The Carbonari ("charcoal burners"^[1]) were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th-century Italy. Their goals were patriotic and liberal and they played an important role in the Risorgimento and the early years of Italian nationalism. A secret society is an organization that requires its members to conceal certain activities—such as rites of initiation—from outsiders. ... Italian unification, also known as Risorgimento (resurrection), was a historical process by which the Kingdom of Sardinia (ruled by the Savoy dynasty with Turin as its capital) gradually conquered the Italian peninsula, including the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Duchy of Modena, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy...

Organization

They were organised in the fashion of Freemasonry, broken into small cells scattered across Italy. They sought the creation of a liberal, unified Italy. The Masonic Square and Compasses. ... A covert cell structure is a method for organizing undercover or unconventional fighters against a large and well-established organization. ...

The membership was separated into two classes - apprentice and master. There were two ways to become a master, through serving as an apprentice for at least six months^[2] or by being a Freemason on entry.^[3] Their initiation rituals were structured around the trade of charcoal-selling, hence their name.

History

Although it's not clear where they were originally established^[4], they first came to prominence in the Kingdom of Naples during the Napoleonic wars.^[5] The Kingdom of Naples was born out of the division of the Kingdom of Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. ... Combatants Allies: Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Spain[3] Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Naples Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[5] Saxony[6] Denmark [7] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich Gebhard von Blücher Duke of Brunswick Prince...

They began by resisting the French occupiers, notably Joachim Murat, the Bonapartist King of Naples. However once the wars ended, they became a nationalist organisation with a marked anti-Austrian tendency and were instrumental in organising revolution in Italy in 1820-1821 and 1831. The 1820 revolution began in Naples against King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, who was forced to make concessions and promise a constitutional monarchy. This success inspired Carbonari in the north of Italy to revolt too. In 1821, the Kingdom of Sardinia obtained a constitutional monarchy as a result of Carbonari actions. However, the Holy Alliance would not tolerate this state of affairs and in February, 1821, sent an army to crush the revolution in Naples. The King of Sardinia also called for Austrian intervention. Faced with an enemy overwhelmingly superior in number, the Carbonari revolts collapsed and their leaders fled into exile. In 1830, Carbonari took part in the July Revolution in France. This gave them hope that a successful revolution might be staged in Italy. A bid in Modena was an outright failure, but in February 1831, several cities in the Papal States rose up and flew the Carbonari tricolour. A volunteer force marched on Rome but was destroyed by Austrian troops who had intervened at the request of Pope Gregory XVI After the failed uprisings of 1831, the governments of the Italian states cracked down on the Carbonari, who now virtually ceased to exist. The more astute members realised they could never take on the Austrian army in open battle and joined a new movement, Giovine Italia ("Young Italy") led by Mazzini. Joachim Murat, King of Naples, Marshal of France Murat portrait, by François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard, c. ... The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789 during the French Revolution. ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The coronation banquet for George IV 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Leopold I 1831 (MDCCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (January 12, 1751 - January 4, 1825). ... Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1839: Mainland Piedmont, with Savoia upper left (pink) and Nizza (Nice) lower left (brown) both now French, and Sardinia in the inset. ... The Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, ostensibly to uphold Christianity in European political life but in practice as a bastion against revolution. ... Modena (Mòdna in Modenese dialect) is a city and a province on the south side of the Po valley, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. ... Map of the Papal States. ... Pope Gregory XVI (September 18, 1765 – June 1, 1846), born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846. ... La Giovine Italia was a political movement founded in 1831 by Giuseppe Mazzini. ... Giuseppe Mazzini (June 22, 1805 – March 10, 1872) was an Italian writer and politician whose efforts helped bring about the modern Italian state, rather than the medley of separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed in the nineteenth century. ...

Relations with the Church

The Carbonari were anti-clerical in both their philosophy and program. The Papal constitution Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo and the encyclical Qui Pluribus were directed against them. The controversial document, the Alta Vendita, which called for a modernist takeover of the Catholic Church, was attributed to the Sicilian Carbonari. Anti-clericalism is a movement that opposes religious interference into public and political life and more generally the encroachment of religion in the citizens lives. ... Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo was a Papal constitution promulgated by Pius VII in 1821. ... Qui Pluribus - On Faith And Religion was a Papal Encyclical promulgated by Pius IX.[1] It attacked the belief that reason should be put above faith. ... Originally published in Italian in the 19th century, the Alta Vendita (or, in full: The permanent instruction of the Alta Vendita) is a document purportedly produced by the highest lodge of the Italian Carbonara. ...

Members of the Carbonari

Silvio Pellico (1788–1854) and Pietro Maroncelli (1795–1846) were prominent members of the Carbonari; both were imprisoned by the Austrians for years, many of which they spent in Spielberg fortress in Brno, Southern Moravia. After his release, Pellico wrote a book Le mie prigioni, describing in detail his ten-year ordeal. Maroncelli lost one leg in prison and was instrumental in translating and editing of Pellico's book in Paris (1833). Other prominent members of the Carbonari included Giuseppe Mazzini, Marquis de Lafayette (hero of the American and French Revolutions), Louis Napoleon (the future French emperor Napoleon III) and French revolutionary Blanqui. Silvio Pellico (born June 24, 1788 in Saluzzo (Piedmont); died January 31, 1854) was an Italian dramatist. ... 1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1854 (MDCCCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Spielberg fortress, known as Špilberk in Czech, is an old castle on the hilltop in Brno, Southern Moravia. ... Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region South Moravia Founded 1146 Area    - city 230. ... Flag of Moravia Moravia (Czech and Slovak: Morava; German: ; Hungarian: ; Polish: ) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic. ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Giuseppe Mazzini. ... Marie-Joseph-Paul-Roch-Yves-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette (September 6, 1757 – May 20, 1834), was a French aristocrat most famous for his participation in the American Revolutionary War and early French Revolution. ... Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) was the son of King Louis Bonaparte and Queen Hortense de Beauharnais; both monarchs of the French puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland. ... Louis Auguste Blanqui Louis Auguste Blanqui (February 8, 1805 - January 1, 1881) was a French political activist. ...

Carbonari in Literature

The story Vanina Vanini by Stendhal involved a hero in the Carbonari and a heroine who became obsessed by this. It was made into a film in 1961. Vanina Vanini is the title of a story by Stendhal (1783-1842), the nom de plume of Marie-Henri Beyle. ... Stendhal. ...

Notes and References

1. ^ "CARBONARI (an Italian word meaning charcoal-burners)" from the Carbonari article in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
2. ^ "apprentice could rise to the grade of a master before the end of six months." From Carbonari in the Catholic Encyclopedia
3. ^ "Freemasons could enter the Carbonari as masters at once." From Carbonari in the Catholic Encyclopedia
4. ^ "It is not certain whether the Carbonari, as a political society, had its first organization in France or Italy." From the Carbonari article in the Catholic Encyclopedia
5. ^ "The Carbonari were probably an offshoot of the Freemasons, from whom they differed in important particulars, and first began to assume importance in southern Italy during the Napoleonic wars." From the CARBONARI article in the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica