French Rule in the States of Parma, 1796-1814: Working with Napoleon (War, Culture and Society, 1750 –1850)

Preface Acknowledgements Contents Abbreviations Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Prelude to Napoleon Ralliement Avant la Lettre Administration, Legislation and Tax Collection Agriculture and Industry Cultural Policies The University of Parma The Education of the Infant Dashed Hopes and the End of Reforms Chapter 3: Parma and Bonaparte Revolutionary Waves and Realpolitik Furti d’arte Chapter 4: From Duchies of Parma to States of Parma Du Tillot bis Legal Systems and Administration Tax Collection Economy Cultural Reforms Napoleon’s Visit Monks, Nuns and Financial Headaches A Well-Meaning Proconsul Chapter 5: Watershed: The Insurrection Volunteer National Guards Revulsion and Excitement The Events Military Repression Agostino Botti: Service and Self-Interest An Accidental Martyr Chapter 6: Explanatory Narratives: Brigandage Local Italian Sources Anti-French Sentiments French Sources: Foreign Intervention and Malevolent Priests Streamlining Information Professional Incompetence Brigandage The People The Perils of Collaboration An Unexpected Stumbling Point Chapter 7: Pacification Pragmatism and Ambiguity La douceur Rallying to the French Napoleon’s Reaction Crackdown Chapter 8: Order into Chaos Institutional Overhaul Economy and Taxation Conscription Velvet Gloves Amnesty A Kind and Paternalistic Administration Sbirri: Past and Present Chapter 9: Wooing the Elites The Heart The Mind An Exemplary Bureaucrat Chapter 10: Elite Collaboration Modernization A Chance Like No Other Obsequiousness and Equivocation Accommodation The Limits of Persuasion Chapter 11: The End of the Road: Conclusions The Remains of the Day xxx Bibliography A B C D E F G H J L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z Manuscript Collections Archives Nationales Paris. Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères. Archives du Ministère de la Défense. Archivio di Stato di Parma. Inv. 49, Gridario 1796–1814. Archivio di Stato Piacenza. Biblioteca Palatina Parma. Published Primary Documents People Index Place Index This book addresses the interplay between collaboration and resistance during the Revolutionary/Napoleonic era in the Duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, renamed States of Parma in 1802 and Department of Taro in 1808. Considered no more than a docile backwater in 1796, the country exploded in violent rebellion at the end of 1805, to the astonishment of the French imperial establishment and of Napoleon himself. Yet, the insurgency - duly suppressed by the French military - did not beget further confrontation. French administrators determined to demonstrate that the empire was a force for good and local citizens compelled to reassess their circumstances realistically settled for cooperation in the form of protracted give and take arrangements. In recounting the events, this book highlights local agency and the myriad ways Parma's population harnessed the power of empire to shape what eventually became the Napoleonic legacy in the region. Doina Pasca Harsanyi is Professor of History at Central Michigan University, USA. Her previous publications include Lettres de la duchesse de La Rochefoucauld áa William Short (2001), Lessons from America: Liberal French Nobles in Exile, 1793-1798 (2010), and numerous articles on French-American and French-Italian subjects