ELITES AND ECCLESIASTICAL CAREERS IN EARLY

MODERN SICILY: BISHOPS, ABBOTS AND KNIGHTS*

The clergy, at whose collective apex stood the episcopate, was regarded throughout medieval and most early modern Europe as the first of
the three orders of society. The precedence which they enjoyed over
the other two orders was only one of several features which distinguished them from the rest of society. Among these, the most fundamental was the fact that no member of the clergy was born as one:
in Catholic Europe at least, the clerical estate only endured from one
generation to the next because it was colonised in varying degrees
by members of the other two estates. The methods by which social
groups perpetuated their place among the clergy had to take account
of the basic fact of clerical celibacy. There would be no point in expanding here on the myriad ways by which families obtained places
within the clerical hierarchy for their sons or daughters. But [...] it
should be remembered that these [church] offices were neither venal
nor hereditary. For that reason, retaining them over more than a generation was far from assured, and required considerable foresight and
application.1

* This article reports the first results of a larger piece of research included in a PRIN (Project of Special National Interest) funded by the Italian University and Research Ministry: Secular and Ecclesiastic Feudality in
Modern Southern Italy (15th-19th centuries). Earlier drafts were presented at
the 8th European Social Science History Conference (Ghent, 13-16 April
2010) within the session Elites strategies of survival I: families, power and
status in Early Modern Europe. Abbreviations: AGS = Archivo General de
Simancas (Sp = Secretaras Provinciales; leg. = legajo); AHN = Archivo
Histrico Nacional (Om = Ordenes Militares; exp.te/exp.llo = expediente/
expedientillo de pruebas de nobleza); ASP = Archivio di Stato of Palermo
(Cm = Commenda della Magione; f. = file; fasc. = fascicle; Alliata = archive
of family Alliata di Villafranca); NLM = National Library of Malta (Aom
= Archive of the Order of St. John; arch. = vol. of Aom); BCP = Biblioteca
Comunale of Palermo (ms. = manuscript). All the cited articles and books
of Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche are also available on-line at www.mediterranearicerchestoriche.it.
1
Joseph Bergin, The Making of the French Episcopate 1589-1661, New
Haven and London, 1996, p. 44.

DOI : 10.1484/J.RHE.5.103199

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f. davenia

This wide perspective on the European situation, painted almost twenty years ago by Joseph Bergin, confirms the importance of ecclesiastical careers within the ranks of the Catholic
Church (bishops and cardinals) as well as religious orders (abbots
and priors) and military orders (primarily the Order of Malta) as
an increasing historiographic fact for early modern family strategies. They were, together with civil careers within the army, state
administration and city offices, one of the main paths followed by
cadet members of the nobility to build, strengthen and even enable the survival of the social prestige and political influence of
their families.2
The role of the clergy was in fact crucial in performing a valuable function of mediation, not only in relationship with other
families, aimed for example at establishing solid marriage alliances, but especially with regard to political power in order to
achieve increasingly prestigious awards (titles, offices, prebends),
and to safeguard assets most often burdened with heavy debt.
Nevertheless this strategic significance of ecclesiastical careers is an area of research which has been rarely explored very
deeply. The reason is mainly because scholars have preferred to
focus their attention on succession strategies and marriage policies adopted by the aristocratic families, aimed at the growth and
protection of family assets, primarily feudal possessions, resorting to previously unused practises like birthright and the fedecommesso (trust), 3 the equivalent of the Spanish mayorazgo.4 Viewed
2
Renato Ago, Giochi di squadra: uomini e donne nella famiglie nobili del
XVII secolo, in Maria Antonietta Visceglia (ed.), Signori, patrizi, cavalieri
nellet moderna, Roma-Bari, 1992, p. 256, 262.
3
Grard Delille, Famiglia e propriet nel Regno di Napoli XV-XIX secolo, Torino, 1988, p. 64. For more in general, see ibid., p. 25-78, also for
interesting comparisons with Sicily and Castile, where the use of such practices became established much earlier than in the Kingdom of Naples, as
early as the 15th century. For the evolution of inheritance systems in Sicily,
between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, see Ennio Igor Mineo, Nobilt di Stato. Famiglie e identit aristocratiche nel tardo medioevo. La Sicilia,
Roma, 2001, p. 103114. On the use of the fedecommesso by families of the
Roman nobility, see Nicola La Marca, La nobilt romana e i suoi strumenti
di perpetuazione del potere, Roma, 2000, vol. I, p. 15165.
4
This is the case among many families, the Caracciolo of Martina and
the Tocco of Montemiletto in the Kingdom of Naples, the Aragona-Tagliavia
of Terranova/Castelvetrano and the Bologna of Altavilla in the Kingdom
of Sicily (see Elena Papagna, Sogni e bisogni di una famiglia aristocratica.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

627

from this perspective, the commencement of a cadets religious

vocation and/or ecclesiastical career was inevitably reduced to a
passive choice for the parties concerned and unspoken obligation
for the heads of families, often adhering unfeelingly5 to a rigid
demographic rule: Malte et lglise pour les fils, le couvent pour
les filles [...] la tendance est nette une limitation des mariages.6
More recent historiography has begun to break this pattern.
There are studies on family policy and patronage, by definition
(nepotism), gravitating around the top of the Roman Curia and
the construction of the State of the Church, the first European
State that might be called modern.7 As Po-chia Hsia clearly
pointed out,
an ecclesiastical career at the top, and in general the development of
the papacy into an absolutist monarchy cannot be understood without
taking into consideration the family strategies of the Italian ruling
classes. Behind many papal elections were stories of family success:
the attainment of supreme ecclesiastical glory was built upon the astute accumulation of wealth, the patient cultivation of patronage, and
the investment in office, sustained by different kin and carried out
over generations. When an individual was elevated to the throne of

I Caracciolo di Martina in et moderna, Milano, 2002; Michle Benaiteau,

Vassalli e cittadini. La signoria rurale nel Regno di Napoli attraverso lo studio
dei feudi dei Tocco di Montemiletto [secc. XI-XVIII], Bari, 1997; Valeria Del
Vasto, Baroni nel tempo. I Tocco di Montemiletto dal XVI al XVIII secolo, Napoli, 1995; Maurice Aymard, Une famille de laristocratie sicilienne aux XVIe et
XVIIe sicles: les ducs de Terranova. Un bel exemple dascension seigneuriale, in
Revue Historique, 501 [1972], in particular p. 3236; Lavinia Pinzarrone,
Dinamiche di mobilit sociale in Sicilia: potere, terra e matrimonio. I Bologna
tra XVI e XVII secolo, in Mediterranea-ricerche storiche, 15 [2009], in particular p. 137151). See, also for the bibliography cited, Enrique Soria Mesa, La
nobleza en la Espaa moderna. Cambio y continuidad, Madrid, 2007, p. 224
244. On family and inheritance systems in Europe, with particular reference to the fedecommesso, see Simonetta Cavaciocchi (ed.), The Economic
Role of the Family in the European Economy from the 13th to the 18th Centuries,
Florence, 2009, p. 175243.
5
Benaiteau, Una nobilt di lunga durata: strategie e comportamenti dei
Tocco di Montemiletto, in Visceglia, Signori... [see n. 2], p. 212.
6
Aymard, Une famille [see n. 4], p. 36. From the same perspective,
see L. Ferrer I Als, Fratelli al celibato, sorelle al matrimonio. La parte dei
cadetti nella riproduzione sociale dei gruppi agiati in Catalogna (secoli XVIIIXIX), in Quaderni storici, 83/3 (1993), p. 535, 541, 548.
7
Paolo Prodi, Il Sovrano Pontefice. Un corpo e due anime: la monarchia
papale nella prima et moderna, Bologna, 1982.

628

f. davenia

St. Peter, it was expected that he would seal the fortunes of his family by lavish gifts and favours. The phenomenon of nepotism, as we
will see, survived the Tridentine reforms by more than a century. 8

Furthermore, mediation by an ecclesiastic relative facilitated

the achievement of prestigious positions for other members of the
same family, especially within the Spanish imperial Habsburg
system. An emblematic case was the Caetani, one of the most
important families of the Roman aristocracy, who saw its prestige
(and power) significantly increase by the end of the 16th century
with the granting of the papal title Duke of Sermoneta (1586)
and the Golden Fleece (1600). Other Spanish titulos, plazas and
mercedes followed, such as those accumulated by Duke Francesco
Caetani. He was originally a page at the court of Madrid, where
he followed his uncle, the papal nuncio Antonio. He then became
grandee of Spain (1618), viceroy of Valencia (1660), governor of
Milan (1660-62) and viceroy of Sicily (1663-67).9 None of this
would have been thinkable without the family ecclesiastic members, whose service at or for the Roman curia [bishops, cardinals
and nuncios in Madrid], allowed them to perform a delicate function as a link between religious and political objectives of the
Holy See and the interests of Spain .10
8
Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal 1540-1770, Cambridge, 2005, p. 99101, who holds the Borghese family up as a model. On
the Borghese, see Wolfgang Reinhard, Papstfinanz und Nepotismus unter
Paul V (1605-1621). Studien und Quellen zur Struktur und zu quantitativen
Aspekten des ppstlichen Herrschaftssystem, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1974; Id., Paul
V. Borghese (1605-1621). Mikropolitische Papstgeschichte, Stuttgart, 2009.
9
See Alberico Lo Faso di Serradifalco, Grandi di Spagna italiani,
in Proceedings of 22th Convivio della Societ italiana di studi araldici (2005),
2006, on-line at www.socistara.it/studi.php, 10.
10
Maria Antonietta Visceglia, Non si ha da equiparare lutile quando vi
fosse lhonore . Scelte economiche e reputazione: intorno alla vendita dello stato
feudale dei Caetani (1627), in Ead. (ed.), La nobilt romana in et moderna.
Profili istituzionali e pratiche sociali, Roma, 2001, p. 209-212. See also Mario
Rosa, Nobilt e carriera nella Memorie di due cardinali della Controriforma:
Scipione Gonzaga e Guido Bentivoglio, in Visceglia (ed.), La nobilt romana
[see supra], p. 231255. On curial and cardinal careers in 17th century Rome
and their implications for family interests, see Renata Ago, Carriere e clientele nella Roma barocca, Roma-Bari, 1990; on Papal careers and the Roman nepotistic system of power, see rather Antonio Menniti Ippolito, Il
governo dei papi nellet moderna, Roma, 2007; Wolfgang Reinhard, Papal
power and family strategy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in Ronald

elites and ecclesiastical careers

629

Based on these historiographical assumptions, the aim of this

article is to explain the role played by the cadet members of the
aristocracy, who followed distinguished ecclesiastical careers on
the Mediterranean island during the Habsburg rule. Although I
am convinced that female positions within the religious orders
also played a part in family power strategies, I will not examine
it here. As Enrique Soria recently wrote about the early modern
Spanish nobility, if the nun daughters leave their fathers house
to save [...], the male religious profession had a much greater
component of financial investment .11
I will therefore focus my attention on three main points. Firstly, the reconstruction of a long period within the Sicilian context,
from the 14th to the 17th century, which was characterized by
high social mobility within the aristocracy, i.e. the elite of the
nobility. Secondly, I will provide an analysis of the most important ecclesiastical careers as a mirror of this social mobility,
which culminated at the top of the regional hierarchy in the
dignities of Roman Church bishops or priors of the Military Orders, the Order of Malta in particular. Thirdly, I will offer a case
study of the Di Giovanni family of Messinainterwoven with the
stories of other families ascending the ranks of the Sicilian aristocracywhich will confirm the theses developed in my first two
points. In conclusion I will make some brief remarks on two open
questions which deserve further study: how the multiple membership of Sicilian ecclesiastics (family, Kingdom of Sicily, Spanish
Monarchy, Roman Church, and Military Orders) constrained their
G. Ash and Adolf M. Birke (eds.), Patronage and the Nobility. The Court at
the Beginning of the Modern Age, c. 1450-1650, Oxford-London, 1991; Id., Le
carriere papali e cardinalizie. Contributo alla storia sociale del papato, in Storia
dItalia, edited by Ruggiero Romano and Corrado Vivanti, vol. XVI, Luigi
Fiorani and Adriano Prosperi (eds.), Roma la citt del papa. Vita civile e
religiosa dal giubileo di Bonifacio VIII al giubileo di papa Wojtyla, Torino,
2000, p. 261290.
11
Soria Mesa, La nobleza en la Espaa moderna, p. 155. See also his considerations and examples about the financial investment strategies involving
the Church as a destination for the younger sons (ibid., p. 155162). On
the importance of family relations of secular clergy in Early Modern Spain
(from the simple holders of capellanas to the canons of cathedral chapters),
see Arturo Morgado Garca, Iglesia y familia en la Espaa Moderna, in
Fernando Negredo (ed.), Estudios sobre la Iglesia en la Monarqua Hispnica, monogrfico of Tiempos modernos. Rivista electrnica de Historia Moderna,
7/20 (2010), on-line at www.tiemposmodernos.org.

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f. davenia

policy choices and, in particular for the bishops, how far it helped
or hindered their duties as tridentine reformers.

Social mobility
In order to understand the deep renewal of the Sicilian nobility, we have to begin with the long Aragonese conflict against
the old medieval feudal class, which started with the Vespri Siciliani (Sicilian Vespers) in 1282 and can be considered resolved
in 1412, when Sicily became a vice-kingdom under the Crown of
Aragon.12 In particular, under the Kings Martin I and Martin II
(1392-1410), a nobility of State (Mineo)13 arose in Sicily: in exchange for loyalty and services, the new Crown gave preeminent
social status, that is offices and financial privileges to feudal and
urban elites.
Then, from the final years of King Alfonso V (1416-1458) and the
early years of King Ferdinand II (1479-1504), this social primacy
was sanctioned by institutionalized access to urban mastre nobili,
the lists of those eligible for city offices reserved for the nobility,14
as well as to the Parliament, in the braccio militare/baronale (Military or Baronial chamber).15 In fact, as established in 1452 by
the Capitoli del Regno, that is the petitions submitted by Parliament to the king and sanctioned by him, the Baronial Chamber
of Parliament would be reserved [...] not for all feudatories but
only for the holders of inhabited lands . Moreover in 1453-54 the
first census of Sicilian feudal lands was completed. Thus, under
the direction of the crown a divided political class began to form,
12

David Abulafia, The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms. The Struggle

for Dominion, 1200-1500, London and New York, 1997.
13
Mineo, Nobilt di Stato [see n. 3].
14
Domenico Ligresti, Feudatari e patrizi nella Sicilia moderna, secoli
XVI-XVII, Catania, 1992; Francesco Spataro di Passanitello, Le mastre
nobili, Sala Bolognese, 1975.
15
The Parliament of the Kingdom of Sicily was composed of three chambers, called bracci (arms), corresponding to the traditional three estates:
ecclesiastical chamber, baronial chamber and royal cities chamber. On the
Sicilian Parliament, see Helmut Georg Koenisberger, The Italian Parliaments from their Origins to the End of the 18th century, in his Politicians and
Virtuosi: Essays in Early Modern History, London, 1986, p. 3744; Andrea
Romano, foreward to Parlamenti generali ordinarij e straordinarij celebrati
nel Regno di Sicilia dal 1494 al 1658, Soveria Mannelli, 2001, p. ixxvii;
Daniela Novarese, introduction to Parlamenti generali, p. xixxlix.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

631

whose summit started to be recognised, consisting of barons who

have the right to sit in Parliament .16 In this way, at the beginning of the 15th century, a new hierarchy of nobility was formed.17
However, during the 16th century the feudal nobility was hit by
a great financial crisis, due to the enormous expense of rank and
representation, which Dewald viewed in terms of a consumer
revolution .18 The consequence was the failure of many feudal assets belonging to the most important familieslike the Ventimiglia, the first marquises (of Geraci)19 of the Kingdom of Sicily,
some of which were put under the control of a new institution,
the Deputazione degli Stati (Deputation of Feudal Estates), created
in 1598. This was the case of the Branciforte, first princes (of
Butera) and of the Lanza, later princes of Trabia.20
In this way a gradual but massive replacement or renewal of
the feudal class was produced in the first half of the 17th century
with the rise of many new nobles, who shared the same original socio-professional condition: bureaucrats, lawyers, professionals (e.g. notaries), who represent the new administrative staff of
the so called Modern State, as well as merchants, bankers and
former gabelloti (major tenants of feudal estates). They also had
great financial resources, which were very useful for the Hispanic
Monarchy, in particular during the crisis of the 1640s, which was
not only a financial crisis, but also a crisis of loyalty (there was
also a big revolt in Sicily in 1647-48).21 This situation produced
16

Mineo, Nobilt di Stato [see n. 3], p. 290291.

On the constant renewal of the feudal nobility from the Norman age
to the two Martins, see Henri Bresc, La feudalizzazione in Sicilia dal vassallaggio al potere baronale, in Storia della Sicilia, Napoli, 1977-1981, III,
p. 507508. See also Francesco Benigno and Claudio Torrisi, lite e potere nella Sicilia moderna, Roma, 1995, p. viiiix, and on new features
of Sicilian aristocracy from the age of the two Martins, see Pietro Corrao, Governare un regno. Potere, societ e istituzioni in Sicilia fra Trecento e
Quattrocento, Napoli, 1991, p. 20360.
18
Jonathan Dewald, The European Nobility, 1400-1800, Cambridge,
1996, p. 98107.
19
Orazio Cancila, Alchimie finanziarie di una grande famiglia feudale
nel primo secolo dellet moderna, in Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche, 6 (2006),
p. 89136.
20
Orazio Cancila, Baroni e popolo nella Sicilia del grano, Palermo, 1983,
p. 123137.
21
Maurice Aymard, Bilancio di una lunga crisi finanziaria, in Rivista
Storica Italiana, 84/1 (1972), p. 9881021; Daniele Palermo, Sicilia 1647.
17

f. davenia

632

an enormous nobility market , that is the inflation of honours,

titles, domains and jurisdictions. In particular the granting of
many licentiae populandi (licences to construct new towns) and
of merum et mixtum imperium privileges (the right to administer
civil and criminal justice) increased the new nobles weight in the
Parliament. Jurisdiction over a town was, as mentioned earlier,
the condition for access to the feudal chamber, while many new
nobles, as patricians of their city, were already members of the
braccio demaniale, that is representatives for the royal cities. And
it was precisely in Parliament that the nobility market came full
circle, when its members voted the donativo, i.e. gift, the most
remunerative Crown income of the Kingdom of Sicily.22
The galloping inflation of parliamentary titles is made clear in
the following table:
Parliamentary titles granted in the Kingdom of Sicily (1556-1700)
Philip II

Philip III

Philip IV

Charles II

tot.

princes

10

61

29

105

dukes

31

24

59

marquises

12

60

16

92

counts

13

23

tot.

16

24

165

74

279

annual
average

0.4

3.8

2.1

1.9

The remarkable increase under Philip IV should be noted: 165

titles out of 279 (59%), with an annual average of 3.8 (nine times
that of Philip II, about four times that of Philip III and about
double that of Charles II).23

Voci, esempi, modelli di rivolta, Quaderno n. 9 of Mediterranea. Ricerche

storiche, Palermo, 2009.
22
Koenisberger, The Italian Parliaments [see n. 15], p. 40.
23
My work from Titulos nobiliarios sicilianos concedidos por los reyes espaoles, appendix of Papeles de Estado, Sicilia, Virreinato Espaol, Catalogue
XIX of Archivo de Simancas, Valladolid, 1951, p. 501518. On the nobility
market in Sicily, see Fabrizio DAvenia, Il mercato degli onori: i titoli di don
nella Sicilia spagnola, in Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche, 7 (2006), p. 267288.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

633

Ecclesiastical careers I: bishops and abbots

Ecclesiastical careers are another mirror of this high social mobility, but in a different way: the number of the most prestigious
ecclesiastical positions in Sicilyi.e the benefices of royal patronage and the dignities of Military Ordersremained unchanged
throughout the modern age, while the number of candidates/competitors, that is the cadets of old and new aristocratic families,
increases.
Because of their founding or re-founding by the Norman kings
during and after the islands conquest by the Arabs,24 in Sicily
the most important ecclesiastical benefices were of royal patronage, therefore with the royal right of presentation (appointment),
formally relinquished by the papacy to Ferdinand II in 1487.25
These involved all 10 bishoprics (Palermo, Messina, Monreale,
Catania, Siracusa, Agrigento, Patti, Cefal, Mazara and Malta), 2
quasi-bishoprics (the Archimandrato del SS.mo Salvatore of Messina and the Abbey of S. Lucia del Mela; this latter was attached
to the dignity of Major Chaplain of the kingdom), 32 abbeys and
31 minor beneficescanonries and simple benefices, mainly in
Palermo, Messina and Agrigento. The major benefices gave their
holders the right of access to the ecclesiastical chamber of Parliament.26 In that way the right of royal patronage gave the kings
close control over the islands Church and also increased their influence over Parliament, very important in terms of deciding who
was conceded the donativo.

Gaetano Greco, La Chiesa in Italia nellet moderna, Roma-Bari,

1999, p. 41; Gaetano Zito (ed.), Storia delle Chiese di Sicilia, Roma, 2009,
p. 4050; Lucia Sorrenti, Il trono e gli altari. Beni e poteri temporali
delle chiese nei rapporti col sovrano, Milano, 2004, p. 148. On the Spanish royal patronage, see C. Hermann, Lglise dEspagne sous le patronage
royal (1476-1834). Essai decclsiologie politique, Madrid, 1988.
25
Similar concessions were granted to Ferdinand and Isabella in the
New World (1508) and to Charles V in Castile and Aragon (1523) (Helen
Rawlings, The Secularisation of Castilian Episcopal Office Under the Habsburgs, c. 1516-1700, in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 38/1 [1987], p. 55).
26
Actually the bishop of Malta did not attend the Parliament after
Charles V in 1530 granted the island to the Order of St. John. Other 15-20
abbots attended the ecclesiastical chamber, but they were not subjected to
the royal appointment (Carlo Calisse, Storia del Parlamento in Sicilia dalla
fondazione alla caduta della monarchia, Torino, 1887, p. 8389).
24

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f. davenia

The appointment of benefices subject to royal patronage was

regulated by the privilege of Alternativa: an alternation between
a Sicilian (naturale) and a foreigner (forestiero), in many cases
a Spaniard. The privilege of Alternativa, which was granted by
Ferdinand II in 1503, was not often respected, to the detriment
of the Sicilian ecclesiastics. For this reason the privilege was
sometimes compensated for, because of the constant complaints
by Parliament or the institution which deputized it after the
end of its session, the Deputazione del Regno.27 The most frequent
cases of violation of the privilege of Alternativa were in favour of
Roman Church cardinals and royal family members. More generally the Spanish ecclesiastics were favoured, in particular for the
bishoprics of greater political weight, like Palermo, capital of the
kingdom and seat of the viceroys court.28 In the Viceroys absence or vacancy even the government of the kingdom was held
ad interim by the prelate of the city with the title of President
of the Kingdom (e.g. the Cardinal Giannettino Doria held the
position four times from 1610 to 1639).29 For this reason, from
1649 the archbishopric of Palermo was reserved for Spaniards
only, and, as compensation, those of Patti and Mazara only for
Sicilians. 30

27

Koenisberger, The Italian Parliaments [see n. 15], p. 42.

See Fabrizio DAvenia, La feudalit ecclesiastica nella Sicilia degli
Asburgo: il governo del Regio Patronato (secoli XVI-XVII), in Aurelio Musi
and Maria Anna Noto (eds.), Feudalit laica e feudalit ecclesiastica nellItalia
Meridionale, Quaderno n. 19 of Mediterranea-ricerche storiche, Palermo, 2011,
p. 276292. As established in the Treaty of Barcelona, in the Kingdom of
Naples only 24 bishoprics out of 131 were of royal patronage. For these episcopal seats the privilege of Alternativa was granted between 1550 and 1554
(Mario Spedicato, Il mercato della mitra. Episcopato regio e privilegio dellalternativa nel regno di Napoli in et spagnola [1529-1714], Bari, 1996, p. 918;
Giovanni Brancaccio, Il trono, la fede e laltare. Istituzioni ecclesiastiche e vita
religiosa nel Mezzogiorno moderno, Napoli, 1996, p. 225256). In 1626 Philip
III granted the same privilege to the Kingdom of Aragon (except for the
Saragozza bishopric), where it was suppressed in 1707 (Maximiliano Barrio
Gozalo, La jerarqua eclesistica en la Espaa moderna. Sociologa de una lite
de poder (1556-1834), in Cuadernos de Historia Moderna, 25 [2000], p. 24).
29
Giovanni Evangelista Di Blasi, Storia cronologica dei vicer luogotenenti e presidenti del Regno di Sicilia, Palermo, 1867, p. 979980.
30
AHN Estado, leg. 2169, unfoliated, consulta of the Consejo de Italia for
appointment to the bishopric of Siracusa (22 Nov. 1694), with a letter of the
Deputazione del Regno (3 Sep. 1692).
28

elites and ecclesiastical careers

635

The iter for the appointment to the bishoprics and abbeys was
seemingly simple: a viceroys list of three eligible candidates was
examined by the Consejo de Italia and, based on this consulta, the
content of which was also detailed for the Camara de Castilla by
Philip II in the Instruccin de 1588, the King made the official
presentation, which was sent to the Roman Ambassador for Papal
approval. 31 Finally, in the Kingdom of Sicily, the Office of the
Protonotaro del Regno had to make executive the papal bulls of appointment (which was necessary for the royal presentation too).32
For the Malta bishopric, the first step was a grand masters list
of three eligible candidates belonging to the class of conventual
chaplains of the Order which was sent to the Viceroy for his consultation. Then the iter followed the usual procedure. 33
This iter could often become complex and long, a game of unpredictable timing (as long as three years, during which the vacant spiritual and temporal government dioceses suffered particularly from the absence of their shepherd). The Consejo de Italia
might disapprove and change the viceroys list, just as the king
could present a candidate who was not included in the Consejo
consultation, 34 and it goes without saying that the same Consejo
members sometimes proposed different candidates.35 For his part,
the Roman ambassador might influence the Consejo or kings resolution, under pressure from the papal court. Finally, a delay or
even a stop to the royal appointment could be the consequence of
apparent bureaucratic slowness in the emission of papal bulls or

31

Barrio Gozalo, La jerarqua eclesistica [see n. 28], p. 2528; Rawlings, The Secularisation [see n. 25], p. 5658.
32
AGS Sp, libros 776785 Consultas de Iglesias (1598-1698); libros 949
994, Privilegios de Sicilia (1598-1697); AHN Estado, leg. 2170, 2176, 2178,
2182, 2183; ASP, Protonotaro del Regno, Registri, vols. 447724 (15981700).
33
Fabrizio DAvenia, Partiti, clientele, diplomazia: la nomina dei vescovi
di Malta dalla donazione di Carlo V alla fine del viceregno spagnolo (15301713), in Antonino Giuffrida, Fabrizio DAvenia and Daniele Palermo
(eds.), Studi storici dedicati a Orazio Cancila, Quaderno n. 16 of Mediterranea.
Ricerche storiche, Palermo, 2011, vol. II, p. 445490.
34
Sometimes the king even appointed without the Consejos consultation
(see Barrio Gozalo, La jerarqua eclesistica [see n. 28], p. 2627).
35
On the work of the Consejo de Italia, see Manuel Rivero, Felipe II y el
gobierno de Italia, Madrid, 1998.

636

f. davenia

of the kingdoms execution of these bulls, but were actually a way

of expressing the Holy Sees or kingdoms disapproval.
All the actors in this game often moved in the shadow of a
conflict of interests, trying to favour their relatives, friends and
clients, until they achieved their objectives. For this reason the
same candidates names are repeated for years in the correspondence between viceroy, Consejo, royal court, Roman ambassador,
Holy See and the institutions of the Kingdom of Sicily.36
The typical and successful career of an aristocratic cadet often began with the appointment of royal chaplain at court (or
chaplain of honour) where the young cleric formed a network of
relationships with royal family members, ministers and influential people, which was useful to his family interests. Later, after about 10-15 years court service, he came back to Sicily, was
appointed to an abbey, then to progress to another of greater
importance (the first appointment being normally without a requirement of residence). Then he would obtain an episcopal dignity: from quasi-bishopric to bishopric or better, to archbishopric
(in Sicily: Palermo, Messina and Monreale).
As abbot or bishop he was also a member of Parliaments ecclesiastical chamber and so, in alliance with his relatives of the
other two chambers, he contributed once more to increasing his
familys prestige and political weight, within a network of relationships that may be described as teamwork . 37

Ecclesiastical careers II: knights

Regarding the Military Orders, it is important to remark that
the knights careersunlike the priests belonging to themcan
be considered sui generis as ecclesiastical. More so are those within the Order of Malta because of its independent nature, with its

36

The procedure and above all the game of appointments, as well as

the candidates, overlapped into the assignment of ecclesiastic pensions, paid
yearly out of the revenues of the same churches or abbeys and whose destination is not subject to considerations of a pastoral nature, but rather to
political strategies aimed at creating and maintaining networks to support
the crown, within and outside the kingdom (Raffaele Manduca, Le chiese,
lo spazio, gli uomini, Caltanissetta-Roma, 2009, p. 282).
37
Renata Ago, Giochi di squadra: uomini e donne nella famiglie nobili
del XVII secolo, in Visceglia (ed.), Signori... [see n. 2], p. 256264.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

637

general, the grand master, subject only to the pope, and the celibacy obligation for its knights. The knights careers within the
Castilian Orders can be considered less ecclesiastical as they
were controlled by the king and where celibacy had either not
been an obligation since its foundation (Santiago) or had then been
abolished by a papal bull (Calatrava and Alcntara in 1540).38 In
any case, belonging to these particular kinds of religious Order
and following their rules (Statuta, Definiciones or Establecimientos)
had a different and important aristocratic meaning. The membership of the international Order of Malta represented a mark of
nobility, because of the selective requirements of entry, while the
Alcntara, Calatrava and Santiago crosses were a mark of loyalty,
granted by the king of Spain as the administrator of the Orders
to reward service to the Crown to those of not always proven nobility (in this case with the opposition of the Consejo de Ordenes). 39
As is known, very often within the same family there were even
brothers who were knights of both Orders (Malta and the Castilian ones), as well as abbots and bishops. The term teamwork is
confirmed.
The following data are important: from 1550 to 1700, there
were 433 Sicilian knights of Malta (14% of the Italian knights)
and 163 knights of the Castilian Orders.40 Sicily was particularly linked with the Order of Malta for historical and strategic
38

Martine Lambert-Gorges, Basques et Navarrais dans lOrdre de Santiago (1580-1620), Paris, 1985, p. 109112; Francisco Fernndez Izquierdo,
La Orden militar de Calatrava en el siglo XVI. Infraestructura institucional.
Sociologa y prosopografa de sus caballeros, Madrid, 1992, p. 112114. On
the incorporation of the Military Orders to the Castilian Crown, see ibid.,
p. 4856, 1306; Elena Postigo Castellanos, Honor y privilegio en la Corona de Castilla. El Consejo de las Ordenes y los caballeros de hbito en el s.
XVII, Soria, 1988, p. 2148.
39
L. P. Wright, The Military Orders in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Spanish Society. The Institutional Embodiment of a Historical Tradition, in
Past and Present, 43 (1969), p. 3470; Postigo Castellanos, Honor y privilegio [see n. 38], p. 145; Fernndez Izquierdo, La Orden militar [see
n. 38], p. 91, 121; Franco Angiolini, Nobilt, Ordini cavallereschi e mobilit
sociale nellItalia moderna, in Storica, 12 (1998), p. 3756; Fabrizio DAvenia, I processi di nobilt degli ordini militari: modelli aristocratici e mobilit
sociale, in M. Rivero Rodrguez (ed.), Nobleza hispana, Nobleza cristiana.
La Orden de San Juan, Madrid, 2009, vol. II, p. 1087126.
40
Cfr. Angelantonio Spagnoletti, Stato, aristocrazie e Ordine di Malta
nellItalia moderna, Roma, 1988, p. 69; AHN Om, exp.tes and ex.llos.

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f. davenia

reasons. The Maltese archipelago was a fief under the Sicilian

Crown. Indeed Charles V, as King of Sicily, had granted Malta
to the Order in 1530. Since then it had depended almost entirely
on Sicily for supplies, galley building and maintenance as well as
financial resources.41 Sicily was one of the seven priories of the
Tongue of Italy (Lingua dItalia), one of the eight geographical
and administrative constituencies of the Order. Its seat was in
Messina and the most important offices were the prior, his lieutenant, the assembly knights and seven receivers with financial,
fiscal and commercial roles, based in the major port cities of the
island, like Palermo, Messina, Trapani, etc. The Priory consisted
of eleven medieval and rich commanderies (the Tongue as a whole
was made up of 135), composed of baronies with feudal jurisdiction and assorted rights accumulated over the centuries, land,
property and churches.42
Entry to the Order was regulated by proofs of nobility, an inquiry conducted by two commissioners and then submitted for
approval or rejection to assemblies of knights of the Priory and
of the Tongue, and finally to the Grand Master and the Council
of the Order. The inquiry concerned the nobility requirements of
the candidate and his quarters (e.g. the Tongue of Italy required
two hundred years nobility in all four lines), based on official
records and oral testimonies. This was the law as established by
Statutes and Ordinations: an impartial inquiry, some objective
requirements, a fair trial. In practise there was a wide margin
of arbitrariness, and the approval or rejection of the proofs often
depended on kinship as well as patronage. First of all, the dispensation of requirements and/or procedures was frequently granted
and abused, under pressure from the royal court, the Holy See,
the Viceroy, the institutions of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Or41
Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, La Sicilia e il Sovrano Ordine Militare di Malta, Messina, 1953; Angelantonio Spagnoletti, LOrdine di Malta
e la Sicilia, in Luciano Buono and Giacomo Pace Gravina (eds.), La Sicilia dei cavalieri. Le istituzioni dellOrdine di Malta in et moderna (15301826), Roma, 2003, p. 930; Antonino Giuffrida, La Sicilia e lOrdine di
Malta (1529-1550). La centralit della periferia mediterranea, Quaderno n. 2
of Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche, Palermo, 2006.
42
H.J.A. Sire, The Knights of Malta, New Haven and London, 1996,
p. 158159; Fabrizio DAvenia, Le commende gerosolimitane in Sicilia: patrimoni ecclesiastici, gestione aristocratica, in Buono and Pace Gravina (eds.),
La Sicilia [see n. 41], p. 3586.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

639

der dignitaries. This ordinary exception to the rule is clearly

illustrated in a sample of 212 Sicilian knights of Malta admitted
from 1543 to 1752 (more than half of the total in that period).
110 (51,9%) were admitted with one to four dispensations each,
totalling a final number of 181.
The approval or rejection of the proofs was often another game
of unpredictable timing (and results), which pitted assembly
against assembly (e.g. Priory versus Tongue, Tongue versus Grand
Master and Council, and they versus Priory and so on) or knights
against knights within the same assembly, conflicts which frequently reflected antagonisms between or within urban patriciates. The contestation of the proofs was in this case a pure pretext, demonstrated by the role reversal of the actors (assemblies
or knights) with the use of the same arguments.43
So entry into the Order as a knight of justice (the highest degree of membership) was the first difficult step in a career following the granting of a commandery (to progress to another of
greater importance) and sometimes at the same time, the command of a galley. At that point the fortunate knight could become lieutenant (often with the office of receiver) and then prior
of Messina. The most successful careers culminated as general of
the galleys and chief (piliere) of the Tongue of Italy, who was also
the admiral of the Order (however a Sicilian knight was never
grand master). From the prior onwards, the dignities of the Order were awarded the Grand Cross, which allowed access to the
Council of the Order.44

A case study: the Di Giovanni family (and its competitors)

In fact the history of the Di Giovanni family, a patrician family from Messina, is a good case study of the high social mobility of the aristocracy in early modern Sicily. Emblematic is the
social advancement of the family from the Aragonese conquest
to the Habsburg inflation of honours and the parallel development of ecclesiastical careers within the Church and Military Orders. This increased the familys power and its political network,

43
Fabrizio DAvenia, Nobilt allo specchio. Mobilit sociale e Ordine di
Malta nella Sicilia moderna, Quaderno n. 8 of Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche,
Palermo, 2009, p. 5165, 164233.
44
Sire, The Knights of Malta [see n. 42], p. 83.

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f. davenia

in particular during and after the Revolt of Messina (1674-78),

the most dangerous attempt to overthrow the Spanish domination of the island, comparable to the Catalan Revolt, because of
its concrete threat of secession and the involvement of the eternal
enemy, France.45
According to family legend, it descended from a 9th-century
Phrygian dynasty of Byzantine emperors. However the real and
documented story actually begins with Giovanni (Juan), who
originated from the Kingdom of Valencia and served King Peter
II of Sicily (1337-1342) in the conquest of the island. For his loyalty Giovanni was rewarded with important positions and took
up residence in Messina.46
Following Giovannis footsteps, his descendants, specializing
in bureaucratic professions (notaries in particular), accumulated
privileges, titles, important State offices and were admitted to
the Messina mastra giuratoria reserved for nobles, often holding the most important offices of the city. In this way the family established itself as nobility of State and urban patricians: a
springboard for future social advancement.
From the end of the 16th to the beginning of the following century, the firstborn of the two family branches acquired maritali nomine through his wife or purchased large estates to which
parliamentary feudal titles were granted through marriage to
wealthy heiresses. The case of Scipione and Domenico, father and
son, is very interesting. In 1585 Scipione married Brigida Giustiniani and in 1620 Domenico married Girolama Salvarezza, These
women were principal heirs of two extremely rich merchants from
Genova, Vincenzo Giustiniani (Brigidas brother) and Giovanni
Salvarezza (Girolamas father). Thanks to their dowries, Domenico purchased Catanias casali (small towns) of Trecastagni, Pedara
and Viagrande from the Sicilian Regia Corte (which controlled the
public finance of the kingdom) 47 in 1640-1641, for which he ob-

45

Luis Antonio Ribot Garca, La revuelta antiespaola de Mesina. Causas y antecedentes (1591-1674), Valladolid, 1992.
46
Athanasius Kircher, Splendor et Gloria domus Joanniae, in his Principis Christiani Archetypon Politicum regnatrix (Amsterdam, 1672), 83122;
Andrea Minutolo, Memorie del Gran Priorato di Messina, Messina, 1699,
p. iiiii, 55.
47
Antonino Giuffrida, La finanza pubblica nella Sicilia del 500, CaltanissettaRoma, 1999, p. 2526.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

641

tained the title of prince of Trecastagni with access to Parliament

the following year. In 1660 he also bought the Saponara barony
from the debt-ridden Moncada family, for which his son obtained
the title of duke in 1684. At the same time Placido, Domenicos
brother, and Palmeri (second family branch) respectively acquired
maritali nomine the baronies of Castrorao from Antonia Rao (title
of prince granted in 1632) and of Sollazzo from Annamaria Lo
Giudice (title of marquis granted in 1699).
The ecclesiastical careers of the Di Giovanni cadets fitted into
this rapid rise in family fortunes: six knights of Malta from 1617
to 1691, who included three lieutenants and one prior of Messina
(these latter positions guaranteed control of the Priory from 1669
to 1715); one knight of Santiago, Domenico, duke of Saponara;
one abbot and bishop, Placido. The endogamic marriage in 1667
between the two branches with Angela and Francesco should also
be noted.48
Placido and Giovanni Di Giovannis careers deserve to be
analyzed in particular. Placido began his career as royal court
chaplain in 1669. In 1682 he was appointed to the Abbey of S.
Angelo di Brolo. Then in 1686 he became archimandrita of Messina (which enjoyed episcopal dignity). Finally in 1694, he was
appointed to the bishopric of Siracusa, but died before taking
possession. However, his career was strongly influenced by the
opinions of the viceroy and other Spanish ministers about the Di
Giovannis conduct in the Revolt of Messina. Indeed, before and
during the revolt, there were serious suspicions about the familys loyalty to the Spanish Monarchy. Probably for this reason
Placido was not appointed from 1673 to 1679 to an abbey or bishopric, although his name had been proposed in eight consultations of the Consejo de Italia for appointment to the bishoprics of
Siracusa, Patti (three times) and Mazara, to the Archimandrato
of Messina and to the Abbeys of SS. Pietro e Paolo of Itala and
S. Maria dellArco.49
48
Fabrizio DAvenia, Il ciclo vitale di unlite cittadina: il patriziato di
Messina in et moderna, in Las lites en la poca Moderna: la Monarqua
Espaola, Enrique Soria Mesa and Ral Molina Recio (eds.), vol. II, Familia y redes sociales, Crdoba, 2010, p. 133149.
49
AHN Estado, leg. 2184, unfoliated, Relacin de los titulos y meritos de
don Placido de Joan, cappellan de Honor de Vuestra Magestad, hermano del
Principe de Tres Castaas (10 Jan. 1676, but updated to 30 May 1682); leg.

f. davenia

642

The Di Giovannis ecclesiastical careers

I branch
Francesco

Palmeri, b. Sollazzo
Annamaria Lo
Giudice

Andrea LT

II branch
Scipione
Brigida Giustiniani

Antonio Maria LT Domenico, p. Trecastagni

Girolama Salvarezza

Placido, p. Castrorao
Antonia Rao

Francesco, b. Sollazzo Angela Giovanni LT/Priorc Scipione, p. Trecastagnia

Placido, abbot/bishopd Vincenzo, d. Saponara b
Marioe

Palmeri, m. Sollazzo

Andrea Fortunato

Domenico

Domenico, k. Santiago
d. Saponara

= marriage / b. = baron of / m. = marquis of / d. = duke of / p. = prince of / k. = knight of /

knights of Malta / LT = lieutenant of Priory of Messina / Prior = prior of Messina / abcde =
brothers

In October 1673 the viceroy of Sicily, Prince de Ligne, put

Placido in second place in the list for the Siracusa bishopric,
writing prophetically to the Consejo de Italia that his appointment would be a great comfort to all their relatives and a very
good example for that nobility [of Messina] in order to remember its obligations in service to the crown .50 On that occasion
the Consejo, while recognising his qualities, omitted him he
could wait! However only three years later, in November 1676,
in the thick of the revolt, it proposed him in second place for the
Archimandrato di Messina, whose seat was inside the city itself.
The Consejo motivated its choice precisely as a result of Placidos
loyalty, because he had always distinguished himself in service
to the crown, continuing in this way during the Revolt of Messina with remarkable behaviour and a large loss of assets [and]

2174, unfoliated, consulta of the Consejo de Italia for the appointment to the
Abbey of SS. Pietro e Paolo of Itala (13 Feb. 1678); AGS Sp, libro 988, fos
253-256, royal presentation to the Abbey of S. Angelo di Brolo (13 Jul.
1682); libro 991, fos 149-151, royal presentation to Archimandrato of Messina (26 Mar. 1686); AHN Estado, leg. 2169, unfoliated, consulta of the Consejo de Italia for the appointment to the bishopric of Siracusa (22 Nov. 1694).
50
AHN Estado, leg. 2182, unfoliated, consulta of the Consejo de Italia for
the appointment to the bishopric of Siracusa (28 Nov. 1673).

elites and ecclesiastical careers

643

as a result falling into financial straits. Furthermore, his brother

Francisco de Juan [actually his cousin] was serving in that war
as maestre de campo .51
Two years later Placidos reputation had grown further in the
eyes of the Consejo; so much so that in February 1678 it placed
him at the top of the list for the Abbey of SS. Pietro e Paolo of
Itala. Evidently it had given credence to Placidos statement, attached to the consultation, in which the chaplain remembered his
nine years of service and the financial losses he and his family
faced following the Revolt of Messina:
having resided there [the royal court] with the decency of Your Majestys servant and the comfort of an income of one thousand silver
ducats, [...] and once the rebellion of the city [Messina] had occurred,
he had completely lost his income and a number of items of furniture
of considerable value that he had left in that city, which the petitioners mother and brother had had in their home. [Moreover,] his
mother and his brothers [Scipione], prince of Tre Castagne and Don
Vincenzo de Juan, baron of Saponara, who supported him, have also
lost most of their wealth and have continuously aided the viceroys as
stated by all the reports that they had presented to the secretariat of
Sicily, for which reason and because of their obligations as royal subjects, the authorities of Messina have taken all of [their] property and
effects which were there. And having informed Your Majesty of this
on two occasions, [he] ordered the viceroy of Sicily to provide supplies to the supplicant for continuing in the service of Your Majesty,
[but] it was not possible to obtain anything because of the scourge of
war, now ongoing in the kingdom. 52

Nor on this occasion did the king appoint Placido, but probably not for political reasons: it was just not his turn and other
people had been waiting longer. In fact the king appointed
the theatine Giuseppe Boccadifoco, visitor to the Sicilian province for his Order.53 Although he was not even mentioned in the
consultation for the Abbey of Itala, already in September 1675
51

Ibid., leg. 2184, unfoliated, Relacin de los titulos y meritos de don Placido de Joan (12 Dec. 1678). In the consultation (10 Nov. 1676) one of the
reggenti, Vincenzo Denti from Messina, put Placido in first place on the list
for the Archimandrato (ibid., leg. 2170, unfoliated).
52
AGS Sp, leg. 1318, unfoliated, memorial of don Placido Di Giovanni
(9 Feb. 1678).
53
AHN Estado, leg. 2176, unfoliated, file Abbey of Itala (1624-1710),
consultation of the Consejo de Italia (13 Feb. 1678).

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f. davenia

he had been recommended by the king himself for the next appointments and by April-June 1678 the Viceroy Gonzaga and the
majority of the Consejo proposed him as the main candidate for
the Mazara bishopric. On that occasion it was the turn of Carlo
Riggio, sumiller de cortina with more than 13 years court service,
formerly abbot of S. Maria de Gala and treasurer of Palermo Cathedral, in 1676 appointed to the Archimandrato of Messina, but
without being able to receive the annuity, because of the French
occupation . As in the case of Placido Di Giovanni regarding the
Siracusa bishopric in 1673, when in the same year the viceroy
Prince de Ligne proposed Carlo Riggio as the principal candidate
for the Cefal episcopal seat, the Consejo then omitted him in its
consultation, saying that although he was very worthy he could
wait 54 and so the chain continued!
However, after the suppression of the revolt, the Di Giovannis
loyalty was finally clarified and in any case, the strategy of the
Spanish Monarchy to recover the political support of some important aristocratic families in Messina, the reconstruction of
loyalty as Ribot Garca has described it,55 guaranteed the Di
Giovanni titles and privileges. In this context, Placidos influence at court, where he remained for 13 years, made it possible to
grant a habit of Santiago to his nephew Domenico in 1681. Three
years later Domenico purchased the title of duke too.
These are the same years when, as mentioned earlier, Placidos
ecclesiastical career took a new turn, in 1682-86, with his appointment to the Abbey of S. Angelo di Brolo (1682) and to the
Archimandrato of Messina (1686). The analysis of the two respective consultations of the Consejo de Italia sheds an interesting light
on the game of ecclesiastical appointments and on the conflicts
of interest that complicated its rules. The members of the Consejo
were divided on several proposals for a total of ten candidates,
four cited in both consultations and six cited in only one of them.
In two cases the kinship of one the Consejo members with the
candidates was declared: the reggente Giovanni Ramondetta with
54

AHN Estado, leg. 2184, unfoliated, Memorias con relaciones de mritos

y servicios de diferentes sujetos, que pretendan piezas o pensiones eclesisticas
en Sicilia, unfoliated, Carlo Riggio (undated); leg. 2170, memorial of Luigi
Riggio, prince of Campofiorito (dated 1685).
55
Luis Antonio Ribot Garca, La Monarqua de Espaa y la guerra de
Mesina (1674-1678), Madrid, 2002, p. 614615.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

645

his son Nicola, and the marquis of Balbases, Paolo Vincenzo Spinola, with Carlo Colonna, his wifes nephew. Both Ramondetta
and Balbases left the assembly after voting, customary in cases
of kinship . The latter belonged to an ancient and very powerful
family of the Roman and Neapolitan aristocracy. He was a descendant of the famous Marcantonio Colonna, admiral of the papal fleet at Lepanto and viceroy of Sicily (1577-84),56 and son of
the constable of the Kingdom of Naples who, like several Sicilian
and Neapolitan nobles, at the beginning of the Revolt of Messina
sent a hundred infantrymen and made vassals and resources from
his Calabrian estates available.57
Placido Di Giovannis other two competitors, who were also repeated in both consultations, were Giuseppe Migliaccio, abbot of
S. Maria lo Fico from 1681, and Giuseppe Impellizzeri, chaplain
of honour from 1674.
The former descended from a family belonging to lower feudal
status (with the title baron of Montemaggiore in 1526), which between the 1580s and 1640s quickly achieved important political
positions within the Sicilian parliamentary aristocracy: in 1598
Mariano I, Giuseppes great-great-grandfather, who was at the
Great Siege of Malta (1565) and at Lepanto (1571), acquired the
title marquis of Montemaggiore; in 1626 his grandson Mariano
II, Giuseppes grandfather, acquired the title prince of Baucina
(with licentia populandi and right of merum et mixtum imperium).
Both also held important public offices in Palermo and Messina
(respectively pretore and strategoto, the highest positions in the cities), and in Sicily as Deputato del Regno and mastro razionale of the
Tribunale del Real Patrimonio, the most important financial organ
of the kingdom. Moreover, Giuseppes father, Ignazio prince of
Baucina, followed his ancestors military and political career as
capitano di giustizia (police chief) in 1663 and pretore of Palermo in
1671 and 1678. However he is mainly remembered as a brave soldier with an excellent record of service to the Habsburg Monarchy
from the Dutch Revolt (1643-47) to the Revolt of Messina, when
he was general vicar in Catania, an office held at his own expense
through loss of his property and with the viceroys approval.58
56

Nicoletta Bazzano, Marco Antonio Colonna, Roma, 2003.

Ribot Garca, La Monarqua [see n. 55], p. 153, 156.
58
AHN Estado, leg. 2184, unfoliated, memorial of princess of Baucina
(6 Jul. 1684); Domenico Ligresti, Sicilia aperta (secoli XV-XVII). Mobilit
57

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f. davenia

The general vicar, who had important responsibilities in military matters [...] was actually an alter ego or agent for the viceroy , appointed by him among the most faithful of the first nobility of the kingdom on special occasions [...] such as subsistence
crises or earthquakes [...] During the war of Messina there were
[vicars] in almost all the major cities on the island , for example
Catania, Siracusa, Girgenti and Trapani. In February 1677 the
Viceroy marquis of Castelrodrigo praised the prince of Baucina
to whom he considered the citys preservation was owed. As well
as the prince of Aragona and the duke of Camastra [general vicars respectively in Girgenti and Siracusa], he said that the same
confidence can and should be placed in them as if they were Spanish .59 The report made to the viceroy by some Spanish soldiers
had probably influenced Castelrodrigos opinion. In fact they said
that the French did not want to attack Catania, although the city
was weak and open, because they well knew the vigilance and
skill of the prince who as a good and experienced soldier could
trunk their designs .60
On the other hand, don Giuseppe Impellizzeri belonged to a
provincial family of lower feudal status (with only the title baron
of S. Giacomo from 1593) within the patriciate of the small royal
city of Noto. However its members activity as large wine producers and marriages into patriciate families of the much more important Siracusa, like Landolina (for example Giuseppes mother),
as early as the 1660s and 1670s allowed access to the mastra nobile of the same city. And once again ecclesiastical careers followed
social ascendancy.61 Several Impellizzeri had been or were chaplains of honour like Giuseppe: his uncle Carlo from 1627 (later
bishop of Mazara in 1650-54), his brother Simone from 1666 and
also one of his nephews from 1674. His brother in law Francesco
was a knight of Malta (1617), as was another uncle Francesco

di uomini e idee, Quaderno n. 3 of Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche, Palermo,

2006, p. 80, 101; Francesco San Martino De Spucches, La storia dei feudi
e dei titoli nobiliari di Sicilia dalla loro origine ai nostri giorni, 10 vols., Palermo, 1924-1941, vol. I, p. 213214; vol. V, p. 198200.
59
Ribot Garca, La Monarqua [see n. 55], p. 310, 548.
60
AHN Estado, leg. 2184, unfoliated, memorial of princess of Baucina
(6 Jul. 1684).
61
Francesca Fausta Gallo, Siracusa barocca. Politicae e cultura nellet
spagnola (secoli XVI-XVII), Roma, 2008, p. 238276.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

647

(1645) and another nephew Mariano (1688).62 His brother Simone

had been appointed as Cappellano Maggiore del Regno and abbot
of S. Lucia del Mela in 1669, where he remained until 1701.63 In
the Revolt of Messina, according to a note inserted in a report regarding his qualifications and merits, his conduct did not satisfy
the Monarchys expectations because when the French occupied
the city of Santa Lucia, the viceroy marquis of Villafranca wrote
that the abbot was very discouraged, so in that church there was
little resistance to singing the Te Deum laudamus to the rebel don
Giacomo Averna, who was entering the city . Maybe for that reason the king never appointed him to a bishopric, although in 1678
some reggenti had proposed him for the seats of Mazara and Patti,
while his brother Giuseppe would wait until 1689 for the royal
presentation of an abbey of little value (S. Salvatore of Piazza).64
Accordingly Colonna and Migliaccio, if less so Impellizzeri,
were certainly more prestigious candidates than Di Giovanni and
with influential connections, as confirmed by the vote in both
Consejo sessions (including the viceroys proposal):
candidate

votes in Consejo
consultations
1682

1686

Carlo Colonna

Giuseppe Migliaccio

10

Giuseppe Impellizzeri

Placido Di Giovanni

Nicola Ramondetta

62
Cf. AHN Estado, leg. 2184, unfoliated, memorial of Giuseppe Impellizzeri (undated but before 6 Feb. 1678); Relaciones de los titulos y meritos of
Giuseppe and Simone Impellizzeri (20 Nov. 1683 and 30 Jun. 1681); letter
and memorial of the princess of Baucina (6 Jul. 1684); ASP Cm, f. 974, fasc.
223, proofs of nobility of Mariano Impellizzeri (1668); Minutolo, Memorie [see n. 46], p. 314316; San Martino De Spucches, La storia [see
n. 58], vol. VII, p. 112113.
63
Zito (ed.), Storia delle Chiese [see n. 24], p. 496497.
64
AHN Estado, leg. 2184, unfoliated, Relacin de los titulos y meritos of
Simone Impellizzeri (30 June 1681); AGS Sp, libro 992, fos 23840, royal
presentation (Madrid, 19 Jul. 1689).

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f. davenia

However the kings decision in favour of Placido Di Giovanni

did not respect those numbers. This was particularly evident in
the second consultation (1686), especially since in February 1683
the king had himself written to the prince of Baucina, assuring
him that in future he would take account of his services and of
his sons good qualities , and in May 1685 wrote to the Consejo
highly recommending Giuseppe Migliaccio in the upcoming vacant sees and attaching a letter from his mother, now widowed,
abandoned with eleven orphans .65 Indeed in 1686, as a concession, Giuseppe was appointed to the priory of S. Andrea of Piazza, which because of its low value he could combine with the
Abbey of S. Nicola lo Fico.66
It is remarkable that even in 1692 the Spanish ministers opinion about the Di Giovannis conduct in the revolt was not unanimous. This is clear from a consultation of the Consejo de Italia for
the appointment to the bishop of Catania. Indeed, the majority of
the Consejo put Placido Di Giovanni at the head of the list for the
appointment, saying that, although he belongs to the Di Giovanni, who have links to many other powerful families in Messina,
in the revolt all his brothers left the city, keeping in obedience to
Your Majesty .
However not only was Placidos candidacy not included in Viceroy Uzedas proposal, but also the President of the Consejo, the
marquis of Villafranca who had been viceroy during the revolt,
as well as one of the reggenti, Pietro Guerrero, voted against the
majority, saying they cannot agree because the Di Giovanni
family was completely disloyal in the service of Your Majesty
and very powerful in that city . Placidos appointment to Catania
would have been detrimental, without saying that Messina and
Catania have made an alliance, for which reason there has always
been the attempt to put independent subjects in both the bishoprics of Catania and Messina. The result was that Placido was not
appointed to Catania.

65

AGS Sp, libro 784, fos 429 r 432 r, consulta of the Consejo de Italia for
the appointment to the Abbey of SantAngelo di Brolo (30 May 1682); libro
785, fos 55v60 r, consulta of the Consejo de Italia for the appointment to the
Archimandrato of Messina (12 Nov. 1685).
66
AGS Sp, libro 991, fos 202204, royal presentation to the Priory of
SantAndrea of Piazza (19 Aug. 1686).

elites and ecclesiastical careers

649

In any case, his career could resume its path to a bishopric

just two years later, in 1694. Not only did the Viceroy Uzeda
put Placido in second place for the Siracusa bishopric, but the
marquis of Villafranca changed his mind too, for he now believed
that the drawbacks of his familys relationship and adherence to
Messina had been exaggerated and the alliance of Messina with
Catania, whose bishopric was then discussed, was no longer a factor. Therefore there was no difficulty regarding Placidos nomination because the bishopric being discussed was Syracuse. So all
the Consejo voted for Placido as first choice, except Pietro Guerrero.67 The reggente reconfirmed his negative opinion of 1692 over
Catania and emphasized that the importance of the Siracusa bishopric for royal service was so crucial that it had often been discussed and attempts had always been made to establish that the
choice for this church should go to a Spaniard like the Palermo
and Monreale bishoprics, compensating the kingdom with another
church . However since it was now to be assigned to a Sicilian
(because of the privilege of Alternativa), he suggested choosing
an experienced and wise person and not Placido Di Giovanni.
However on this occasion he was alone against everyone, including the king.68 Actually Placido never took possession of his new
diocese, because of his death the same year.69
The parallel career of Placido Di Giovannis brother Giovanni
in the Order of Malta was equally prestigious. He was admitted
to the Order in 1640; in 1659 he was galley captain and then
commander of Caltagirone. From 1669 to 1684 he was lieutenant
of the Priory and receiver of Messina. In the revolt, the families of the Priory divided into two factions, for and against the
Spanish Monarchy, and Giovanni was the chief of the party loyal
to the king. For this reason in the years after the revolt his career continued successfully: he was awarded the Grand Cross of
the Order, in 1690 he was prior of Barletta (another priory in
the Tongue of Italy), general of Malta and of the papal galleys in
1692 and prior of Messina in 1693, following the renunciation of
67

On the real political reasons for Guerreros opposition to the Di Giovanni family, see DAvenia, Nobilt [see n. 43], p. 260263, 270.
68
AGS Sp, libro 785, fos 241r 248r, consulta of the Consejo de Italia for the
appointment to the bishopric of Siracusa (13 Jan. 1694).
69
His will is in ASP Alliata, vol. 2139, fos 190 r 197v, Notary Carlo Melardo of Messina (13 Sep. 1694).

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f. davenia

the office by his predecessor, the Florentine fra Andrea Minorbetti, because of the earthquake of 1693 which ruined the Priorys revenue .70
As general of galleysan office whose administration, maintenance and service was funded through a loan provided by his
brother Scipione, prince of Trecastagni, and his nephew mentioned earlier, Domenico, knight of Santiago and duke of Saponara ( teamwork again),71 he worked courageously on the Aegean Sea in collaboration with the Venetian fleet, commanded by
Dominic Mocenigo and then by the Doge Francesco Morosini.72
He died at sea in 1700 when the commanding galley sank following a naval clash with a Barbary ship off the Isola delle Correnti,
on the southern tip of Sicily.73
As mentioned, however, the proofs were frequently the scene
of antagonism between urban patriciates, like those of Catania
and Messina. A very interesting and well documented example at
the end of the 1660s concerned Francesco Ramondettabrother
of Nicola, Placido Di Giovannis competitor in the consultation
for the Abbey of S. Angelo di Brolo in 1682, descending from a
famous family of Catania jurists and senatori, among which Raimondo, baron of Pardo and reggente of the Consejo de Italia (157582), but also hombre de negocios and typical representative of that
entourage of high judges [who], benefitting themselves of their
earnings from the legal profession, the ministerial auctoritas and
the upset provoked by the financial crisis, succeeded in purchasing saleable offices, effects of royal patrimony, lands and noble titles .74 Francescos father Giovanni, at the time of his sons proofs
of nobility, was judge of the Tribunale della Gran Corte (civil and
70

Minutolo, Memorie [see n. 46], p. 18.

ASP Alliata, vol. 2139, fos 89 r 96v, agreement among fra Giovanni
(Grand Cross and prior of Barletta), Scipione and Domenico Di Giovanni,
Notary Francesco Buglio di Messina (26 Nov. 1691).
72
San Martino De Spucches, La storia [see n. 58], vol. IV, p. 192.
73
DAvenia, Nobilt [see n. 43], p. 235246; ASP Cm, f. 979, fasc.
248, proofs of nobility of Andrea Fortunato Di Giovanni (1683), loose sheet,
certificate of the notary of the Priory of Messina Domenico Pellegrino (10
Nov. 1713); Minutolo, Memorie [see n. 46], p. 1; Mori Ubaldini, La marina del Sovrano Militare Ordine di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di
Malta, Roma, 1971, p. 459462, 467468, 558, 612.
74
Vittorio Sciuti Russi, Astrea in Sicilia. Il ministero togato nella societ
siciliana dei secoli XVI e XVII, Napoli, 1983, p. 231.
71

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651

criminal court) and within some years would have also risen to
the position of reggente of the Consejo de Italia, while his uncle
Raimondo (Giovannis brother and homonymous of the greatgrandfather), would have seen his baronial title of Pardoinherited in 1652rise directly to that of prince in 1684.75
Now, when in 1669 Francesco Ramondetta of Catania presented his proofs of nobility, he recused the president of the assembly,
the lieutenant Giovanni Di Giovanni, who should have approved
them. Indeed, the two families Ramondetta and Di Giovanni had
long been in conflict: Giovannis father, Domenico, had recused
the father of Francesco, Giovanni Ramondetta, as judge in a long
trial (1654-1661) about the jurisdiction over three casaliTrecastagni, Viagrande and Pedaraonce subjected to Catania and then
bought by him. In the end, however, Francesco Ramondetta was
admitted.76
Clearly behind the scenes of his proofs of nobility there was a
conflict between two families climbing the ranks of the Sicilian
aristocracy, but belonging to patriciates of rival cities.77 In fact the
sale of the casali constituted a jurisdictional prerogative expropriation from Catania, a removal of fiscal resources and therefore a
decrease of power for the ruling elite of the city. For that reason,
already in the Revolt of 1647, Catania (at that time Vincenzo Ramondetta, Francescos grandfather was one of its senatori) strongly urged the reintroduction of the casali to the royal domain.78

Open questions
There are some open questions that are worth examining, first
of all the activity of aristocratic ecclesiastics and knights once
75
Ligresti, Sicilia aperta [see n. 58], p. 177; San Martino De
Spucches, La storia [see n. 58], vol. V, p. 413.
76
ASP Cm, f. 974, fasc. 226, proofs of nobility of Francesco Ramondetta
(1669).
77
Of course this kind of conflicts could be set families belonging to patriciate of the same city against one another. For an interesting case study
on this, referring to the proofs of nobility in the Order of Santiago, see Jos
Miguel Delgado Barrado and Mara Amparo Lpez Arandia, Poderosos y
privilegiados. Los caballeros de Santiago de Jan (siglos XVI-XVIII), Madrid,
2009, in particular p. 205213.
78
On this, see Daniele Palermo, Tra mediazione e repressione: laristocrazia catanese durante la rivolta del 1647, in Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche, 2
(2004), p. 6377.

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they reached the tops of their career. It is very important to investigate the political role of Sicilian aristocratic bishops and abbots within the ecclesiastical chamber of Parliament and the Deputazione del Regno, as well as that of Grand Crosses of the Order
of Malta within the Priory of Messina and the Council of the Order (for both areas of fieldwork there are records in the Archivio
di Stato of Palermo and in the National Library of Malta). In
particular it would be interesting to establish which loyalty took
precedence in their political choices in the case of conflict situations involving their several memberships: their own family and
city, the ecclesiastic institution (the Roman Church and the Order
of Malta), the (Sicilian) kingdom or the (Spanish) monarchy. Such
an analysis might well facilitate reconstructing the existence of a
homogeneous political class or, on the contrary, a scene of multiple loyalties. In this context a good starting point would be the
revolts of 1647-1648 and 1674-1678.
Furthermore, another important line of research concerns the
pastoral work of Sicilian aristocratic bishops and, in some cases,
abbots. It would be particularly interesting to investigate further
how they administrated the spiritual government of their dioceses
or ecclesiastical jurisdiction (in particular through analysis of the
Archivio Segreto Vaticano records).
It is important, in fact, to estimate the reforming activity of
bishops, often appointed in quite non-spiritual ways,79 especially through the application of some instruments provided by the
Council of Trent (seminaries, diocesan synods, pastoral visits) and
establish comparison with Italian, Spanish and French bishops.
It is indeed worth remembering not only that, since all bishops
owed their nominations to patronage, political appointments as
such did not necessarily imply unwillingness to reform ,80 but
also that
79
The Canons of the Council of Trent were not able, or rather could not
succeed, in reforming radically the procedure for assignment and appointment of greater benefits [bishoprics first] because it was linked to political
issues (Massimo Faggioli, La disciplina di nomina dei vescovi prima e dopo
il concilio di Trento, in Societ e Storia, 92 [2001], p. 238239, 246, who also
talks of the inevitable minimalist approach to the problem during the
Council sessions as result of various and irreconcilable pressures and proposals ).
80
Po-chia Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal [see n. 8], p. 157. See
also Antonio Domnguez Ortiz, La sociedad espaola en el siglo XVII, Gra-

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653

throughout most of Europe, the effective right to choose new bishops lay with secular rulers, whether by virtue of a formal concordat agreed with the papacy or, as in much of Italy, by informal understandings based on mutual interest, and part of the pressure on
bishops to play a more interventionist role within their dioceses came
from rulers concerned about religious orthodoxy as well as social order and political control. 81

For reasons of space I will limit myself to merely providing

some data on the number of synods held in the nine Sicilian dioceses of royal patronage from 1564 (just after the Council of Trent)
to the end of the 18th century. There were 65 with an average of
7.2 per diocese, while the average of the 315 Italian dioceses was
5.11 (the only synods published) and that of the 55 Spanish dionada, 1992, vol. II, El estamento eclesistico, p. 38, who even points out that
because of the care put into their choice and being subjected to surveillance, the Spanish bishops, with the inevitable exceptions, were a faithful
adherent of his pastoral duties . For France, where the appointment of bishops was subjected to a closer crown control after the Concordat of Bologna
of 1516, see Bergin, The Making [see n. 1], p. 4489; J. Michael Hayden
and Malcolm R. Greenshields, 600 Years of Reform. Bishops and the French
Church, 1190-1789, Montral & Kingston-London-Ithaca, 2005, p. 99100,
who emphasize, for example, that a significant percentage of bishops engaged in serious reform activities between the 1480s and the 1580s, were
members of or closely allied to the royal bureaucracy and had received their
positions through royal intervention, both before and after the Concordat
of Bologna . On the Italian bishops pastoral activity in the age of Counter-Reformation, see Claudio Donati, Vescovi e diocesi in Italia dallet posttridentina alla caduta dellantico regime, in Mario Rosa (ed.), Clero e societ
nellItalia moderna, Roma-Bari, 1992, p. 32160; Gaetano Greco, La Chiesa
in Italia nellet moderna, Roma-Bari, 1999, p. 3546.
81
Joseph Bergin, The Counter-Reformation Church and Its Bishops, in
Past & Present, 165 (1999), p. 72. On this, see also Rawlings, The Secularisation [see n. 25], p. 6567, who underlines that Trent was not ignored in
Spain, as has sometimes been asserted, but came increasingly to be subordinated to the interests of the Crown, as well as to those of the ecclesiastical
hiararchy ; Ead., Bishops of the Habit in Castile, 1621-1665: A Prosopographical Approach, in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 56/3 (2005), p. 455-69,
where she examines the rise of members of religious orders recruited as
bishops in Philip IVs Castile, whose profile was of pastors and preachers,
qualities that accorded with the Tridentine model of a good bishop . But
the high percentage of their appointments would have been the result of a
crisis of leadership within the Church hierarchy [and] served as confirmation of both the conservative and the dogmatic direction of the Spanish
Church in the closing decades of Habsburg rule (ibid., p. 460, 469).

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ceses was 11.98 (down 3.43 for those synods published, but this
is very incomplete data). In almost the same period (1570-1789),
the average of synodal statutes promulgated in the 113 French
dioceses was 9.35.82 I think these figures, though partial, show
a uniform pastoral rate: the bishops of Sicily were no more or
less reformers than their counterparts in Italy, Spain and France.
University of Palermo
Department of Cultures and Societies

Fabrizio DAvenia

Viale delle Scienze, building 12

I-90128 Palermo
Italy

Summary. The most recent historiography has confirmed the

importance of ecclesiastical careers within the ranks of the Catholic
Church (bishops and cardinals) as well as religious orders (abbots and
priors) and military orders (primarily the Order of Malta) for early modern family strategies. They were one of the main paths followed by cadet members of the nobility to build, strengthen and even enable the
survival of the social prestige and political influence of their families.
The role of the clergy was in fact crucial in performing a valuable function of mediation, especially with regard to political power in order to
achieve increasingly prestigious awards (titles, offices, prebends). The
aim of this article is to explain the role played by the cadet members
of the Sicilian aristocracy who, within the general context of increasing social mobility, followed distinguished ecclesiastical careers during
the Habsburg rule. Some final remarks deal with how far the multiple
membership of Sicilian ecclesiastics (family, Kingdom of Sicily, Spanish
Monarchy, Roman Church), in particular the bishops, helped or hindered
their duties as tridentine reformers.
Rsum Lhistoriographie la plus rcente a confirm limportance des carrires ecclsiastiques dans les rangs de lglise catholique
(vques et cardinaux), ainsi que dans les ordres religieux (abbs et
prieurs) et les ordres militaires (principalement lOrdre de Malte), pour
les stratgies familiales du dbut de lre moderne. Elles taient lune
des voies principales suivies par les cadets de la noblesse pour construire,
82

Hayden and Greenshields, 600 Years [see n. 80], p. 266, 277; Silvino Da Nadro, Sinodi diocesani italiani. Catalogo bibliografico degli atti a
stampa (1534-1878), Roma, 1960; Francesco Guglielmo Savagnone, Concili
e sinodi di Sicilia: struttura giuridica, storia, Palermo, 1910; Quintn Aldea
Vaquero, Toms Marin Martinez, Jos Vives Gatell, Diccionario de historia eclesiastica de Espaa, Madrid, 1972-1975, vol. IV, col. 24892494.

elites and ecclesiastical careers

655

renforcer et mme permettre la survie du prestige social et linfluence

politique de leurs familles. Le rle du clerg tait en fait crucial dans
lexcution dune fonction importante de mdiation, en particulier en ce
qui concerne le pouvoir politique afin de parvenir des rcompenses de
plus en plus prestigieuses (titres, offices, prbendes). Le but de cet article est dexpliquer le rle jou par les cadets de laristocratie sicilienne
qui, dans le contexte gnral dune mobilit sociale accrue, ont suivi de
prestigieuses carrires ecclsiastiques sous les Habsbourg. Certaines remarques finales traitent de la mesure avec laquelle lappartenance multiple des ecclsiastiques siciliens (famille, royaume de Sicile, monarchie
espagnole, glise romaine), des vques en particulier, a aid ou entrav
leurs obligations comme rformateurs tridentins.
Zusammenfassung. Rezente Historiographien haben die Bedeutung
kirchlicher Karrieren in den Rngen der katholischen Kirche (Bischfe
und Kardinle) wie auch in religisen Orden (bte und Prioren) und
militrischen Orden (hauptschlich im Malteserorden) als frhmoderne
Familienstrategien besttigt. Sie wurden von den Kadetten des Adels
angestrebt, mit dem Zweck das soziale Ansehen und den politischen
Einfluss ihrer Familien aufzubauen, zu strken und sogar berleben zu
lassen. Die Rolle des Klerus war in der Ausfhrung einer wertvollen
Vermittlerrolle entscheidend, insbesondere im Hinblick auf politische
Macht mit dem Zwecke zunehmend angesehenerer Zuerkennungen (Titel, mter, Pfrnde). Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, die Rolle der Kadetten
der sizilianischen Aristokratie zu erlutern, die im allgemeinen Kontexteiner vermehrten sozialen Mobilitt unter der Habsburger Herrschaft
namhafte Karrieren machten. Die Schlussbemerkungen erlutern inwieweit die mehrfache Mitgliedschaft der sizilianischen Kirchenmnner
(Familie, Knigreich Sizilien, Spanische Monarchie, Rmische Kirche),
insbesondere der Bischfe, ihre Pflichten als tridentinische Reformer gefrdert oder gehindert hat.