city.


Legacy

The role of Cardinal Ruffo in the movement was a contemporary source of controversy, attributing to Ruffo both cruelty and bloodlust;
apologist Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
writings defending him are only extant with respect to the sack of
Altamura Altamura (, ; nap, label= Barese, Ialtamùre) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is located on one of the hills of the Murge plateau in the Metropolitan City of Bari, southwest of Bari, close to the border with Basilic ...
. The name of ''Sanfedismo'' itself was a source of criticism, dubbed "a word sprung up, by which this new phase of wickedness might be called" by a contemporary. Sanfedismo, and Ruffo himself, became
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
ous with the "recalcitrant, truly counter-revolutionary clergy" as opposed to those who were more sympathetic to the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
. The name "Sanfedisti" was also used by Bourbonist peasant uprisings against the
House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
during
Italian unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
. The
Canto dei Sanfedisti
' is still remembered by heart among many in the
Mezzogiorno Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion A macroregion is a geopolitical subdivision that encompasses several traditionally or politically defined regions or countries. The meaning ...
, and sometimes sung by folk groups. It is a
parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
of La Carmagnole, a popular French Revolutionary song. Later scholarly views of the Sanfedisti have dubbed them a "counter-revolutionary" group, but not homogeneously a "reaction ry one.


See also

*
Veronese Easters The Veronese Easter ( it, Pasque Veronesi, or singular ; french: Pâques véronaises) was a rebellion during the French Revolutionary Wars: Campaigns of 1797, Italian campaign of 1797, in which inhabitants of Verona and the surrounding areas r ...
*
Viva Maria ''Viva Maria!'' is a 1965 adventure comedy film starring Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau as two women named Maria who meet and become revolutionaries in the early 20th century. It also starred George Hamilton as Florès, a revolutionary lea ...
* Sanfedisti#Canto dei Sanfedisti *
Vendée Revolt Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.
*
Carlism Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty – one descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855) – ...
*
Fra Diavolo Fra Diavolo (lit. Brother Devil; 7 April 1771–11 November 1806), is the popular name given to Michele Pezza, a famous guerrilla leader who resisted the French occupation of Naples, proving an "inspirational practitioner of popular insurrect ...


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Paramilitary organisations based in Italy Monarchist organizations Warfare of the Early Modern period 1799 establishments in Italy 1800 disestablishments in Europe Organizations established in 1799 Organizations disestablished in 1800 Monarchism in Italy Conservatism in Italy