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Looking ahead to November 1810,
the roster of principal landowners and commercianti
that formed the electoral college in the Catanzaro
district were Francesco Benicasa (Cerenzia) and
Tommaso Giannuzzi Savelli (Casino & Cerenzia)
owners of over 2,000 and 2500 sheep respectiveley.
The various reforms of the french government had
no consistent results given the state of war in
the Kingdom, especially in Calabria where the rebellion
was particularly active. In one of these circumstances
Crotone was left undefended by the French in 1807.
It was invaded by hordes of bloody brigands under
the leadership of Antonio Santoro, called "Re
Corenne" from Bocchigliero, who committed unheard
of atrocities and bloody acts. Not satisfied
at Crotone, they began to attack neighboring villages.
Belevedere Spinello was attacked by Santoro's hordes
while he himself attempted to sack Santa Severina.
Lt. Colonel Giulianetti theoretically defended
the castle with the help of the civil guards.
Others, probably from Spinello, shut themselves
in the campanile of the church.
The brigands found a way to enter the church and
massacred them all by decapitating them and throwing
their heads through the streets. They took Father
Ignazzo prisoner and condemned him to death. While
being held captive in a cell, he used a silver crucifix
as a sword to defend himself and escaped. The times
were devasting--a member of the Civil Guard in Spinello
betrayed and killed his commander in an attempt
to abet the brigands. He and three other local
brigands were hung in Cosenza on May 2, 1808.
In February of 1808, the commander of the French
forces in Calabria abandoned his command as a result
of a feud with the king, Giuseppe Napoleone. He
was replaced by General Partenaux. The commander
of the Province was replaced by General Peyri on
June 2, 1808 by a Calabrese, Luigi Amato of Amantea,
signalling a new alliance between the French and
the Calabrese people. Then on June 28, 1808
the King Giuseppe Bonaparte was made King of Spain
by his brother Napoleon. On July 31, 1808
he appointeed his brother-in-law, Gioacchino Murat,
as King of Naples. This new King, desiring
to restore peace, declared peace and amnesty for
all those who fought the French in favor of the
Bourbon King Ferdinand IV. The brigands were
all but destroyed in Calabria but in neighboring
Lucania they were still very active. The brigand
leader Scarola, organized an outlaw band of 2,000
heavily armed men, a virtual army, and invaded Calabria.
Blocked by the French troops, the Albanian legions
at Terranova and Acri and the local Calabrese Guards,
they suffered great losses. Scarola hid in
the Sila mountains and harassed and menaced the
nearby villages and towns. He killed Captain
Tornicchia of Spinello together with 7 of
is guards. He inflicted untold misery to the
surrounding villages. The villages and towns
were caught between the occupation army of the French
and the brigands. General Duret de Tavel was
sent to capture Scarola. Arriving in San Giovanni
in Fiore, he was not happy with the ease in which
Scarola was able to exit and enter town, undisturbed,
to obtain provisions.
To punish the town's seeming indifference, the commandant
left a contingent of troops in San Giovanni in Fiore,
These troops were very unhappy to be there in the
winter as San Giovanni was considered the Siberia
of Calabria. Scarola sought refuge in Cerchiara.
He was finally captured by shepherds for the 1000
ducat reward on his head. Murat, concerned
with the brigand problem in Calabria, wanted to
put an end to it once and for all. In November
of 1809, he sent the infamous General Manhés to
Calabria as a pleni-potentate to combat the remaining
brigands.
Arriving in Cosenza, he employed the same system
by which he had rid the Abruzzi region of brigands.
Simply, aiding and abetting a brigand either directly
or indirectly was punishable by death. No
one was permitted to remove provisions of any kind
from villages and towns. Shepherds must only
graze their flocks in French guarded areas and must
secure the sheep each night in guarded stalls.
All men under the age of seventy were conscripted
in the service of the French. In the midst
of this, malaria was raging and in 1807, 800 French
troops in Cosenza died from the disease. Duret
de Tavel, in his "Sojour d'un officer en Calabre"
wrote of the customs of the people, as well as the
French occupation: "Even during the struggle
with the brigands and other events, I was enchanted
by the beauty of the villages and countryside.
It is seemingly a Paradise on Earth..." He
concludes however. "...but Calabria sits atop
hell's fire with frequent and infernal earthquakes
vomiting the vilest of demons on its soil."
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