CHINEA, QUESTIONE DELLA

CHINEA, QUESTIONE della. — The term "c." designated the horse specially trained for the purpose. Charles of Anjou undertook to pay each year, on the feast of the Apostles, in addition to a sum of money as tribute (which varied over the following centuries), also a c., on the occasion of Clement IV’s investiture of him with the kingdom of Naples, which he was to conquer from Manfred (29 May 1265). Tanucci (v.), a staunch advocate of jurisdictionalist policy, who in 1776 refused to continue the offering of the c.; the custom, however, was resumed the following year by Ferdinand IV. A long and complicated diplomatic clash between the Holy See and the kingdom arose in 1783 when the king of Naples refused to submit to the ancient tradition. Only in 1855 did Pius IX officially exempt King Ferdinand II from the obligation of the c. The legal nature of the payment was disputed during the 18th and 19th centuries; according to some it was a mere attestation of the king’s devotion; according to Luigi dei Medici (who follows Giannone’s thought) it was an act of feudal recognition. This recognition had already been the cause of disputes during the Aragonese rule and also in the 16th century.