Abstract

Masaniello continues to deal with the food supply; he also hands outassorted ‘patents’ to his plebeian friends. Thanks to thecontemporary sources, we can lay out their life stories, which oftenshare traits in common with Masaniello’s own. With theviceroy’s assent, he deals out justice at the Market, as if hewere the city’s long-desired ‘justicer’. ButMasaniello’s harsh rulings provoke revulsion. The sources showhow he naively thinks that he acts here in harmony with the viceroy. Awitness writes, ‘he was assisted by royal judges.’

Keywords: Masaniello’s friends, prostitution,violence, passions, executions, fear.

The most faithful people of this most faithful city of Naples, havingcome to know that those who own the oil cisterns are selling it at ahigh price per stara to monasteries and rich persons tothe grave prejudice and damage of the citizens, and, desiring to remedythis inconvenience, we order and command all the persons who have oilcisterns who are selling it by the stara [ca. tenlitres] that from today on, under pain of rebellion, they should notsell it except to shopkeepers and to those who sell it by the quartaround Naples. And if they want to buy by the starathey should come to us.

Besides, we order and command under the same pain all the captains, bothof the ottine [districts] and of the infantry, thatthey provide the artillery with bags of musket balls or with cartridgesof tin full of the aforesaid balls, because the range is short, whereballs don’t work.