Stupefied by the uproar, by the advice of a hundred counsellors, by a
two-days' insurrection, the Duke of Arcos did not nevertheless give up
the attempt at a reconciliation. Certainly he risked nothing by it, for
he had no other means in his power; but the hazard to the noblemen who
delivered his messages was so much the greater. With great difficulty
Montesarchio and Satriano escaped the rage of the populace. Six
cavaliers were enclosed by barricades, and only regained their freedom
by promising to obtain the transmission of their privileges. To oblige
the Viceroy the Duke of Maddaloni rode once more into the market-place,
carrying with him a manifesto according to which all the gabelles which
had been introduced since the time of Charles V were abolished, and a
general amnesty granted for the crimes already committed. Scarcely had
Diomed Carafa read the paper when the tumult began again worse than
before.
The bystanders screamed out that this was not what they wanted; he was
deceiving them in concert with the Viceroy. In vain he sought to appease
them. The tumult increased. Suddenly Masaniello sprang upon the Duke. It
was said that he had once received blows instead of gold from one of his
servants when he had sold fish at his palace. Perhaps it is only one of
the many fables that are attached to the name of the fisherman of
Amalfi. Amid wild imprecations he seized the reins of his horse, took
hold of the knight by his belt and long hair, tore him from the saddle
with the assistance of his followers, and caused his hands to be tightly
bound together by a rope; then he delivered the prisoner to Domenico
Perrone and his associate Bernardino Grasso, to be strictly guarded.
The last remnant of personal respect for the nobility which the populace
had preserved on earlier occasions in the midst of all their
disturbances, had now quite disappeared. The hand of Masaniello had torn
asunder the tie of centuries of habit. The Viceroy was dreadfully
shocked when he knew the danger into which Maddaloni had fallen for his
sake. He sent the prior of the Johannites, Fra Gregorio Carafa, brother
of the Prince of Roccella, and afterward grand master of Malta to try
and obtain the freedom of the Duke. The sensible and placable words of
the prior were as useless as his promises: the populace only answered
him by screaming for the privileges of Charles V; for the privileges, in
gold characters, which Giulio Genuino affirmed that he had seen.
Gregorio Carafa felt himself in the same danger as Maddaloni, and
returned to the castle without having accomplished anything; but the
populace swore that they would allow no parliament which did not deliver
up the document.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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