Giovanni Maria Angioy
Encyclopedia
Giovanni Maria Angioy (Sardinian: Juanne Maria Angioy) (21 October 1751 – 22 February 1808) was a Sardinian politician and patriot and to this day he is considered a national hero in Sardinia
.
Angioy guided the Sardinian Revolution (1794–1796) against the feudal privileges and laws that still existed on the island of Sardinia. For this reason he was persecuted from the house of Savoy
that ruled Sardinia at the time: he had to escape from Sardinia and found exile in France, where he died. Angioy was not only a politician, but also a university lecturer, judge at the Royal Audience, entrepreneur and banker.
Giovanni Maria Angioy is considered one of the greatest Sardinian patriots, as his political activity was eventually aimed at creating a Sardinian republic, free and independent, having eliminated the feudal yoke on the island.
. During his childhood both his parents died though, first his mother, at the age of 30, and successively his father.
A maternal uncle, Father Thaddeus Arras, took care of Angioy's education. His uncle Thaddeus was his first teacher, but he was also taught by the Fathers Mercedari, a monastic order. Successively, Angioy was educated under the supervision of Canon Giovanni Antonio Arras in Sassari
.
Angioy continued his studies at the Jesuit fathers' school, and at 21 years he had already become a university lecturer. Despite his young age he also become a deputy lawyer. Finally, at 39 he became a High-Court Judge, which used to be a very high honour.
"To Giovanni Maria Angioy, who inspired by the 1789 Revolution started the Sardinian crusade against the feudal yoke."
Sardinia, similarly to other regions at the borders of Europe (e.g. Scotland) was nonetheless influenced by ideas that developed in the heart of Europe at the time. The ideas of the French Revolution
reached Sardinia and had an influence on many intellectuals, despite limited means of communication (press had a limited diffusion in Sardinia compared to other European countries). Giovanni Maria Angioy had read many French texts, and this was probably a catalyst for sparking his revolutionary views.
. The House of Savoy was granted control of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1718 with the Treaty of London that followed the War of the Spanish Succession
: although assuming the role of King of Sardinia with this treaty, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy moved the capital of the Kingdom to Turin in mainland Italy where the parliament was also based: the parliament and government of the Kingdom was composed exclusively of men from the mainland. Indeed, similarly to other colonial domains, Sardinia was governed by a viceroy appointed by the king and only men from the mainland were appointed in the main roles of the Sardinian administration, excluding native Sardinians from any active role in government. After receiving the title of King of Sardinia Victor Amadeus II of Savoy sent his lieutenant, Baron de Saint-Rémy, to assume the role of viceroy of Sardinia. The new viceroy asked the Sardinian parliament, the "Stamenti", to swear to observe the laws and privileges of the nobility that had been granted by the Spanish governments that ruled the Kingdom of Sardinia before the Savoy. The acceptance of long-standing laws and privileges by the Sardinian parliament also implied the continuation of the feudal system that had been introduced by the Spanish with the conquest of Sardinia in the 15th Century. This was particularly controversial because in many other regions of Europe feudalism had disappeared well before the 18th century.
Feudalism had an extremely negative influence on the economy and social structure of Sardinia. It penalised the main economic activity in Sardinia, agriculture. At that time, in fact, the island was divided into fiefdoms and domains under the rule of the nobility. In these domains, taxes for farmers were very high, and annuities were due to the archbishops of Cagliari and Oristano, as well as those due to the major landowners like the Marquis Alagon of Villasor, the Marquis of Thiesi and many others. Only 7 cities (Castelsardo, Sassari, Alghero, Bosa, Oristano, Iglesias and Cagliari) were exempted from paying feudal duties (a tradition established by the Spaniards, who granted these towns to be ruled directly by the King and not by the nobility).
As a consequence of the feudal system, which prevented economic mobility and entrepreneurship, town and cities were sparsely inhabited at the time, while most of the population lived in rural areas where they were hassled with harsh feudal taxation: farmers were paid a fifth of what other workers were paid. For vassals (farmers that worked the land of the landowner), taxes were innumerable: every head of the family, in addition to other charges, was to pay a fine.
After the French Revolution, French armies moved war to different countries in Europe, trying to spread their revolutionary ideas. In 1793, a French fleet carrying soldiers moved toward the Gulf of Cagliari. The French wanted to conquer Sardinia in order to use it as a base for attacks to mainland Italy. After bombing Cagliari
from the sea, the French divisions landed on the beach of Quartu, near Cagliari, and from there, moved toward the town on foot. The house of Savoy who rule the Kingdom of Sardinia, were unable at the time to provide for the defence of Sardinia, being involved in other wars against the French in mainland Europe, so the Sardinians organised their own defence against the invading French divisions. Eventually the French were defeated and repelled (although some historians claim that the French defeat was mainly caused by errors and "friendly fire
").
Having defended the Kingdom of Sardinia and ultimately the standing of the House of Savoy from the French republicans, the Sardinian nobility met in their Sardinian parliament, the Stamenti, and issued five requests to the Savoy ruler, known as the "five requests". These requests were:
These requests were just moderate concessions that the Sardinian nobility thought they deserved for demonstrating loyalty to the House of Savoy. As it can be seen, the requests were hardly revolutionary and only aimed at giving a more active role to the Sardinian nobility in the administration of the region. Nonetheless, the House of Savoy rejected all of these requests. This caused dissatisfaction in all Sardinian classes, not only in the nobility. Furthermore, rulers of Sardinia, who came from mainland Italy, interpreted the response to the five requests as an indication that the House of Savoy was deeply suspicious of the Sardinian nobility that had issued the five requests. The Italian ruling class thus started to persecute the most prominent Sardinians that participated in the issuing of the five requests. This, in turn, created increasing discontent in the Sardinians from all classes, which mounted into open hostility when the authorities tried to capture two Sardinians that had been more vocal during the issuing of the five requests. One of these Sardinians managed to escape and the anger at his persecution sparked an open revolt by the population of Cagliari on 28 April 1794. During this revolt, the mob chased and killed The General Intendant Jerome Pitzolo (6 July) and the General Gavino Paliaccio, Marquis of Planargia (22 July). These are the days of "s'acciappa" ("the chase" referring to the fact that all Piedmontese were hunted and chased across the city). Eventually, all 514 Piedmontese and Italian officials were rounded up, including Viceroy Balbiano Vincent, and expelled from Cagliari on a boat. The example was followed by other cities and the revolt spread throughout Sardinia. The island was governed by a provisional Royal Audience during this revolutionary period. Since the year 1997 the rebellion of the 28 April has been celebrated in Cagliari as "Sa die de sa Sardigna" (in Sardinian: the Sardinian day).
and Sassari
), asked the king greater autonomy from the viceroy and to depend directly by the Crown.
These requests, which somehow broke the unity of the revolt, angered the revolutionaries in Cagliari and in the rest of Sardinia. The revolutionaries thus organised further uprisings against the nobility in Sassari, uprisings that were particularly popular with farmers and shepherds of the northern part of Sardinia, the Logudoro, where feudal rights and laws were not clearly defined and the landowners used this uncertainty to apply extortionate payments from the vassals. The uprising in the Logudoro climaxed on 28 December 1795, when a great mass of rebels from all over Logudoro marched toward Sassari singing the famous song of Francis Ignatius Mannu: "procurad'è moderade, Barones sa tirrannia" (in Sardinian: mitigate your tiranny, you landowners and nobles). The city was occupied by the revolutionaries, led by Gioachino Mundula and Francesco Cillocco. Having taken as prisoners the governor of Sassari and the archbishop, the rebels marched towards Cagliari.
In order to stop the riots, the viceroy Philip Vivalda – 13 February 1796 – along with representatives of Stamenti, decided to send Giovanni Maria Angioy to Sassari. Angioy was then magistrate of the Royal Audience, but in order to try calm the revolt he was given the role of "Alternos", which allowed him to act as viceroy (and he was supposed to work in conjunction with the viceroy).
Having taken the role of Alternos, Angioy departed from Cagliari to the inner part of Sardinia. During the trip, he won over many Sardinians from different classes. He also had a chance to realise the actual conditions of the Sardinian economy and society: agriculture was still archaic and underdeveloped with little innovation. The feudal oppression contributed highly to the hardship of farmers and the deep poverty of the villages. Angioy was thus developing revolutionary and democratic ideas that he had nurtured by reading many French political and philosophical texts (he was fluent in French as well as Italian and Sardinian).
When Angioy arrived in Sassari, he was greeted as a liberator. Many saw in him the person that could help deliver the economic and political change that Sardinia highly needed.
Indeed, after placating the revolt in Sassari and Logudoro, Angioy demanded the viceroy to free the villages and lands from the feudal system. He also refused to collect feudal taxes, as he was required to do by the viceroy. Furthermore, he angered the viceroy even more by expressing his critical views of the feudal system and the Savoy rule. With his powers, he tried to establish some reform by promulgating laws to start some form of collaboration between landowners and farmers, but his efforts were systemically boycotted by the nobility in Cagliari and the Viceroy.
It might seem strange the Sardinian nobility that somehow contributed in starting the revolution, was so adverse to the reforms that Angioy was trying to implement: however, it must be taken into account that the goal of the Sardinian nobility was only to increase their standing in the administration of Sardinia and not certainly to start a radical revolution and change the status quo. As a matter of fact, the Sardinian nobility was deeply worried that the revolt was getting out of their hand.
Because of the difficulties in legally implementing any kind of reform, the support Angioy enjoyed was fading little by little: some of his collaborators deserted him, while the popular revolt that Angioy hoped could topple the status-quo in Sardinia, never took place because significant portions of the population were suspicious of revolutionary ideas akin to those of the French Revolution
. The majority of the population was certainly not eager to maintain the feudal system and the rule of the nobility, but many thought the revolutionary ideas that Angioy expressed were too radical and were deeply suspicious of reforms that would have changed radically the social structure of the villages.
In order to succeed in his plans of reform, Angioy secretly made some agreements with France: France were ready to support him in trying to stage a revolt to topple the House of Savoy and the viceroy. Angioy's goal was to proclaim a Sardinian Republic, although it is not clear from his memories whether he was planning to create an independent state with French protection or whether France was supposed to take a more active role in administering the new republic.
However, when in 1795 France signed in Cherasco a peace deal with the Savoy king, Vittorio Amedeo III, any plan of supporting a Sardinian revolt led by Angioy was abandoned. Angioy then faced persecution by the House of Savoy: he was stripped of his Alternos role and an arrest order was issued on him as well as a reward for whoever helped capture or kill him.
Angioy managed to escape arrest and organised an army to carry out his plans of revolt even without any external support. However on 8 June 1796 he was defeated near Oristano
, and his army disintegrated. Angioy fled Sardinia and took a boat with the goal of going to Genoa. Apparently his plan was to go to the capital Turin and still try negotiating some measure to abolish the feudal rule in Sardinia. However, as he realised that his efforts were doomed and his own liberty and life were in danger, he fled to France. He lived in France until his death in Paris in 1818.
Conclusion
Angioy failed in his effort to reform and change the social and economic structure of Sardinia, despite enjoying a great support initially. With hindsight, his views were probably too radical and too advanced for the times and the context where he was acting. On the one hand, the Sardinian nobility that started the revolt was not interested in implementing any real change to the economic and social structure, as they were mainly interested in being allowed to have a share of the power. As a matter of fact, some decades later the "five requests" were issued, the House of Savoy eventually agreed to some of these requests but the Sardinian nobility gathered their parliament, the Stamenti, to decline the concessions offered by the House of Savoy: in fact, by that time the Sardinian nobility was being given an increasing role in the administration of Sardinia and had thus reached their goal already. On the other hand, the Sardinian people were too suspicious of the radical changes and ideas that Angioy expressed: certainly the excess of the French Revolution, contemporary to the Sardinian events, were driving many potential sympathisers away. Throughout the events that shaped the history of Sardinia, Angioy demonstrated a high sense of duty and willingness to work for improving the conditions of the people in Sardinia.
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
.
Angioy guided the Sardinian Revolution (1794–1796) against the feudal privileges and laws that still existed on the island of Sardinia. For this reason he was persecuted from the house of Savoy
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy was formed in the early 11th century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II, king of Croatia and King of Armenia...
that ruled Sardinia at the time: he had to escape from Sardinia and found exile in France, where he died. Angioy was not only a politician, but also a university lecturer, judge at the Royal Audience, entrepreneur and banker.
Giovanni Maria Angioy is considered one of the greatest Sardinian patriots, as his political activity was eventually aimed at creating a Sardinian republic, free and independent, having eliminated the feudal yoke on the island.
Youth training
His parents belonged to the Sardinian rural middle class of BonoBono, Italy
Bono is a comune in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 130 km north of Cagliari and about 50 km southeast of Sassari....
. During his childhood both his parents died though, first his mother, at the age of 30, and successively his father.
A maternal uncle, Father Thaddeus Arras, took care of Angioy's education. His uncle Thaddeus was his first teacher, but he was also taught by the Fathers Mercedari, a monastic order. Successively, Angioy was educated under the supervision of Canon Giovanni Antonio Arras in Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...
.
Angioy continued his studies at the Jesuit fathers' school, and at 21 years he had already become a university lecturer. Despite his young age he also become a deputy lawyer. Finally, at 39 he became a High-Court Judge, which used to be a very high honour.
The ideas of the French Revolution
On the façade of the City Hall of Bono, Sardinia, an inscription says:"To Giovanni Maria Angioy, who inspired by the 1789 Revolution started the Sardinian crusade against the feudal yoke."
Sardinia, similarly to other regions at the borders of Europe (e.g. Scotland) was nonetheless influenced by ideas that developed in the heart of Europe at the time. The ideas of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
reached Sardinia and had an influence on many intellectuals, despite limited means of communication (press had a limited diffusion in Sardinia compared to other European countries). Giovanni Maria Angioy had read many French texts, and this was probably a catalyst for sparking his revolutionary views.
Anti-Feudal revolts
Sardinia was at the time ruled by the Piedmontese House of SavoyHouse of Savoy
The House of Savoy was formed in the early 11th century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II, king of Croatia and King of Armenia...
. The House of Savoy was granted control of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1718 with the Treaty of London that followed the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
: although assuming the role of King of Sardinia with this treaty, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy moved the capital of the Kingdom to Turin in mainland Italy where the parliament was also based: the parliament and government of the Kingdom was composed exclusively of men from the mainland. Indeed, similarly to other colonial domains, Sardinia was governed by a viceroy appointed by the king and only men from the mainland were appointed in the main roles of the Sardinian administration, excluding native Sardinians from any active role in government. After receiving the title of King of Sardinia Victor Amadeus II of Savoy sent his lieutenant, Baron de Saint-Rémy, to assume the role of viceroy of Sardinia. The new viceroy asked the Sardinian parliament, the "Stamenti", to swear to observe the laws and privileges of the nobility that had been granted by the Spanish governments that ruled the Kingdom of Sardinia before the Savoy. The acceptance of long-standing laws and privileges by the Sardinian parliament also implied the continuation of the feudal system that had been introduced by the Spanish with the conquest of Sardinia in the 15th Century. This was particularly controversial because in many other regions of Europe feudalism had disappeared well before the 18th century.
Feudalism had an extremely negative influence on the economy and social structure of Sardinia. It penalised the main economic activity in Sardinia, agriculture. At that time, in fact, the island was divided into fiefdoms and domains under the rule of the nobility. In these domains, taxes for farmers were very high, and annuities were due to the archbishops of Cagliari and Oristano, as well as those due to the major landowners like the Marquis Alagon of Villasor, the Marquis of Thiesi and many others. Only 7 cities (Castelsardo, Sassari, Alghero, Bosa, Oristano, Iglesias and Cagliari) were exempted from paying feudal duties (a tradition established by the Spaniards, who granted these towns to be ruled directly by the King and not by the nobility).
As a consequence of the feudal system, which prevented economic mobility and entrepreneurship, town and cities were sparsely inhabited at the time, while most of the population lived in rural areas where they were hassled with harsh feudal taxation: farmers were paid a fifth of what other workers were paid. For vassals (farmers that worked the land of the landowner), taxes were innumerable: every head of the family, in addition to other charges, was to pay a fine.
After the French Revolution, French armies moved war to different countries in Europe, trying to spread their revolutionary ideas. In 1793, a French fleet carrying soldiers moved toward the Gulf of Cagliari. The French wanted to conquer Sardinia in order to use it as a base for attacks to mainland Italy. After bombing Cagliari
Cagliari
Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...
from the sea, the French divisions landed on the beach of Quartu, near Cagliari, and from there, moved toward the town on foot. The house of Savoy who rule the Kingdom of Sardinia, were unable at the time to provide for the defence of Sardinia, being involved in other wars against the French in mainland Europe, so the Sardinians organised their own defence against the invading French divisions. Eventually the French were defeated and repelled (although some historians claim that the French defeat was mainly caused by errors and "friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
").
Having defended the Kingdom of Sardinia and ultimately the standing of the House of Savoy from the French republicans, the Sardinian nobility met in their Sardinian parliament, the Stamenti, and issued five requests to the Savoy ruler, known as the "five requests". These requests were:
- The re-introduction of an assembly of Sardinians (Corti Generali) to meet every ten years (the House of Savoy rulers had not summoned this assembly since 1720, infringing a practice that was given for granted during the Spanish domination);
- Ratification of the privileges, laws and customs of Sardinia;
- They asked all public offices in Sardinia to be given to native Sardinians;
- The establishment of a Ministry of Sardinian Affairs in the capital Turin (although the Kingdom was Sardinian by name, the House of Savoy ruled from the territories they held in mainland Italy and made TurinTurinTurin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, in PiedmontPiedmontPiedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
, the capital of the kingdom); - Establishment of a Council of State, with the role of giving advice and guidance to the King in important decisions for the Kingdom.
These requests were just moderate concessions that the Sardinian nobility thought they deserved for demonstrating loyalty to the House of Savoy. As it can be seen, the requests were hardly revolutionary and only aimed at giving a more active role to the Sardinian nobility in the administration of the region. Nonetheless, the House of Savoy rejected all of these requests. This caused dissatisfaction in all Sardinian classes, not only in the nobility. Furthermore, rulers of Sardinia, who came from mainland Italy, interpreted the response to the five requests as an indication that the House of Savoy was deeply suspicious of the Sardinian nobility that had issued the five requests. The Italian ruling class thus started to persecute the most prominent Sardinians that participated in the issuing of the five requests. This, in turn, created increasing discontent in the Sardinians from all classes, which mounted into open hostility when the authorities tried to capture two Sardinians that had been more vocal during the issuing of the five requests. One of these Sardinians managed to escape and the anger at his persecution sparked an open revolt by the population of Cagliari on 28 April 1794. During this revolt, the mob chased and killed The General Intendant Jerome Pitzolo (6 July) and the General Gavino Paliaccio, Marquis of Planargia (22 July). These are the days of "s'acciappa" ("the chase" referring to the fact that all Piedmontese were hunted and chased across the city). Eventually, all 514 Piedmontese and Italian officials were rounded up, including Viceroy Balbiano Vincent, and expelled from Cagliari on a boat. The example was followed by other cities and the revolt spread throughout Sardinia. The island was governed by a provisional Royal Audience during this revolutionary period. Since the year 1997 the rebellion of the 28 April has been celebrated in Cagliari as "Sa die de sa Sardigna" (in Sardinian: the Sardinian day).
The Post of "Alternos"
The House of Savoy tried to regain control of Sardinia on the same year. A new viceroy, Filippo Vivalda of Castellino, was installed and landed in Cagliari on 6 September, but the revolts and riots continued. Trying to use the unrest to their profit, the nobility from the north-east of Sardinia (LogudoroLogudoro
The Logudoro is a large traditional region in central-northern Sardinia, Italy. The local dialect is known as Logudorese.Mostly composed of soft volcanic terrains, it is the most fertile area of the island. For this reason it was settled since early Prehistoric times, as shown by the presence of...
and Sassari
Sassari
Sassari is an Italian city. It is the second-largest city of Sardinia in terms of population with about 130,000 inhabitants, or about 300,000 including the greater metropolitan area...
), asked the king greater autonomy from the viceroy and to depend directly by the Crown.
These requests, which somehow broke the unity of the revolt, angered the revolutionaries in Cagliari and in the rest of Sardinia. The revolutionaries thus organised further uprisings against the nobility in Sassari, uprisings that were particularly popular with farmers and shepherds of the northern part of Sardinia, the Logudoro, where feudal rights and laws were not clearly defined and the landowners used this uncertainty to apply extortionate payments from the vassals. The uprising in the Logudoro climaxed on 28 December 1795, when a great mass of rebels from all over Logudoro marched toward Sassari singing the famous song of Francis Ignatius Mannu: "procurad'è moderade, Barones sa tirrannia" (in Sardinian: mitigate your tiranny, you landowners and nobles). The city was occupied by the revolutionaries, led by Gioachino Mundula and Francesco Cillocco. Having taken as prisoners the governor of Sassari and the archbishop, the rebels marched towards Cagliari.
In order to stop the riots, the viceroy Philip Vivalda – 13 February 1796 – along with representatives of Stamenti, decided to send Giovanni Maria Angioy to Sassari. Angioy was then magistrate of the Royal Audience, but in order to try calm the revolt he was given the role of "Alternos", which allowed him to act as viceroy (and he was supposed to work in conjunction with the viceroy).
Having taken the role of Alternos, Angioy departed from Cagliari to the inner part of Sardinia. During the trip, he won over many Sardinians from different classes. He also had a chance to realise the actual conditions of the Sardinian economy and society: agriculture was still archaic and underdeveloped with little innovation. The feudal oppression contributed highly to the hardship of farmers and the deep poverty of the villages. Angioy was thus developing revolutionary and democratic ideas that he had nurtured by reading many French political and philosophical texts (he was fluent in French as well as Italian and Sardinian).
When Angioy arrived in Sassari, he was greeted as a liberator. Many saw in him the person that could help deliver the economic and political change that Sardinia highly needed.
Indeed, after placating the revolt in Sassari and Logudoro, Angioy demanded the viceroy to free the villages and lands from the feudal system. He also refused to collect feudal taxes, as he was required to do by the viceroy. Furthermore, he angered the viceroy even more by expressing his critical views of the feudal system and the Savoy rule. With his powers, he tried to establish some reform by promulgating laws to start some form of collaboration between landowners and farmers, but his efforts were systemically boycotted by the nobility in Cagliari and the Viceroy.
It might seem strange the Sardinian nobility that somehow contributed in starting the revolution, was so adverse to the reforms that Angioy was trying to implement: however, it must be taken into account that the goal of the Sardinian nobility was only to increase their standing in the administration of Sardinia and not certainly to start a radical revolution and change the status quo. As a matter of fact, the Sardinian nobility was deeply worried that the revolt was getting out of their hand.
Because of the difficulties in legally implementing any kind of reform, the support Angioy enjoyed was fading little by little: some of his collaborators deserted him, while the popular revolt that Angioy hoped could topple the status-quo in Sardinia, never took place because significant portions of the population were suspicious of revolutionary ideas akin to those of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. The majority of the population was certainly not eager to maintain the feudal system and the rule of the nobility, but many thought the revolutionary ideas that Angioy expressed were too radical and were deeply suspicious of reforms that would have changed radically the social structure of the villages.
In order to succeed in his plans of reform, Angioy secretly made some agreements with France: France were ready to support him in trying to stage a revolt to topple the House of Savoy and the viceroy. Angioy's goal was to proclaim a Sardinian Republic, although it is not clear from his memories whether he was planning to create an independent state with French protection or whether France was supposed to take a more active role in administering the new republic.
However, when in 1795 France signed in Cherasco a peace deal with the Savoy king, Vittorio Amedeo III, any plan of supporting a Sardinian revolt led by Angioy was abandoned. Angioy then faced persecution by the House of Savoy: he was stripped of his Alternos role and an arrest order was issued on him as well as a reward for whoever helped capture or kill him.
Angioy managed to escape arrest and organised an army to carry out his plans of revolt even without any external support. However on 8 June 1796 he was defeated near Oristano
Oristano
Oristano is a town and comune, capital of the Province of Oristano, on the island of Sardinia, Italy. It has approximately 32,500 inhabitants.Its economy is mainly based on fishing, agriculture and, to a certain extent, tourism.-History:...
, and his army disintegrated. Angioy fled Sardinia and took a boat with the goal of going to Genoa. Apparently his plan was to go to the capital Turin and still try negotiating some measure to abolish the feudal rule in Sardinia. However, as he realised that his efforts were doomed and his own liberty and life were in danger, he fled to France. He lived in France until his death in Paris in 1818.
Conclusion
Angioy failed in his effort to reform and change the social and economic structure of Sardinia, despite enjoying a great support initially. With hindsight, his views were probably too radical and too advanced for the times and the context where he was acting. On the one hand, the Sardinian nobility that started the revolt was not interested in implementing any real change to the economic and social structure, as they were mainly interested in being allowed to have a share of the power. As a matter of fact, some decades later the "five requests" were issued, the House of Savoy eventually agreed to some of these requests but the Sardinian nobility gathered their parliament, the Stamenti, to decline the concessions offered by the House of Savoy: in fact, by that time the Sardinian nobility was being given an increasing role in the administration of Sardinia and had thus reached their goal already. On the other hand, the Sardinian people were too suspicious of the radical changes and ideas that Angioy expressed: certainly the excess of the French Revolution, contemporary to the Sardinian events, were driving many potential sympathisers away. Throughout the events that shaped the history of Sardinia, Angioy demonstrated a high sense of duty and willingness to work for improving the conditions of the people in Sardinia.