Fabrizio Ruffo: Difference between revisions

When in December 1798 the French troops advanced on Naples, Ruffo fled to [[Palermo]] with the royal family. He was chosen to head a royalist movement in [[Calabria]], where his family, though impoverished by debt, exercised large feudal powers. He was named vicar-general on 25 January 1800. On 8 February 1799, he landed at La Cortona with a small following, and began to raise the so-called "army of the faith" in association with Michele Pezza, "[[Fra Diavolo]]", and other brigand leaders. Backed by the Russian fleet of [[Fyodor Ushakov|Admiral Ushakov]], Ruffo had no difficulty in upsetting the [[Parthenopean Republic]]an government established by the French, and by June had advanced to Naples. Possibly exceeding his authority, he promised the Neapolitan republicans immunity from reprisals and obtained their surrender in June 1799. In the meantime Rear-Admiral [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Horatio Nelson]] appeared with his fleet; he called the cardinal to task for his leniency, and revoked the terms of surrender. The republicans, it was asserted, had surrendered under terms that were unclear. One of the main republican figures, former Admiral [[Francesco Caracciolo]], was ignominiously executed on 30 June, and widespread reprisals and executions of other republican sympathizers in Naples followed.

After having received the title of King's General Official, Ruffo roseweighed anchor from [[Palermo]] and landed in [[Calabria]] on February 8.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Francesco|last1= Leoni|title= Storia della controrivoluzione in Italia (1789-1859)|publisher=Guida|location=Naples|year= 1975|page=92|series=La Spirale|oclc=911710618}}</ref> His feuds of [[Scilla]] and [[Bagnara Calabra|Bagnara]] were the first places to be used for a massive enlistment of 25.000 farmers skilled to arms. They formed the Christian and Real Army, also known as ''Esercito della Santa Fede in Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo'', and conquered [[Crotone]] moving to the [[Basilicata]] and [[Apulia]] regions ([[Altamuran Revolution|Altamura]] and [[Modugno]]), and finally in the [[Principato Ultra]]. At the head of his army, cardinal Ruffo participated to the battles of the [[War of the Second Coalition|Second anti-French Coalition]] which defeated [[Naples]] on 15 June 1799. Ruffo appoint the member of the of State juncta that processed the rebels for the crime of [[Lèse-majesté]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Luigi|last=Conforti|title=Napoli nel 1799: critica e documenti inediti|location=Naples|year=1879|page=275|oclc=797519300}}</ref>

While Ruffo was a personal confidant of the [[Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies|king of Naples]], the queen preferred the admiral [[Horatio Nelson]] to him.<ref name="Viglione,1995" /> On 24 June Ruffo arrived in the roadstead. The following day, when the first Jacobins were waiting to be boarded, the English admiral informed that the pact of pacification partially enacted by the cardinal, was "infamous" and that he would never allow its execution.<ref name="Viglione,1995">{{cite book|url=|first=Massimo|last=Viglione|title=La "Vandea italiana"|location= Rome|publisher= Effedieffe|year= 1995|oclc=797806939|pages=171–173}}</ref> Practically, Ruffo was completely exhautorated{{incomprehensible inline|date=August 2022}}. So far, an English official decided the destiny of the Neapolitan prisoners: they were entrusted to Borbonical justice and 124 of them were put to death.

The campaign gave rise to much controversy among nineteenth-century historians. Ruffo appears to have lost favor with the king by showing a tendency to spare the republicans. He resigned histhe vicar-generalship, which he had been granted on 25 January 1800, to the prince of Cassero, and during the second French occupation and the reigns of [[Joseph Bonaparte]] and [[Joachim Murat]] he lived quietly in Naples. Some notice was taken of him by [[Napoleon]], but he never held an important post. After the restoration of the Bourbons he was received into favor. During the [[Unification of Italy|revolutionary troubles of 1822]] he was consulted by the king, and was even in office for a very short time as a loyalist minister.