Carbonari
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The Carbonari ("coalmen") were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th century Italy, and instrumental in organizing revolution in Italy in 1820, 1830–1831 and 1848.
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Organisation
They were organized in the fashion of Freemasonry, broken into small cells scattered across Italy. Idealistically, they sought the creation of a liberal, unified Italy through spontaneous rebellion by the working class, led by university students and intellectuals.
Relations with the Church
The Carbonari were anti-clerical in both their philosophy and program. The Papal Encyclicals Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo and Qui Pluribus was directed against them. The controversial document, the Alta Vendita, which called for a modernist takeover of the Catholic Church, was attributed to the Sicillian Carbonari.
History
The revolutions inspire by the Carbonari were put down by the French under Louis Napoleon and by the Austrian Habsburgs, who sought to maintain their significant power in Italy (Venice and Milan were both part of the Austrian Empire, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was ruled by a Bourbon monarch much influenced by the French government). The failure of the revolutions showed that unification would not be achieved by idealism but by realpolitik. The unification of Italy was eventually completed in 1860–1870 by diplomacy and war directed from Piedmont-Sardinia.
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 Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini and French revolutionary Blanqui.
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.de:Carbonari fr:Carbonarisme it:Carboneria ja:カルボナリ no:Carbonariene pt:Carbonária