Abstract
The author examines Southern activists’ claims that the brigands who engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Northern troops were patriots fighting for their beloved king. The author demonstrates that this attempt to elevate the brigands to “freedom fighters” ignores overwhelming factual evidence to the contrary. Actually most brigands were hardened criminals fleeing from justice, and others were lured by the promise of wages and plunder. DiMaria argues that they were instruments in the hands of Bourbon loyalists, who supported them with money and shelter. For their part, the brigands’ cause was not to restore the Bourbons, but to survive. To get by in the mountains, they extorted, killed, plundered, and, at times, laid waste entire communities. Hardly “patriots,” they were mostly felons who never abandoned their criminal trade.
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Notes
- 1.
See Stella’s enlightening article “Pontelandolfo.”
- 2.
In his letter of December 1861, King Francesco thanked the French Ambassador in Rome for his offer to leave Rome for Paris, noting that he could not possibly abandon his native land or men who were still fighting on his behalf. As for the accusation that he continued to support the brigands’ long-doomed revolt, he declared that if those fighting for the motherland were called bandits and brigands, then he was proud to be one of them, “ho l’onore d’essere bandito anch’io” (De’ Sivo, 555).
- 3.
“un grande movimento di massa. Molti tribunali definirono i briganti “partigiani”, “regi” o legitimisti”: difendevano la loro patria, il loro re e la chiesa cattolica da un’orda massonica che voleva colonizzare il Meridione” (Ciano, 43). The Southern weblog LIBERO invites readers to honor those who fell victims to the Piedmontese invaders, especially the brigands who were heroes and martyrs, “eroi e martiri” (Cuofano).
- 4.
In the course of this discussion I do not discriminate between brigands, bandits, and outlaws, both for the sake of simplicity and because there is no appreciable difference.
- 5.
Besides Stefano Pelloni (1824–1851), other notorious band leaders roaming the papal territories included the ferocious Alessandro Massaroni (1790–1821), Pietro Masi, aka Bellente (1789–1812), and Antonio Gasparoni (1793–1880). Gasparoni surrendered in 1825, after a life of crime (126 murders). He was released from the Castel Sant’Angelo prison in 1871.
- 6.
“Un brigante non può mai spogliarsi, né d’estate né d’inverno, né di giorno né di notte. Il suo giaciglio è la nuda terra, spesso umida, spesso ricoperta di neve e di gelo … (non può mai) accendere un po’ di fuoco … si veglia e si dorme (negli stessi panni) con il risultato di farsi divorare dai pidocchi. La sete è una delle maggiori sofferenze: molte volte ci si trova vicino ad una fonte eppure, per timore di essere scorti, ci si accontenta d’inghiottire la saliva. Così avviene alle volte che si prenda tutto un acquazzone per non avvicinarsi ad una capanna dove potrebbe essere annidato il pericolo … Buttarsi alla macchia è facile; difficile è rimanerci … Generalmente i briganti non camminano mai di giorno … trascorso in mezzo ai boschi … Per poter sopravvivere avevano bisogno di una gran quantità di denaro che andava a finire nelle tasche di coloro che si adoperavano in loro favore” (Gasbarrone, 24). On the need to pay for protection by rich farmers, the brigand Giosafatte Tallarico revealed that a good portion of the fortune he accumulated during his life on the lam went to those galantuomini who gave him lodging during the winter. He stressed that they wanted to be paid handsomely for their services, “si facevano pagare in modo esorbitante” (Musca).
- 7.
“Chi turba la tranquillità pubblica, chi non ubbidisce alle leggi […] quegli dev’esser escluso dalla società, cioè dev’essere bandito” (Beccaria, 24. 28).
- 8.
In the late nineteenth century, the Sicilian writer Giuseppe Pitré defined brigandage as an open struggle with society’s laws, “una lotta aperta con le leggi sociali” (291).
- 9.
Eric Hobsbawn defines social brigandage as a phenomenon that is “universally found wherever societies are based on agriculture (including pastoral economies) and consists largely of peasants and landless labourers ruled, oppressed and exploited by someone else—lords, towns, governments, lawyers, or even banks” (23).
- 10.
“la prepotenza di un signore, la nessuna garanzia della giustizia, fecero, dunque, dell’onesto Angelo Duca un brigante. E l’opinione pubblica non errava nel considerarlo ingiustamente perseguitato (Croce, La rivoluzione, 433). Both Croce, La rivoluzione, 441–42, and Eric Hobsbawn, 48, describe Angelo Duca as a modern Robin Hood and as a classical example of social banditry.
- 11.
In reality, Giosafatte Tallarico was originally imprisoned for having killed a man in a fight. He later escaped from prison and lived on the lam until 1838, when he turned himself in to the authorities.
- 12.
On this subject, see Lonn’s Desertion. Also, Levine’s “Draft Evasion” features a table showing that between 1863 and 1865, out of 776,829 men called for duty, 161,244 failed to report to the draft board.
- 13.
Ciano alleges that according to unnamed foreign newspapers, by August 1861 there had been 8968 brigands and/or civilians shot (he does not make a distinction), 10,604 wounded, and 6112 taken prisoners. He believes that these figures were understated by at least 100 times, “cento volte’ (43). Perhaps more realistically, Camilleri, citing an official military report covering the years between 1861 and 1864, writes that there were 5212 brigands killed, 5044 taken prisoners, and 3597 surrenders (Come la penso, 49).
- 14.
“i miei compagni anelanti di sangue e più ancora di bottino, appena penetrati in paese cominciarono a scassinare porte per rubare tutto ciò che a loro capitava di meglio nelle case. Chi resisteva, chi rifiutava di consegnare il denaro o i gioielli, era scannato senza pietà […] Il paese fu messo a ferro e fuoco” (Crocco, 67).
- 15.
With the Siccardi laws (1850), the Turin government had already abolished important Church privileges, including the exercise of ecclesiastical courts and the immunity traditionally granted to those seeking sanctuary in the Church. In 1855, the Rattazzi law abolished all religious orders with no significant social function.
- 16.
Guerri, 143, writes that Giordano offered an enlistment bonus of 50 ducats, and 40 grana per day (today’s equivalent of $1000 and $10 respectively).
- 17.
The full text of Caruso’s leaflet, “Call to Arms” or the “Proclama del colonnello Caruso: chiamata alle armi,” was reported in La civiltà cattolica, no. 106. Anno XIV, col. 7:
CHIAMATA ALLE ARMI
-
(1)
Tutti gli iscritti e quelli che si vorranno inscrivere alla compagnia comandata dal Colonnello Caruso, hanno l’obbligo di restaurare sul trono Francesco II e di combattere con tutti i mezzi i liberali, che sono nemici provati della Santa Chiesa e del Santo Padre Pio IX.
-
(2)
Di amarsi tra loro e di garantire la vita del loro Colonnello, che Iddio guardi per Mille anni.
-
(3)
Chiunque diserta dalle file, dopo aver giurato sul Crocifisso, sarà fucilato.
-
(4)
Chiunque muore in battaglia la famiglia del defunto avrà un forte vitalizio da Sua Maestà Francesco II.
-
(5)
Chiunque vorrà, in seguito, arruolarsi nell’Esercito di S. M. occuperà il grado di Ufficiale.
-
(6)
Chiunque, per sue speciali ragioni, non vorrà far parte dell’Esercito di S. M. avrà un impiego ben remunerato.
Viva la SS. Trinità, Viva la Chiesa, Viva Pio IX, Viva Francesco II.
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(1)
- 18.
“poveri diavoli cui la sorte era di morire abbrustoliti o sotto le rovine delle case” (De Matteo, 210).
- 19.
Nigro, 263. Nigro’s book features many poems both in Italian and in dialect, some praising the bandits, others cursing them.
- 20.
For Caruso’s unspeakable acts of violence against farmers and their women, see both De Blasio and Sangiuolo.
- 21.
The notorious Giuseppe Caruso was one of the few brigands allowed to live a normal life after he surrendered to the Piedmontese. As a reward for selling out his fellow brigands, the State pardoned him and allowed him to serve in the police force.
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DiMaria, S. (2018). Brigands: Criminals or Patriots?. In: Towards a Unified Italy. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90766-6_3
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