A GRAND COUNCIL: THE FORMATION OF A POLITICAL GENERATION AND THE LOWER ASSEMBLY OF THE FIRST CISALPINE REPUBLIC 1796-1799.

In the years of the Republican Triennio (1796-1799), Northern and Central Italy found itself transformed by a new political establishment rooted in the principles of revolution, republicanism, and national identity. These territories came together in 1797 to form the First Cisalpine Republic (1797-1799). Guided by the French Constitution of Year III, The Cisalpine Republic saw the materialization of a new political culture which blended French Revolutionary political practices, Italian political philosophy, and Cisalpine political development. This political culture was formed and developed inside the political and ideological center of the Cisalpine legislative apparatus, the lower house of the Cisalpine Assemblies, the Gran Consiglio. From 2 Frimaire to 14 Fructidor Republican Year VI (22 November 1797 to 31 August 1798), the Gran Consiglio, and the men who served as representatives within its chambers, was the point of legislative and political cultural formation, thanks to its constitutional mandate as the conceptualizer and incubator of legislative resolutions. This period saw the greatest moment of political and constitutional autonomy in Northern Italy during the entire Triennio, allowing for a looser and more progressive blending of Italian and French Revolutionary principles within Cisalpine legislation. This study will look at how the political and legislative culture of the Cisalpine Republic came to be created in the Gran Consiglio by examining the events which took place between 2 Frimaire and 14 Fructidor, and by understanding the personal backgrounds of Gran Consiglio representatives which shaped the way they debated and formed legislation. Through the use of archival resources, published acts of law and the debates recorded in the processi verbali of the Council itself, this thesis aims to provide evidence of the central role the Gran Consiglio played in development of Cisalpine administrative, social and political structures, its interactions with foreign and domestic institutions, and its place as the origins of early nineteenth century Italian political identity.