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Edit of the King of Naples refpecting the Nobleffe. FERDINAND IV. by the grace of God King of the Two Sicilies, &c. The noblefle of a well-regulated monarchy is its moft folid pillar and its beft fupport, as it is also its glory when it has for the bafis of its conduct fidelity and valour-fublime object, to which alone fhould tend all those institutions, which in monarchies place the nobility as a distinguished and illuftrious body amongst the other orders of the ftate. It is therefore with the most fenfible grief that we have lately observed the Sedili and Piazze* of the city of Naples remain in total indifference to the fituation of the ftate, and trust and abandon their fortunes to a troop of corrupt young men, without any attachment to the cause of God and ourselves, fuffering them, as is notoriously known, to attack our fupreme authority, without oppofing that ufurpation made upon the power which our Vicar General holds folely and legitimately from us. And although the perfons elected and deputed, after having criminally exceeded the limits of their power (yielding, perhaps, to momentary remorfe, and embarraffed by circumftances), gave in their refignation to the Piazze, the latter did not think proper to accept it, thereby confirming the revolt and sedition of the elected and the deputies, when it was in their power to accept their refignation, and to felect perfons known for their attachment to religion and the throne. The Piazze should have done more, and the moment it perceived the exceffes committed by the elected and the deputies, fhould have revoked the powers with which it intrusted them, and have made choice of more honest and more faithful fubjects. Our royal and very merciful mind is far from fuppofing, in the individuals compofing the Piazze, any hoftile defign or want of attachment to our royal crown: but we could not avoid obferving, in thofe inftitutions themselves, an intrinfic vice which tended to difcourage the good, and afforded to the wicked the means of doing mischief. It has been for a long time known that the wife and honeft Cavalieri had little influence, or rather none at all, in the meetings of the Sedili; for the votes being given by numbers, and not by families, inconfiderate young perfons, degenerated or perverted by the corruption of the times, compofing the majority in the refolutions, the election frequently fell upon unworthy objects: they, by these means, became a caufe of fcandal to the good, by reafon of their cabals, which procured employment for perfons who made them an object of lucre or abufe. Thus the acceffion to the Se

The names of Piazze and Sedili are given to thofe places where the nobles affemble to deliberate on the admiffion of candidates, or to elect public officers for the city or the kingdom. These monuments are as ancient as the time of the Hetrurians.

VOL. X.

D

dili,

dili, an object fo delicate to an illuftrious and ancient nobility, had more than once become a fhameful traffic; infomuch that, in latter times, being informed that fums of money had been depofited for that purpose, we oppofed this fcandalous aggregation, beçaufe, when nobility is purchafed, and not the reward of fidelity and valour, as well as the refult of a long series of generations (which, while they live nobly, diftinguifhed themselves for valour and fidelity), it ceafes to be the glory and fupport of a monarchy. As it is not befitting the Crown to permit amongst the nobles, inftitutions which degrele them and us, after having reconquered the kingdom of Naples by the affiftance of God and the force of our victorious arms, it is our duty to abolish and reform thefe vicious inftitutions, which have been introduced into the state, and which do not correspond with thofe principles of inviolable ndelity to which we are entitled. We therefore think it neceffary to bring back to their primitive and effential object, thofe degraded inftitutions, and for that purpose have refolved to give to the nobility of Naples a new form, which will reftore to it at the fame time its luftre and its fplendour.-What has moft contributed to this our determination is, that fome perfons had the boldnefs to fend forth a publication in defence of the elected and the deputies of the Piazze, maintaining that when the enemy was at Averfa they had the privilege of prefenting him with the keys, and of fubmitting to the conqueror, whoever he may be, as alfo of taking a part in the government at the approach of an enemy-abfurd privileges, which never exifted, and which never could be imagined but by the extreme of baseness. As we cannot fupport any inftitution which dares to pretend to fuch privileges (for that would be to authorize cowardice and indifference to the interefts of the state, and anarchy and infubordination in critical conjunctures,) we, by this our fovereign edict, to have effect in perpetuity, by our fupreme power and plenitude of right which belongs to us in virtue of the reconqueft which we have made of the capital and the kingdom, abolish for ever the Piazzes and Sedili of the city of Naples, and prohibit them from affembling, under the pains of felony to thofe who fhall call or form fuch meetings, revoking and annulling all laws, capitularies, and conceffions heretofore granted to thofe Piazzes. Confequently we entirely abolish the body of the elected, or of the tribunal of St. Laurent, and all the deputations of the city, referving to ourselves to provide hereafter by the prefent edict for the government of the affairs of the univerfity of the city of Naples, in respect to subsistence, and other matters directed by the tribunal of St. Laurent, and the other tribunals and deputations of the city, which are hereby established for ever. We therefore create a new tribunal, to be called the Supreme Confervatory Tribunal of the Nobility of the Kingdom of Naples, which fhall be compofed of a prefident and fix counfel

lors,

lors, taken from amongst the upright Cavalieri, diftinguished by their attachment to the crown, their maxims, and their elevated fentiments and we grant this tribunal the honours of excellency. The functions of this moft noble fupreme tribunal will effentially be, to preserve always inviolate the purity and the diftinétion of noble families; to keep alive in the nobleffe the principles of honour, fidelity, and valour; and to prepare and propofe all the ordinances which we fhall judge fit to iffue on these great and important objects. It fhall be charged in the first place to preserve an exact register of all the families which were infcribed on the Piazze and Sedili of Naples; which regifter fhall be called the Golden Book of the Neapolitan Nobility; referving to ourselves only, in the plenitude of our power, in confideration of the fignal fervices and acknowledged antiquity of the nobleffe, to infcribe in the faid Golden Book the moft diftinguished and meritorious of our fubjects, together with their families. The aforefaid tribunal fhall alfo keep a register of all the families not inscribed amongst the Sedili, but which have been in poffeffion of fiefs for at least 200 years. It fhall alfo keep a register of all the families who have received the privileges of the Order of Malta, fpecifying the time at which they were received, and fhall preserve another regifter of all the nobles infcribed on the Sedili Chiufi, stating, in a feparate book, the families and individuals, who, being in the above-mentioned clafs but not in the Golden Book, are domiciliated in Naples. And as we ardently defire that thofe fentiments of honour, which are the best appendages of a noble heart, fhould be inviolably preferved in the nobility, this tribunal fhall be careful to inftitute the fevereft inquiries into the conduct of thofe nobles who fhall be deficient in it, and erase (after having made a previous report to us) fuch as are nobles of that clafs from the Golden Book, as well as the other registers; and declare fuch as may be of the other claffes deprived of the honors, prerogatives, and pre-eminences of their rank. The fupreme tribunal confervative of the nobleffe of the kingdom of Naples fhall caufe every year to be printed a lift of the individuals who shall incur fuch degradation, and the perfons fo degraded shall never be admitted to the royal prefence, nor to the exercife of any public employment. We alfo ordain, that two general officers of our army, and whom we thall name for that purpose, fhall have deliberative voices in any judgments which the faid fupreme tribunal fhall pass upon affairs of honour. The faid tribunal fhall alfo keep another regifter, to be called the Register of Merit, in which fhall be related all acts of fidelity, valour, or attachment to the state, performed by the nobles of the different claffes; they fhall be printed every year; and we are firmly refolved to grant honours and prerogatives to thofe nobles who fhall be moft diftinguished for fuch conduct. The fame tribunal fhall form, according t

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eftablished ufage, an armorial fyftem, to be obferved by all claffes of nobles, and fubmit it for our approbation, in order to be publifhed and irrevocably executed. We create and establish for governing the affairs of the university of Naples, a royal fenate, confifting of a prefident and eight fenators, who fhall exercife for a year the functions attributed to the fupreme tribunal of St. Laurent. They shall be nominated by us, and felected from the most upright of our fubjects. The prefident and two of the fenators fhall be taken from amongst the nobles of the Golden Booktwo from thofe, who, though not in the Golden Book, fhall be infcribed on other regifters, and domiciliated at Naples-two from the order of the long robe, and the remaining two from the body of traders. And as we are defirous that the faid fenate fhould have all requifite authority in every thing that concerns fubfiftence, even greater than that which the tribunal of St. Laurent poffeffed, we abolish the place of prefect of provifions, and the appeal to our royal chamber of St. Clare; and will that, after the inftallation of the senate, all matters relating to fubfiftence, which were before decided by the tribunal of St. Laurent, by the prefect of provifions, and the royal chamber of St. Clare, fhall be decided without appeal, by the aforefaid fenate, in the prefence, and with the suffrage of two fenators of the robe, referving to ourselves, in extraordinary cafes, to revife the decifions of the fenate by referring them to minifters. The robes of the fenate fhall be the fame as in the city of Palermo. The royal fenate, in the aggregate, fhall have the title of Excellency. It fhall poffefs the fame prerogatives and honours, fhall be admitted to public ceremonies, and the honour of "kiffing the King's hand," with the fame diftinction that was before enjoyed by the tribunal of St. Laurent. Every fenator fhall, in his monthly turn, exercife the office of the King's jufticiary, and propofe the fubjects of moft importance to the fenate. The functions of an elect by the people fhall be monthly discharged by one of the traders in turn. It will be his duty to propofe all matters of grievance to the fenate. He fhall attentively watch that good order be preferved in the market and other places. The merchants fhall, as heretofore, be under his infpectiort, and he fhall proceed according to the ordinary and accustomed forms. We re-create the tribunal of the fortifications, water, and pavement of the city of Naples, and order that it be composed of a superintendent as heretofore, of two deputies taken from the Golden Book, and two nobles refident at Naples, from the other regifters of a merchant and a lawyer; all of whom thall be appointed by us, and fhall exercife for twelve months the functions heretofore aligned the tribunal of fortifications. We order the general tribunal of health to continue its interefting functions as before, only giving to it the following new form :-It shall confift of a fuperintendent, who fhall have the fame powers which he poffeffed before,

and of twelve deputies, four taken from the nobles of the Golden Book, two from the nobles of the other regifters, three from the clafs of merchants, and three from that of lawyers. They fhall remain in office as long as we please, and fhall have the fame functions as the former tribunal of health. We preserve the office of Portolano in the fame ftate in which it exifted before. He fhall be nominated by us annually, felecting him in alternate years, from the nobles of the Golden Book, and thofe of the other regifters. We also preferve the deputation of the office of Regio Portolano, to be compofed, at our felection, of fix deputies; two from the nobles of the Golden Book, two from the nobles of the other registers, and two taken indifcriminately from the clafs of merchants and lawyers. The chief of the Tavolary of the Royal Council (hall henceforth be a perfon of the faculty, and we referve to ourselves the right of appointing him, according to the report which the faculty may make of his talents and his fervices. All the other deputations of the city are abolished: and as to what concerns that of the city revenues to which the Piazze nominated, we will that our Lieutenant and Captain-general' of the kingdom of Naples, as also the junto of the government, fhall lay before us a fuitable plan of that adminiftration, conformably to the fpirit of that establishment, and of the other revenues. The charitable purposes (œuvres piés) administered by the Piazze, fhall continue, in the hands of fome of thofe individuals whom we fhall felect from thofe families which had a right to them. Those families which had the exclufive right of being admitted into the monaftery of St. Gregory the Armenian, fhall remain in poffeffion of that right. The royal fenate of Naples, and the deputations which we have appointed by this edict, fhall affemble in the monastery of Mount Olivet, which, as an act of our munificence, we grant them for that purpofe. We will that the fenate and deputations be inftalled the first day of every year, and that the perfons firft appointed to compofe them thall be propofed to us after the neceffary inquiries, and in the ufual forms, by our Lieutenantgeneral of the kingdom of Naples, and by the junto of the government, and recommend that the junto which is now at the head of the provifional department of the city of Naples, fhould continue to exercife in the mean time its functions with the fame zeal that hitherto diftinguished it. Finally, Thomas D'Avalos, Marquis del Vafto and De Pefcaire, having obtained every thing in order to follow us into Sicily, at the time of the invafion of the enemy, and having thus repeated the glorious example of fidelity which his illuftrious grandfather, Alfonfo D'Avalos, Marquis del Vafto, exhibited to King Ferdinand II. our auguft predeceffor, we have determined to confer on him a lafting proof of the gratitude of his fovereign, by creating as firft baron of the kingdom of Naples, Thomas D'Avalos, Marquis del Vafto

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