[Malte] Domenico Vassallo 1654
#1
Hello all,

I am interested in learning more about a certain Domenico Vassallo and his 1654 legacy. 

From what I have been told, he was from the noble family of Vassallo which had links to Mosta.

According to MaltaGenealogy, Domenico was a priest and the 17th Baron of Ghajn Rihani and Delimara.

My questions are mainly these two:

Would such a legacy be in the notary records?

Does anyone have any further historical information about Don Domenico Vassallo or the Vassallo family around the 1500-1600s?

Thank you, merci!
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#2
Hello,

Interesting question, not a simple answer.

I will talk about the general case :

- Titles in notarial records :
Depending on notary, people will have some "titles", like Maestro, Signore, ... The same person could have different "titles" depending which notary wrote the act.
Some notaries like add multiple "titles". These kind of sign are less more present in church registries.
Title like Baron, Count, ... are of course less present. But we can find them sometimes in notarial act.

- Adami transcription :
In a few Adami transcription, there are titles such Baron ("Bne" => Barone). And very of them have a specific title like "Barone of Djar el Bniet"
But Adami transcription is not the transcription of all notary records but mainly Marriage Contracts, Wills, ... Records concerning family in order to help for establish trees for legacy purpose.
So it represents less than 5% of all notarial records.
Especially a priest will not be very present in notarial record.

- Others notarial records :
There are many records concerning sell, lease, rent, working contracts, ...
People with titles like Baron would be fairly represent in these kind of records.

For example, we can find a certain Francesco GATTO who was a Baron (having the first title granted in Malta, very interesting story).
In 1431, in his will, we can read that he is a Baron, who owned the fief of Chimisia.
"Unfortunately" for him, he had only a daughter, Imperia GATTO. So he specified in his will that in order to keep the title, the descendants will have to add GATTO to their surname.
So the children of Antonio INGUANES and Imperia GATTO used the two surnames, like Francesco INGUANES GATTO.

But the "numbering" like "15th baron of " is not on Adami transcription.
Many times the title is lost after one or two generations.

It's so many years after, that some people would want to gain titles, so establishing trees in order to prove that they owned the titles.
But establishing the direct lineage for 15 generations could be very tricky. Who is the elder of each generations ?
So disputes could happens, like for legacies. I saw some of these "disputes" in tribunal archives. Proving that your are the illegitimate son of someone that owned lands coule be financially interesting.
I don't know if there are some cases in tribunal archives for titles dispute.

For your specific case :

This title really existed ?

It's not frequent to have a priest who have a title.
The title will go to the elder. And the elder will not become priest, he is the one who carry the legacy.
Priest could handle church legacy as rettore of such legacy.

Delimara is a well know territory, there are some records concerning sell of territory.


Conclusion :

With 15th generation, you will go to 1500 with a direct line, and many mistakes could be made.
Here, you have the 15th baron, and the line is indirect, so be sure it the right title holder will be quiet complex to determine.
Maybe, at first, just verify the links between each generation,
trying to have a correct trees of people, before trying to have a correct tree of titles.

A start of study :

On MaltaGenealogy, the first holder is Orlando D'ARAGONA, who he is not a nobody.
He was the Baron of Avola.
On Wikipedia : "Orlando married Maria de Stromoncourt, and had four children: Alfonso, Federigo, Juan, and Sybilla. All boys were Barons of Avola, Sicily only Juan had issue and their descendants,[1] while Sybilla married into Maltese nobility Michele de Bava, Baron de Djar-il-Bniet in Dingli, Rabat, on the island of Malta and had issue."

Interesting that a daughter will married Michele de Bava, a maltese.

On Italian wikipedia : "Orlando d'Aragona fu sposato con la nobildonna Maria di Stromoncourt, figlia di Tommaso III, signore di Salona. Fu padre di quattro figli, Alfonso, Federico, Giovanni e Giovanna Rebecca.[8]"
The daughter is Giovanna Rebecca according to the book : "A. Marrone, Repertorio della feudalità siciliana (1282-1390), in Mediterranea : ricerche storiche. Quaderni vol. 1, Associazione Mediterranea, 2006."
I will give more credit, than the one trying to prove links with Malta.

So just for the first baron, there is opposite information and no trace of this barony.
This territory "Delimara" was owned by the DE GUEVARA family (we can find trace in maltese notarial records).

In G.F Abela book : 
For Aragona family
"Donna Margherita, e Donna Sibilla habbiamo altresi ambidue di questa regia Casa in Malta, che vissero nel 1370 per avventura figliuole del nostro Conte Guglielmo d'Aragona, figlioul naturale del Re Federico Terzo"
"Donna Margherita fu' moglie di Giacomo Pellegrino di Malta, fondatrice del nostro Convento del Carmine, e signora molto ricca di beni stabili in quest' isole, havendosi particolarmente posseduto i territorij de' Marnisi, Baharia, Deyrlimara, il giardino, e terre delle due fontane, & altri, in modo, che per l’affluenza e dovizia delle se riccheze, era da’ Paesani cognominata la Fata, non lascio’ figliuoli maschi, ma solamente femmine cioe’ Leonora moglie di Matteo del Caretto, Cesarea d’un gentil huomo di casa Xabica, e Francia di Ludovico de Pluzasc nel primo matrimonio, e nel secondo di Simone d Mazara tutte famiglie nobilissime".

For him, it's Margarita ARAGONA, wife of Giacomo Pellegrino who had the territory of Marnisi, Bahria and Delimara. No trace of title, just land.
The information seems correct because Adami transcribe the will of Margarita, date in 1418-06-05 where she gave Marnisi and Bahria (no trace of Delimara).
This Margarita is the daughter of Guglielmo, son of King Federico III son of Pietro II, the brother of Orlando, the said first baron.
But maybe she was the daugther of Guglielmo, half brother of Orlando.
=> https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2...ikiwix.com

We had already doubts about the place in the family of Margarita, maybe she was the grandgrandgranddaughter, or the grandgranddautgher or the granddaughter of Federico II of Sicily (care, Federico II of Sicily is Federico III of Aragona).

So I have doubts about these titles, and if they even existed, they had to be hold by the right person.

N.


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#3
Thank you very much, Nicolas. Super interesting insight although I am slightly more confused now ?

I was informed by the Maltese Curia that the Vassallo family “dates to 1647” and that Domenico’s foundation “dates to 1654 with female candidates eligible to marriage dowries.” 98 married women have been listed as recipients of this legacy this year.

I have tried to find it in the Adami records but could not find it. Perhaps I am not searching well. Do you know if I can expect to find it there?

The Geneanum database for notary records has two 1654 testament records for 2 separate Domenico Vassallos (both married, one from Mosta) - could one of them be the founder of this legacy/foundation?

Indeed, the title of Baron Priest sounds strange and I suppose moreso when you consider that created the legacy foundation for female descendants/relatives but maybe this was a possibility? According to MaltaGenealogy, the title was split and a cousin inherited it. Domenico had 2 sisters who were apparently nuns.

As such I am more interested in tracing my link to Domenico at this stage.

Thanks once again!
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#4
Of course it's confusing if you want to decipher all information. And separate the right from the wrong.

You have from good source that a Domenico Vassallo made a foundation in 1654.
As you said, it's a foundation in order to give dowry to people. Many foundation was made in that purpose.

In parallel, there are two wills from two different Domenico, dates in 1654. These 2 Domenico had children.

In notary record there isn't directly an act for the creation of a foundation.
The standard case is that the person, in his will, will said that a foundation has to be made.

Unfortunatly, the records in Adami are not an exact transcription but just a sum up.
So sometimes there are important missing information.

Like in my article https://en.geneanum.com/malta/documents/...thers.html where in the ADAMI record there is only the universal heir. But in the original there is much more related people.

Do you have the copy of the foundation ?
Domenico is a priest on it ?
The foundation concerned a specific parish ? 
The foundation concern only the relatives ? Sometimes it's a foundation for the poor families that couldn't afford dowry.

I think the big step is to find if the Domenico in the foundation is one (or not) of the two Domenico.

In the Curia archives, no trace of VASSALLO before 1647 ?

I will post the matching wills in a future answer

N.
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#5
You have been lucky !

We haven't transcribe all the information of the will of Domenico son of Mariano :

Will the 1649-05-09 : Domenico VASSALLO son of late Mariano from Mosta
Universal heir : La Lampade del Ssmo Sacramento
Particuliar heir : Maria, his wife, daughter of late Paolo XERRI.
1654-05-14, another will with the same heir (I supposed he changed somethings in the will, but not "important" for Adami).
Codicille the 1655-12-05, so he died most likely between 1654 and 1655.
"In detto testamento fundo un legato di maritagi anuale di 95 uncies in favor delle femine sue consanguine".
(Like you can see the information has been added after)

In 1649-05-09, Maria, his wife, made a will to his nephews (children of her sister).
In 1649-09-12, Maria, his wife, made a will to his husband.

You have the confirmation ! It's this Domenico who made a legato !

As you can see, no children are listed are heirs.
When it happens, it proves, most likely, that there is no children at all (I saw this case, many, many times).
And his wife made her nephews, her heirs. So it matches.

So clearly, your Domenico is not a priest.
He is just a man who hadn't children that reached adulthood (not rare situation).

Why the "priest theory" so ?
Because, when you want to prove that you are the current descendant, but your direct line go to the "cousin", it's better to say that he was a priest in order to exclude all hypothetical children that could change the heritage.
If someone found another wife with children, the title holder would change !

N.


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#6
Interesting story !

There is marriage between Domenico VASSALLO x GATT Geronima in Zebbug the 1650-10-01
The parents of Domenico are not listed.
But this Domenico is "widow of Mosta".

So he is maybe the same Domenico !

He made the will in 1649, and then remaried in 1650. That could explain why he made a new will in 1654.

Another Geronima made a donation in 1660 and she is now the widow of Domenico VASSALLO.
The donation was made to her daughter Domenica, wife of Domenico BONAN.

If the two Geronima are the same, Domenica can't be the daugther of Domenico (unless he married his mistress Smile

The marriage of Domenica and Domenico BONANNO took place in Zebbug the 1638-02-13.
It's coherent with the donation (already married in 1660).
But, on it, she is the daughter of late Domenico VASSALLO ! So a Domenico already dead in 1638 ! Can't be the same.
Weird, weird, weird.

To add more confusion, Geronima GATT remaried in 1657-04-08 with Alberto (or Bartolomeo) ATTARD
In 1659-05-27, she made a will, not cited her daughter.

I have to check our record, I think we add information that are not in the original !

N.


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#7
Wow!! I’m amazed! Excellent and priceless work, Nicolas!! Thank you so much!! Incredible how you found everything so quickly and with lots of context.

Now I know that I will most likely have to go through his wife and her sister’s family to find a connection, is that right?

And the background information you provide is brilliant, explains the probable situation very well!

Thank you again!!!

(11-07-2022, 15:35)NSV a écrit : Interesting story !

There is marriage between Domenico VASSALLO x GATT Geronima in Zebbug the 1650-10-01
The parents of Domenico are not listed.
But this Domenico is "widow of Mosta".

So he is maybe the same Domenico !

He made the will in 1649, and then remaried in 1650. That could explain why he made a new will in 1654.

Another Geronima made a donation in 1660 and she is now the widow of Domenico VASSALLO.
The donation was made to her daughter Domenica, wife of Domenico BONAN.

If the two Geronima are the same, Domenica can't be the daugther of Domenico (unless he married his mistress Smile

The marriage of Domenica and Domenico BONANNO took place in Zebbug the 1638-02-13.
It's coherent with the donation (already married in 1660).
But, on it, she is the daughter of late Domenico VASSALLO ! So a Domenico already dead in 1638 ! Can't be the same.
Weird, weird, weird.

To add more confusion, Geronima GATT remaried in 1657-04-08 with Baldassare ATTARD
In 1659-05-27, she made a will, not cited her daughter.

I have to check our record, I think we add information that are not in the original !

N.

Hahaha oh my…. Well this is even more confusing when you add such relatively common names during the same period and testaments that lack information. 


We would have to find out when Maria Xerri (daughter of Paolo) died?
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#8
Yes, clearly the chronology has to be established.
Date of death could add more precision and validate or invalidate some hypothesis.

Unfortunately Mosta death records are not online, so I can't help on that.
But the search is not big, juste one year, death record between1649 and 1650.

GATT Geronima is quiet interesting too.
She reremaried in 1660-07-15 (one year after her previous will) with VELLA Gio Domenico.

N.
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#9
I often forgot that there are volumes in Adami with marriage legacies (volume 35 and 36).
And I found Domenico VASSALLO legacy retranscription.

It's not only his legato, but also the legato of Vittorio GALEA, "primo cugino" (son of Giovanni GALEA x Imperia BUHAGIAR)

His mother is Laura GALEA (I supposed the GALEA came from the "primo cugino" information, Giovanni GALEA is the uncle of Domenico).
He rented for 35 (not 95) uncies per year the land called Iccinus.
The amount of money will constitute the downry.

And then, we have multiple trees, I supposed they contained the women that used the legacy as dowry.

In the tree, Domenico is the husband of XERRI Maria, and no children listed.
We are inline with Adami.

I don't find any record between Mariano VASSALLO x Laura (Laurea) GALEA :
- Laurea GALEA :
But as Adami did it (I think), using the will of Giovanni GALEA, son of Angelo and father of Vittorio, we can supposed that Angelo is also the father of Laura.
Using this info, we can find that Laura married also to Antonio PORTELLI.
- Mariano VASSALLO :
Many information on him in The People of The North of Paul Catania !!
Adami said that the parents are Andrea VASSALLO x Elena MIFSUD (daughter of Nardo).
In 1608-07-22, a certain Paolo, son of Leonardo (so Nardo) made heir : "To the children of his sister Lena, Domenico, Marianu, Michael, and Blasio Vassallo he left 2 fields. (Not. S. Galea 2/852, dated 22.07.1608)"
Lena = Elena ! And her children are VASSALLO's ! And there is a Mariano.
With that, we have Mariano son of ? VASSALLO and Elena MIFSUD daughter of Leonardo.
Now we can easily found the marriage contract of Blasio VASSALLO and we obtain the father : Andrea.
Adami was right again.

A certain Mariano VASSALLO is described as a "well to do sheperd" in 1599-09-01 and sold to Geronimo XERRI, all coton of a land.
This Mariano died in 1635.
And in the 1601 census, no wife are specified. But he had to married not long after in order to match with the marriage of Domenico.


To sum up :
We had a baron priest, Domenico, direct descendant of the well known notary Graziano VASSALLO. 
Now we have a Domenico, rich land owner of the north of Malta.

Malta used cast system, and a notary family would not became sheperd family.
I don't think the two famillies are linked (not in Malta at least). VASSALLO surname is not rare in Sicily.

N.


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#10
Bonjour à tous,

Angela et Nicolas,

Merci de nous faire partager vos découvertes sur un sujet hautement technique, mais, même en suivant bien, j’ai le sentiment que vous m’avez perdu !

Un dessin valant mieux qu’un long discours, ne serait-il pas possible de traduire vos découvertes sur la forme de 2 arbres généalogiques pour chacun des 2 Domenico VASSALLO ?

Nous sommes très nombreux à être liés aux VASSALLO et un résumé de vos échanges sous la forme de 2 arbres serait le bienvenu.

Merci.
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Hello to all,

Angela and Nicolas,

Thank you for sharing your discoveries on a highly technical subject, but even if I follow well, I have the feeling that you have lost me!

As a drawing is better than a long speech, would it not be possible to translate your discoveries into the form of 2 family trees for each of the 2 Domenico VASSALLO ?

There are many of us who are related to the VASSALLO and a summary of your exchanges in the form of 2 trees would be most welcome.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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