The Republic of Crema (; ) was a

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, which was created when the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

entered Crema on 28 March 1797. It ruled the local affairs of the city and its environs, which previously were a Venetian

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

in the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

. The municipality entered then into the

Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic (; ) was a sister republic or a client state of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. Creation After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organized two ...

in July 1797.

History

The city of Crema and its surroundings had been annexed by the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

since 1449, and had been ruled by a Venetian

podestà (), also potestate or podesta in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of central and northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a c ...

for more than three centuries. On 28 March 1797, a troop of French

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

entered and occupied the city without facing any resistance and arrested the last Venetian magistrate, the duke Zan Battista Contarini. A new municipality was formed to control the city, which was composed mostly of small landowners and local nobles. They proclaimed the new Republic of Crema, that had the control of the town and the territories previously belonging to the province of Crema. The small revolutionary republic had a short life. Three months later, on 29 July 1797, its territory merged with the

and legally annexed to it on the base of the

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...

, becoming part of the Adda department and later on the Alto Po one. Nowadays, the territory of the former Republic of Crema goes from the municipality of Spino d'Adda (east) to the Castelleone one.

Flag and coat of arms

The republic used a simple white flag with the coat of arms.

References

Crema, Republic of History of Lombardy States and territories established in 1797 Client states of the Napoleonic Wars 1797 in Europe States and territories disestablished in 1797 Fall of the Republic of Venice {{Italy-hist-stub