BOTTA, CARLO GIUSEPPE GUGLIELMO 1760 '837 ) An 'Italian historian. Ile was born in Sall Giorgio del Canavese. Piedmont, November 6, 1766, studied medicine in Turin, and, because of his active sympathy with the French Revolu tion, was arrested and imprisoned in 1792. Upon his release, in 1794, Botta went to France and became a physician in the Army of the Alps, taking part later in the expedition to Corfu. In 1799 he was appointed, with Carlo Giulio and Carlo Aurelio de Bossi, a member of the provisional government of Piedmont, hence called the 'Triumvirate of the Three earn.' After the battle of Marengo lie became a member of the Piedmontese Consulta, and later, after the union of Piedmont with France, was a deputy to the Corps Legislatif. an office that he tilled until the return of the Bourbons to power, despite the offense that lie gave to Napoleon by designating his government as a despotism. In 1S31 lie was allowed to return to his native country, and was pensioned by Charles Albert. Ile died in Paris, August 10, 1S37. his earliest volumes ( Italian and French) are: Mori(' naturale e medic(' dull' isola di Corfu (1797); Souvenirs d'un voyage et, Dramatic (1802); Priceis historique de la Maison de Savoie (1803); and Storia della dell' indipcndenza degli Stati A niurica (1S09). This work was originally sug
gested to Botta in the course of a conversation with Manzoni's mother in Paris. It was received with great favor when first published, and was speedily translated into French and English. Even recently it has been pronounced by an Eng lish critic the best history of the subject written outside the United States. Botta's great work, however, is his Storia d'Italia dal 17s9 al ( 1S24). which received the quinquennial prize of 1000 Tuscan dollars from the Accademia della Crusca at Florence. and in a short time ran through fourteen editions. Later it was included in a Storia d'Italia, in 20 volumes, consisting of Cuieciardini's work (1490-1534) and Botta's continuation of it (1535-1789). Botta's style is marked by dignity. which at times is almost severe, and by a pervading consciousness of an historian's responsibility. For his biography, consult: Dionisiotti (Turin, 1S67) ; Pavesio I Florence, 1874); Scipione Botta (Florence, 1877).