Among
the institutions created by General Championet,
who commanded the Army of Naples from the first
day of the Partenopean Republic were the Constitutions
of the Departments of Crati and those of the Sagra
which were comprised of 10 Cantons each.
The first article of the constitution of the Sagra
(note: a word signifying the 7 year anniversary
of the Republic i.e. 1806) assigns 10 cantons: Catanzaro,
Cotrone, Nicastro, Monteleone, Tropea, Seminara,
Reggio,Bova, La Rocella, Satriano. To each Canton
was assigned a fixed number of communes. According
to Article 3, the Canton of Crotone was composed
of the following: Cotrone, Villa Carbonara, Papaniceforo,
Rocca di Neto, Belevedere, Spinello, Cropescia,
Savelli, Calamedia, Pescoserrata, Colle degli Schiavi,
Pietra di Carlo Magno, Rodali, Copoli, Verderano,
Arenosa, Pollaca Pietravita, Mesoraca, Policastro,
Cotronei, Borganegra Caccuri, Cerenzia, Campodimanna
(upper and lower) San Giovanni in Fiore, Frascineto,
Porzio, Roccabernarda, Montemario, Curto Isola and
Torre d'Annibale <1>
They of course, were not long lived due to the brief
life of the Partenopean Republic. Equally brief
was the restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy following
the reconquest of the kingdom by Cardinal Ruffo,
first due to the election of Napoleon Bonaparte
as Consul for life and then as Emperor of France
and King of Italy which resulted in the creation
of the Third Coalition against France. England,
Russia, Austria, The Kingdom of Naples, Sweden and
Turkey were allied against France.
The clamorous [sic] victory obtained by Napoleon
at Austerlitz, December 2 1805 over the powerful
army of the Austrian- Russian alliance led by Franz
I and Alexander I respectively, forcing them both
to sign the Peace of Presburg. This pact, aside
from deciding new arrangements for Europe and Italy,
decided the destiny of the Kingdom of Naples and
Calabria. Ferdinand IV, seeing the impossibility
of confronting the French, abandoned Naples for
the second time on January 23, 1806. Together with
his queen and the entire court, again under the
protection of the British fleet, he fled to Palermo.
On February 8th. 1806,the General Massena commanding
50,000 soldiers entered the confines of the Kingdom
of Ceprano (Province of Frosinone). On the 14th
of the same month, together with Giuseppe Bonaparte,
supreme commander of the forces of occupation entered
Naples. The Bourbon army, under the Count of Damascus
and two French princes, Francois and Leopold, decided
not to engage the army of Massena in Naples but
instead would do so in Calabria. The role of the
occupation of our region was entrusted to General
Reynier, With 11,628 men, 6 cannons, overwhelmed
the Bourbons at Lagonegro to rout them completely
on the 9th of March 1806 at Campotenese. Occupying
Cosenza on the 13th of March 1806 which had been
abandoned by its princes to join their parents in
Palermo. On the 15th of March, Reynier conquered
Nicastro, on the 20th of March without firing a
shot he entered Reggio, on the 29th day of the campaign,
except for Amantea, Maratea and Scilla, Calabria
was conquered.
These events so aroused the pride and enthusiasm
of the French that Giuseppe Bonaparte in a letter
to his brother Napoleon affirms: "The more
I advance in Calabria, the more I am satisfied with
its inhabitants. I can do no better than compare
them to the mountain people of Corsica. They grasp
each novelty, are extremely passionate clerics,
nobleman and commoners alike." <2>
No less was the presumptuous bragging of the French
officer and author Paul-Louios Courier following
the army wrote, (from Reggio in a letter to a friend
dated April 15th 1806) "We have a running triumph!"
It is the most gracious of conquests that one can
have when leisurely advancing!" <3>
Soon, however, the ease by which the French triumphed
bolstered by their enthusiasm, was met by the tragic
reality of the ferocious backlash of the indomitable
Calabrians.
It began in Soveria Manelli on March 22, 1806. A
resident, Carmine Caligiuri, killed a French officer
who had seduced his wife. After the murder, Caligiuri
ran into the countryside and gathered a troop around
him. This was the inspiration for a general insurrection
against the invading French. The same motives of
honor were causative of the Sicilian Vespers (I
Vespri Siciliani ) against the Anjous, ancestors
of the modern French, were mirrored here, in Calabria.
The French did nothing to alleviate the already
difficult times in the region. Rather, they aggravated
an already bad situation by adding new taxes, sequestering
church and civil properties, persecuting the Bourbons
and partisans, abusing Calabrian women and ordering
barbarous executions.
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