[2][3] Its members, named by the pope on 21 July 1849,[4] were Gabriele della Genga Sermattei, Lodovico Altieri, and Luigi Vannicelli Casoni [it].
[6] The Red Triumvirate took charge of Rome on 1 August 1849 from General Charles Oudinot, who had led the French occupation of the city since 3 July.
A special Court of Inquiry was also established to identify and arrest critics of the papal government, many of whom would spend lengthy periods in prison without charge.
[12] The reactionary measures of the Red Triumvirate provoked consternation in the French Second Republic, the armies of which had restored, and now protected, the ecclesiastical government in Rome.
[15][16] Upon receiving Bonaparte's letter, the triumvirate threatened to withdraw from Rome—Oudinot's successor as the French commander in the city, Louis de Rostolan, also refused to circulate it, perceiving it as a challenge to his own authority.