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Carbonari definitions

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Britannica Concise

(Italian dialect: "Charcoal Burners") Members of a secret society (the Carbonaria) in early-19th-cent. Italy. Advocating liberal and patriotic ideas, the Carbonari favored constitutional and representative government and aimed to protect Italian interests against foreigners. They helped lead the unsuccessful revolts of 1820 and 1831 and were gradually absorbed into the Young Italy movement. Their influence prepared the way for the Risorgimento.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Carbonaro Car`bo*na"ro, n.; pl. Carbonari. [It., a coal man.] A member of a secret political association in Italy, organized in the early part of the nineteenth centry for the purpose of changing the government into a republic. Note: The origin of the Carbonari is uncertain, but the society is said to have first met, in 1808, among the charcoal burners of the mountains, whose phraseology they adopted.