On Wednesday 22 May 2024, at the Magistral Basilica of Santa Croce al Flaminio in Rome, the Delegation of Rome and Vatican City of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George celebrated a Holy Mass for the repose of the soul of Duke Diego de Vargas Machuca, the late President of the Royal Commission for Italy, one year after his death. Following this, the presentation of the book “Il Gran Maestro” (“The Grand Master – The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon between Revolution and Restoration”), published by Aracne, took place in the adjacent Chapel of the Santi Sposi.”
The Mass for the repose of the soul of Duke Diego de Vargas Machuca was officiated by the Chief Chaplain for Central Italy of the Constantinian Order’s Royal Commission for Italy, Monsignor Carlo Dell’Osso, Chaplain of Justice. The concelebrant was Father Maurizio Modugno, Chaplain of Merit, author of the book “The Grand Master.” The Mass took place in the presence of the President of the Royal Commission for Italy, Prince Flavio Borghese, of the Princes of Sulmona and Montecompatri, Knight Grand Cross of Justice; and the Lieutenant for Central Italy, H.E. Ambassador Alfredo Bastianelli, Knight Grand Cross of Jure Sanguinis with Gold Star.
Among the other members of the Order present were H.S.H. Maurizio Ferrante Gonzaga di Vescovato, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Marquis of Vodice, Knight Grand Cross of Justice, Advisor to the Royal Commission for Italy; H.E. Ambassador Amedeo De Franchis, Knight Grand Cross of Justice; the Marquis Marco Leone di Cusano, Knight of Justice; the Nob. Attorney Alfonso Marini Dettina, Knight Grand Cross of Jure Sanguinis with Gold Star, Canon Law Consultant of the Royal Commission for Italy; the Delegate for Rome and Vatican City, Prof. Giuseppe Schlitzer, Knight Grand Cross of Merit; and the Secretary of the Delegation, Dr. Michele Cantarano, Knight of Jure Sanguinis, General Secretary of the Chancellery of the Royal Commission for Italy.
In his homily, Monsignor Dell’Osso recalled the spirit of service and dedication that Duke Diego de Vargas Machuca had towards the Constantinian Order and how his memory is still alive in the hearts of all Constantinian Knights and Ladies. His dedication to the Order, which he followed without sparing time and energy, is exemplary. Attention to the liturgy and evangelization characterized his person to such an extent that he became a model for his confrères. The devotion to the Constantinian Cross was realized in him through the suffering of his last months of life. He was then entrusted to Saint George to accompany him before the throne of God to receive the reward of the righteous.
Once Mass was concluded, the book Il Gran Maestro (The Grand Master – The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and Ferdinand IV of Bourbon between Revolution and Restoration (Arachne 2024, 192 pages)) was presented in the adjacent Chapel of the Santi Sposi. This book has as its theme the complex and concentric events of the Kingdom of Naples and the Constantinian Order.
Remarks were given by the author, Father Maurizio Modugno, and by the Delegate, Prof. Giuseppe Schlitzer, who recommended reading the book, both to delve deeper into the history of the Sacred Constantinian Order and to learn more about what some historians have defined it as “a Kingdom that was great”.
The remarks of the Delegate about the book
I am very pleased to be able to speak about the book by Father Maurizio Modugno, our Chaplain of Merit, recently published by Aracne. The book covers a very specific historical period, namely the reign of Ferdinand IV, King of Naples and Sicily (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies), until the years 1818-19.
The title and subtitle of the book do not fully reflect the breadth of the topics covered. In fact, the narrative is not limited to retracing the various phases of the Constantinian Order and the Grand Magisterium in the historical period considered, but also provides a perspective on the Neapolitan Court, on the habits and customs of the time, on the organization of the government of the Kingdom, and naturally on King Ferdinand and his wife Queen Maria Carolina (née Archduchess of Austria), shedding new light on the relationships and role of the two sovereigns, especially during the dramatic phases of the Napoleonic period.
The result is a compelling read, which inevitably captures the reader. The book is rich in historical and bibliographical references, but it is not a simple sequence of events and changes in the government of the Kingdom. Father Maurizio enters into the personal events and psychology of the protagonists, and reveals aspects that are normally overlooked by classic historical representations.
I therefore warmly recommend this book to knights and ladies of the Constantinian Order eager to learn more about what some historians have defined as “a Kingdom that was great”.
In this commentary of mine I will highlight the figures of Ferdinand – the Bourbon who reigned the longest in Southern Italy – and Maria Carolina, also mentioning the various characters who influenced the Court and the strategic choices of the sovereigns. I will deal with the Constantinian Order at the end.
Before doing this, it is however necessary and useful to provide a brief chronology of the events.
Brief chronology of events
1734/35 – Charles, Duke of Parma and Piacenza (son of Philip V, King of Spain and Elizabeth Farnese) conquers the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily by defeating the Austrians. With the peace treaty of Vienna (1738), Charles was recognized as King of Naples and King of Sicily, but he had to renounce the Farnesian states (and the Medici ones in Abruzzo) in favour of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. In the same year he married Maria Amalia of Saxony.
1759 – Charles ascends to the throne of Spain with the title of Charles III. There is a definitive separation between the crowns of Spain and those of southern Italy, also codified by an agreement between King Charles and Empress Maria Teresa of Austria (signed in Naples in October 1759 by Tanucci and the Austrian Ambassador, Count Leopold von Neipperg). Charles’s son Ferdinand, who is just eight years old, becomes Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, and Ferdinand III, King of Sicily.
1768 – Having reached age sixteen, Ferdinand marries Maria Carolina of Austria (daughter of Maria Teresa). The two sovereigns reigned undisturbed for 30 years, continuing the season of reforms inaugurated in the Kingdom by Charles III, until the French Revolution of 1789 changed the course of history.
1793 – On 12 July 1793 the sovereigns enter into an alliance with England, a hegemonic power in the maritime sphere. In September, Admiral Horatio Nelson arrives in Naples. Thus came to an end the historic policy of neutrality of the Kingdom, which was openly against the Revolution and against France.
1798 – At the suggestion of Minister Acton and Admiral Nelson, Ferdinand and Maria Carolina take refuge in Palermo, accompanied by around 2000 people, including court aristocrats, gentlemen, butlers, servants, cooks and ladies-in-waiting. The Neapolitan Republic was established in Naples, and the French troops, having at last defeated the strenuous local resistance, entered Naples under the leadership of General Championnet.
1799 – The counter-revolutionary army led by Cardinal Ruffo on behalf of King Ferdinand conquers all the Jacobin strongholds, starting in Calabria. The Neapolitan Republic falls. The forgiveness granted by Cardinal Ruffo to the defeated was disavowed by the King. (Queen Maria Carolina, Nelson and Acton were of the same opinion as the King.) A massive campaign of repression begins.
1802 – After the Peace of Amiens between France and Great Britain (25 March 1802), the sovereigns returned to Naples in June 1802 to the jubilation of the crowds.
1805/06 – Napoleon, already crowned Emperor of the French, wins at Ulm, occupies Vienna and then wins at Austerliz. The Peace of Pressburg is signed (26 December 1805). Napoleon declares the end of the Bourbon dynasty of the Two Sicilies. In January 1806 Ferdinand took refuge in Palermo again and entrusted the government of the kingdom to his eldest son Prince Francesco (Francis). In February 1806 French troops entered Naples again, this time under the command of Joseph Bonaparte.
1808-1815 – In 1808 Napoleon appoints Joachim Murat to replace Joseph Bonaparte as King of Naples, after Joseph Bonaparte is named King of Spain. In vain Murat will also try to conquer Sicily, under the protectorate of the English. In January 1814, turning his back on Napoleon, Murat signed a treaty with Austria in the hope of maintaining the throne of the Kingdom of Naples. He was then defeated in Tolentino by the Austrians themselves. His epic story ended on 13 October 1815 when, after being arrested by the Bourbon gendarmerie, he was shot in Pizzo Calabro. The Congress of Vienna will sanction the definitive restoration of Ferdinand IV to the throne of Naples.
1814 – After returning to Vienna, Queen Maria Carolina dies without ever being able to see the restoration of the Bourbons in Naples. In the same year King Ferdinand contracts a morganatic marriage with Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Floridia.
1816 – With the promulgation of the Fundamental Law of the Kingdom, King Ferdinand unites the two crowns of Naples and Sicily and takes the title of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies. Referring to the Norman tradition, he introduces the titles of Duke of Calabria (abolished by his father Charles) and Duke of Noto to indicate, respectively, the first and second princes in line to the throne.
1825 – Ferdinand dies at the age of 74. The following year, the Duchess of Floridia also dies at just 56 years of age.
King Ferdinand
As we know, King Ferdinand is the third son of King Charles III of Spain. In fact, the first-born son, Filippo (Philip) (born 1747) is affected by dementia and suffers from epileptic attacks, while the second-born son, Carlo Antonio (Charles Anthony) (born 1748), is the designated heir to the throne of Spain. Given the incompatibility of the two crowns, he cannot be crowned King of Naples. The throne of Naples therefore passes to Ferdinand, born in 1751.
In 1759, however, Ferdinand was only eight years old. His guardian is Domenico Cattaneo, Prince of San Nicandro. But Ferdinand’s father wisely entrusts the regency to a Council, where the leading figure is the trusted Bernardo Tanucci, a lawyer who does not come from the Neapolitan nobility (he was born near Arezzo to a family of the Tuscan middle class). Furthermore, King Charles III establishes that the son will be able to assume the crown at the age of sixteen, two years later than what was considered the age of majority in most of the European courts of the time. This was meant to guarantee a longer period of indirect control over the kingdom.
What was Ferdinand like?
Contemporaries described him, as a boy, more like a “street urchin” than the ideal model of the little prince. Ferdinand avoids the scions of the family and instead mixes with the children of the servants and the pages. Foreign languages are of little interest to him, although he knows the more colorful forms of the Neapolitan dialect well. He is impatient with etiquette and study and has poor concentration.
This rustic character of Ferdinand is largely the result of his personal nature. But, Modugno seems to suggest, it is perhaps also due to his association with his playmate Gennaro Rivelli, the son of a nurse (p. 23).
Upon reaching maturity, Ferdinand will retain some of these traits. Even in formal meetings he surprises those present because he speaks in a loud voice, because he laughs uncontrollably, and because he loves to mock ladies and gentlemen. Over the years these attitudes will lessen, without ever disappearing completely.
Ferdinand loves hunting and recreation. However, he is not naive, and his strong character, his true personality, will emerge over time. This can be seen well in the pages written by Modugno, in particular from the firm opposition to the requests of the British emissary, Cavendish-Bentick, during the French occupation and the troubled stay in Palermo.
The picture that Modugno paints of the Neapolitan court is interesting. “This very fashionable court was also much less formal than those of Austria or England: there was abundant discussion, always noisy and often confused.” The ceremonial was strictly observed in terms of bowing and kneeling, but Ferdinand, with a taste for beauty and pleasure, had wanted to stress a simplicity, a cordiality of character, sometimes a certain rusticity that was undoubtedly personal.”
Queen Maria Carolina
Born an Archduchess of Austria in August 1752, she was the thirteenth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Emperor Francis I (Maria Theresa gave birth to 16 children, 13 of whom survived). Her marriage is in line with the very specific goal of alliances between the main ruling families of Europe, and in particular it is linked to the pact between King Charles III of Spain and Maria Teresa, according to which:
– Charles recognized the Austrian possessions in central and northern Italy and he decreed that the crown of Madrid and the crown of Naples could not be held by the same person. In return, Maria Teresa recognized the legitimacy of the succession to Charles, thus sanctioning the definitive independence of the Kingdom of Naples.
– The agreement between Vienna and Naples provides for the engagement of Ferdinand and Archduchess Josephine (then 11 years old), who however later dies of smallpox. The choice falls on her sister Maria Josefina and things move forward. Once Ferdinand becomes an adult, the festivities and celebrations begin both in Vienna and Naples, but smallpox also struck Maria Josefina, who died.
There are rumours that Ferdinand brings bad luck, but fortunately a third agreement is reached and it is decided that Archduchess Maria Carolina will marry Ferdinand. The wedding is celebrated first in Vienna by proxy, and then immediately afterwards, Maria Carolina begins her journey to Naples, followed by a rich procession of royal sedans, carriages, litters. She is welcomed with celebrations first in Veneto and Lombardy, and then in Florence, where she is greeted by brother Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Maria Carolina and Ferdinand meet in Portella, where Charles III and his consort Maria Amalia of Saxony had also met. Portella, near Monte San Biagio, is the “border gate” of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Historiography describes Maria Carolina as a lively and strong-willed girl (at the time of the meeting she was sixteen years old), convinced that she was destined to become queen and to govern by vocation and rank. Physically one cannot say she’s beautiful (her aquiline nose and small mouth do not suit her) but she has her own femininity. Culturally she was well prepared, as befits a Habsburg princess, and, in view of her marriage, she had studied Italian intensely.
What expectations does the future queen have of Naples and her husband Ferdinand? The author reports some testimonies that refer to a court – that of Naples at the time of Ferdinand while he was still a teenager – which could be described as the most magnificent in Europe (p.20), which will in fact be missed by Maria Amalia upon her departure for Spain . But Maria Carolina grew up at the court of Vienna, which in prestige was equal only to that of Versailles. She is therefore aware that she will not find the same level of aristocratic refinement in Naples. She knows that the groom is not handsome and does not meet the comportment standards of a Viennese archduke.
Modugno offers us a description of the first intimate encounters between the two spouses, which were complicated by differences in culture and education. “The first night of the Royals of Naples had been unpleasant for both of them: ‘He sleeps like a dead man and sweats like a pig’ Ferdinand had said; and she had written to her mother: ‘I openly confess that I would rather die than relive again everything that happened to me’ ” (pp. 27-8).
Yet, they will give birth to eighteen children. In reality the new Queen will soon grasp the extraordinary beauty of the place and the pleasantness of the climate. She will write to her mother that Ferdinand has a better character than expected and that she is getting used to his physical appearance. She senses that Ferdinand’s style leaves her ample room for maneuver. She immediately revived the court, numb during the years of the regency, with receptions, balls and shows. And so, Queen Maria Carolina, Vesuvius and the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii attracted many aristocrats and intellectuals from all over Europe to Naples (among them, Casanova and Goethe). With its over 400 thousand inhabitants, the capital of the Kingdom can legitimately be considered the largest “metropolis in Italy.”
What role will Maria Carolina play in the government of the Kingdom? The judgment is not easy. She was certainly very active, also in building relationships. We also know that at the birth of the first son Charles Titus in 1775 (who died as a child in 1778), Maria Carolina would join the Council of State, as foreseen by the marriage agreement. Maria Carolina was 23 years old at the time and, as a protagonist of the social life of the Court, she aspired to become the same in the government of the Kingdom. So much so that both Charles III of Madrid and the powerful Minister Bernardo Tanucci were worried about the Queen’s activism and her possible influence on the King.
In fact, perhaps the Queen’s most incisive intervention was the removal of Tanucci in October 1776. This story is intertwined with the spread of Masonic lodges in the Kingdom, with which the Queen was a sympathizer and perhaps was part of. Moreover, the queen came from a court where the Masonic presence was among the largest in Europe. One prominent Freemason was, for example, Count Ernst Kaunitz von Rietberg, Austrian Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as well as the main architect of Austria’s foreign policy in those years.
It is not possible here to develop fully the whole story and its implications. We are undoubtedly faced with a disastrous transition for the Kingdom. The accommodating attitude of the sovereigns – not to mention their protection – towards the Masonic lodges effectively counters the policy of Charles III and, with the removal of Tanucci, a significant autonomy from Madrid is established. A new character comes into play, Francis John Acton, a nobleman of Anglo-Irish origin who had already distinguished himself in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and whose political rise will be very rapid. In 1780 he was appointed Secretary of War with responsibility for all aspects of the Kingdom’s military policy.
It is difficult to say who pushed harder, Ferdinand or Maria Carolina, to make these changes. Part of the historiography tends to give a greater role to the Queen – after all, the autonomy of Naples from Madrid was part of Austria’s plan – but Ferdinand himself had in the past written to his father complaining about Tanucci’s interference and the excessive autonomy of the minister.
The difficult years (between revolution and restoration)
Political autonomy allowed the sovereigns to inaugurate a season of reforms, particularly in the field of education (for example, all municipalities are required to open primary schools), infrastructural interventions (railways and bridges), as well as commercial ties and navigation with other countries (Morocco, the Regency of Tripoli, and Russia). The most profound changes are in the restructuring carried out by Acton in the army and navy (the shipyards are moved from Naples to Castellammare), on which there is no time to dwell. With regard to the Church, the policy that was carried out was decidedly anti-clerical.
All in all, it is the enlightened absolutism of Maria Teresa applied to the south of Italy. The two sovereigns demonstrate that they are not naive and that they know how to move carefully on the path to autonomy. But there is no need to delude ourselves too much: the protectorate of Spain will soon be replaced by that of Great Britain (especially in Sicily). The French Revolution first (1789) and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte then upset the balance of Europe and the Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies. The two sovereigns probably underestimated the “small seismic movements already such as to predict, sooner or later, a collapse…” (p. 19).
Modugno offers us a vivid description of those events and how the two sovereigns faced dramatic moments, to say the least. Regarding the role played by Maria Carolina, the opinion that “her actual role should not be overestimated is correct. The royal consort will have a patience but also a firmness that will always convince her.”
At the end of the 1790s, relations, as the author describes, become more difficult (pp. 28/9). This is even more so during the difficult years of Murat’s government and the Bourbon exile in Sicily. Maria Carolina is already very tested by events. In 1790 her brother Emperor Joseph II died, and after just a year her other brother, Peter Leopold, succeeded to the throne as Leopold II. His favourite sister, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, was guillotined on 16 October 1793. The “enlightened” Queen Maria Carolina, non-conformist, reformer and protector of Freemasonry, would soon become the standard bearer of a repressive policy aimed at preventing the spread of revolutionary and Jacobin ideas.
This is what Modugno tells us: “Musical celebrations, historical hymnodies in verse and prose, chivalric investitures, descriptions of the Kingdom, do not hide the fact that more than one thing was broken in the enlightened path, in the program of reforms, in the internal harmony of that already magnificent court and of those rulers.” Upon returning from Palermo, the latest innovative interventions were recorded, in particular the opening in 1804 of the Royal Library of Naples, now the Archaeological Museum, containing the precious collection of the House of Farnese.
Ferdinand’s second escape to Palermo followed just two years later. Maria Carolina remained in Naples for a while longer and wrote letters to Napoleon which did not receive a reply. In June 1813 Maria Carolina left Sicily, stayed in various European countries and arrived in Vienna in January 1814. Here she died in the castle of Hetzendorf on 8 September 1814, struck by a fatal stroke, without therefore ever seeing the restoration of Bourbon dynasty in Naples.
In November of the same year, Ferdinand, 63 years old, married morganatically Lucia Migliaccio (aged 44), widow of the Prince of Partanna. He created her Duchess of Floridia. Ferdinand will reign on the throne of the Two Sicilies until his death in 1825. Even subtracting the years spent before reaching the age of majority and subtracting the years of exile during the Napoleonic era, he remains the sovereign of the Bourbon dynasty who reigned the longest on the throne of Naples.
The Constantinian Order and the Grand Magisterium
Very interesting are the pages in the book devoted to the Sacred Military Constantinian Order. In addition, the book retraces the origins of the Order and describes its functioning and organization in the times of Charles and Ferdinand.
The first written references to the Constantinian Order date back to 1500. The tenure of the Grand Mastership by the Angelo Flavio Comnenus family of Macedonia is certain, until the passage of the grand mastership to the Farnese dynasty in 1699. This last step was “confirmed” first by Pope Innocent XII with the Bull Sincerae fidei of 24 October 1698 and then by Emperor Leopold I with the decree of 5 August 1699.
The subsequent transition, from the Farnese dynasty to that of the Bourbons of Naples, as well as the transfer of the headquarters of the Order from Parma to Naples, is more complex.
Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, died in 1731 without male heirs. The only heir is her sister Elizabeth, wife of the King of Spain Philip V of Bourbon. The title of Duke of Parma and Piacenza and the Grand Magisterium pass to Elizabeth’s son, Charles, as established since 1718 by the Treaty of London. Only once he assumed the thrones of Naples and Sicily, Charles would transfer the seat of the Grand Magisterium to Naples.
In essence, the transfer of the Grand Mastership to the Bourbon dynasty of Naples occurred no earlier than 1734, the year of Charles’ conquest of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily (recognized however only in 1738 with the Peace of Vienna). And it is no coincidence that, in the very useful list of Grand Masters reported by Modugno on pages 71-74 of his book, starting from Constantine I the Great, a certain date relating to this transfer does not appear!
Let’s be clear: there was no solution of continuity in the possession of the Constantinian Grand Magisterium, which always belonged to Charles (at least from 1732). The point is: when did the Bourbon dynasty of Naples begin? Only a historian can give a precise answer. I will therefore limit myself to recalling some essential dates.
Charles conquered the two southern kingdoms, Naples and Sicily, in 1734 and in 1736 ceded the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza (and therefore the state domains of the House of Farnese) to the Habsburg Emperor Charles VI. (Charles of Bourbon, however, made sure to bring all the Farnese collections to Naples, which can be admired at the National Archaeological Museum). Subsequently, with the Peace of Vienna in 1738, there was the formal recognition of Charles as King of Naples and King of Sicily and the separation between the crowns of Naples and Spain. Finally, with the Monitorium of Pope Clement XIII in December 1763, there is the recognition by the Apostolic See of the tenure of the Constantinian Grand Magisterium by the dynasty of Bourbon-Naples.
Another aspect of notable importance, of which references are found several times in the book, is the legal separation between the Crown and the Grand Mastership. In October 1759, Charles ceded the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and the Constantinian Grand Mastership to his son Ferdinand in two expressly separate acts. This clear separation was confirmed by Ferdinand himself in March 1796 in the face of the possible advance of the French into Italy. This is an aspect always confirmed by historiography, which qualifies the Grand Mastership not as a dynastic prerogative, but as a prerogative of the first-born Farnese (de jure sanguinis).
Some aspects relating to the organization of the Order are also very interesting, especially the regime of the Commanderies and the Knights Inquisitors. The latter – among whom we find the author’s ancestor Nob. Donato Antonio Vitullli (Knight and Commander) – were not part of the Royal Deputation, but exercised important control (and inspection) functions in all the provinces of the Kingdom (with the exception of Naples), both on the Knights and on the Commanderies of the Order.
In this last regard, the picture that the author offers us on the heritage of the Order is also interesting. These were composed of various elements: the original assets, the subsequent annexations (such as all the properties of the Antoniani in Southern Italy as arranged in 1776 by Pope Pius VI) and, finally, the Commanderies (in the year 1792, there were approximately 40 donor Knights).
Precise estimates are difficult to make, but we are certainly faced with a substantial heritage. As the author himself notes (p. 60), “a very vast and complex architecture of Commanderies and benefits, of incomes and contributions, therefore structured the economy and wealth of the Constantinian Order, to which one must add the numerous real estate assets, which can be valued, at the turning point between the two centuries, in several hundreds of thousands of ducats.”
Joseph Schlitzer
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