The Conspiracy

Abstract

In the second half of July 1598, Campanella set out for Calabria. At the end of the month he reached Nicastro, where he had the opportunity of seeing once again some old friends - the brothers Ponzio and Giovan Battista da Pizzoni. Immediately, he became involved in the complex jurisdictional conflicts between ecclesiastical and state authorities. In the course of several months of relative tranquillity at Stilo, he was able to complete some works that were later lost (fifty Articoli against the doctrines of Luis de Molina, a tragedy about Mary Stuart, representing her as a martyr for Catholicism, and a short work entitled De episcopo). He was also able to work on the Monarchia di Spagna once again. On 11 November he sent a short letter to Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santori. He asked that at Christmas the remaining period of punishment be remitted, in view of the six years of ‘trials’ that he had endured. He declared himself ready to obey, although he was very ‘tired.’ But in the first months of 1599 a tumultuous and difficult period began. It would continue to intensify in the spring and summer, and concluded with the catastrophe of the accusation of conspiracy, the tragic consequences of which would mark the rest of Campanella’s life.