Society of Servants of Sotirias and the Liberties
Società dei Servi di Sotirio e delle Libertà | |
 Seal of the Society of Servants (1784–1810) | |
| Motto | "To Freedom or to God" (Alla libertà oa Dio) |
|---|---|
| Successor | Committee of the Star Chamber |
| Formation | 1772 |
| Founder | Tiberio Cassio Cacciarelli Umberto Benedetto Scorsi |
| Founded at | Tyrennus, Tyrennia |
| Dissolved | 12 August 1810 |
| Type | Secret society (pre-1784) Parliamentary group |
| Legal status | Dissolved |
| Purpose | Establishment of a Theocratic-Republican government
|
| Headquarters | Taverna di Angeli, Piazza Sol Invitto, Tyrennus |
Region | Etruria |
| Methods | From democratic initiatives to public violence |
Membership (1790) | Around 550,000 |
Official language | Vespasian Solarian |
President | Tiberio Cassio Cacciarelli |
| Subsidiaries | Newspapers
|
| Affiliations | All groups in the Popular Convention (early 1784) |
The Society of Servants of Sotirias and the Liberties (Vespasian: Società dei Servi di Sotirio e delle Libertà), also post-1785, Society of Servants of Sotirias and the Republic (Vespasian: Società dei Servi di Sotirio e della Repubblica) commonly known as the Pantheonists (Vespasian: Pantheonisti), was the most influential political club during the Etrurian Revolution, founding organisation of the Etrurian First Republic and dominant political force throughout its existence. Though one of many different factions in the early stages of the revolution, it violently seized total control over the revolution through La Purga in July 1784 and would hold uncontested power until the Caltrini Restoration in 1810.
Founded in 1772 as a secret society dedicated to the debate and exploration of enlightenment ideals and their relationship with Solarian Catholicism, it rapdily grew throughout the 1770s and by the early 1780s had evolved into a republican movement active across the entire Grand Principality of Tyrennia, reaching over half a million members by 1790. Unlike its initial rival revolutionary groups such as the Fraternity of Friends of the Constitution (Rispettabili) and the League of Freedom and Equality (Scugnizzo), the Pantheonisti were heterogeneous in their beliefs and ideology, a syncretic clerical-republicanism, providing it a significant advantage during the short-lived Tyrennian Republic and its concurrent power-struggles. Forming part of the so-called Aventine Triumvirate following the overthrow of Grand Prince Alessandro III in January 1784, the Society of Servants plotted to seize uncontested power, fearing being sidelined by the Rispettabili and Scugnizzo and in July 1784 launched La Purga, a nationwide putsch that saw the destruction of its two principal rival factions, this was swiftly followed by the Devotion of the Republic to Heaven and the founding of the Republic of Heaven. Forced into conflict with Etruria's duchies and kingdoms, the War of the First League resulted in the expansion of the Republic into Carvagna and Torrazza in 1786, this led to the renaming of the Tyrennian Republic as the Etrurian Republic. The Society of Servants used the war to launch its Bonfires, as well La Tempesta, to confront opponents of the revolution and republic, which result in the deaths of over 80,000 people by 1810 according to some estimates. Its success in unifying Etruria in the 1780s then led to repeated conflicts with Euclea's great powers and attempts at establishing the Ecumenical Republic. By the late 1800s, unrelenting conflict, political violence, economic collapse and famine had come to undermine popular support for the republic and Society of Servants and in August 1810, a coalition of Etrurian nobles, merchants and disaffected peasant groups united behind the noble House of Caltrini and overthrew the government in what became known as the Caltrini Restoration. Many of the leading Pantheonisti commited suicide or exiled themselves to the Asterias, Soravia or were imprisoned, Tiberio Cassio Cacciarelli - the leader of the Pantheonisti, was exiled to Aeolia and died in 1811.
The Society of Servants remains one of the most influential and divisive entities in Etrurian history, with its unique fusion of clericalism and enlightenment republicanism and its actions when in power. Its overseeing and orchestrating of severe political violence, state repression and military expansionism is contrasted by its construction of direct democracy, universal rights and populism. The word Pantheonisti in modern Etrurian parlance is used to equate individuals or groups with authoritarianism, centralisation of power, nationalism and deep political-religiosity.
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