From Republican Patriotism to National Sentiment

Abstract

This article attempts to add a corrective to the exclusive focus of the academic historiography of republicanism on the mainstream of the tradition in Italy and north-western Europe by bringing a perspective from the European south-east on the transmission and evolution of republican ideas. An illustration of this broader perspective on the history of republicanism is provided by the treatise Hellenic Nomarchy anonymously published in Italy in 1806. The article examines the origins of Modern Greek republicanism, the meaning of ‘nomarchy’ and the context and sources of the work. It stresses its social and political radicalism and points to its affinities with the ideas of 18th-century Tuscan republicanism and with the work of Vittorio Alfieri and Ugo Foscolo.