Transactions with the banditti and arbitrary conduct toward the people
had brought him to captivity, which was shared by his brother Don
Giuseppe. For what reason he was selected for this work of peace, who
had so heavily oppressed the lower classes, and had committed such acts
of violence that he had the credit of being the leader of the most
licentious cavaliers, is uncertain. It was said to be because he, as a
patrician of the Seggio del Nido, had most counteracted the mischief of
the tax, and therefore the populace was better inclined toward him than
the members of the other _sedeles_.
But others said, and indeed with more justice, that the acquaintance
which he had with Domenico Perrone was the real cause of it; for this
man had been first a leader of sbirri and then of banditti, and Diomed
Carafa had had a great deal to do with both. However this might be, the
Viceroy summoned him: he was to go to the great market-place and try to
conclude a peace with the leaders of the people. There should be no
further mention of his crimes or of punishment: Don Giuseppe Carafa was
also received again into favor.
The Duke mounted his horse and rode with several noblemen to the
market-place. Arrived there, he employed all his eloquence. In the name
of the Viceroy he promised free trade in all articles of food, and a
general pardon. At first Maddaloni was well received. He was but too
well known to many of the insurgents, and his mad conduct had procured
him followers as well as enemies; but as he only repeated the same
promises which had been made by the others, the crowd were out of humor.
"No deceitful promises!" screamed a thousand voices; "the privileges,
the privileges of Charles V."
These privileges had long possessed the minds of the people. During the
disturbances under the Duke of Ossuna many fabulous tales had been told
about them. Genuino had then, as now, brought them forward. Not only
freedom from taxes was contained in them, but an equality of power
between the people and the nobility in the affairs of the town, by
increasing the votes of the first, and by conceding a right of veto on
resolutions affecting the people through the intervention of their
deputies. This privilege they would have. This the Viceroy should
confirm to them. They all screamed at the same time, but at last
Maddaloni obtained a hearing. He promised to bring them the document--he
would ask the Viceroy for it without delay. He was glad to escape the
crowd, who prevented either himself or his horse from moving.
Negotiations for peace could not check the fury of the people or its
mania for destruction. As on the day before they had demolished the
custom-houses, now the houses of all who had lately become rich were
destroyed. They had already begun on the previous evening, but this was
only a prelude. Masaniello, who had not left the market-place the whole
day, drew up a catalogue, in concert with his associates, of all the
houses and palaces the effects of which were to be destroyed. Many
noblemen who believed that they might have some influence with the mob,
had ridden and driven to the market-place, but they returned home
without accomplishing anything, or went again to Castelnuovo, where
numbers of them took refuge from the pressure of necessity.
In the evening the flames burst forth in all parts of the town; much
valuable property was sacrificed amid the rejoicings of the frantic
populace, who screamed: "That is our blood; so may those burn in hell
who have sucked it out of us!" As on Sunday the Jesuits and Theatines,
now the Dominicans tried to appease the people. Their long processions
were to be seen in the square of the obelisk, moving on to the houses of
Sangro, Saluzzo, and Carafa, with burning torches; but the populace
interrupted their prayers and litanies with angry words and many
reproaches, and sent them home. Till late in the night the brilliantly
lighted churches were filled with agonized supplicants.
Early on the morning of July 9th, a more dreadful scene took place than
on either of the earlier days. The destruction began at daybreak. All
the property of the counsellor Antonio Miroballo, in the Borgo de'
Vergini, was burning before his palace. Andrea Naclerio had caused the
best furniture to be removed. The people traced it, destroyed it, dashed
to pieces everything in the house and in the adjoining beautiful garden.
At Alphonso Valenzano's everything that he possessed was ruined. In a
place of concealment two small casks were found full of sequins, a box
containing precious pearls, and a small packet of bills of exchange--it
was all thrown into the fire. All the rich and noble persons who were
concerned in the farming of tolls, as well as all members of the
government, saw their houses demolished. Five palaces of the
secretary-general of the kingdom, the Duke of Caivano, together with
those of his sons, were burned. In one of them at Santa Chiara the
valuable pictures which that noble, a lover of the fine arts, had
collected, were destroyed--the carpets of silk-stuff interwoven with
gold, the sumptuous silver vessels, and every sort of work of art, the
worth of which was valued at more than fifty thousand ducats. The mob
had already become so brutal that they stabbed the beautiful horses in
their stalls and threw the lapdogs into the flames, while they trampled
down the rare plants in the gardens and heaped up the trees for funeral
piles. Above forty palaces and houses were consumed by the flames on
this day, or were razed to the ground, while the unhappy possessors
looked on from the forts and watchtowers of Castelnuovo upon the rapid
conflagration, heard the threatening of the alarm-bells and drums, and
the howlings of the unbridled populace, among which many thieves were
pursuing their business and filling their pockets with plunder. News
came out of the neighborhood that the peasants were rising on all sides,
and that many beautiful castles belonging to illustrious noblemen were
already in flames.
Stupefied by the uproar, by the advice of a hundred counsellors, by a
two-days' insurrection, the Duke of Arcos did not nevertheless give up
the attempt at a reconciliation. Certainly he risked nothing by it, for
he had no other means in his power; but the hazard to the noblemen who
delivered his messages was so much the greater. With great difficulty
Montesarchio and Satriano escaped the rage of the populace. Six
cavaliers were enclosed by barricades, and only regained their freedom
by promising to obtain the transmission of their privileges. To oblige
the Viceroy the Duke of Maddaloni rode once more into the market-place,
carrying with him a manifesto according to which all the gabelles which
had been introduced since the time of Charles V were abolished, and a
general amnesty granted for the crimes already committed. Scarcely had
Diomed Carafa read the paper when the tumult began again worse than
before.
The bystanders screamed out that this was not what they wanted; he was
deceiving them in concert with the Viceroy. In vain he sought to appease
them. The tumult increased. Suddenly Masaniello sprang upon the Duke. It
was said that he had once received blows instead of gold from one of his
servants when he had sold fish at his palace. Perhaps it is only one of
the many fables that are attached to the name of the fisherman of
Amalfi. Amid wild imprecations he seized the reins of his horse, took
hold of the knight by his belt and long hair, tore him from the saddle
with the assistance of his followers, and caused his hands to be tightly
bound together by a rope; then he delivered the prisoner to Domenico
Perrone and his associate Bernardino Grasso, to be strictly guarded.
The last remnant of personal respect for the nobility which the populace
had preserved on earlier occasions in the midst of all their
disturbances, had now quite disappeared. The hand of Masaniello had torn
asunder the tie of centuries of habit. The Viceroy was dreadfully
shocked when he knew the danger into which Maddaloni had fallen for his
sake. He sent the prior of the Johannites, Fra Gregorio Carafa, brother
of the Prince of Roccella, and afterward grand master of Malta to try
and obtain the freedom of the Duke. The sensible and placable words of
the prior were as useless as his promises: the populace only answered
him by screaming for the privileges of Charles V; for the privileges, in
gold characters, which Giulio Genuino affirmed that he had seen.
Gregorio Carafa felt himself in the same danger as Maddaloni, and
returned to the castle without having accomplished anything; but the
populace swore that they would allow no parliament which did not deliver
up the document.
Masaniello's prisoner did not remain long in confinement. The man into
whose charge he had been committed was under old obligations to him. He
conducted him into the convent of the Carmelites and confined him in one
of the cells; but when the night came he favored his flight. Diomed
Carafa escaped out of the convent in disguise--the fearful tumult and
the drunkenness of the people were favorable to him. Unrecognized he
gained his liberty; he ascended to the foot of the heights of Capo di
Monte, which overlook Naples and its gulf. He wandered to the farmhouse
of Chiajano, a considerable distance from the town; here he met a
physician who was riding home after visiting a rich man, and he borrowed
his horse.
Thus, toward the dawn of day, crossing the streets that were known to
him, he reached Cardito, a place on the road leading from the capital to
Caserta. Maria Loffredo, to whom the place belonged, received him, and
procured him the means of escape from the imminent peril of his life by
forwarding him to La Torella in Principato, where the day before the
uncle of his wife, Don Giuseppe Caracciolo, had retired with his family.
Here the Duke found his wife and children, who, upon the news of his
imprisonment, had placed themselves under the protection of their
relations. The nobility fled on all sides when they not only saw their
property, but even their lives, in danger.
But we must return to Naples, where one event followed another in rapid
succession. When the Viceroy saw that the efforts of his messengers
proved ineffectual, he resolved to invoke the aid of the Archbishop. He
did it unwillingly, for the Spanish rulers never trusted the spiritual
superior pastors of Naples, with whom they had perpetual disputes about
jurisdiction. Moreover, Cardinal Filomarino endeavored to stand as high
in the favor of the people as he was low in that of his fellow-nobles.
But the Duke of Arcos had no choice, and so he followed the advice of
the papal nuncio, Monsignor Emilio Altieri, afterward Pope Clement X,
and sent to the Archbishop to request him to come to the castle.
Asconio Filomarino declared, in the presence of the members of the
Collateral Council, that without producing the old document and the
ratification of its contents any negotiation was useless, and he would
only undertake it under this condition. Then an eager search was
instituted, and the charter of privileges was found among the archives
of the town in the monastery of San Paolo. Armed with this the
Archbishop went to the Carmine, where he was received with rejoicings.
The adjacent market was now the head-quarters of the leaders of the
people. Here business was transacted, from here orders were issued; here
Masaniello, Genuino, and their adherents took counsel together, as did
the Duke of Arcos and his faithful followers in the castle. None thought
of returning home this fine summer evening.
The Archbishop soon perceived that he had deceived himself in fancying
that he could still the waves of this stormy sea. He became conscious
that it was not this or that privilege which the tumultuous populace
desired; that their minds were chiefly bent upon destruction and murder,
and after that upon obtaining quite different rights. While he read to
them the old charter, and announced the new concessions of the Viceroy,
he perceived how orders were issued and arrangements made that were in
direct contradiction to his mission of peace. He saw the mischief
spreading rapidly, that every moment was precious, and that the ruin of
the city was no spectral illusion. He resolved not to leave the convent
that night; indeed, to remain in it until the peace was entirely
concluded.
The apprehensions of the prelate were but too well founded. Another
fearful evening ensued. The rebellion had gained new strength from the
successes of the afternoon. The people had stormed the convent of St.
Lorenzo, and thereby got possession of the artillery of the town.
Masaniello, with his troops, had made prisoners of war two divisions of
troops which the Viceroy wished to gather round him out of Pozzuoli and
Torre del Greco. All this only excited men's minds the more. The
proscription-list of the day before did not appear long enough to the
people; they desired the destruction of thirty-six palaces of the
nobility, and many were consumed by the flames. Houses were burning in
the principal streets of the town, and the squares blazed with gigantic
piles of furniture, pictures, books, and manuscripts--everything that
was found was cast into the flames.
The mothers ran to and fro with their children, whose little hands
dragged after them what they could. As if around charcoal piles the
charcoal-burners, those half-naked, half-savage inhabitants of the caves
and alleys of the poisonous quarters of the poor in Naples, hovered with
a fearful activity about these holocausts to the fury of the people, in
perpetual motion and with unceasing cries and howlings. The entrances to
the principal streets were secured by artillery; the bells were ringing
incessantly, during which they carried about in procession effigies of
Philip IV, proclaiming, "Long life to the King of Spain!" and planted
the royal banner to wave together with that of the people, upon the
lofty steeple of San Lorenzo.
In this manner passed the night. Cardinal Filomarino remained in the
convent of the Carmelites in active negotiation with the heads of the
people. Many were the difficulties. The insurgents went as far as to
demand that the castle of St. Elmo should be delivered up to them, and a
wild storm burst out when the words of pardon and rebellion were
mentioned in the concessions of the Viceroy. "We are no rebels!" they
roared confusedly; "we want and need no pardon."
The Archbishop was exhausted when the morning came and still no result.
As the former day had ended in fire and desolation, so the present
one--it was Wednesday, July 10th--commenced with desolation and fire.
The news of Maddaloni's flight was like pouring oil upon the flames. If
he had escaped, his effects should atone for it. Already the day before
they had wanted to set fire to his palace, as well as those of many of
the Carafas, that of Don Giuseppe, of the Prince and of the prior of
Roccella, of the Prince of Stigliano, and others belonging to the
family.
Now a dense multitude moved toward the Borgo de' Vergini, where, by the
Church of Santa Maria della Stella, without the then city walls, Diomed
Carafa resided. But the affair turned out differently from what they had
expected. Armed servants occupied the house, numerous arquebuses
glittered from the windows; and the people from the market and from
Lavinaro, who knew Masaniello's bravos only too well, contented
themselves for the present with smashing some of the panes of glass, by
flinging stones, and reserved their vengeance for a better opportunity,
which did not fail them.
Masaniello had meanwhile, with a presence of mind and a dexterity to
which our admiration cannot be denied, profited by the time to extend
and strengthen the authority so rapidly acquired over his contemporaries
and superiors. He held counsel and issued decrees with his
associates--with Genuino, who continued the soul of the insurrection;
with the new deputy of the citizens, Francesco Antonio Arpajo, Genuino's
old accomplice in his intrigues--and some insignificant persons. If
during the first three days everything had been done in wild confusion,
now the insurrection was formally organized.
The people were informed that they were to assemble according to their
quarters in the town, and meet in the market-place. The companies were
formed immediately; more than one of them consisted of women belonging
to the lowest class. It may be imagined what a band they formed when we
consider the horrid race of women belonging to this class at Naples, in
which corrupt blood struggles for preëminence with dirt and rags.
Masaniello now placed himself at the head of this troop of people, and
marched with them in procession through the town. They were one hundred
fourteen thousand in number, most of them provided with fire-arms; for
all the shops and magazines for arms, as well as the houses of the
nobility, had been ransacked. Those among the citizens who would not
march with them were obliged to stand armed before their own dwellings
at the command of a fisherman, and in the name "of the most faithful
people of the most faithful town of Naples, and in those who, by the
grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, hold in
their hands the government of the same."
Oppressive decrees were issued; on one side were the royal arms, and on
the other those of the people. "This Masaniello," writes Cardinal
Filomarino, "has risen in a few days to such a height of authority and
influence, and has known how to acquire so much respect and obedience,
that he makes the whole town tremble by his decrees, which are executed
by his followers with all punctuality and obedience. He shows
discretion, wisdom, and moderation; in short, he has become a king in
this town, and the most glorious and triumphant in the world. He who has
not seen him cannot imagine him; and he who has cannot describe him
exactly to others. All his clothing consists of a shirt and stockings of
white linen, such as the fishermen are accustomed to wear; moreover, he
walks about barefooted and with his head uncovered. His confidence in me
and respect for me are a real miracle of God's, whereby alone the
attainment of an end or understanding in these perplexing events is
possible."
How the pious Archbishop deceived himself in thinking that he had
obtained his aim! Still he subdued the first storm which interrupted the
negotiation, but the following one neither he nor anyone else could get
the mastery over. He had been to Castelnuovo to obtain from the Viceroy
the ratification of the conditions stipulated for by the leaders of the
people, and was on the point of concluding the agreement in the
Carmelite monastery when in an instant the most dreadful tumult began.
Domenico Perrone, who had remained near Masaniello, had showed himself
but little since the flight of the Duke of Maddaloni, because the
suspicion was abroad that he had favored his escape. The church was full
of men, who prevented the termination of the conferences, when this
Perrone stepped up to the Fisherman and took his place by his side, as
if he had something to tell him. At this moment a shot was fired;
Masaniello hastened to the gates and cried out, "Treason!"
Many shots were fired behind him, none hit him. Things went on wildly in
the market-place. From two to three hundred banditti attacked the
populace, who quickly recovered themselves and easily defeated the
assailants. The most horrible carnage followed. "The people," relates
Filomarino, "thronged with great violence to the convent, in the belief
that there banditti or their adherents were concealed. They ransacked
everything, but found nothing excepting six barrels of powder. Your
holiness may imagine the state of indescribable confusion of the town,
while thirty thousand armed men, breathing rage and vengeance, rushed
about, murdering all suspicious persons. The worst part went on in the
church and convent of the Carmine, where I was staying. In my room I
gave many dying persons the absolution; among them a tailor, who was
shot down at my side.
"When the carnage came to an end it was suddenly rumored that the
banditti had poisoned the springs at Poggio Reale, which supply the
greater part of the town with water. The fury of the people was again
roused. I caused a pitcher of water to be brought, and drank it in the
presence of many persons, which silenced the suspicion; and as your
holiness is much respected in this town, and even from the time in which
you were a nuncio here, they have a pleasant recollection of you, so in
the time of utmost need I bless the people in your name, and admonish
them to be quiet for the love of you, which also does not fail of its
effect."
The Viceroy was so much the further from coming to any agreement, the
more Masaniello's power and authority increased and the more
uncomfortable and dangerous the position of the Viceroy became, in the
midst of a rebellious city, in the confined space in the castle, and a
scarcity of provisions. He therefore thought himself obliged to discover
in writing a knowledge of the unsuccessful plan of Diomed Carafa, and
pressed the Archbishop to hasten the business. This was not easy, owing
to the savage excitement of the victorious and drunken populace, and the
intrigues of the artful advisers of the Fisherman, who were pursuing, at
the same time, their own selfish aims.
The streets were become to such a degree the theatre for deeds of
violence that Masaniello issued an order that each person was obliged
to keep a lamp or torch burning before his own dwelling. The assaults
made with daggers, pocket pistols, and other short weapons were so
frequent that, after the leader of the people had been twice shot at, a
prohibition was issued against wearing cloaks and long clothes that
could conceal such weapons. Even women were no longer allowed to wear
certain articles of clothing, which on account of their size were called
_guard infante_, and even Cardinals Filomarino and Trivulzio laid aside
their robes.
In the most important positions of the city barricades were built with
baskets full of earth and heavy planks for the double purpose of
repelling the sallies of the Spaniards from the castle, and preventing
them from receiving supplies from without. The people were masters of
the whole town, with the exception of Castelnuovo, the park, and the
adjoining artillery, and of the castles dell' Uovo, Sant' Elmo, and
Pizzofalcone, positions which placed it in the power of the Spaniards to
turn Naples into a heap of ruins if they made use of the artillery. But
the Duke of Arcos wished to spare the town as long as possible, and the
castles were weakly garrisoned, and still less stocked with provisions.
At length on Thursday, July 11th, on the fifth day of the insurrection,
an agreement was concluded.
In the church of the Carmelites it was solemnly announced that the
Viceroy had formally confirmed the old privileges of the town, and
increased them by new ones, which were immediately made known. As a
proof and seal of the reconciliation, Masaniello, who had now, besides
the power, the title also, of a captain-general of the most faithful
people, was to have a conference with the Viceroy. It was difficult to
persuade the Fisherman to take this step. He owned that he saw the
gallows before him; he would confess thoroughly before he went, and it
required all the Archbishop's power of persuasion to decide him.
At last he consented, under the condition that the conference should be
in the palace, and not in the castle. He previously issued a
proclamation through the whole town to know how many armed men could be
marched out. The answer was a hundred forty thousand, but three hundred
thousand if there were arms ready for them. A number of men indeed
poured forth from the environs, but it is easy to perceive the
exaggeration of the numbers. When everything was arranged, Masaniello
began to dress himself; he had fasted the whole day, excepting some
white bread dipped in wine after the cardinal's physician had tasted it,
for he was possessed with the idea of being poisoned, and almost starved
himself. His dress was of silver brocade; he wore at his side a richly
ornamented sword; his head was covered with a hat with a white plume in
it.