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Pietro Giannone

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Pietro Giannone
Pietro Giannone.
Born 7 May 1676
Died 17 March 1748 (aged 71)
Occupations Philosopher
historian
jurist

Pietro Giannone (7 May 1676 – 17 March 1748) was an Italian philosopher, historian and jurist born in Ischitella, in the province of Foggia, Kingdom of Naples. He opposed the papal influence in Naples, for which he was excommunicated and imprisoned for twelve years until his death.[1][2]

Early life

Arriving in Naples at the age of eighteen, he devoted himself to the study of law, but his legal pursuits were much surpassed in importance by his literary works. He devoted twenty years to the composition of his great work, the Storia civile del regno di Napoli (History of the Kingdom of Naples), ultimately published in 1723.[3] In his account of the rise and progress of the Neapolitan laws and government, he warmly espoused the side of the civil power in its conflicts with the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Conflict with the Church

Giannone was the first to deal systematically with the question of Church and State, and the position taken by him, and the manner in which that position was assumed, gave rise to a lifelong conflict between Giannone and the Roman Catholic Church.

Despised by the mob of Naples, and excommunicated by the archbishop's court, he was forced to leave Naples and settled in Vienna, Austria. Meanwhile, the Roman Inquisition placed his history on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Vienna

In Vienna the favour of the Emperor Charles VI and of many leading personages at the Austrian court obtained for him a pension and other facilities for the prosecution of his historical studies. Of these the most important result was Il Triregno, ossia del regno del cielo, della terra, e del papa.

Venice

On the transfer of the Neapolitan crown to Charles of Bourbon, Giannone gave up his Austrian pension and relocated to Venice, hoping to find service with the new Neapolitan monarchy. But denied a passport to Naples, he remained in Venice where he was, at first, favorably received.[4] The post of consulting lawyer to the republic, in which he might have continued the type of service that Fra Paolo Sarpi had exemplified in previous centuries, was offered to him, as well as that of professor of public law in Padua. He declined both offers. Unhappily there arose a suspicion that his views on maritime law were not favourable to the pretensions of Venice, and notwithstanding all his efforts to dissipate this suspicion, the distrust of Giannone together with clerical intrigues, led to his expulsion from the Republic.

Geneva

On 23 September 1735 Giannone was seized and conveyed to Ferrara. He wandered under an assumed name for three months through Modena, Milan and Turin, he at last reached Geneva, where he enjoyed the friendship of the most distinguished citizens, and was on excellent terms with the great publishing firms.

But he was induced to visit a Catholic village within Sardinian territory, in order to hear mass on Easter day. Giannone was there kidnapped by the agents of the Sardinian government, conveyed to the Fortress of Miolans and transferred to Ceva and Turin.

Turin

In the fortress of Turin he remained imprisoned for the last twelve years of his life, although part of his time was spent in composing a defence of the Sardinian interests as opposed to those of the papacy. He was also forced to sign a retraction of statements in his books that were most obnoxious to the Vatican.

After his recantation his detention was made less severe and he was allowed many alleviations. In spite of his stay in a Turin prison he endured the sufferings in the manner of a confessor and martyr in the cause of what he deemed historical truth. A putative autobiography, published in 1905 in Naples and almost certainly only a biography, was annotated by Fausto Niccolini, with Luigi Pierro editor.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pietro Giannone — Italian historian, born 7 May, 1676, at Ischitella in the province of Capinata, Naples; died at Turin, 27 March, 1748. He received his first instruction in the house of his uncle, Gaetano Argento, a lawyer, and after having received the degree of Doctor of Law at Naples he began to practise his profession, following the example of his father. He devoted all his leisure time to the study of history. After preparatory work extending over a period of twenty years, he published under the title "Dell' istoria civile del regno di Napoli" (1723, 4 vols.), a work which caused a great sensation, especially on account of its bitter anti-ecclesiastical bias, which led to its repeated translation into English and German. In it Giannone combined a narrative of political matters, founded on historical sources, with an interesting description of the juridical and moral condition of the country; but as he ascribes all existing evils to the malignant influence of the Church, especially the Roman Curia, we may justly assume it a compilation of biased attacks and misstatements. It was immediately put on the Index and its author excommunicated and forced to leave Naples. He went to Vienna where he was pensioned by Emperor Charles VI. He was readmitted to the Church soon after by the Archbishop of Naples who was in Vienna at the time. Having forfeited his pension in 1744 Giannone went to Venice, but the Government, suspecting him on account of his political opinions, surrounded him with spies. He tried to gain the Government's goodwill by publishing a pamphlet entitled: "Lettera intorno al dominio del mare Adriatico", eulogizing Venice's conquest of the Adriatic; he was unsuccessful and was forcibly expelled in the following year. After wandering to and fro for a while he accepted the hospitality of an old book-dealer in Geneva. There he composed his intensely anti-clerical essay: "Il triregno ossia del regno del cielo, della terra e del papa" (Geneva, 1735, new ed. Rome, 1895, 3 vols.). Enticed to a village in Savoy, he was arrested, imprisoned in the fortress of Ceva, and transported thence to Turin, where he died. It is reported that before his death he was reconciled with the Church. Giannone's posthumous works are: "Opere postume" (Lausanne, 1760; enlarged, Venice, 1768; new ed., 2 vols., Capolago, 1841). The first volume contains: "Apologia dell' istoria civile del regno di Napoli; the second: "Indice generale dell'opera dei tre regni". His collected works appeared in Milan (5 vols., 1858). Later, Mancini published his posthumous works in two volumes (Turin, 1859), entitled "Opere inedite", containing the "Discorsi storici e politici sopra gli annali di Tito Livio"; "La chiesa sotto il pontificato di Gregorio il Grande". The autobiography of Giannone was published by Pierantoni (Rome, 1890).

References

  1. Back to citation Merlotti, Andrea (2000). "GIANNONE, Pietro". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 54: Ghiselli–Gimma. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-88-12-00032-6.
  2. Back to citation Haakonssen, Knud (2006). The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 1175.
  3. Back to citation The civil history of the Kingdom of Naples: In two volumes, Volume 2, By Pietro Giannone, translated by James Ogilvie, London 1731.
  4. Back to citation Vico's Cultural History: The Production and Transmission of Ideas in Naples...By Harold Samuel Stone, page 294

Bibliography

Istoria civile del regno di Napoli, Italia, 1821

  • Vol. 1 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 2 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 3 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 4 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 5 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 6 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 7 at the Internet Archive
  • Vol. 8 at the Internet Archive

Il Triregno, Italia, 1940

Vita scritta da lui medesimo, Italia, 1960

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