The Tabular College. The civil engineer and military engineer.

The Tabular College

The civil engineer and military engineer.

From the previous publication of May 27, 2017: Italian university studies were born as a corporation or masters (universitas magistrorum) or rather than schoolchildren (universitas scholarium), and thus with a real autonomy. But in Naples, the Studio arose for the will of the sovereign with readers appointed and salaried by him, and with complete dependence on the State. The Studio is a state school of the same kind, and is kept alive both to feed the Culture, both to get that number of engineers and architects, doctors, lawyers that is needed in the country. The reader of the Medieval University was, except for a few exceptions, as in Naples, an independent professional of knowledge, inserted into an autonomous corporation and solidarity with his colleagues. In the sixteenth century there is no difference between an engineer and an architect. With the prammatic of August 27, 1564, the Viceroy of Naples Don Perafàn de Ribera laid down rules to regulate the work of masters of craftsmen, pipernieri, masters of ax, color and cuts trees, creating a sort of bulletin board, whose formation was made to representatives of Collegio dei Tavolari, whose primary task was to evaluate real estate located in the kingdom, giving them a monetary value; Admission to that bulletin board was carried out by means of examinations. Pedro Afàn De Ribera, Duke of Alcalá, quoted by the Neapolitans Don Perafàn, Viceroy of Naples from June 12, 1559 to April 2, 1571. He had to face serious problems, such as the famines of 1559, 1565 and 1570, earthquakes, brigandage in Calabria and In Abruzzo, the heresies in Calabria, the raids of the barbarians. (C. De Frede: The Spanish Viceroys of Naples- Newton's Economical Tascabili 1996). The Sixteenth Century Engineers, as well as those of the following century, were engaged in both civil and military works, such as regiments, reclamations, roads, bridges, castles fortifications. Among them, we find valiant technicians such as the Church Engineer who in 1638 planned the reclamation of the Fondi plain. The evidence of the importance that the military engineer is increasingly assuming is found in that dispatch by Filippo King IV, published in Madrid on August 20, 1637, which states: "Venir declared noble whoever he served had only one year" and that the title had been handed down if the service had been continued for four years.

The city of Naples by its elect had the right to nominate a Primary and nine Tavolies, who had the task of appreciating, on behalf of and disposition of the Tribunal, Feudi, burgens' assets (wills, inheritance divisions, purchase acts and Sales, accounting) to declare its value, and yet to measure the territories, factories, plants, and more. Admission to the Collegio dei Tabular was made by decision of the directors of the city; Later, by means of an examination, which focused on mathematical studies and civil and mechanical sciences. In addition to the tasks mentioned above, the College also had to regulate the work of the craftsmanship of manufacturers, pommers and the like. The outstanding privileges of this College were frequently disputed. In order to carry out the oversight over all affairs relating to universities (as corporations), Camerals Engineers, which depended on the Sommaria, which was the auditing body of all state accounts, but also of university. These Camerals Engineers were initially selected in an indefinite number, until, with Royal Decree of January 2, 1756, they were not numbered in six (twenty-one in 1757); They, along with the Military Engineers, had to take care of the direction of the works that, on behalf of the Royal Court, had to be done in the Kingdom. Other engineers with special assignments related to constructions of useful works to the city, such as an aqueduct, were those of Cities that appear in municipal deliberations towards the end of the sixteenth century. The City Engineer was not a stable figure; in fact, at the end of the sixteenth century his office was considered unnecessary; Since then, the city has, at some time, used freely selected engineers from time to time, while in others the city engineer's office was restored.

The engineer in the military camp. To find out what the development of such a professional figure is, with the material available on it, are reported some of the major events that military engineers have been involved in. In 1742 we find engineers like Francesco Lopez Vario, Fasula, Francesco Rorrio, Pietro Bardett, who have been working on restorations to be done at the fortresses of Vigliena, Rovigliano and Castellammare; Again, the engineer Luigi Guillamat, who was entrusted with the task of strengthening the walls of Gaeta. Other engineers such as Spaniard Rocco Gioacchino Alcubierre occupy the charge the office of commanders. The architect Carlo Vanvitelli (1739-1821), who belonged to the military body, worked with his father Luigi (1700-1773) at the Royal Palace of Caserta. Regarding the tasks assigned to the military engineer, or carried out on his own initiative, there is some information about the activity of Giovanni Antonio Fontana Doyemont, who had been in the body since 1742, cadet and deputy in the Walloon Regiment in Namur Of military engineers, restoring towers and castles in Apulia and Calabria by inspecting the fortified centers of the Adriatic coast in 1770 with the chief engineer Persichelli, and drawing in 1774 a project for the restoration of the port of Gallipoli. With the edict of July 2, 1785, the Corps received a new order with a more organic body that was headed by Brigadier Conte Lorenzo Persichelli, and consisted of three chief engineers, seven volunteer engineers and 23 aggregates, with the degree of alfiere Or cadets. With the deployment of December 11, 1788, the Body of Military Engineers was dissolved, and reflected in the constitution of the Body of the Genius.

Sources for research: Naples State Archive | Biblioteca Universita Federico II of Naples |Textbooks of the Universities of the City of Rome, City of Florence, City of Turin, City of Paris |Sources for research: Sources for research: volume "THE ENGINEERING SCHOOL IN NAPLES 1811-1967" (edited by Giuseppe Russo, published on the occasion of the transfer of the Faculty of Engineering from Mezzocannone to the new buildings of Fuorigrotta). |

Relatore pubblicazione: Publication rapporteur: Prof. Lelio Della Pietra (Mechanics Applied to Machines, Federico II, Engineering, Naples)..