Lancia (family)

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Lanza coat of arms (Trabia branch)

The Lancia or Lanza are a Sicilian noble family who gained importance through their relationship with Emperor Friedrich II . Bianca Lancia the Younger was Frederick's lover and finally also the wife of Frederick, her relatives the most important support of Biancas and Frederick's son Manfred in his fight against Karl von Anjou for the Kingdom of Sicily .

history

The Lanza (from the 17th century also Lancia ) belong to the old Sicilian nobility. The first mentioned bearer of the name Lanza was Manfred I (approx. 1140-after 1214). Its origin is controversial, some historians see him as the son of Wilhelm (Guglielmo), who in turn was a son of Bonifacio del Vasto, Margrave of Savona from the house of Del Vasto , a side branch of the Aleramides . Others traced it back to an Ernst von Wittelsbach from Bavaria (which is why the Lanza di Brolo line later added Bavarian diamonds to the Lanza family coat of arms ).

Around 1200 the Lanza were lords of Longi . In the 17th century they were divided into the branches of the Dukes of Brolo and the Princes of Trabia . The coat of arms of the Brolo line is a gold, crowned lion on a black background, that of the Trabia line is a black, crowned lion on a gold background.

The main seat of the family was the Lancia Castle, around which the port city of Brolo in the metropolitan city of Messina developed. They acquired numerous fiefs, including six in the rank of principalities, three duchies, numerous margravates, counties and baronies.

The Palazzo Butera in Palermo (visited by Goethe and Wilhelm II) is still owned by the family today, as is the neighboring Palazzo Lanza Tomasi di Lampedusa , which the musicologist Gioacchino Lanza Branciforte Tomasi (* 1934) bought from his uncle and adoptive father Writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa has inherited. The current head is Don Pietro 5th Prince Lanza di Scalea, 15th Prince di Trabia, Principe di Scalea, 14th Principe di San Stefano in Mistretta, 7th Principe di Butera, Principe di Pietrapersia, Principe di Catena, Principe di Campofiorito (* Palermo 1942). (See web link)

In addition to the Alliata , Filangeri , Gravina , Moncada , Notarbartolo , Paternò , Spucches , Stagno , Tomasi di Lampedusa , Valguarnera and Ventimiglia , the Lancia belong to the great princely houses of the former Kingdom of Sicily . After the famous novel The Gattopardo , these are sometimes referred to as The Leopards .

Family table

The origins of the family are as follows: †

  1. NN
    1. Heinrich Lancia
    2. Hugo (according to another source: Wilhelm (Guglielmo), son of Bonifacio del Vasto, Margrave of Savona)
    3. Manfred Lancia, called il Vecchio, † 1215
      1. Manfred II. (1185–1257), 1239 governor of Lombardy
      2. Giordano Lancia , † 1267, fought in the Battle of Benevento in 1266
      3. Bianca Lancia the Elder, ⚭ I Bonifacio d'Agliano; ⚭ II Galvano von Anglona, ​​who also fought in the Battle of Benevento in 1266
        1. (I) Bianca Lancia , † 1233/1234; ⚭ confirmatio matrimonii in articulo mortis (marriage on the deathbed 1233/34 for the subsequent legitimation of the common children: legitimatio per matrimonium subsequens ) Frederick II , Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Sicily from the house of the Hohenstaufen , * December 26, 1194 , † December 13, 1250
          1. Costanza (Anna) von Staufen (1230 / 1232–1307) ⚭ John III. , Emperor of Byzantium
          2. Manfred of Sicily (1232–1266), 1250 Prince of Taranto , administrator in Imperial Italy and Sicily , from 1258 King of Sicily; ⚭ I. Beatrix of Savoy († 1258), ⚭ II. (1259) Helena of Epirus
            1. (I.) Constance of Sicily (1249–1302) ⚭ Peter III. of Aragon , from 1282 King of Sicily
            2. (II.) 5 children
          3. Violanta von Staufen (before 1233 - after summer 1264) married Count Ricardo von Caserta around 1245 , writes the older literature, but there is no evidence for this; she is also mentioned as the wife of Count Corrado Gaetani d'Oriseo e Terriccio, Viceroy of Sicily.
        2. Galvano Lancia (approx. 1210–1268), Vicar General of Sicily , fought in 1266 in the Battle of Benevento
          1. Beatrice, † after 1268, ⚭ 1258 before July 8th Corrado de Antiochia, Conte di Loreto ( Staufer ); † after 1301
        3. Galeotto Lancia, 1255 Baron of Longi
          1. Blasco
          2. Federico, Viceroy of Sicily in 1258
            1. Corrado, Count of Caltanissetta , Admiral, 1297 Grand Chancellor of Sicily
            2. Manfredi, admiral in the service of the King of Aragon
              1. Pietro, 2nd Count of Caltanissetta

More family members

  • Corrado Lancia e d'Alessandro (* 1681; † 1721) 2nd Duke of Brolo, 21st Baron Ficarra , 5th Margrave Lancia, ancestor of the Dukes of Brolo
  • Domenico Gaspare Lancia di Brolo, 1884–1919 Archbishop of Monreale
  • Giuseppe Lanza di Trabia-Branciforte ( Lanza del Vasto ) (* 1901; † 1981), philosopher and poet
  • Blasco Lanza D'Ajeta di Trabia (1907–1969), diplomat

Footnotes

literature

  • Federico Lancia e Grassellini, Dei Lancia o Lanza di Brolo albero genealogico e biography, ed. Gaudieno, 1879;
  • San Martino de Spucches F., La storia dei feudi e dei titoli nobiliari di Sicilia, Palermo, 1924, full. 10, passim;
  • Ganci M., I grandi titoli del Regno di Sicilia, Palermo - Siracusa, 1988, 209;
  • Palizzolo Gravina V., Dizionario storico-araldico della Sicilia, II ed., Palermo, 1991, 227;

Web links