The Napoleonic Empire in Italy, 1796–1814
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The Napoleonic Empire in Italy, 1796–1814 Also by Michael Broers THE POLITICS OF RELIGION IN NAPOLEONIC ITALY, 1800–1814 NAPOLEONIC IMPERIALISM AND THE SAVOYARD MONARCHY, 1773–1821 EUROPE UNDER NAPOLEON, 1799–1815 EUROPE AFTER NAPOLEON The Napoleonic Empire in Italy, 1796–1814 Cultural Imperialism in a European Context? Michael Broers Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford © Michael Broers 2005 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-0565-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-50983-6 ISBN 978-0-230-00574-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230005747 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Broers, Michael. The Napoleonic empire in Italy, 1796–1814 / by Michael Broers. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769–1821—Relations with Italians. 2. Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769–1821—Influence. 3. France—History—Consulate and First Empire, 1799–1815. 4. Italy—History—1789–1815. 5. Italy—Politics and government— 1789–1815. 6. France—Foreign relations—Italy. 7. Italy—Foreign relations—France. 8. France—Foreign relations—1789–1815. I. Title. DC202.5.B763 2004 945′.082—dc22 2004052347 10987654321 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 This is Sue’s book, from start to finish, in the New World and the Old, and from ‘Albert onwards and evermore’ v This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface x Acknowledgements xii List of Abbreviations xiv Maps xv Introduction: Never the Twain Shall Meet 1 Imperialism and its contexts 1 The protagonists 8 The territory: centre and periphery in Italian history 11 Defining a region 12 The imperial macro-centre 15 The Italian micro-centres 16 The Italian periphery 20 Cultural imperialism: from integration to assimilation 22 Part I The French Invasions, 1796–1809 29 1 The Old Order 31 The triennio and the emergence of Italian patriotism, 1796–99 33 The counter-revolution 41 1799: ‘The Black Year’ 41 ‘The long, little wars’: resistance and disorder after annexation 46 The ideology of resistance: counter- and anti-revolution 58 2 The Last Stand of the Old Regime 72 The first Italian restorations, 1799–1809 72 3 Forging the New Regime 94 The first rulers of Napoleonic Italy: republican proconsuls, satraps and the juntas 95 The republican proconsuls: Jourdan in Piedmont, Lebrun in Liguria, Moreau de St Méry in Parma and Dauchy in Tuscany 95 The rule of the satraps: Menou in Piedmont and Tuscany, Junot in Parma and Miollis in Rome 101 vii viii Contents The Junta of Florence and the Consultà of Rome: an amalgame franco-française 116 The prefects of the départements réunis 118 Part II The Phantom of Integration: Ralliement and Amalgame in the Imperial Departments of Italy 123 4 ‘In the Eye of the Storm’: Law and Order in Napoleonic Italy 125 The sbirro: collaborator and catalyst for change 127 Ralliement through policing: practical integration and future borrowings 132 Haute Police and the search for order: the periphery and the new regime 141 5 Denunication and the Limits of Ralliement: Mentalité Baroque in the New Regime 147 The Italians: the denunciations and their authors: mentalité, the longue durée and the new regime 150 The French response: the discovery of imperial Italy 158 Lettres de cachet 168 The limits of ralliement 172 6 Amalgame: the Problems of Integration within the Imperial Administration 175 The Piedmontese 176 The Tuscans 181 The Ligurians and the Parmensi 187 The Romans 193 ‘Getting in’: demandes places 195 The sub-prefects: the emphatic abandonment of amalgame 202 The impact of the centre 207 Part III Assimilation: Cultural Imperialism in a European Context? 213 7 The Myth of the Lazy Native 217 The jagged edges: Nuestras Indías in the age of Enlightenment 222 The soft centre: a trivialised culture 234 8 Towards a Gallic Laager 245 The roots of estrangement 245 The rejection of sociability 248 The public sphere 248 Gender relations 250 Contents ix The imperial example 256 Living a French life 256 How to rule 260 Regeneration: the culmination of assimilation 263 Regenerating the young: education 265 The Golden Levy, 1811–1813: from young hopefuls to hostages 268 A Eurocentric colonialism? 272 Conclusion: a Subaltern Italy? 275 The end of the new regime 275 The ‘hidden Italy’: the Italian laager 278 Borrowings: the Restoration period, 1814–1859 285 Subaltern Italy: the unitary state and ‘darkest Italy’ 291 On the parting of the ways: men and measures 294 Notes 300 Bibliography 339 Index 345 Preface The Napoleonic Empire in Italy was largely conceived of at the same time as my The Politics of Religion in Napoleonic Italy. The War against God, 1801–1814 (Routledge, London and New York, 2001); indeed, the former work was first envisaged as a segment of the present book, and should be considered its partner in a wider œuvre. Thus, many of the debts incurred in writing the first book are the same as those for this one. They cannot go unsung, however, and many new friends were made – and help received – as this book drew to its close. I owe deep intellectual debts to several scholars whom I have never met, and do not expect to meet, but their impact and influence on this book are all too obvious. The marks of Nathan Wachtel, James Axtell, Mona Ozouf, Frédéric Bluche and the late Edward Said on The Napoleonic Empire in Italy are deep and profound. They – and John Dickie, whom I do hope to encounter – gave me concepts and structures that have illuminated and made sense of my very empirical ferretings. Among those I have had the pleasure of knowing – Colin Lucas, Roger Dupuy, Don Sutherland, Alan Forrest, Isser Woloch, Livio Antonielli, Tim Blanning, Paul Ginsburg, John Davis – will all find their insights at work in these pages. The late Richard Cobb taught me the things that kept this book down to earth. He put the stress on the ‘human’ in ‘humanism’, and he is right. The faults in my work, alone, belong to me. What is worthy could only emerge from the work of others. Thus, my friends saw me through the many years I have chipped at this project. To my friends in Paris: Jean-Michel and Hélène Chevet, Cécile Urbain, Bernard and Catherine Moissey, the closest, among so many. M. and Mme Charles Bonis lubricated the wheels of work in Paris, for many years. Le Petit Berry, sadly gone these 12 years, saw this project born, and became almost a figure of its own right, in the author’s life! Woe betide so many who came there to lean an elbow, but were forced to lend me an ear. To Alex Grab, Howard Brown, David Barclay, Steven Hughes and John Merriman in the USA. To Susan and Robert Darnton, in Princeton, especially. To Dani and Vittorio Scotti-Douglas – whose ancestors haunt these pages. To the many bravi Piemontesi. Finally, there are debts that can never be repaid, those of faith born of long friendship. They belong to Marj Cassells, to Jim McMillan, to Bill Speck, to Allan Macinnes and Tom Devine, to Bill Doyle. Without Alan Dabbs and Jenny and Martin Stephen, I don’t quite know what I would have done, sometimes. Latterly, my wonderful friends at the IAS. That is, the whole ‘cohort’ of the School of Historical Studies of 2003–4. Where to x Preface xi begin? Who to single out? Above them all, there is Sue, my wife, who not only lived with the book since we first met, but gave up her well-earned rest to be my copy editor and conscience, during our spendid time together in Princeton. This is not just for her, it is because of her love for me. For once, I’m stuck for words. Now, there’s a funny thing! 8, Albert Grove, Headingley, St Patrick’s Day, 2004 Acknowledgements Seldom can an author have such pleasure, and conjure so many happy memories, from a list of acknowledgements, but each one carries one such, and all are deeply felt. The author wishes to thank the Editor of War in History, for permission to republish material in Part III from ‘Noble Romans and Regenerated Citizens: the Morality of Conscription in Napoleonic Italy, 1800–1814’, War in His- tory, 8 (2001) pp. 249–70. Part III also uses material from my article ‘Cultural Imperialism in a European Context? Political Culture and Cultural Politics in Napoleonic Italy’, Past & Present, 170 (2001) pp.