alternatehistory.com
The Return of the King
Algajola and its citadel
The Corsican regency was not much of a government. In the interior, Marquis Luigi Giafferi was no more than a figurehead, and the Corsican pieves and villages retained the precarious autonomy they had possessed since Genoese authority melted away in 1730. The "liberated" coastal regions remained largely under the control of Theodore's military governors. These commanders remained nominally loyal to Theodore, and thus to his regency council, but the full extent of their cooperation with the regents was to allow delegates to be sent to the Corti consulta.
The foremost of these governors, as well as one of the regents, was Marquis Simone Fabiani. His position was crucial, for his territory, the Balagna, was both the source of most of the island's olive oil (which Theodore needed to pay the syndicate) and adjacent to the Genoese citadel of Calvi, the seat of the Genoese colonial government since the fall of Bastia. Fortunately, Fabiani's loyalty was not in doubt; the general gave his sovereign a lavish welcome. Most of the armaments that Theodore arrived with on the Yongfrau Agathe seem to have gone to Fabiani's militia, including both of the cannons.
Further east, the rebel position was not as strong. Northeastern Corsica had been divided between Count Gio Giacomo Ambrosi di Castinetta, in Bastia, and Colonel Giovan Natali, in the Nebbio. These were especially restive regions where pro-Genoese sentiment was still widespread, and their governors handled the resentment of the populace. Natali, before the victory at San Fiorenzo, had distinguished himself chiefly as a guerrilla, and once in power he spent most of his efforts on settling local scores, harassing those who had cooperated with the Genoese as well as longtime rivals of his own Nebbian family. Castinetta had less of a personal interest—he was not from Bastia—but ran the former capital like an iron-fisted tyrant, terrorizing the populace by rousting out suspected Genoese sympathizers and publicly executing them. There were also accusations that Castinetta's proscriptions tended to target men of means, whose wealth was ostensibly seized "for the cause" but in reality lined the count's pockets. Throughout the region, there was an increasing number of violent incidents and outright skirmishes as the rebels found themselves in the unfamiliar role of being an army of occupation instead of fighting one.
Theodore charged Fabiani with the reduction of Algajola, and then made his way east with his followers. The king met Colonel Natali at Oletta—the colonel had established his headquarters in his home village—and gently reminded him that the priorities for the Nebbio were to restore oil production, as it was desperately needed to pay the syndicate, and to fortify San Fiorenzo against possible Genoese counterattack. In fact Natali had hardly bothered with the city the rebels had struggled so hard to take; it was a small village anyway, and had been utterly ruined by bombardment and battle. Nevertheless, it was strategic, and putting Natali to some productive purpose was reason enough in itself. Theodore visited Bastia next, but although appraised of the allegations regarding Castinetta's corruption, there was not much he could do. Castinetta was too important, and if he was enriching himself he at least seemed to be a loyal patriot. He was also probably not wrong about dissenters within the city, for the population was both large and generally sympathetic to the Republic.
Theodore remained in Bastia for a few days before proceeding south into the Castagniccia, where he was enthusiastically welcomed in the pieves of Casinca, Rostino, and Orezza. In Rostino he received the fealty of Clemente Paoli, the 22 year old son of the martyred general Giacinto Paoli, who was made a militia captain and a signore.[A] He was reunited with Captain Giovan Luca Poggi, whom he had placed in command of the "royal guard;" that unit still existed, but a lack of funds had pared it down to around 130 men. Recently on the scene was Marc-Antonio Giappiconi, brother of Theodore's assassinated secretary of war Count Anton-Francesco, who was an officer in the Venetian army who had returned to Corsica. Experienced—and, perhaps more importantly, reliably anti-Genoese thanks to the murder of his brother – Theodore gave him his brother's old office and the rank of major-general.
Theodore, who had been supplied with some spending money by the syndicate, paid Poggi's remaining troops (they were desperately in arrears) and urged Giappiconi and Poggi to work on recruiting more. Perhaps realizing that the liberation of Corsica was bound to be a longer fight than he had anticipated, Theodore's new strategy was to sustain a "regular" battalion, drilled frequently by professional officers, in the hopes that it would be a more effective use of limited funds than the large but ill-trained hordes of irregulars he had previously summoned from the mountains. Poggi, for his trouble, was made a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Count.
Theodore spent two weeks in the Castagniccia, surveying his "realm" and re-establishing personal contacts with the various caprales, colonels, and noblemen who had given their allegiance more than a year before. He visited his provisional capital in Vescovato, where his chancellor Sebastiano Costa noted on the embarrassing "poverty" of the royal dwelling and made some efforts to spruce up the place with fresh paint and colorful banners. Theodore visited the royal mint as well, although it had not been in use for many months thanks to a dearth of specie. His next move was inland to Corti, where he met Count Gianpietro Gaffori, his secretary of state, and Colonel Felice Cervoni, who had been moved from the Nebbio to Niolo before Theodore's departure. He also met Marc-Antonio Raffaelli, one of the leaders of the indifferenti, who had grown disillusioned with their leadership and had decided to switch sides again. Theodore presided over some fairly inconsequential matters of governance at Corti and then ordered Cervoni to prepare his troops to assist Fabiani.
His friend Francesco dell'Agata, meanwhile, had arrived at Livorno. Evidently the captain of the chartered vessel had refused to approach the island after a close encounter with some Genoese patrols. Unlike the Yongfrau Agathe, however, which had been tasked by the syndicate with bringing back oil, dell'Agata's ship was paid for in advance, and the captain had no need to return to the island after offloading his stores. The Genoese consul in Livorno, who knew very well who dell'Agata was, demanded that the port officials move against him and seize his "contraband." The ship and its cargo were briefly impounded, but after a search the imperial officers released the vessel and the goods. Dell'Agata was a Tuscan citizen, he was a known merchant whose goods appeared legitimate, and there was nothing illegal about buying merchandise in Amsterdam and taking it to Livorno. The French consul reported that the cargo included both small arms and "artillery and mortars," and Costa claims that dell'Agata sailed with "six bronze cannon." It appears that much of the cargo was smuggled into Corsica by small feluccas and tartanes, and although the Genoese claimed to have captured one such smuggler this was probably only a portion of the overall purchase.
Foreigners had fought on the side of the Corsican rebels before, most notably Lieutenant-Colonel Antoine Dufour, who had commanded the rebel artillery in 1736.[1] The largest share of them had been the soldiers in the "foreign company" created soon after his arrival. This had started out as a minuscule unit, but deserters from the Genoese army—mostly Germans, and some Spanish—and freed galley slaves had increased its number to around 200 by the time of the Battle of San Fiorenzo. Theodore's return brought new reinforcements. A few dozen Germans came with him to Corsica on the Yongfrau Agathe, and more arrived in Livorno with dell'Agata and made their way to Corsica thereafter. In Tuscany, dell'Agata and other Corsican agents recruited men from the crowds of idle soldiers in Tuscany. They were mostly veterans of the War of Polish Succession, deserters and discharged mercenaries from the great armies which had recently trodden through Italy. Many were German deserters from the imperial armies in Italy or Spanish troops from the Spanish garrison in Tuscany who had stayed behind when that unit was withdrawn.
The influx of men required Theodore to reorganize his foreign contingents. Eighty men, nearly all of them Germans, were formed into a bodyguard company to safeguard the king against assassins. The rest went into the old foreign company, which was now properly a foreign regiment. They included mainly Spanish and German soldiers, although it included some Italians as well as a handful of Dutchmen, Swedes, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Greeks, Turks, and Livonians. In fact Theodore had too many of them, to the point where they were troublesome to pay, feed, and arm. A British newspaper reported in November of 1737 that Theodore had "a life-guard of six hundred Germans;" another source improbably claimed over a thousand. Some of the dross was sent back to Livorno, particularly the freed galley slaves with little combat experience, but several hundred at least remained.
Also along for the ride in 1737 were a few other foreigners we know by name. There was Giraud Keverberg,[2] the son of a Dutch colonel who had been recommended to Theodore by Cesar Tronchin, one of the syndicate's partners, and Denis Richard, a young Englishman from Guernsey who Theodore took on as a personal secretary and whose notes on his tenure as secretary to the King of Corsica would become the only English-language primary source of the Corsican revolution and Theodore's early reign. These men joined the royal "staff," such as it was, which included the king's personal valet Antonio Pino (a Corsican from Capo Corso), his chaplain Antonio Candeotto (a native of Elba who had been doing missionary work in Tunis when Theodore found him in 1735), and other unnamed servants including—so Costa tells us—two cooks, a butler, a surgeon, two squires, three "hunters," and four "Moorish" footmen.
Still on a lean budget and without much of a functioning government, Theodore could do little but wait for more help to arrive. He had promised to return with aid, and the aid he had brought so far was not proving very impressive. Still, it did help Fabiani; with Theodore's arms and guns, plus reinforcements from Niolo and the foreign regiment, he succeeded in gaining the commanding heights over Algajola and closely invested the town, with five guns plunging fire into the Genoese citadel. A large Genoese relief force sent from Calvi was completely routed when, according to the British consul John Bagshaw, the Corsican auxiliaries who made up most of the Genoese army fired their muskets once and then fled the field. Fabiani had also loyally obeyed the king's commands, transmitted from Amsterdam, to amass olive oil to pay the syndicate. He wrote the partners of Lucas Boon in Livorno, by the names of Evers and Bookmann,[3] pushing them to ask the syndicate for supplies, armaments, and money to be sent immediately.
Theodore had good reason to want prompt action, for by now he was aware of the agreements which the Genoese had made with the French. In September of 1737, the Genoese finally accepted the long-proffered aid of France. Denis Richard wrote that the king put on a stoic and serene face to his commanders and followers; he promised them that he would bring sufficient arms and aid for the patriots to withstand any enemy, but at the same time implied that he had contacts with Versailles and assured the Corsicans that His Most Christian Majesty would see that Corsica was a friend of France. Richard was astonished at his reaction in private; upon hearing the news, the king turned white and "was struck dumb with despair." Soon, however, he broke his silence with a laugh. He admired, he said, the cleverness of the French chief minister André-Hercule Fleury, who had deftly played the game and now stood ready to take control of Corsica while Genoa paid him for the privilege. Evidently Theodore suspected from the start that the French aimed at more than merely assisting the beleaguered Republic.
The French would not arrive immediately. Negotiations on the intervention agreement were not concluded until November, and due to winter weather it would not be until February that the first French forces would arrive on the island. Until then, Theodore could only try to do his best to prepare. The little Kingdom of Corsica would soon have to weather the assault of the French colossus, the strongest military power in Europe.
Footnotes
[1] Dufour makes no appearance in 1737, and little more is said of him—the mysterious Frenchman vanished as suddenly as he appeared. His ultimate fate is unknown. It is possible that, as the French government moved ever closer to supporting the Genoese, he decided that it would be best not to remain long enough to become an enemy of the state.
[2] Some sources claim "Giraud" was a pseudonym, which if true means his actual given name is not known.
[3] The man whose name Theodore had assumed on his voyage.
Timeline Notes
[A] The (much) older brother of Pasquale Paoli. Pasquale is 12 years old at this time. Clemente lacked the charisma and education of his younger brother, but IOTL was an important rebel leader in his own right. Giacinto was expelled from the country and went to Naples with his family during the French occupation in 1738, but Clemente returned to Corsica shortly thereafter to take care of the family's interests in Corsica. Clemente gained prominence as a lieutenant of Gaffori, who later became the generalissimo of the Corsican rebels. After Gaffori's assassination in 1753 it was supposedly on Clemente's suggestion that the rebel leaders invited Pasquale to return from exile to lead the patriotic movement. That, at least, is the usual account, but it is somewhat romanticized. Actually, the chief enemies of Clemente and his comrades were not the Genoese but the Matra clan, which constituted a rival power base to the Paoli family of Rostino and their highland allies. Pasquale was appointed as "capo generale" by only one faction of the rebels in 1755, and it took a civil war lasting the better part of a decade before he actually consolidated his control as the undisputed ruler of "national" Corsica. The Matra forces very nearly killed him in 1757; allegedly, only Clemente's swift intervention saved his life and prevented Corsican history from going in a quite different direction. Mario-Emmanuel Matra represented a more "conciliatory" and pro-French rebel faction that was opposed to the Genoese but supportive of French protection/annexation. They lost, and Mario-Emmanuel was killed, but in the end it was their vision of Corsica which became reality.
The Return of the King
Algajola and its citadel
The Corsican regency was not much of a government. In the interior, Marquis Luigi Giafferi was no more than a figurehead, and the Corsican pieves and villages retained the precarious autonomy they had possessed since Genoese authority melted away in 1730. The "liberated" coastal regions remained largely under the control of Theodore's military governors. These commanders remained nominally loyal to Theodore, and thus to his regency council, but the full extent of their cooperation with the regents was to allow delegates to be sent to the Corti consulta.
The foremost of these governors, as well as one of the regents, was Marquis Simone Fabiani. His position was crucial, for his territory, the Balagna, was both the source of most of the island's olive oil (which Theodore needed to pay the syndicate) and adjacent to the Genoese citadel of Calvi, the seat of the Genoese colonial government since the fall of Bastia. Fortunately, Fabiani's loyalty was not in doubt; the general gave his sovereign a lavish welcome. Most of the armaments that Theodore arrived with on the Yongfrau Agathe seem to have gone to Fabiani's militia, including both of the cannons.
Further east, the rebel position was not as strong. Northeastern Corsica had been divided between Count Gio Giacomo Ambrosi di Castinetta, in Bastia, and Colonel Giovan Natali, in the Nebbio. These were especially restive regions where pro-Genoese sentiment was still widespread, and their governors handled the resentment of the populace. Natali, before the victory at San Fiorenzo, had distinguished himself chiefly as a guerrilla, and once in power he spent most of his efforts on settling local scores, harassing those who had cooperated with the Genoese as well as longtime rivals of his own Nebbian family. Castinetta had less of a personal interest—he was not from Bastia—but ran the former capital like an iron-fisted tyrant, terrorizing the populace by rousting out suspected Genoese sympathizers and publicly executing them. There were also accusations that Castinetta's proscriptions tended to target men of means, whose wealth was ostensibly seized "for the cause" but in reality lined the count's pockets. Throughout the region, there was an increasing number of violent incidents and outright skirmishes as the rebels found themselves in the unfamiliar role of being an army of occupation instead of fighting one.
Theodore charged Fabiani with the reduction of Algajola, and then made his way east with his followers. The king met Colonel Natali at Oletta—the colonel had established his headquarters in his home village—and gently reminded him that the priorities for the Nebbio were to restore oil production, as it was desperately needed to pay the syndicate, and to fortify San Fiorenzo against possible Genoese counterattack. In fact Natali had hardly bothered with the city the rebels had struggled so hard to take; it was a small village anyway, and had been utterly ruined by bombardment and battle. Nevertheless, it was strategic, and putting Natali to some productive purpose was reason enough in itself. Theodore visited Bastia next, but although appraised of the allegations regarding Castinetta's corruption, there was not much he could do. Castinetta was too important, and if he was enriching himself he at least seemed to be a loyal patriot. He was also probably not wrong about dissenters within the city, for the population was both large and generally sympathetic to the Republic.
Theodore remained in Bastia for a few days before proceeding south into the Castagniccia, where he was enthusiastically welcomed in the pieves of Casinca, Rostino, and Orezza. In Rostino he received the fealty of Clemente Paoli, the 22 year old son of the martyred general Giacinto Paoli, who was made a militia captain and a signore.[A] He was reunited with Captain Giovan Luca Poggi, whom he had placed in command of the "royal guard;" that unit still existed, but a lack of funds had pared it down to around 130 men. Recently on the scene was Marc-Antonio Giappiconi, brother of Theodore's assassinated secretary of war Count Anton-Francesco, who was an officer in the Venetian army who had returned to Corsica. Experienced—and, perhaps more importantly, reliably anti-Genoese thanks to the murder of his brother – Theodore gave him his brother's old office and the rank of major-general.
Theodore, who had been supplied with some spending money by the syndicate, paid Poggi's remaining troops (they were desperately in arrears) and urged Giappiconi and Poggi to work on recruiting more. Perhaps realizing that the liberation of Corsica was bound to be a longer fight than he had anticipated, Theodore's new strategy was to sustain a "regular" battalion, drilled frequently by professional officers, in the hopes that it would be a more effective use of limited funds than the large but ill-trained hordes of irregulars he had previously summoned from the mountains. Poggi, for his trouble, was made a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Count.
Theodore spent two weeks in the Castagniccia, surveying his "realm" and re-establishing personal contacts with the various caprales, colonels, and noblemen who had given their allegiance more than a year before. He visited his provisional capital in Vescovato, where his chancellor Sebastiano Costa noted on the embarrassing "poverty" of the royal dwelling and made some efforts to spruce up the place with fresh paint and colorful banners. Theodore visited the royal mint as well, although it had not been in use for many months thanks to a dearth of specie. His next move was inland to Corti, where he met Count Gianpietro Gaffori, his secretary of state, and Colonel Felice Cervoni, who had been moved from the Nebbio to Niolo before Theodore's departure. He also met Marc-Antonio Raffaelli, one of the leaders of the indifferenti, who had grown disillusioned with their leadership and had decided to switch sides again. Theodore presided over some fairly inconsequential matters of governance at Corti and then ordered Cervoni to prepare his troops to assist Fabiani.
His friend Francesco dell'Agata, meanwhile, had arrived at Livorno. Evidently the captain of the chartered vessel had refused to approach the island after a close encounter with some Genoese patrols. Unlike the Yongfrau Agathe, however, which had been tasked by the syndicate with bringing back oil, dell'Agata's ship was paid for in advance, and the captain had no need to return to the island after offloading his stores. The Genoese consul in Livorno, who knew very well who dell'Agata was, demanded that the port officials move against him and seize his "contraband." The ship and its cargo were briefly impounded, but after a search the imperial officers released the vessel and the goods. Dell'Agata was a Tuscan citizen, he was a known merchant whose goods appeared legitimate, and there was nothing illegal about buying merchandise in Amsterdam and taking it to Livorno. The French consul reported that the cargo included both small arms and "artillery and mortars," and Costa claims that dell'Agata sailed with "six bronze cannon." It appears that much of the cargo was smuggled into Corsica by small feluccas and tartanes, and although the Genoese claimed to have captured one such smuggler this was probably only a portion of the overall purchase.
Foreigners had fought on the side of the Corsican rebels before, most notably Lieutenant-Colonel Antoine Dufour, who had commanded the rebel artillery in 1736.[1] The largest share of them had been the soldiers in the "foreign company" created soon after his arrival. This had started out as a minuscule unit, but deserters from the Genoese army—mostly Germans, and some Spanish—and freed galley slaves had increased its number to around 200 by the time of the Battle of San Fiorenzo. Theodore's return brought new reinforcements. A few dozen Germans came with him to Corsica on the Yongfrau Agathe, and more arrived in Livorno with dell'Agata and made their way to Corsica thereafter. In Tuscany, dell'Agata and other Corsican agents recruited men from the crowds of idle soldiers in Tuscany. They were mostly veterans of the War of Polish Succession, deserters and discharged mercenaries from the great armies which had recently trodden through Italy. Many were German deserters from the imperial armies in Italy or Spanish troops from the Spanish garrison in Tuscany who had stayed behind when that unit was withdrawn.
The influx of men required Theodore to reorganize his foreign contingents. Eighty men, nearly all of them Germans, were formed into a bodyguard company to safeguard the king against assassins. The rest went into the old foreign company, which was now properly a foreign regiment. They included mainly Spanish and German soldiers, although it included some Italians as well as a handful of Dutchmen, Swedes, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Greeks, Turks, and Livonians. In fact Theodore had too many of them, to the point where they were troublesome to pay, feed, and arm. A British newspaper reported in November of 1737 that Theodore had "a life-guard of six hundred Germans;" another source improbably claimed over a thousand. Some of the dross was sent back to Livorno, particularly the freed galley slaves with little combat experience, but several hundred at least remained.
Also along for the ride in 1737 were a few other foreigners we know by name. There was Giraud Keverberg,[2] the son of a Dutch colonel who had been recommended to Theodore by Cesar Tronchin, one of the syndicate's partners, and Denis Richard, a young Englishman from Guernsey who Theodore took on as a personal secretary and whose notes on his tenure as secretary to the King of Corsica would become the only English-language primary source of the Corsican revolution and Theodore's early reign. These men joined the royal "staff," such as it was, which included the king's personal valet Antonio Pino (a Corsican from Capo Corso), his chaplain Antonio Candeotto (a native of Elba who had been doing missionary work in Tunis when Theodore found him in 1735), and other unnamed servants including—so Costa tells us—two cooks, a butler, a surgeon, two squires, three "hunters," and four "Moorish" footmen.
Still on a lean budget and without much of a functioning government, Theodore could do little but wait for more help to arrive. He had promised to return with aid, and the aid he had brought so far was not proving very impressive. Still, it did help Fabiani; with Theodore's arms and guns, plus reinforcements from Niolo and the foreign regiment, he succeeded in gaining the commanding heights over Algajola and closely invested the town, with five guns plunging fire into the Genoese citadel. A large Genoese relief force sent from Calvi was completely routed when, according to the British consul John Bagshaw, the Corsican auxiliaries who made up most of the Genoese army fired their muskets once and then fled the field. Fabiani had also loyally obeyed the king's commands, transmitted from Amsterdam, to amass olive oil to pay the syndicate. He wrote the partners of Lucas Boon in Livorno, by the names of Evers and Bookmann,[3] pushing them to ask the syndicate for supplies, armaments, and money to be sent immediately.
Theodore had good reason to want prompt action, for by now he was aware of the agreements which the Genoese had made with the French. In September of 1737, the Genoese finally accepted the long-proffered aid of France. Denis Richard wrote that the king put on a stoic and serene face to his commanders and followers; he promised them that he would bring sufficient arms and aid for the patriots to withstand any enemy, but at the same time implied that he had contacts with Versailles and assured the Corsicans that His Most Christian Majesty would see that Corsica was a friend of France. Richard was astonished at his reaction in private; upon hearing the news, the king turned white and "was struck dumb with despair." Soon, however, he broke his silence with a laugh. He admired, he said, the cleverness of the French chief minister André-Hercule Fleury, who had deftly played the game and now stood ready to take control of Corsica while Genoa paid him for the privilege. Evidently Theodore suspected from the start that the French aimed at more than merely assisting the beleaguered Republic.
The French would not arrive immediately. Negotiations on the intervention agreement were not concluded until November, and due to winter weather it would not be until February that the first French forces would arrive on the island. Until then, Theodore could only try to do his best to prepare. The little Kingdom of Corsica would soon have to weather the assault of the French colossus, the strongest military power in Europe.
Footnotes
[1] Dufour makes no appearance in 1737, and little more is said of him—the mysterious Frenchman vanished as suddenly as he appeared. His ultimate fate is unknown. It is possible that, as the French government moved ever closer to supporting the Genoese, he decided that it would be best not to remain long enough to become an enemy of the state.
[2] Some sources claim "Giraud" was a pseudonym, which if true means his actual given name is not known.
[3] The man whose name Theodore had assumed on his voyage.
Timeline Notes
[A] The (much) older brother of Pasquale Paoli. Pasquale is 12 years old at this time. Clemente lacked the charisma and education of his younger brother, but IOTL was an important rebel leader in his own right. Giacinto was expelled from the country and went to Naples with his family during the French occupation in 1738, but Clemente returned to Corsica shortly thereafter to take care of the family's interests in Corsica. Clemente gained prominence as a lieutenant of Gaffori, who later became the generalissimo of the Corsican rebels. After Gaffori's assassination in 1753 it was supposedly on Clemente's suggestion that the rebel leaders invited Pasquale to return from exile to lead the patriotic movement. That, at least, is the usual account, but it is somewhat romanticized. Actually, the chief enemies of Clemente and his comrades were not the Genoese but the Matra clan, which constituted a rival power base to the Paoli family of Rostino and their highland allies. Pasquale was appointed as "capo generale" by only one faction of the rebels in 1755, and it took a civil war lasting the better part of a decade before he actually consolidated his control as the undisputed ruler of "national" Corsica. The Matra forces very nearly killed him in 1757; allegedly, only Clemente's swift intervention saved his life and prevented Corsican history from going in a quite different direction. Mario-Emmanuel Matra represented a more "conciliatory" and pro-French rebel faction that was opposed to the Genoese but supportive of French protection/annexation. They lost, and Mario-Emmanuel was killed, but in the end it was their vision of Corsica which became reality.
- Carp
- Word Count: 2.5k