Italian nobleman, legal scholar, diplomat and statesman
Luigi de' Medici
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In office
27 June 1816 ? 9 July 1820
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| Preceded by
| Tommaso di Somma
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| Succeeded by
| Tommaso di Somma
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In office
June 1822 ? 25 January 1830
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| Preceded by
| Tommaso di Somma
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| Succeeded by
| Donato Tommasi
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| Born
| (
1759-04-21
)
21 April 1759
Naples
, Campania, Italy
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| Died
| January 25, 1830
(1830-01-25)
(aged 70)
Madrid
, Spain
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| Parent(s)
| Michele de' Medici and Carmela de' Medici (nee Filomarino)
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| Alma mater
| University of Naples Federico II
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Luigi de' Medici
(21 April 1759 – 25 January 1830) was an
Italian nobleman
, legal scholar, diplomat and statesman, who served as
Prime minister
of the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
and the legal representative at the
Congress of Vienna
.
Luigi de' Medici lived and worked through some of the most tumultuous periods of the Kingdom of Naples: straddling the final stages of the reactionary reforms of
Sir John Acton
; the short-lived
Parthenopean Republic
proclaimed in Naples by
Napoleon
in 1799; the
Sanfedismo
(its fall); the retreat of the
Bourbon
court to
Palermo
under English protection after Napoleon took Naples a second time (1806); their restoration; and the eventual suppression of the Sicilian constitution and autonomy when the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were unified into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816).
Biography
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Early life
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He belonged to the Neapolitan branch of the princely Florentine
House of Medici
, a cadet branch founded in 1567 by
Bernadetto de' Medici
after he acquired the vast fief of
Ottaviano
. Luigi was born as a younger son of Michele de' Medici (fifth
Prince of Ottaviano
and fifth Duke of Sarno) (1719-1770) and his wife Carmela
Filomarino
(1725-1805).
[1]
He took a degree in Law in 1780 and in the early years of the reign of
Ferdinand IV of Naples
, he practiced law in Naples.
He attended progressive circles and befriended
Annibale Giordano
,
Gaetano Filangieri
,
Melchiorre Delfico
and
Mario Pagano
. In 1783 he became Regent of the Grand Court of the Vicaria, the highest tribunal in the kingdom.
In 1787 he was awarded the grand cross of the he
Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
. He became “Protector” of the Academy of chemistry and mathematics founded in 1790 by Annibale Giordano and Carlo Lauberg.
Arrest
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In 1794, under extreme pressure from
Maria Carolina
and the prime minister Sir John Acton, the King created a Giunta di Stato, a tribunal consisting of seven judges set up to investigate all those suspected of having contacts with freemasons and
Jacobins
. The Giunta was used by Acton as a personal instrument through which to rid himself of his rivals. As a favorite of Ferdinand and
Maria Carolina
, Medici enjoyed a relationship with them that aroused the envy of the Englishman. Moreover Medici's sympathies toward the Neapolitan Jacobins were well known. Medici was betrayed to Sir John Acton by one of his closest friends, the mathematician Annibale Giordano. Acton, who rewarded Giordano for his "meritorious action," apprized the King and Queen of the incriminating disclosure.
When Luigi de' Medici learned from the Court that he was
persona non grata
, he decided to give himself up to its custody. He sent a memorandum through Sir John Acton himself, asking to be suspended from his ministerial duties, and to be incarcerated until his innocence could be proven. On February 25, 1795, he was summoned by the sovereigns to the
Royal Palace of Caserta
to be questioned by the Council of State concerning his alleged role in a Jacobin conspiracy. Acton produced what are reputed to be forged documents that implicated de' Medici. Although a monarchist, he was found guilty of conspiracy on February 28, was arrested and imprisoned in the castle at Gaeta.
In 1798, at the end of the long trial, Medici was released and cleared of all charges.
Napoleonic period
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In April 1799, after the proclamation of the
Parthenopean Republic
(1799), Medici was arrested as a suspected
royalist
, but was freed from prison during the Bourbon Restoration.
In 1803 he was appointed minister of finance by the king, and, in April 1804, he was made
secretary of state
.
Medici enjoyed the trust of the capital's financial oligarchy and was considered essential to the health of the kingdom's economy. After the occupation of Naples by the French (1806), he fled with the king to
Sicily
. In 1815 he returned with the Bourbons to Naples. He was Minister of Police when
Joachim Murat
attempted the invasion of
Calabria
. Medici ordered the coasts to be watched, and Murat was captured, sentenced to death, and shot by firing squad in
Pizzo Calabro
on 13 October 1815.
Bourbon Restoration
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On 27 June 1816 Medici was appointed prime minister by the king. The revolutionary and Napoleonic experiences had definitively influenced the thought of Italian conservatives, divided into those who were in favour of an opening up towards new times, and those who favoured a blind return to the
ancien regime
. Unlike other members of the Neapolitan government, such as the
reactionary
Antonio Capece Minutolo, Medici favoured a policy of reconciliation with those who had collaborated with the French (the so called “amalgam politics”).
Under his influence, the restoration in 1815 in Naples kept in place most of the reforms enacted during the Napoleonic era.
In 1818 Medici concluded a
Concordat
with the pope. The Concordat restored ecclesiastical courts to deal with offences by priests, placed censorship in the hands of the bishops, and re-established many monasteries that were suppressed during the Napoleonic period. Medici's administration, particularly the ban on secret societies, the re-establishment of convents and the administrative unification of the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, met with great opposition in
liberal
circles. The
Carbonari
, a secret society of
republican
,
anti-papal
forces, started to grow at an alarming rate and soon affected a large part of the army. In July 1820, a military
revolt
broke out under General
Guglielmo Pepe
, and the king was forced to concede a constitution.
After the outbreak of the revolution Medici resigned his office and retired to
Rome
, where he remained for some time after the return of the king of Naples. But when the new minister of police Antonio Capece Minutolo proved unable of restoring order, the king, on the advice of
Metternich
, resolved to form a new government, and Medici was appointed minister of finances. Until his death in 1830, Medici remained in control of the Kingdom's finances and its commercial policies. Milder measures were now adopted, and to cover the deficit in the revenue a loan had to be contracted with the
house of Rothschild
. When the king went to the
congress of Verona
, and afterwards to
Vienna
, Medici was appointed
prime minister
. He found himself obliged to contract a new loan with the house of Rothschild for two millions and a half
pounds sterling
, for which
customs
and other
indirect taxes
were imposed. Under the reign of
Francis I
, Medici retained his post. He followed the king to Madrid and is said to have been consulted respecting the regulation of the embarrassed finances of Spain. He died in Madrid on 25 January 1830.
Works
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- I. Del Bagno, ed. (1998).
Memorie dei miei tempi, messe per iscritto nel 1810
. Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane.
ISBN
8881144840
.
References
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Bibliography
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External links
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