Information about Carbonari

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.

Organization

They were organized in the fashion of Freemasonry, broken into small cells scattered across Italy. They sought the creation of a liberal, unified Italy.

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 is not clear where they were originally established^[4], they first came to prominence in the Kingdom of Naples during the Napoleonic wars.^[5]

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, Giovane Italia ("Young Italy") led by Mazzini.

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.

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.

The Carbonari in Portugal

The Carbonari (Carbonária) was first founded in Portugal in 1822 but was soon disbanded. It was founded again in 1896 by Artur Augusto Duarte da Luz de Almeida. This organization was active in efforts to educate the people and was involved in various antimonarchist conspirations. Most notably, Carbonari members were active in the murder of King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza in 1908. Carbonari members also played a part in the republican revolution of October 5, 1910

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.

Robert Louis Stevenson's story "The Pavilion on the Links" features the Carbonari as the villains of the plot.

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 Britannica

secret society is an organization that conceals its activities and membership from outsiders. The term "secret society" is also often used by the general public to describe a wide range of organizations that do not fit this definition, such as collegiate fraternities and fraternal
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Anthem
Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Fratelli d'Italia)

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Italian unification (called in Italian the Risorgimento, or "Resurgence") was the political and social process that unified different states of the Italian peninsula into the single nation of Italy.
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Freemasonry

Core Articles
Freemasonry Grand Lodge Masonic Lodge Masonic Lodge Officers Prince Hall Freemasonry Regular Masonic jurisdictions
History
History of Freemasonry Libert chrie Masonic manuscripts

Masonic Bodies

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A covert cell structure is a method for organizing a group in such a way that it can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization. If the covert cell is part of a resistance movement it can also be called a resistance cell
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The Kingdom of Naples was an informal name of the polity officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily which existed on the mainland of southern Italy after of the secession of the island of Sicily from the old Kingdom of Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of
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Top: Battle of Austerlitz
Bottom: Battle of Waterloo

Date c.1803–1815
Location Europe, Atlantic Ocean, Río de la Plata, Indian Ocean

Result Coalition victory, Congress of Vienna

Combatants
Austria^[a]
Portugal
Prussia
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Joachim Napoléon Murat, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, King of Naples and Sicily, 1st Prince Murat (born Joachim Murat) (Italian: Gioacchino Murat; March 25, 1767 – October 13, 1815), Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg, Marshal of France, was King of
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revolution (from Late Latin revolutio which means "a turn around") is a significant change that usually occurs in a short period of time. Variously defined revolutions have been happening throughout human history.
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Ferdinand I
King of the Two Sicilies

Reign 12 December, 1816-4 January, 1825
Born 12 January 1751
Died 4 January 1825 (aged 75)
Predecessor None

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The Kingdom of Sardinia was a state centred on the island of Sardinia for more than five centuries. It was often combined with extensive territories elsewhere, such as Corsica or Savoy, but Sardinia was always its namesake.
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Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Vienna on September 26 1815.
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Country Italy
Region Emilia-Romagna
Province Modena (MO)
Mayor Giorgio Pighi

Area km
Population
- Total (as of August 31, 2005)
- Density /km
Time zone CET, UTC+1
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The Papal States, State(s) of the Church or Pontifical States (in Italian Stato Ecclesiastico, Stato della Chiesa, Stati della Chiesa or Stati Pontificii
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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 Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846.
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La Giovine Italia (Italian for Young Italy) was a political movement founded in 1831 by Giuseppe Mazzini. The goal of this movement was to create a united Italian republic through promoting a general insurrection in the Italian reactionary states and in the lands occupied by
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Giuseppe Mazzini (June 22, 1805 – March 10, 1872) was an Italian patriot, philosopher and politician. Mazzini's efforts helped bring about the modern Italian state in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century.
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Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious (generally Catholic) institutional power and influence in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen.
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Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo was a Papal constitution promulgated by Pius VII in 1821.

It stated that Freemasons must be excommunicated for their oath bound secrecy of the society and conspiracies against church and state.
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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. It singled out the free gift of anti-Catholic Bibles.
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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^[1] of the Italian Carbonari.
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Silvio Pellico (June 24, 1788 - January 31, 1854) was an Italian writer, poet, dramatist and patriot.

Biography

Silvio Pellico was born at Saluzzo (Piedmont).
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19th century - 20th century
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1851 1852 1853 - 1854 - 1855 1856 1857

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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1810s 1820s 1830s - 1840s - 1850s 1860s 1870s
1843 1844 1845 - 1846 - 1847 1848 1849

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Brno (IPA: ] (help info ) ; German: Brünn) is the second-largest city in the Czech Republic.
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