From England to Italy: The Intriguing Story of Poli’s Engine for the King of Naples

An interesting, yet unknown episode concerning the effective permeation of the scientific revolution in eighteenth-century Kingdom of Naples (and Italy more generally) is recounted. The intriguing story of James Watt’s steam engine, prepared to serve a Royal Estate of the King of Naples in Carditello, reveals a fascinating piece of the history of that kingdom, as well as an unknown step in the history of Watt’s steam engine, whose final entrepreneurial success for the celebrated Boulton & Watt company was a direct consequence. This story reveals that, contrary to what claimed in the literature, the first introduction in Italy of the most important technological innovation of the eighteenth century did not take place with the construction of the first steamship of the Mediterranean Sea, but rather thirty years before that, thanks to the incomparable work of Giuseppe Saverio Poli, a leading scholar and an influential figure in the Kingdom of Naples. The tragic epilogue of Poli’s engine accounts for its vanishing from historical memory.

supply of the Neapolitan army between the 18th and 19th centuries. Giacinto Cafiero asientive active de viveri e foraggi

This article, following the scholarship on war and society studies, “[…] aims to reconstruct the rise of Don Giacinto Cafiero, experienced merchant, and one of the most important asientist active in the Kingdom of Naples between the 1799 Revolution and the French decade (1806-1815). In detail, the article tries to clarify the tricky role of Cafiero, his commercial activity, his profits and his logistical network during the years of the “Partito Generale de Viveri e foraggi” (1800-1804). Therefore, we shall reconstruct the most important aspects of this task such as bread-making or the supplying of garrisons, fortresses and prisons. Furthermore, the description will also deal with some collateral questions including piracy issues, port administration and charter contracts.

The Making of a Success Story

This chapter introduces the main protagonist of the book: Carlo Calà Duke of Diano, a jurist and high-ranking official in the viceregal administration. This chapter also sets the historical context of the story of the forgery by describing the main political, economic, social, and religious characteristics of the Kingdom of Naples in the seventeenth century. More specifically, this chapter explains the social, cultural, and intellectual advantages that a noble pedigree conferred to the Neapolitan non-aristocratic elites; explores the main sources of tension between the papacy and the Neapolitan viceroy; sheds light on the power dynamics between the Roman Inquisition and the local ecclesiastical leaders; and introduces the complexities of the liturgical and devotional life of early modern Catholics.

A Fake Saint and the True Church

This book uncovers the remarkable story of a fake saint to tell a tale about truth. It begins at the end of the 1650s, when a large quantity of forged documents suddenly appeared throughout the kingdom of Naples. Narrating the life and deeds of a previously unknown medieval saint named Giovanni Calà, the trove generated much excitement around the kingdom. No one was more delighted by the news than Carlo Calà, Giovanni’s wealthy and politically influential seventeenth-century descendant. Attracted by the prospect of adding a saint to the family tree, Carlo presented Giovanni’s case to the Roman Curia. The Catholic authorities immediately realized that the sources were forged and that Giovanni was not real (let alone holy). Yet it took more than two decades before the forgery was exposed: why? Vividly reconstructing the intricate case of the supposed saint, the book reveals the tensions between historical and theological truth. How much could the truth of doctrine depend on the truth of the facts before religion lost its connection with the supernatural? To what extent could theology ignore the truth of history without ending up engulfed in falsity and deceit? This story of a fake saint illuminates early modern tensions. But the struggles to distinguish between facts, opinions, and beliefs remain with us. Examining how our predecessors dealt with the relationship between truth and authenticity guides us too in thinking through what is true and what is not.

Diplomatic Service of Italian Diplomat J.-C. de Ludolf (1805–1861)

The issue of periodization and establishment of chronological frames of the stages of the diplomatic service of J.-C. de Ludolf, who represented the Kingdom of Naples abroad from 1805, and after its unification with the Sicilian Kingdom in 1816 and un til the abolition in 1861 — the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It is shown that, despite Ludolf's many years of work in the Russian direction in various qualities, the coverage of the role and place of his figure in foreign policy processes is very fragmentary in Russian historiography. With the aim of the initial reconstruction of the key milestones in the diplomatic career of this historical person, study of foreign sources: materials from the State Archives of Naples, the memoirs of his daughter, as well as biographical works was carried out. By analyzing and systematizing the information presented in them, four periods of Ludolf's diplomatic activity are highlighted and briefly characterized. His most important achievements at each of the respective stages are outlined, while it is noted that a long stay in the service line in the Russian Empire at least had a significant impact on the professional development of a diplomat. It was revealed that St. Petersburg became the first and last point of his career path, during which he managed to work there as an attaché, plenipotentiary envoy and ambassador-at-large.

Patronage and Power: The Vicereines at the Court of Naples in the Reign of Philip III of Spain

Recently, several studies have focused on the figure of the viceroy in the Spanish Monarchy, especially in the Kingdom of Naples. However, far less attention has been paid to the role of the vicereines of Naples. The goal of my study is to investigate and clarify the significant roles held by these noblewomen at one of the most important viceregal courts of the Spanish Monarchy. I will focus on one vicereine in particular, Catalina de Zúñiga y Sandoval, 6th Countess of Lemos and sister to the Duke of Lerma (1599–1601), who developed an extensive political network through copious correspondences, requesting and distributing mercedes (dignities and favours) among family members and her clientage. A revisionary analysis of the vicereines’ roles at the Neapolitan court demonstrates how knowledge of their political contribution is essential for a deeper understanding of the economic and political strategies deployed by their families.

Italian Wars, 1494–1559

According to the Florentine historian Francesco Guicciardini, Italy enjoyed peace and plenty in the years around 1490. From 1494 it was plunged into what he and others regarded as a series of “calamities,” triggered by the French kings Charles VIII (r. 1483–1498) and Louis XII (r. 1498–1515), who claimed to rule the kingdom of Naples and the duchy of Milan, respectively. Francis I (r. 1515–1547) retained the claim to Milan, and the wars themselves continued through the reign of Henry II (r. 1547–1559). Rule over Naples was contested and secured by Ferdinand II of Aragon (r. 1479–1516) and maintained by his Iberian successors. Milan was an imperial fief, so was contested by Ferdinand’s grandson Charles V in his capacity as Holy Roman emperor (r. 1519–1556). The conflicts waged in Italy in the names of these various princes between 1494 and 1559 are collectively known as the Italian Wars. They include the War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516), that of the League of Cognac (1526–1530), and the War of Siena (1552–1559). This article approaches the wars by means of Reference Works and Overviews specifically devoted to the Italian Wars, though it is also worth teasing information from histories of Renaissance Warfare. Contemporary Sources provide innumerable angles on a subject that can be difficult to define beyond events on the battlefield or the besieged city and are therefore subdivided into four types: Memoirs and Chronicles, Histories, Official Records, and cultural evidence, the last of which appears under the heading Art of War, Art and War. Some publications deal with individual episodes or short spans of time and therefore feature in a Chronology of War, itself subdivided at the death of Louis XII/accession of Francis I, 1494–1515 and 1515–1559. The biographical genre—Lives and Times—is the most obvious way of dealing with the leading protagonists, who tended to be Princes, but group studies are also relevant when one turns to Subjects and Citizens who contributed to the conflicts in some form or other. Some authors have confined their research to military history, including the recruitment of soldiers, their pay, and provisions, as well as their activities on the battlefield, but the Italian Wars witnessed so much overlap between the lives of Soldiers and Civilians that they are brought together in the penultimate section of the article, which then concludes with the miscellanies that are Collections of Papers.