Sack of Lugo

The Sack of Lugo was a riot and uprising against French troops by inhabitants of Lugo, Emilia-Romagna and neighbouring towns between 30 June and 8 July 1796.[1]

Context

Lugo was subject to the Papal States and was in effect ruled by the papal legate living in Ferrara. At the start of June legate Francesco Maria Pignatelli warned the Holy See that Bonaparte's army was only five miles from the border of the Papal States. On 21 June Pignatelli was summoned to Bologna for consultation but as soon as he arrived there he was dismissed and made a prisoner of war. The following day the 'Municipio' was established in Ferrara, swearing fealty to the Republic and declaring the city and the legation (including Lugo) freed from the Papal States.

On 23 June the French troops demanded that the local population hand in all pointed and edged weapons and firearms within 24 hours. They also emptied the public coffers, seizing 332,000 lira and imposing a contribution of more than 4 million livre tournois on the whole Legation of Ferrara, with fifteen days to raise it. They later also took possession of and ransacked the monte di Pietà.

The order to hand in weapons arrived in Lugo on 26 June, but - when the population had already partially complied - it was revoked on 28 June and weapons were returned to their rightful owners. The same day an order arrived from Ferrara about the contribution, explaining that that capital was only a loan and would be paid back. In Lugo the Trisi College was set as the place for contributions to be handed in.

Course

30 June

On the morning of the 30th, two Republican commissioners, Commendatore Cremona and Doctor Scutelari, traveled from Ferrara to Lugo, tasked with ordering the communities of the Romagna estense to collect the funds. Between the 28th and the 30th, the people of Lugo had gathered, between cash and valuables, 18,000 scudi. The commissioners demanded the assets be handed over immediately, despite the lack of a warrant and that the fifteen-day deadline was still days away. The municipality's magistrates objected and refused. The two commissioners, interested in the market value of the silver, ordered soldiers to seize the silver bust of Hilary of Galeata, the patron saint of Lugo.[a] The bust was taken to Trisi College, an intolerable offense to the people of Lugo.

The commissioners had traveled on to Bagnacavallo in the afternoon and returned to Lugo that evening, where they again demanded the surrender of all assets. An uprising broke out, with the insurgents seizing the weapons that had been requisitioned on the 26th but not yet returned to their owners and taking control of the municipality, preventing the assets being handed over. The mount of piety and Trisi College were placed under strict guard. The municipality's governor was forced to take refuge in the convent.[b] The two commissioners from Ferrara had vanished.

During the night, around fifty of the insurgents traveled to Castel Bolognese, which had a gunpowder factory. They returned to Lugo with a cart full of the powder.

1 July

A Republican municipal government established itself in Lugo, replacing the papal insignia with its own.

The insurgents traveled to each house, rallying support and spreading the call to take up arms against the French. The Manzoni family, one of the most prominent families in Lugo and the Romagna estense as well as one of the key instigators of the uprising, supplied the insurgents with additional weapons and with horses. In the late morning, the insurgents entered the town hall, seized the municipal standard, and, accompanied by the beating of drums, marched with it to Trisi College.

There, in front of the crowd, the standards of the Pope and the Cardinal Legate were once more raised. The populace was called upon to join the insurgents. Alarm bells rang to alert the peasants. With around 600 people gathered, Count Giambattista Manzoni, age 34, was chosen to lead the rebellion. Trisi College became their headquarters.

Around noon, a "Notice" was posted on the city walls, reading:

The critical circumstances in which the people of Lugo find themselves due to the French invasion of the Papal States and attempts to amass the greatest possible plunder from their assets, alongside the constant threat of personal injury, have required them to take up arms in defense of their patron Saints, the Sovereign, the State, and the Fatherland. Therefore, this is made known to everyone, so that all may join in ensuring their shared salvation in the face of the communal danger. They trust that all, animated by their holy religious zeal, by attachment to His Holiness, their legitimate Sovereign, and by love of the Fatherland, will unanimously support this glorious undertaking by enlisting under the glorious Standards of the Church.

Issued from Headquarters in Lugo, this 1st day of July, 1796.

Lugo, printed by Giovanni Melandri, Bearer of the Seal of the Chamber.

The notification spread throughout Romagna estense as well as neighboring Ravenna and Bologna. Simultaneously, four citizens had been dispatched to neighboring towns, urging them to take up arms alongside the people of Lugo. Cotignola, Barbiano, Massa Lombarda and Sant'Agata all responded favorably, while long-standing rival Bagnacavallo and Fusignano declined to join the uprising. Bagnara, Solarolo, and Mordano joined with the insurgents. Sentries were stationed along all roads into Lugo and outside the city gates with orders to stop all modes of transport and search outsiders.

2 July

Cardinal Gregorio Chiaramonti,[c] then Bishop of Imola, sent a letter to the local municipalities upon learning of the revolt that read in part:

Any action taken while the Holy See is negotiating for an armistice and peace would be inopportune, dangerous, and contrary to the spirit of submission that any principality has the right to expect of its subjects.

The letter was attached to an official proclamation. It noted that similar attempts in the past had ended in tragedy, pointing out that the people of Lugo had "neither battle-hardened soldiers, nor adequate arms, nor a fortress, nor provisions, nor a united purpose." Chiaramonti called upon them to lay down their arms and collect the war levy.

On receiving the notice and its attached letter, the public officials forwarded it to the insurgents' headquarters. The rebels went to the Town Hall and forbade the Magistrate from publicly posting the edict, then demanded the restoration of the bust of Saint Hilary. Out of respect for the sacred image, they did not take it by their own hands, but instead called for the parish priest of the Church of the Carmine.

The bust was returned to the church and the insurgents decided to hold a three-day period of prayer. During the devotional period, the bust remained on the altar to be venerated by the faithful.

The same day, Napoleon Bonaparte learned of the insurgency taking place in Lugo while on his way to Bologna.

3 July

Count Giambattista Manzoni resigned command of the insurgents, turning it over to Francesco Mongardini, who assumed the nom de guerre "Buonapace". As Mongardini was a blacksmith by trade, this change made it so that the revolt was being led by one of the people.

Bishop Chiaramonti enlisted Giuseppe Capelletti, the chargé d'affaires for the Kingdom of Spain who lived in Bologna, to negotiate. Capelletti arrived in Lugo in the afternoon. He outlined proposed terms to the insurgents: the French would peacefully enter Lugo and would not engage in hostilities; and the rebels would both give up their arms and not oppose the war levy. Capelletti's visit was unsuccessful and he left that evening.

After his departure, a report that the French had reached the Traversara Pass on the Lamone, just east of Bagnacavallo, spread through Lugo. People poured into the streets as the church bells rang out the alarm. That night, an armed group set out to confront the French, but their enemy never appeared as the earlier report proved to be unfounded.

Public devotion resumes

In February 1797, the Jacobins erected the Tree of Liberty in the square of the Church of the Carmine. In May 1799, the French were defeated by the Second Coalition, led by the Austrians. On 11 May, the people of Lugo drove out the French and burned the Tree. At the end of the day, grand festivities were organized, culminating with a torchlight procession that illuminated the city.[2] The French Army's response was once again swift: General Hulin led a battalion into the city the following day, quelling the uprising and executing several dozen people.

Hilary of Galeata

Following the Conservative Order in 1815, the procession of Hilary of Galeata returned to being the principal festival of Lugo. In the absence of the original bust, the celebration took place with a silver-plated wooden bust, similar to its predecessor. On 15 May 1817 (a date deliberately chosen), Pope Pius VII issued a decree declaring Lugo a city. In 1848, at the request of the Bishop of Imola, the Carmelite Fathers — who had custody of the saint's bust at the Church of the Carmine — began participating in the procession.

The tradition was interrupted once more in 1871 when the Kingdom of Italy banned processions throughout the peninsula. Not until 1922 did the public celebrations honouring the Patron Saint resume.[2]

In 1958, the 14th centenary of the Saint's death, the Carmelites proposed raising funds to commission a new bust made entirely of silver. The Camorani family, who had long been devoted to Hilary of Galeata, intervened to cover the cost. The finalized bust stands 85 cm (33 in) tall and weighs more than 30 kg (66 lb). It is adorned with gilded chasing and has inset stones. The procession was revived in 1961 with the bust being carried each year on the feast day.

Madonna del Molino

Per tradition, the procession of the statue of Saint Hilary of Galeata travelled to the Marian sanctuary approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) west of the city. The sacred image of the Madonna, known as "del Molino", the patroness of Lugo, is venerated here. The French banned the rite in 1802.[3]

After the Restoration, the image returned to the city and remained there until the end of the Holy See's rule in Romagna.

With Italy unified, the image was banned from being carried through the streets. The ban was lifted in 1874 due in part to the efforts of Father Carlo Cavina. Since then, the Madonna's image has entered the city regularly during Rogation days.

Notes

  1. ↑ In 1526, the Abbot of Galeata had donated an arm bone and a portion of the Saint's skull as relics at the request of the municipality. In 1689, the skull fragment had been enclosed in a silver reliquary. In 1708, the Carmelites, custodians of the Saint's veneration, commissioned a solid silver bust of Saint Hilary of Galeata. The relic was placed on the front of the bust. In 1793, the municipality had a small, Empire-style, gilded-wood throne constructed to hold the bust.
  2. ↑ On 2 July, he was allowed to return to his native Imola.
  3. ↑ The future Pope Pius VII

References

  1. ↑ (in Italian) Cfr. in La sommossa e il sacco di Lugo (1796). Estratto dal Vol. XVI degli Atti della Deputazione ferrarese di Storia Patria, Tip. G. Zuffi, 1906.
  2. 1 2 Filippi, Daniele (2011). Il ritorno del Busto di Sant'Ilaro [The return of the bust of Saint Hilary of Galeata] (in Italian). Faenza: Edit Faenza.
  3. ↑ Tampieri, Vittorio (2015). "La Storia". Guida della Collegiata dei Santi Francesco e Ilaro in Lugo (in Italian). Imola. ISBN 9788895832722.

Bibliography

  • Lazzari, Alfonso (1906). La sommossa e il sacco di Lugo (1796) [The Uprising and Sacking of Lugo (1796)] (in Italian). Ferrara: Tipografia sociale – via Google Books.
  • Lumbroso, Giacomo (1932). I moti popolari contro i francesi alla fine del secolo XVIII (1796-1800) [Popular uprisings against the French at the end of the 18th century (1796-1800)] (in Italian). Milano: Maurizio Minchella editore.
  • Rambelli, Gianfrancesco (1839). Cenno storico del moto e saccheggiamento di Lugo nel 1796 [The history of the uprising and sacking of Lugo in 1796] (in Italian). Bologna: Bibliot Banclerici – via Google Books.
  • Sanguinetti, Oscar, ed. (2001). Insorgenze anti-giacobine in Italia (1796-1799) Saggi per un bicentenario [Anti-Jacobin Uprisings in Italy (1796-1799) Essays for a bicentennial] (in Italian). Milano: Istituto per la Storia delle Insorgenze. ISBN 978-8890035814.
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