Black Nobility

The expression black Noblesse , in Italian Aristocrazia will nera , indicates a fraction of the Italian Noblesse which lined up at the side of the Pape Pie IX when the troops of the King Victor-Emmanuel II seized Rome in 1870 and reflect a term with the Indépendance Papal States.

Historical context

When the Italian Unité was carried out, the troops of the king Victor-Emmanuel II of Savoy entered Rome in September 1870, invested the Palais of Quirinal, residence of papacy, and seized the apostolic palate of the Vatican. Thus took end, de facto , the Papal States. At the end of a Plebiscite, the populations of Rome and Lazio accepted to them Annexation with new the Italian State.

The pope Pie IX opposed this annexation. To mean that he did not recognize the Légitimité of the Italian State, he was locked up in his palate of the the Vatican and declared itself some “captive”. By solidarity with sovereign pontiff, part of the local Aristocratie chooses in its turn to refuse allegiance with the Royaume of Italy. The families concerned then closed the doors of their residences as a sign of mourning, just as in 1875, at the time of the Jubilé of the Holy year, Pie IX maintained closed the doors of the four Basilique S Romans, always in sign of protest.

Before 1870, the majority of these families, called the “black nobility”, had honorary loads and Héréditaire S near the the Holy See. They held of the pope their titles and Privilège S, which it was about private Chambellan S or gentlemen of the palatine Garde.

Evolution

The voluntary reclusion of the popes in the enclosure of the Vatican lasted 59 years, just like the closing of the doors of the palates concerned. This status quo persisted of 1870 with 1929, date of the Accords of Lateran, under the terms of which the State of the Vatican was created.

After the concluding of these agreements, the families of the black nobility obtained a double citizenship: they concerned from now on the Italian State and the State of the Vatican. In testimony of gratitude towards their honesty, the pope Pie XI granted the black nobility the authorization to belong to the noble Garde, hitherto reserved to the families originating in the old Papal States. (In 1931, Pie XI refused to accede to the request of the King d' Espagne Alphonse XIII, which would have wished to see to open the noble Guard with the various families of the European aristocracy.)

Among the black nobility, one can quote the Massimo family but also that of Eugenio Pacelli, future Pie XII.

Epilog

The September 14th 1970, the pope Paul VI wrote with the Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot, Secretary of State, an official letter by which it abolished the whole of the army corps of the Vatican, except for the Swiss Garde. Consequently, the disappearance of the ultimate bastion of the black nobility involved the end of its last privileges - number plates, particular legal status or honorary titles.

In May 1977, part of the black nobility, led by the princess Elvina Pallavicini, adopted the bishop Traditionaliste Mgr Marcel Lefebvre.

Sources

This article is inspired partly by the article.

Random links: