Gennaro Annese

After the death of Masaniello, Annese was nominated captain of the quarter of Lavinaro, the most turbulent in the city, and led his men to attack the hill of Pizzofalcone, a highly strategic location badly defended by a few Spanish soldiers.

The consequence was that the nobility, who at the beginning of the insurrection were rather disposed to make common cause with the people, now being in danger of their lives from the fury of the populace, acted in concert with the Spaniards, armed their feudal retainers in the provinces, and assembled a force of 3000 cavalry, with which they blockaded Naples and threatened the city with famine.

He, however, determined with a party of fourteen persons, mostly domestics, and some ten or twenty thousand crowns, with which his mother and other friends helped him, to undertake the conquest of a kingdom.

The duke, in his Memoirs, which were reprinted in 1826 in the “Collection Petitot,” describes this chief as a little man, ill-made, and very dark, his eyes sunk in his head, with short hair and large ears, a wide mouth, his beard close cut, and beginning to turn grey, his voice full and very hoarse.

On the other hand, the inferior nobility and gentry of the city, the merchants, lawyers, and other professional men, and the principal shopkeepers, a class nicknamed the “Black Cloaks,” as distinguished from the “Unshod,” or populace, were averse to the revolution and the turn which it had taken, and wished, but did not know how, to put an end to it.

Lastly, in the three castles and other fortified posts within the city of Naples, and on board the fleet anchored in the bay there was a Spanish force, not numerous enough to take a large capital in a state of revolt, but waiting for the fit opportunity of revenge.

At last Annese was prevailed upon to resign his office; on November 17, in the presence of Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino in the Cathedral of Naples, Guise swore allegiance to the Republic, and on December 21 he was proclaimed by the leaders, amidst the acclamations of the people, “duke of the Neapolitan Republic, protector of the liberties, and generalissimo of the armies of Naples.” But still he was left to such resources as he could get on the spot, for the French fleet, after a desultory combat with the Spaniards, sailed away.

Aware of the desperate situation, Annese and the other leaders of the Republic agreed to surrender, and Don Juan of Austria promised the city's inhabitants a general amnesty.

On 6 April 1648 Annese opened the gates of Naples and the Spanish troops, headed by Don Juan of Austria and the new viceroy, count of Oñate, marched in.