Nobility of Italy
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The Nobility of Italy reflects the fact that medieval "Italy" was a set of disparate states until 1870 and had many royal bloodlines. Due to intermarriage of the city-states, their bloodlines often shared members and the many bloodlines of the states of Italy are comparatively more unorthodox than those of some other European nations.
Prior to Italian Unification, the existence of the Papal States, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Parma the Duchy of Modena, and the Austrian dependencies in Northern Italy led to parallel nobilities with different traditions and rules.
Under the united Italian Kingdom a new national nobility, with an attempt (not wholly successful) to impose a uniform nobiliary law, was created, including male succession (although it was possible for ancient titles to be transferred to an heir in the female line by royal authority), and some acknowledgment by the King of Italy of titles conferred by Francis II of the Two Sicilies in exile by making new grants in the same name. The Lateran Treaty of 1929 acknowledged all Papal titles created before that date and undertook to give automatic recognition to titles conferred by the Holy See on Italian citizens in the future.[1]
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[edit] Quote from Guy Stair Sainty
According to the Guy Stair Sainty:-
"Certain other regulations which had applied in one part of Italy, were extended (without any historical foundation) to others. Thus, the title of "Don" or "Donna" which in the Two Sicilies was accorded to all the descendants in the male line of Princely or Ducal Houses, and to some other notable families, was extended to the descendants of all Italian Princely or Ducal families. The generous distribution of the title of Prince and Duke in southern Italy must be contrasted with its rarity in the north; hence families whose status might been considered quite modest when compared with great northern princely dynasties, were given an equality which bore no relation to their actual circumstances. This multiplication of titles of the highest ranks had been much accelerated by the Spanish Kings, who found it advantageous to accord a high-sounding Neapolitan title to a worthy subject, without diminishing the status of the Spanish Grandeeship.[2]
[edit] Italian Unification (1861-1870)
Modern Italy became a nation-state during the Risorgimento on March 17, 1861 when most of the states of the peninsula and Kingdom the Two Sicilies were united under king Victor Emmanuel II of the Savoy dynasty, hitherto king of Sardinia, a realm that included Piedmont.
The architect of Italian unification was Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the Chief Minister of Victor Emmanuel.
Rome itself remained for a decade under the Papacy, and became part of the Kingdom of Italy only in 1870, the final date of Italian unification.
Napoleon III's defeat brought an end to the French military protection for Pius IX and on September 20, Italian troops breached Rome's walls at Porta Pia and entered the city. The Italian occupation forced Pope Pius IX to his palace where he declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican until the Lateran Pacts of 1929.
The Holy See (State of the Vatican City) is now an independent enclave surrounded by Italy.
[edit] Ranks
The various ranks include:
- Principe, Principessa. (Prince, Princess).
- Duca, Duchessa. (Duke, Duchess).
- Marchese, Marchesa. (Marquess, Marchioness).
- Conte, Contessa. (Count, Countess).
- Visconte, Viscontessa. (Viscount, Viscontess).
- Barone, Baronessa. (Baron, Baroness).
- Signore (seigneur).
- Patrizio (Patrician).
- Nobile (Untitled Nobleman).
- Cavaliere Ereditario (Hereditary Knight Bachelor).
"The majority of feudatories were simply signori (from the French seigneur, a title introduced into Italy by the eleventh-century Normans), vassalli (vassals) or cavalieri (knights). Eventually, this class came to be known collectively as the baroni (barons), as in Italy barone was not always a title descriptive of a particular feudal rank. During the fourteenth century, most minor feudal lands became baronies, their holders barons. It must be observed that the use of these titles usually required some form of sovereign sanction or feudal tenure."[3]
[edit] Notables
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