Masaniello

Timeline

1. 1620–1647Naples · NaplesMasaniello made his living fishing and selling fish in the port city of Naples, belonging to the lower strata of citizens bearing new taxes on fruit and other daily foods. Spain continually imposed new levies to pay for the Thirty Years' War, and nobles shifted the tax burden downward, fueling long-simmering resentment. In May 1647 a successful tax revolt in Palermo, Sicily, provided a direct model for Naples.
2. 1647Naples city gates and viceregal palace · NaplesOn 7 July a clash between fruit sellers and tax collectors at the city gates escalated, tax booths were burned, and crowds stormed the viceregal palace; the viceroy, the Duke of Arcos, took refuge first in Castel Sant'Elmo and then the Castel Nuovo. With Genoino's help Masaniello restrained the mob, set up a wooden scaffold to hold hearings, and was elected "Captain General" by the populace. The revolt spread to the provinces, and the viceroy was forced to negotiate.
3. 1647Naples · NaplesOn 13 July, through the mediation of the Archbishop of Naples, Filomarino, the viceroy and Masaniello signed terms promising to abolish the new taxes and adjust the status of citizens in municipal government. He was quickly isolated by Genoino and others, and accounts of his erratic behavior mingled with propaganda by political enemies. On 16 July he was assassinated at the viceroy's instigation; his body was at first desecrated and then solemnly buried by the populace. The revolt shifted into a longer anti-Spanish phase, and Spain re-established its rule in the 1650s.