Filippo Giuseppe Maria Ludovico Buonarroti more usually referred to as Philippe Buonarroti (1761 - 1837), Italian egalitarian revolutionary, writer, proponent of subversion, and freemason.

As a student at the University of Pisa, he read literature and jurisprudence, where, at about this time, he founded what was seen by the authorities as a subversive paper Gazetta Universale. Encouraged by the revolutionary fervor in France and under constant surveillance by the authorities, he travelled to Corsica to spread the revolutionary message which he did in the pages of Giornale patriottico di Corsica (Patriotic Journal of Corsica). This was the first Italian language paper to openly support the French revolution. He was expelled from the island in June 1791 and returned to his native Tuscany whereupon he was arrested and imprisoned. It is thought that he joined a masonic lodge some time in 1786.

In 1793 he travelled to Paris. Buonarroti became a member of the Society of the Pantheon . Robespierre placed him in charge of organising the expatriate Italian revolutionaries, which he did from a base in Nice. After denouncing Paoli to the Convention he was rewarded for his revolutionary activities by a special decree of French nationality in May 1793.

He was recalled to Paris in 1795 whereupon he was imprisoned in the Plessis jail after his friends in office had been deposed after the coup of the 9 Thermidor. There he met Gracchus Babeuf, and became one of his most fervent supporters during the time of their mutual imprisonment from March to October.

Buonarotti was rearrested on May 8 1796 along with Babeuf. Babeuf was executed and Buonarotti formally imprisoned in February 1797.

In 1808 Buonarroti formed a masonic lodge, Les Sublimes Maîtres Parfaits , to which only serving freemasons were admitted. Within this lodge he formed an inner circle which he used to further his political dreams and aspirations.

Influence

Buonarotti's revolutionary principles were to prove important during the revolution of the 1830s; Auguste Blanqui learned many of his insurrectionary skills and tactics from Buonarotti, and the Conspiration pour l'Egalité dite de Babeuf, suivie du procès auquel elle donna lieu may be seen as an important text in this respect. Later again, the 1848 revolutionaries placed much emphasis on this work as a cornerstone.

Writings

• Histoire des sociétés secrèttes de l'armée 1815
• Conspiration des égaux 1828
• Conspiration pour l'Egalité dite de Babeuf, suivie du procès auquel elle donna lieu

Sources

• Mémoires d'un prisonnier d'etat 1839 Alexander Philippe Andryane
• Souvenirs de Genève 1839 Alexander Philippe Andryane