Revolutionaries in the political discourse of the Savoyard Monarchy in the late 18th century
Mitrofanov Andrei
The most popular point of view in modern historiography is that the Jacobin movement in Italy was consisted of a closed minority, which was ideologically and culturally isolated from other social groups (Cf. M. Broers, J. Ricuperati, G. Turi, M. Viglione). The author of the article proposes to shift the focus of attention from the “triennio repubblicano” of 1796-1799 for an earlier period of 1791-1794 and analyzes documents from the archives of Turin and Moscow in order to understand how «Jacobinism» was perceived in the political discourse of the Savoyard dynasty. As the revolution and military operations in Savoy and Piedmont developed, the term “giacobino” was deliberately criminalized and used to marginalize all radicals, “suspicious”, “propagandists”, “freethinkers”, “republicans” all categories of opponents of the monarchy in Sardinia. The author of the article analyzes for the first time the documents from the Archive of foreign policy of the Russian Empire concerning the participation of the Russian diplomat in Turin (N. Vanzone) in the activities of the secret Republican society of Piedmont and the attitudes of Russian and Sardinian diplomats towards this fact (1794). The author basing on unpublished materials of the State archive of Turin, traced also for the first time the formation of official attitude of the Savoy monarchy towards the revolutionaries in the former Duchy of Savoy during the period of major unrest and civil war in the valley of Thônes, of uprisings in Annecy, in the region of Faucigny and in Carouge (1793). The Sardinian authorities did not give up hope of restoring their sovereignty over the lost territories and perceived the "apologists of the Revolution" as bad subjects which had committed a dangerous state crime.
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, grant 18-18-00226.