Thorbjorn Paternò Castello

Prince Don Thorbjorn Paternò Castello Guttadauro di Valencia d’Ayerbe d’Aragona dei Duchi di Carcaci e dei Principi d’Emanuel is the son of Roberto II Enrico Francesco Mario Gioacchino and Bianca Monteforte (1948–1990) Marchioness of Montpellier. He belongs to the ancient Paternò family which traces its origins to Prince Robert of Embrun and to the Sovereign House of Barcelona and Provence which arrived in Sicily in 1060 as part of the entourage of King Roger, seizing the Castle and Lordship of Paternò therefrom it assumed its name.

Family history

The Libro d'Oro lists the Paternò family as an historical family for more than a thousand years which traces its origins to Prince Robert of Embrun and to the Sovereign House of Barcelona and Provence which arrived in Sicily in 1060 as part of the entourage of King Roger, seizing the Castle and Lordship of Paternò therefrom it assumed its name. In 1161 Costantino Paternò Count of Butera married Matilde Avenela the daughter of the Count of Avellino and a niece of King Roger I of Hauteville. It is impossible to list all the members of the Family of Paternò who have risen to eminence over the centuries. They have achieved honours and titles as well as the highest ranks of ancient chivalry, such as the Military Belt and the Golden Spur, and the Paternò have been Viceroys, Vicars General of the Kingdom of Sicily, Presidents of the Kingdom, Cardinals, Ambassadors to Popes and Kings, brave knights, generous patrons of the arts, famous politicians. Already Counts of Butera and of Martana in the 12th Century, the Family of Paternò has established close ties of blood with the Norman, Swabian and Savoyard Royal Houses. Knights of the Order of Malta since the beginning of the 15th Century, they are recorded by Mugnos as one of those families of royal descent. The Paternò have been Peers of Sicily since their origin and so assumed control over the governorship of the city of Catania and over its House of Nobility as to be able to exclude anyone who did not meet with their approval. Over the course of the centuries the Family held more than 170 main fiefs and since the beginning of the 18th Century possessed five hereditary seats in the Sicilian Parliament. The abolition of feudalism meant the loss of these inherent rights but the Family has continued to be renowned in intellectual, diplomatic and political fields.

Titles

Amongst the principal titles of nobility held by the Family are: Princes of Biscari, Sperlinga (1627), Manganelli, Val di Savoja e Castelforte (1633); Dukes of Carcaci (1723), Furnari (1643), Giampaolo, Palazzo (1687), Paternò, Pozzomauro e San Nicola; Marquises of Capizzi (1633), Casanova, Desera (1806), Manchi, Regiovanni, Roccaromana, San Giuliano (1662), Sessa, del Toscano; Counts of Montecupo (1772); Barons of Aliminusa, Aragona, Spedolotto Alzacuda, Baglia e Dogana di Milazzo, Baldi, Belmonte, Bicocca, Bidani, Biscari, Burgio, Capizzi, Castania e Saline di Nicosia, Cuba, Cuchara, Cugno, Donnafugata, Ficarazzi, Gallitano, Gatta, Graneri, Imbaccari e Mirabella, Intorrella, Manchi di Bilici, Mandrile, Manganelli di Catania, Marianopoli, Mercato di Toscanello, Metà dei Terraggi di Licata, Mirabella, Motta Camastra, Murgo, Nicchiara, Officio di Mastro Notaro della Corte Capitaniale di Catania, Oxina, Placabaiana, Poiura, Porta di Randazzo, Pollicarini, Pozzo di Gotto, Raddusa e Destri, Ramione, Ricalcaccia, Salamone, Salsetta, San Giuliano, San Giuseppe, Sant' Alessio, Scala, Schiso, Sciortavilla, Solazzi, Sparacogna, Spedalotto, Terza Parte della Dogana di Catania, Toscano; Lords of Baglio, Collabascia, Erbageria, Gallizzi, Mandrascate, Sciari, Sigona, del jus luendi of Camopetro. (“ House of Paternò-Castello: A Sicilian House which traces its origin to James the Conqueror, King of Aragon (+1286)”.

References to the royal descent of the House of Paternò and the rights that derive therefrom can be found in the Archive in the writings of Ignazio V Prince of Biscari, Francesco VII Duke of Carcaci, Giuseppe Emanuele IX Marquis of Sessa and Francesco XI Duke of Carcaci, considering only authors from the Family itself.

Family pact

After the death of the last Prince of Cassano the heads of the different branches of the Paternò family met in family council at Palermo and recognised that the family's royal rights were vested in Don Mario Paternò Castello Guttadauro d'Emmanuel B. of Don Giovanni Paternò Castello iure maritale Prince of Emmanuel (son of Don Mario Guiseppe IV Duke of Carcaci) and his wife Eleanor Guttadauro last of the house of the Princes of Emmanuel and herself a descendant of the Kings of Aragon.

Lineage

• 1859-1906 Mario I Prince of Emmanuel m. Anna Spitaleri e Grimaldi of the Barons of Maglia:

Prince Mario d. 1906 and was succeeded by his son Enrico:

• 1906-1908 Enrico Prince of Emmanuel d. 1908.

Prince Enrico was succeeded by his sister.

• 1908-1934 Eleanora Princess of Emmanuel m. 1906 her second cousin Roberto I Paternò Castello, Regent 1908-1934 B. of Francesco Mario I (1850–1915) IX Duke of Carcaci.

• 1934-1968 Francesco Mario II Prince of Emmanuel b. 1913 succeeded when of age in 1934 m. (1) 1932 Angela Reboulet and had issue:

• 1968-1996 Roberto II Enrico Francesco Mario Gioacchino Prince of Emmanuel b. 1937 m. (1) Maria of the Counts Fattori

Prince Roberto m. (2) Bianca Monteforte (1948–1990) Marchioness of Montpellier.

• 1996- Francesco Nicola Roberto succeeded his father by notarial act in 1996 as Prince of Emmanuel

Branches

 Roberto d'Embrun, Conti di Butera, Baroni della Floresta (11th century)
 │      (extinct)
 └───│
     │
     ├──Baroni della Terza Dogana e di Manganelli (extinct)
     │  │
     │  ├──Principi di Sperlinga dei Manganelli, Duchi del Palazzo,
     │  │  Baroni dei Manganelli  (line extinct, 1937)
     │  │  il titolo di   Principe di Manganelli passa a Flavio
     │  │  Borghese, Principe di Sulmona)
     │  │
     │  ├──Marchesi del Toscano, Duchi di Roccaromana
     │  │
     │  │
     │  ├──Amico Paternò, Conti (extinct)
     │  │
     │  ├──Marchesi di Sessa
     │  │
     │  └──Duchi di Furnari (extinct)
     │
     ├── Baroni del Pantano Salso (extinct in the 16th century)
     │
     └──│
        │
        ├──│
        │  │
        │  ├──Paternò Castello, Principi di Biscari, Baroni di Imbaccari, Mirabella
        │  │  │   Aragona, Baldi, Sciortavilla, Cuba e Sparacogna
        │  │  │
        │  │  └──Paternò Castello, Duchi di Carcaci, Baroni di Placa e Baiana
        │  │     │
        │  │     └──Paternò Castello, Baroni della Bicocca
        │  │
        │  ├──Paternò Castello, Marchesi e Baroni di Sangiuliano,
        │  │   Marchesi di Capizzi, Baroni di Pollicarini
        │  │
        │  ├──Paternò Moncada, Principi di Valsavoia
        │  │
        │  └──Paternò Castello, Baroni di Salamone e Sant'Alessio
        │       (extinct)
        ├──Marchesi di Raddusa,Manchi Belici e Marianopoli
        │  │
        │  └──Paternò Ventimiglia, Marchesi di Spedalotto e di Reggiovanni,
        │        Conti di Prades
        │
        ├──Baroni di Vallone (line extinct in the 18th century)
        │
        └──Duchi di San Nicola, Duchi di Pozzomauro, Marchesi di Casanova,
            Conti di Montecupo. "Inoltre, a questa Linea(pareri Commissione
            ''Araldica per le Province Napolitane e Giunta Araldica Centrale
            del Corpo della Nobiltà Italiana), è stato riconosciuto il diritto
            alla rinnovazione del titolo di Principe di Cerenzia"

Fount of honour

The Fount of honour (Latin: fons honorum) of the family is heavily chalenged by Guy Stair Sainty stating that as a junior member of a junior branch of the family don Roberto has no right to claim any prerogative pertaining to its chief, whether or not such prerogative actually exists. Legal judgements however, contradict this opinion.

The Fount of honour and the power to grant nobility played a role in the various Paternò cases in Italy. On 1 April 1952, the ‘Pretura Unificata di Bari’, evidently a court of first instance in criminal cases, had to decide a criminal case against a certain Umberto Z., a resident of Bari, who had publicly presented himself as Count of St. Ilarico. Z. was prosecuted for violating article 496 of the Italian Penal Code, as he was denounced by an anonymous person for having committed this crime.

First families of Sicily

His decisive defense was inter alia that this title had been validly conferred upon him by the ‘Prince Emanuel Francesco Mario Paternò Castello di Caraci’. It appeared after a full investigation of all relevant documents by the Court, that this Prince belonged to one of the first families of Sicily, a family who are descendants of William I, the Conqueror, descendants of the Counts of Gascogne, the Kings of Navarre and Castil and that the Prince was a direct descendant of the Kings of Mallorca and the Baleares and was still Pretender to this throne. The Court found that on these grounds, he had retained his full rights of fons honorum, which meant according to the Court, that he had the power to nobilitate, to grant and confirm coats of arms and to award predicates, taken from places in which his ancestors in fact had exercised sovereign powers, not to mention his right to constitute, resuscitate, reform and exercise the ‘Grand Magistry’ of the chivalric Orders of the dynasty, which are passed from father to son as an insupprimable heredity of birth, which in the ascendants of the Prince had found in fact also a confirmation by Francesco II of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies, in 1860. Z. was acquitted.

Legitimate power to grant honours

Then it was the Prince’s own turn. He was denounced on 14 July 1958 and prosecuted, as a resident of Brunate, before and condemned on 29 May 1962 by the ‘Pretore of Monsummano Terme’, the competent judge in first instance, to 4 months and 15 days imprisonment for having allegedly conferred false titles to a number of persons (Article 81 of the Penal Code and article 8 of Law 3.3.51 N.178.) but he was acquitted of several connected alleged counts (Articles 81cpv 640, 56, 640 of the Penal Code) for lack of evidence. He appealed with the ‘Tribunale di Pistoia’ and on 5 June 1964, this court of appeals confirmed his acquittal in first instance and annulled his condemnation in first instance. Basically, the Court said that the conferment to and acceptance of foreign honours, the honours conferred being foreign, by Italian citizens, was legal, while only the public use of these honours by Italian citizens was subject to authorisation by the President of the Republic, to properly safeguard the merits reserved to and represented by the honours bestowed by the Italian State. The Court had also investigated the fons honorum of the Prince and had found that he was the legitimate possessor of this faculty, which according to the Court was an expression of the honorific power of his house, which had been conserved by family tradition and had not suffered ‘debellatio’, the forced surrender of power. He was therefore entitled to grant the honours given by him, because the Court deemed that he had the legitimate power to grant these honours.

The quote from the website of the Corpo della Nobiltà Italiana Circolo Giovanile>, section ‘Alcune domanda sulla nobiltà’, dated 24 December 2004, may further elucidate this point.

Conferring of noble titles

The Public Prosecutor did not institute cassation and it was therefore definitively established between the Italian State and the Prince that the Prince or his direct descendants, by using their fons honorum, can validly confer noble titles. It is of course an entirely different matter whether those who have been awarded with these noble titles are or have to be recognised by a State which has a law on nobility, as belonging to the nobility of this State or as having a right to be taken up in the nobility of this State. This should be established for each State separately, depending on the domestic laws.

Recent judgement

The latest judgement of arbitral tribunal of 5 November 2009 No 709/09, declared enforceable in the territory of the Italian Republic by decree of the Ordinary Court of Ragusa, that the Head of the Royal House of Paternò Castello of Valencia, Sardinia has the fountain of honor with all the prerogatives attached and connected to the quality of Royal Highness. The court also deceided that Noble titles may be granted with or without predicates, coats of arms, titles of honor and chivalric orders as the subject of international law for the purposes of the Act of March 3, 1951, n . 178. More specific, the verdict states the following (p. 110 ff):

"IV) - H.R.H. Prince Thorbjorn Francesco Giuseppe Nicola Roberto Paterno Castello of the Dukes of Carcaci,Prince of Emanuel in accordance with the provisions of-1 'art. 16 of the Rules of the Court of Arbitration of Ragusa for a 'finding of evidence of claim, was entitled to set up the Real Home of Valencia and Paterno Castello di Sardegna and legally took over as Head, with the deeds of the notary public act of Vincenzo Giacalone Alcamo of July 20, 2009, rep. No. 25,806, Coll. No. 4270, recorded July 24, 2009 in Trapani, mod. T, No. 5132;

V) - to H.R.H. Prince Thorbjorn Francesco Giuseppe Nicola Roberto Paterno Castello of the Dukes of Carcaci, Prince of Emanuel, an Italian citizen, born November 26, 1976 at Molndal (Sweden), who is lawfully entitled, as Head of the Royal House of Paternò Castello of Valencia and Sardinia, to the following qualities, rights and privileges:

• The quality of Royal Highness, Royal Prince, and Pretender to the Throne of Valencia and Sardinia;
• The right to qualify and to be the Sovereign Head of the Name and Arms of the Royal House of Paternò Castello of Valencia and Sardinia;
• The right to all the qualifications, prerogatives, attributes of rank, with the right to use coats of arms, which belong to him by hereditary right;
• The sovereign prerogatives related to the Jus Majestatis and Jus Fons Honorum, with power to confer titles of nobility, with or without predicates, coats of arms, titles of honor and chivalry on orders equestrian family as well as create new orders;
• the sovereign prerogative to assign, to a citizen of male or female, of its House titles by giving the right to integrate the titles and predicates into surnames, in the manner and terms established by the rules in the name;
• the quality of material subject to international law and orders of the Grand Master of the dynastic family ergo non-national for the purpose of the law March 3, 1951, No 178; g) the pretensions of sovereign titles of the King of Aragon, King of Valencia, King of Sardinia, King of Majorca, King of Sicily, King of Corsica, the Count of Barcelona, ​​Count of Provence, Count Roussillon and of Conte d'Urgell;
• the pretensions of the feudal titles of Duke of Athens, Duke of Neopatria, Count of Sicily, Count of Cervera and Lord of Montpellier;
• The non-Feudal titles of the Family Paterno Castello: Count of Paterno, Earl of Artedero, Earl of Mongialisi, Baron of Carcaci, Baron of Biscari, Baron of Granieri, Baron of Bicocca, Lord of the Bidan and Patrician of Catania;
• The right of ownership of the Orders of the Family:
  • Royal Dynastic Aragonese Order of the Knights of St. John, based in Valletta - Malta;
  • Royal Dynastic Noble Order Valenciano, headquartered in La Valletta - Malta;
  • Military Order of Merit of the Crown of Valencia, located in La Valletta - Malta;
  • Royal Military Order of the Liberation of Valencia, located in Valletta, Malta.

VI) - H.R.H. Prince Thorbjorn Francesco Giuseppe Nicola Roberto Paterno Castello of the Dukes of Carcaci,Prince of Emanuel, an Italian citizen, born on 26/11/1976 in Molndal (Sweden), is the legitimate heir of the historic dynasty founded by King Alfonso II of Aragon, being the Head of the Royal House of Paternò Castello of Valencia and the Balnearic Islands."

External links

• :it:Paternò (famiglia)
• Real Casa Paternò Castello di Valencia e Sardegna
• Il Principe Reale Roberto II
• Kingdom of Aragon
• PhD Thesis of Dr Hans Hoegen Dijkhof
• Studio legale di Diritto Nobiliare Sant' Andrea
• Expert opinion of Prof. Jacob W.F. Sundberg
• Genealogy of Paternó Castello, Dukes of Carcaci (Italian language)

Literature

• Abate, A. “Esequie del Duca di Carcaci” Catania 1854
• Agnello, G. “Il Museo Biscari di Catania nella Storia della Cultura Illuministica del ‘700” in Archivio Storico della Sicilia Orientale, 1957, a. X p. 142
• Amico, “Catana Illustrata”, 1741
• Amico, “Sicilia Sacra” 1742
• Maria Concetta Calabrese, I Paternò di Raddusa, C.U.E.C.M. 1998
• G. Carrelli, Hauteville e Paternò, in Rivista Araldica, n.3, 1932
• Enciclopedia Treccani'' Vol. XXVI, voce "Paternò", curata dal prof. Giuseppe Paladino dell'Università di Catania
• Francesco Gioeni, Genealogia dei Paternò, Palermo,1680
• G. Libertini, Il Museo Biscari, Milano 1930.
• V. Librando, Il Palazzo Biscari in Cronache di archeologia e di storia dell'arte, 3, 1964, p. 104 e ss.
• Denis Mack Smith, “Storia della Sicilia Medioevale e moderna” , Universale Laterza (1970) pp. 367 e ss, 376-377.
• Filadelfo Mugnos, Theatro Genealogico, 1650, s.v. "Paternò" p. 27
• Filadelfo Mugnos, Teatro della nobiltà del mondo, 1654, s.v. "Paternò", p. 297
• Muscia, Sicilia Nobile, 1408, s.v. "Paternò
• Scipione Paternò e Colonna, Storiografia della Casa Paternò, Catania. 1642
• Francesco Paternò di Carcaci, I Paternò di Sicilia, Catania, 1935.
• Vincenzo Notaro Russo, ''Genealogia della Casa Paternò, 1721, - Archivio Comune di Catania
• Gaetano Savasta, Storia di Paternò, Catania” 1905
• F. Ughello, ''Antonius Paternò, nobilis neapolitanus”, Palermo,1729
• Bruno Varvaro, Nuove indagini sulla contea di Paternò e Butera nel sec. XII, in Rivista Araldica, n. 4 - dicembre 1931
• Bruno Varvaro, Hauteville e Paternò in Rivista Araldica, n. 1 - 20 gennaio 1933 *G.E. Paternò di Sessa, F. Paternò, "Dell'origine regia e aragonese dei Paternò di Sicilia", in Rivista Araldica Fasxcicolo n. 6, giugno 1913
• Salvatore Distefano, Ragusa Nobilissima - Una famiglia della Contea di Modica attraverso le fonti e i documenti d'archivio, contributo alla Historia Familiae Baronum Cutaliae, Ancillae et Fundi S. Laurentii, RICHERCHE (2006), 109-160, a pag.128 si ricorda che Eleonora Paternò e Tornabene, vedova Biscari, sposò Guglielmo Distefano, duca di San Lorenzo. -->
• Librando, V. “Il Palazzo Biscari” in Cronache di Archeologia e di Storia dell’Arte, 1964, n. 3 p. 104 e ss.
• Guzzetta, G.: “Per la gloria di Catania: Ignazio Paternò Castello Principe di Biscari” Agorà, Luglio- settembre 2001
• Garuffi, “Archivio Storico della Sicilia Orientale”, anno IX, 1912
• Garuffi, “Gli Aleramici ed i Normanni” Palermo 1910, Vol. I
• La Dinastia Sovrana Paternò-Ayerbe-Aragona - L Pelliccioni di Poli
• 1956 Rome Nobiliario Internazionale - C Santippolito
• 1985 RAM Messina Corpus Historiae Genealogicae Italiae et Hispaniae - J W Imhof 1702 Nurnberg
• Los Condes de Barcelona Vindicados Cronologia y Genealogia - Prospero de Bofarull y Mascaro Secretario de SM Archivero de la Corona de Aragon
• 1836 Barcelona Rivista Araldica 1922 p295-305, 343-346
• Rivista Araldica 1913 p330-335
• Anales de la Corona de Aragon by Jerònimo Zurita, Tom 1 libro IV cap.126
• The Rise of the Aragonese-Catalan Empire 1200-1350 - J Lee Shneidman 1970 New York and London