Manfredi Maria Fausto Pinzauti
Manfredi Maria Fausto Pinzauti
Manfredi M.F. Pinzauti (Florence, 1997) is currently a PhD Candidate at the Italian Universities of Trieste and Udine (XXXIX Cycle), in a Co-Tutelle with the Universität Wien starting from July 2024. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at the University of Florence, where he graduated in October 2019 («Il palazzo dei Marchesi Rinuccini a Firenze: politica, rappresentanza e cultura dell’abitare nell’età della Reggenza», Supervisor Prof. Marcello Verga, Co-Supervisor Prof.ssa Giuseppina Carla Romby) and then in December 2022 with a dissertation on loyalties towards the Austrian Habsburgs in Italy during the Spanish Succession War («Con la penna e con l’armi: stati italiani e fedeltà agli Asburgo nella trattatistica giuridica al tempo della Guerra di Successione Spagnola», Supervisor Prof. Marcello Verga, Co.Supervisor Prof. Luca Mannori). After his Master’s Degree he held a scholarship at the Italian Institute for Early Modern and Contemporary History on Habsburg trade policies in the XVIII Century («The Adriatic Projection of the Habsburg Monarchy», February – October 2023).
Research interests: Social and cultural history; history of political institutions; early modern Italian History; Habsburg Monarchy; Holy Roman Empire; Spanish Monarchy; history of assistance.
Current research project: «Bulding allegiances: Theories and practices in the new Habsburg territorial acquisitions under Charles VI» (Supervisor: Prof. Andrea Zannini, University of Udine; Co-Supervisor: PD Dr. Thomas Wallnig, Universität Wien) The aim of this project is to identify the reasons which, between 1711 and 1740, led the subjects and the government personnel of the newly acquired former Spanish domains of the Habsburgs to declare their loyalty to Vienna, meaning by that their willingness to adhere to the political projects of the Monarchy and to be constant in this support, even in the most difficult times for the Habsburg System. The research will investigate, comparatively, the former Spanish domains acquired in the period between 1713 and 1720 (Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, Duchy of Milan). Within this topic, we will investigate four main elements:
[A] The theorisations about loyalty in contemporary legal treatises and literatures, in their differences and specificities.
[B] The birth, the development, and the competences of the Spanish and Flemish government institutions established in Vienna, which played a fundamental role in managing the finances of the provinces under study. This aspect will be central for two reasons: first, because the selection of the political personnel within these institutions represented, per se, a process of recognition and ratification of the loyalties of officials originating from the former Spanish domains; and second, because these institutions often played a decisive role in determining rewards and sanctions, which will be examined in the following sections.
[C] The policies of Sovereign grace, scilicet the reward of loyalties and political orthodoxy, to understand and identify (1) which behaviours, both public and private, were perceived by the Austrian Habsburgs as legitimate, and respectful towards the bond of loyalty; (2) the instruments available to the Monarchy had to award the subjects which proved to be observant of it; (3) the origin, the provenance, and the management of the funds destined to the instruments of grace identified; (4) the recipients of those forms of assistance and subsidy