Lably
Skip to content

Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)

State in northern Italy (1805–1814)

  • 14 min read
  • 6 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Napoleon

Lab · Class 10French RevolutionLab · Class 5–9History Explorer

It covered some of Piedmont and the modern regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino, South Tyrol, and Marche. Napoleon I also ruled the rest of northern and central Italy in the form of Nice, Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, but directly as part of the French Empire (as departments), rather than as part of a vassal state.

At its peak, the kingdom covered 84,000 square kilometers and had a population of 6.5 million.

Constitutional statutes

The Kingdom of Italy was born on 17 March 1805, when the Italian Republic, whose president was Napoleon Bonaparte, became the Kingdom of Italy, with the same man (now styled Napoleon I) as the new King of Italy and his 24-year-old stepson Eugène de Beauharnais as his viceroy. Napoleon I was crowned at the Milan Cathedral, Milan on 23 May, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. His title was "Emperor of the French and King of Italy" (French: Empereur des Français et Roi d'Italie, Italian: Imperatore dei Francesi e Re d'Italia), showing the importance of this Italian kingdom to him.

Even though the republican constitution was never formally abolished, a series of Constitutional Statutes completely altered it. The first one was proclaimed two days after the birth of the kingdom, on 19 March, when the Consulta declared Napoleon I as king and established that one of his natural or adopted sons would succeed him once the Napoleonic Wars were over, and once separated the two thrones were to remain separate. The second one, dating from 29 March, regulated the regency, the Great Officials of the kingdom, and the oaths.

The most important was the third, proclaimed on 5 June, being the real constitution of the kingdom: Napoleon I was the head of state and had the full powers of government; in his absence, he was represented by the Viceroy, Eugène de Beauharnais. The Consulta, Legislative Council, and Speakers were all merged into a Council of State, whose opinions became only optional and not binding for the king. The Legislative Body, the old parliament, remained in theory, but it was never summoned after 1805; the Napoleonic Code was introduced on 21 March 1804.

The fourth Statute, decided on 16 February 1806, indicated Beauharnais as the heir to the throne.

The fifth and sixth Statutes, on 21 March 1808, separated the Consulta from the Council of State and renamed it the Senate, with the duty of informing the king about the wishes of his most important subjects.

The seventh Statute, on 21 September, created a new nobility of dukes, counts, and barons; the eighth and the ninth, on 15 March 1810, established the annuity for the members of the royal family. In 1812, a Court of Accounts was added.

The government had seven ministers:

  • The Minister of War was at first General Augusto Caffarelli, later General Giuseppe Danna for a year, and then, from 1811, General Achille Fontanelli;
  • The Minister of Interior was at first Ludovico Arborio di Breme and then, from 1809, Luigi Vaccari;
  • The Minister for Foreign Affairs was Ferdinando Marescalchi;
  • The Minister of Justice and Great Judge was Giuseppe Luosi;
  • The Minister of the Treasury was Antonio Veneri and then, from 1811, Ambrogio Birago;
  • The Minister of Finance was Giuseppe Prina;
  • The Minister of Religion was Giovanni Bovara.

Sign in to keep reading

5 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Modern

Nazi GermanyGerman state from 1933 to 1945COVID-19 pandemicPandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2Russian EmpireRussian state from 1721 to 1917American Civil War1861–1865 conflict in the United StatesBritish Raj1858–1947 Crown rule in IndiaUnited States NavyMaritime service branch of the U.S. military