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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 April 2023
Abstract
The viceroy convinces secretary Vitale to betray Masaniello, but soon hasVitale killed. Capopopolo, sensing danger, tries to flee. The citybuzzes with talk of Masaniello and of his alarming condition. Genoino isterrified, as he learns that the plebeian chief would have his head.Many sources later claim that Genoino connived with the viceroy in theplan to have Masaniello killed. The representatives of the Peopleconvene, voting not for death but for withdrawal from obedience, asMasaniello is ‘ill’, but their resolution fails to scotchthe lethal plan put in motion some days earlier by the viceroy and somearound him. Masaniello’s panicky final speech, flight, and savagedecapitation.
Keywords: Genoino, Masaniello’s talk, decapitation,viceroy’s strategy, popular reaction
The Death of Marco Vitale and Masaniello’s AttemptedFlight
When he understood that. as was his wish, Masaniello would soon be killed,the viceroy had “the trenches re-made at the entry to the square atthe palace, and at the door of the courtyard, and had some artillery piecesplaced in the said piazza, and, with new barricades, he also closed theentrances of the streets that, from the districts of Santa Lucia andMortelle, led to Pizzofalcone [these districts are north and east ofPizzofalcone, a high ground near the shore].”
A little before Masaniello died, on the sixteenth, his secretary was killed.Marco Vitale had gone to Castelnuovo, invited by Masaniello himself. Theviceroy kept him there, using guile, “having raised the drawbridge,so he could not leave.” Capecelatro, who was there, recounts how theyoung man, held in the castle, spoke with some knights, and how he praisedthe works of his friend, saying that he had done much good for the poor andhad laid aside a million ducats for the king. Marco Vitale’s hourswere numbered, as the knight well knew. The Duke of Arcos had raised thedrawbridge because he wanted him hanged from the battlements, but then hechanged his plan. So, Vitale stayed at the castle all night long. He waskilled in the morning, shortly after leaving. He ran into a company ofsoldiers “armed for war,” who were digging a trench.
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