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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
It is an irony that so much of the major historiography of the revolutionary era outside France has succeeded – often unintentionally – in reducing the role of the patriots to a marginal one, peripheral to the impact of the French revolution on western Europe and devoid of importance for the policies of successive French regimes. There have been two main reasons for this, although many recent works have begun to dispel this image. The first has been an exaggerated concentration on the ideology of the ‘Jacobins’, which inevitably reduces the study of patriotism to that of a handful of powerless intellectual cliques, most of whose adherents were, indeed, swept away by the advent of the Consulate in 1799 and were seldom taken seriously by the French before then. These men were far from central to the history of the period, and the undue attention they have received from ideologically motivated historians has been properly criticized. However, the critics themselves have often compounded the misconception surrounding the phenomenon of patriotism, exactly because they have adopted the narrow conception of patriotism inherited from their opponents, the shared acceptance of a definition of the patriots as an intellectual clique. By concentrating on the ideas of a minority, this approach simply leaves out too many people, and fails to encompass the phenomenon of practical, political collaboration with the French, something quite different from an ideological commitment to the French revolution.
1 There is a vast corpus of literature, on the Italian jacobins. Among the major works are: Cantimori, D. and de Felice, R. (eds.), Giacobini italiani (2 vols., Bari, 1956 and 1964)Google Scholar; Croce, B., La Rivoluzione napoletana del 1799 (Bari, 1948)Google Scholar; de Felice, R., Italia giacobina (Naples, 1965)Google Scholar; Galente-Garrone, A., Buonarroti e Babeuf (Turin, 1948)Google Scholar; Saitta, A., Filippo Buonarotti (2 vols., Rome, 1950)Google Scholar; Vaccarino, G., I patrioti ‘anarchistes’ e l'idea dell' unità italiana, 1796–1799 (Turin, 1955)Google Scholar. For southern Germany and the Rhineland, see Scheel, H., Süddeutsche Jakobiner: Klassenkämpfe und republikanische Bestrebungen im deutschen Süden Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1962)Google Scholar and Kuhn, A., Jakobiner im Rheinland: Der Kölner konstitutionelle Zirkel von 1798 (Stuttgart, 1976)Google Scholar. On the Netherlands, see Leeb, I., The ideological origins of the Batavian revolution (The Hague, 1973)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a European compendium, see Godechot, J., La grande nation (2 vols., Paris, 1956)Google Scholar.
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3 Artola, , Los Afrancasados, pp. 3–4Google Scholar.
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5 In a Piedmontese context see: Vaccarino, G., ‘La dasse politica piemontese dopo Marengo, delle note segrete di Augusto Hus’, Bolletino Storico-Bibliografico Subalpinio, LV (1953), 5–74Google Scholar and idem, ‘Crisi giacobini e cospirazione antifrancese nell'anno vii in Piemonte’, Occidente, XIII (1952), 33–60, 126–48.
6 See especially: d'Entrèves, E. Passerin, ‘Dal Piemonte pre-rivoluzionario al Piemonte costituzionale’, Bolletino Storico-Bibliografico Subalpino, LVII (1959), 170–91Google Scholar; idem, La Giovinezza di Cesare Balbo (Florence, 1940); Romeo, R., Dal Piemonte Sabauda all'Italia liberale (Turin, 1963)Google Scholar.
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18 Ferrone, , ‘Tecnocrati’, pp. 508–9Google Scholar. Passerin, , ‘Dal Piemonte’, pp. 171–2Google Scholar.
19 It should be pointed out that despite the general consensus of loyalty to the dynasty, there were provinces like Mondovì where its acceptance had been hard won, and of recent origin, described as ‘servants of the dynasty more by necessity than from natural devotion’, Marocco, G., Gianbattista Vico (Turin, 1978), pp. 17–18Google Scholar.
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23 A theme which runs throughout La vita, in particular see Alfieri, , La vita, pp. 52–4, 256–7Google Scholar.
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33 Ibid. p. 48.
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35 Ranza's views achieved their most coherent form in the two journals he edited in Turin in 1800–1: Il diario Torinese and L'Amico della Patria. The best analysis of their influence and character is in Sforza, G., ‘L'Indemnità ai giacobini piemontesi, 1800–1802’, Bibliografia di storia italiana recente, II (1909), 187–243, 194, 196–7Google Scholar. A fine example of the fusion of traditionalist and ‘enlightened’ anti-seigneurialism during the ancien régime is Vasco, Giambattista, La felicità pubblica considerata nei lavoratori di terre proprie (Milan, 1796)Google Scholar.
36 Vaccarino, G., ‘L'inchiesta del 1799 sui giacobini piemontesi’, Rivista Storica Italiana, LXXVII (1965), 27–73, 38Google Scholar.
37 Symcox, , Victor Amadeus, pp. 197–8Google Scholar.
38 Quazza, , Le riforme, II, 339Google Scholar. Most of his examples pertain to the 1720s.
39 Gabiani, , ‘Rivoluzione in Asti’, pp. 18–19Google Scholar.
40 Vaccarino, G., ‘Da Vittorio Amadeo III al Congresso di Vienna’, Storia del Piemonte (Turin, 1960), pp. 245–71, 251Google Scholar.
41 Gabiani, , ‘Rivoluzione in Asti’, p. 127Google Scholar.
42 Davico, R. emphasizes this aspect of the problem in several of her works, most directly in Peuple et notables, p. 55Google Scholar, where widespread anti-noble feeling is identified in Piedmont long before the outbreak of the French Revolution, although she also notes the great nobles' strong control of many lesser offices in ‘L'arisocrazia’, p. 62. Prato, , ‘L'evoluzionc’, p. 36Google Scholar also puts great stress on the specifically anti-noble aspects of these disputes in the late eighteenth century.
43 Davico, , ‘L'aristocrazia’, p. 63Google Scholar.
44 Quazza, , Le riforme, II, 340Google Scholar.
45 Ibid. II, 331.
46 Ibid. II, 331, 335–6.
47 Levi, G., ‘Terre e strutture familiari in una comunità piemontese del Settecento’, Quaderni storici, XI (1976), 1095–121Google Scholar.
48 Ibid. 1111–15.
49 Quazza, , Le riforme, II, 340Google Scholar.
50 Grandi, , Asti, p. 26Google Scholar.
51 Ibid. pp. 3–5.
52 Romeo, R., Cavour e il suo tempo (3 vols., Turin, 1974), I, 18–19Google Scholar.
53 de Revel, Thaon, Mémoires sur la guerre des Alpes (Turin, 1871), pp. 1–2Google Scholar.
54 For a purely descriptive account of these revolts: Ruggiero, , La rivolta, pp. 43–86Google Scholar.
55 Savio, C. F. (ed.), La vita Saluzzese, 1792–1804 nel diario di B. Poetti (Saluzzo, 1921), pp. 82–5Google Scholar.
56 Ibid. pp. 84–5.
57 Turletti, , ‘La rivoluzione’, p. 35Google Scholar.
58 Ibid. p. 36.
59 Denina, , Dell' impiego, pp. 148–54Google Scholar. Calcaterra, , Il nostro, pp. 12–13Google Scholar refers to Alfieri's frequent accusations of this kind.
60 Savio, , La vita, p. 88Google Scholar.
61 Ibid. p. 88.
62 Turletti, , ‘La rivoluzione’, p. 47Google Scholar.
63 Ibid. pp. 48–9.
64 Ibid. p. 50.
65 Munip. of Asti to min. of int., 15 thermidor, year viii/3 Aug. 1800, Archivio di Stato, Turin (A.S.T.), epoca francese, serie I, cart. 20 (prov. Alba).
66 Davico, , ‘L'Aristocrazia’, p. 60Google Scholar.
67 Savio, , La vita, pp. 103–4Google Scholar.
68 Ibid. p. 105.
69 Ibid. p. 109.
70 Ibid. p. 113.
71 Occelli, D., Il Monregalese nel periodo storico napoleonico (Vignone, 1926), pp. 159–60Google Scholar.
72 Maire of Pietrapozzio to prefect, dept. Stura, 1 Sept. 1812, Archivio di Stato, Cuneo (A.S.C), epoca francese, mazzo 229 (polizia).
73 Ibid.
74 Ibid.
75 A.S.C., mazzo 228 (polizia), Belmondo to prefect, dept. Stura, 22 Aug. 1812.
76 A.S.C., mazzo 228 (polizia), police comm. Demonte to prefect, dept. Stura, 27 Jan. 1812.
77 Savio, , La vita, pp. 82–4Google Scholar.
78 Ruggiero, , La rivolta, p. 147Google Scholar.
79 A.S.T., seri I, cart. 12, min. of int. to comm., 10 vend, year vi/2 Oct. 1800.
80 Occelli, , Il Monregalese, p. 201Google Scholar.
81 Ibid. pp. 206–7.
82 Ibid. p. 213.
83 Grandi, , Asti, p. 138Google Scholar.
84 Ruggerio, , La rivolta, pp. 148–9Google Scholar.
85 Ibid. p. 148.
86 List of 500 highest taxpayers, dept. Stura, 1812. Archives Nationales, Paris (A.N.P.), Fle, III, Stura 1.
87 Ruggiero, , La rivolta, p. 148Google Scholar.
88 These lists, containing 3,157 individual names, are deposited in A.S.T., serie I, cart.9 (elenchi di sospetti durante il governo francese, 1799).
89 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 5 (corresp' della comm. di governo), comm. di governo to munip. of Bra, 2 jour compl, year viii–ix/19 Sept. 1800.
90 Vaccarino, , ‘L'inchiesta’, pp. 49–51Google Scholar.
91 Cingari, , Giacobini, pp. 273–82Google Scholar on the failure of the amnesty to repair the feuds of 1799 in Calabria, and on the sapping of the power of patriot municipalisti after 1799. Drei, , Il Regno d'Etruria, 1801–1807 (Modena, 1935), p. 49Google Scholar on the weakened position of the Tuscan patriots.
92 A.N.P., F7, 7538A (affaires politiques, doss. Piémont, years vii–ix), undated note to min. police-gen.
93 A.N.P., F7, 7538A, note to min. police-gen., fructidor, year vii/Aug.–Sept. 1799.
94 A.N.P., F7 7538A, central govt. dept. Côtes d'or to min. police-gen., 13 pluviose, year viii/28 Jan. 1800.
95 Ibid.
96 Occelli, , Il Monregalese, p. 224Google Scholar.
97 Diario Torinese, 23 July 1800.
98 A.N.P., F1b II (Tanaro), anon, to Menou, fructidor, year xi/Aug.–Sept. 1803.
99 Ibid.
100 Savio, , La vita, p. 144Google Scholar.
101 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 24 (doss. prov. Saluzzo), Borda to min. of int., 13 thermidor, year viii/I Aug. 1800.
102 A.S.T., seríe I, cart. 24, anon, to Borda, undated.
103 Savio, , La vita, p. 143Google Scholar.
104 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 19 (doss. prov. Alba), comm. Alba to min. of int., 22 fructidor, year viii/9 Sept. 1800.
105 Vaccarino, , ‘L'inciesta’, p. 48Google Scholar for his comments on Alessandria's proscription lists. See also A.S.T., serie I, cart. 20 (doss. prov. Alessandria).
106 A.N.P., F7, 4309, Jourdan to min. police-gen., 9 messidor, year x/30 June 1802.
107 A.N.P., F7, 4308, Jourdan's report to the consuls, undated(c. winter 1802–3).
108 Munip. of Alba to Gen. Murro, undated (c. 1796), Archivio Comunale, Alba (A.C.A.), mazzo 362 (sezzioni municipali, 1796).
109 A.C.A., mazzo 362, petition by the people of Alba, 4 May 1796.
110 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 19 (doss. prov. Alba), comm. to min. of int., 20 thermidor, year viii/8 Aug. 1800.
111 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 19 (doss. prov. Alba), comm. to min of int., 29 fructidor, year viii/16 Sept. 1800.
112 A.C.A., maazzo 363 (sezzioni municipali, epoca francese), Petition of the patriots of Alba to munip., 10 germinal, year ix/31 March 1801.
113 A.N.P., AF IV, 1074, report of Laumond, year ix/1801–2.
114 A.C.A., mazzo 416 (guardia nazionale), G B. Negro to maire of Alba, undated (c. March–April 1801).
115 Ibid.
116 Ibid.
117 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 19 (doss. prov. Alba), comm. to min. of int., 29 fructidor, year viii/16 Sept. 1800.
118 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 19, comm. to min. of int., 16 Sept. 1800.
119 A.S.T., seri I, cart 19, comm. to min. of int., 4 fructidor, year viii/22 Aug. 1800.
120 A.S.T., serie I, cart 19, comm. to min. of int., 17 germinal, year ix/7 April 1801.
121 A.N.P., F7, 4308, prefect, Stura to Jourdan, 12 germinal, year ix/12 April 1801.
122 Ibid.
123 A.N.P., F7, 4308, prefect, Stura to Jourdan, 12 germinal, year ix/2 April 1801.
124 A.N.P., Flb, II (Tanaro), anon. to Menou, fructidor, year xi/Aug.–Sept. 1803.
125 L'Amico della Patria, no. 6, 14 fructidor, year viii/I Sept. 1800. Cited in Sforza, , ‘L'indennita’, p. 188Google Scholar.
126 A.S.T., serie I, cart. 12 (Corresp' del comm. di governo con la consultà), 12 thermidor, year viii/31 Aug. 1800.
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128 Ibid. pp. 208–210.
129 Ibid. p. 227.
130 Ibid. p. 211.
131 Ibid. p. 215.
132 Ibid. p. 223.
133 A.S.T., serie 2, cart. 41, Jourdan to police comm. Turin, 27 Sept. 1801.
134 A.N.P., F7, 4308, min. police gen. to the consuls (undated).
135 A.N.P., F7, 4308, comm.-gen. Piedmont to the consuls, year ix/1801–2.
136 A future article will continue this study into the period of Napoleonic rule in Piedmont, 1802–14.
