In the page dedicated to Ferdinand IV, we have already mentioned the temporary loss of the Kingdom after the invasion of French armies and the reconquest made by Cardinal Ruffo and his army of tenths of thousands volunteers who went to fight to defend the Church and the lawful Bourbon Monarchy against Jacobin republicanism and the Napoleonic invaders.

Cardinal Ruffo

He is the protagonist of exceptional Italian deeds that have been concealed for decades by Italian Historiography and only now have begun to be revealed to the general public thanks to the contribution of many historians who, for the sake of truth, published studies and organised meetings on the occasion of the bicentenary of those events. In reality, the history of Italian popular uprisings against the Napoleonic invader and his Italian allies the Republican Jacobins, does not concern only the Kingdom of Naples; in fact it was the last one to be invaded in December 1798. In the previous three years, tenths of thousands of Italians from all social classes had already fought against the revolutionists to defend the Church and their lawful sovereigns and governs. Tenths of studies describing with relative exhaustiveness and exactness these tragic and heroic events are now available and we refer the reader to them for any in-depth study of this very important page in the history of Italian populations (on this matter see the page on Books recommended).

Here we just mention in a very short but clear way the most glorious and triumphal implications in the history of Italian counterrevolutionary uprisings: the events occurred in the Kingdom of Naples in 1799 and between 1806 and 1810.

A Populace in Revolt in the Name of Ferdinand IV

Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy in 1796, entering Piedmont and marching towards Lombardy and Veneto. As everybody knows, his was a lightening conquest, but what is not so well known is that everywhere the French arrived and Jacobin Republics were established the populace rose up against the revolutionists to defend the Italian traditions. So in 1796-'97 Northern Italy revolted, in 1798 the revolt interested the territories of the Pontifical State that the French invaded in February; and the same happened in 1799 in the Kingdom of Naples and in the rest of Italy, which would be freed completely in October 1799 by a general counterrevolution of the Italian populace (from the Alps to Calabria) in the name of Catholic religion and their respective lawful sovereigns and governs.

But let’s see what happened in the Kingdom of Naples. From February 1798 the Pontifical State had disappeared; in its stead the Roman Jacobin Republic had been established, but during all the subsequent months, tenths of thousands of people rose up in the name of Pius VI who had been forced to leave Rome. In November 1798 Ferdinand IV decided to attack the Roman Republic, restore the sovereign Pontiff on his lawful Throne and expel Jacobinism and the Napoleonic invaders from the entire Peninsula.

Cardinal Ruffo received Ferdinand IV returning from Sicily

Attacked from the south, Napoleon’s general Championnet at first withdrew his troops and allowed King Ferdinand IV to enter Rome in triumph (the population welcomed him in general exultation); then he counterattacked; at this point the Neapolitan Army was not able to resist and hastened back to Naples, always avoiding any battle and surrendering without even fighting all the strongholds of the northern territories of the Kingdom, including the impregnable fortress of Gaeta.

On 8 December 1798, Ferdinand IV issued an official proclamation from L'Aquila and invited all his subjects to rise up and defend their Kingdom and their Religion against the revolutionary invaders. No proclamation was ever literally applied as that one. While calmly marching to Naples with three different armies, Championnet met the unexpected and ferocious resistance of the insurgent Abruzzi and south Lazio populations. These tenths of thousands of people ready to made the most heroic deeds delayed of many weeks the arrival of the French in Naples. We mention one name, as a general example, but we could make a list of many: Michele Pezza from Itri, called "Fra Diavolo" (Friar Devil), the most famous and courageous of all the insurgent leaders of those years, who fought Jacobinism since the very first days of the French invasion and would give his life to serve the Catholic and Bourbon cause. However, on 22 December King Ferdinand and all his Court left Naples by sea to reach Palermo since, as he said to those who wanted to convince him to stay, he had to take the sea because he had been betrayed on land (he referred to the clear betrayal of the highest ranks of his army, starting from Mack himself, who had left the Kingdom in the hands of the invaders without fighting).