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FILANGIERI, CARLO (1784–1867)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 339 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FILANGIERI, CARLO (1784–1867) , See also:prince of Satriano, Neapolitan soldier and statesman, was the son of Gaetano Filangieri (1752-1788), a celebrated philosopher and jurist. At the See also:age of fifteen he decided on a military career, and having obtained an introduction to See also:Napoleon See also:Bonaparte, then first See also:consul, was admitted to the Military See also:Academy at See also:Paris. In 1803 he received a See also:commission in an See also:infantry See also:regiment, and took See also:part in the See also:campaign of 18o5 under See also:General Davoust, first in the See also:Low Countries, and later at See also:Ulm, Maria Zell and See also:Austerlitz, where he fought with distinction, was wounded several times and promoted. He returned to See also:Naples as See also:captain on See also:Massena's See also:staff to fight the Bourbons and the Austrians in 1806, and subsequently went to See also:Spain, where he followed See also:Jerome Bonaparte in his See also:retreat from See also:Madrid. In consequence of a fatal See also:duel he was sent back to Naples; there he served under See also:Joachim See also:Murat with the See also:rank of general, and fought against the Anglo-Sicilian forces in See also:Calabria and at See also:Messina. On the fall of Napoleon he took part in Murat's campaign against See also:Eugene See also:Beauharnais, and later in that against See also:Austria, and was severely wounded at the See also:battle of the Panaro (1815). On the restoration of the See also:Bourbon See also:king See also:Ferdinand IV. (I.), Filangieri retained his rank and command, but found the See also:army utterly disorganized and impregnated with Carbonarism. In the disturbances of 182o he adhered to the Constitutionalist party, and fought under General See also:Pepe (q.v.) against the Austrians. On the re-See also:establishment of the See also:autocracy he was dismissed from the service, and retired to Calabria where he had inherited the princely See also:title and estates of Satriano. In 1831 he was recalled by Ferdinand II. and entrusted with various military reforms. On the outbreak of the troubles of 1848 Filangieri advised the king to See also:grant the constitution, which he did in See also:February 1848, but when the Sicilians formally seceded from the Neapolitan See also:kingdom Filangieri was given the command of an armed force with which to reduce the See also:island to obedience.

On the 3rd of See also:

September he landed near Messina, and after very severe fighting captured the See also:city. He then advanced southwards, besieged and took See also:Catania, where his troops committed many atrocities, and by May 1849 he had conquered the whole of See also:Sicily, though not without much bloodshed. He remained in Sicily as See also:governor until 1855, when he retired into private See also:life, as he could not carry out the reforms he desired owing to the hostility of Giovanni Cassisi, the See also:minister for Sicily. On the See also:death of Ferdinand II. (22nd of May 1859) the new king See also:Francis II. appointed Filangieri premier and minister of See also:war. He promoted See also:good relations with See also:France, then fighting with See also:Piedmont against the Austrians in See also:Lombardy, and strongly urged on the king the See also:necessity of an See also:alliance with Piedmont and a constitution as the only means whereby the See also:dynasty might be saved. These proposals being rejected, Filangieri resigned See also:office. In May 186o, Francis at last promulgated the constitution, but it was too See also:late, for See also:Garibaldi was in Sicily and Naples was seething with See also:rebellion. On the See also:advice of Liborio Romano, the new See also:prefect of See also:police, Filangieri was ordered to leave Naples. He went to See also:Marseilles with his wife and subsequently to See also:Florence, where at the instance of General La See also:Marmora he undertook to write an See also:account of the See also:Italian army. Although he adhered to the new See also:government he refused to accept any dignity at its hands, and died at his See also:villa of See also:San Giorgio a Cremano near Naples on the 9th of See also:October 1867. Filangieri was a very distinguished soldier, and a See also:man of See also:great ability; although he changed sides several times he became really attached to the Bourbon dynasty, which he hoped to See also:save by freeing it from its reactionary tendencies and infusing a new spirit into it.

His conduct in Sicily was severe and harsh, but he was not without feelings of humanity, and he was an honest man and a good See also:

administrator. His See also:biography has been written by his daughter Teresa Filangieri See also:Fieschi-Ravaschieri, Il Generale Carlo Filangieri (See also:Milan, 1902), an interesting, although somewhat too laudatory See also:volume based on the general's own unpublished See also:memoirs; for the Sicilian expedition see V. Finocchiaro, La Rivoluzione siciliana del 1848–49 (Catania, 1906, with bibliography), in which Filangieri is bitterly attacked; see also Under NAPLES; FERDINAND IV.; FRANCIS I.; FERDINAND II.; FRANCIS II. (L.

End of Article: FILANGIERI, CARLO (1784–1867)

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