Hello George
I'm so glad to work with you again and continue with the very
interesting story of the Tonti family.
Anticamente chiamati Spadi, presero il nome di Fetonti
In olden times called Spadi, they took the name of Fetonti...
allorquando per le civili discordie un Fetonte degli Spadi nei 1335,
insieme a Papirio e Fillippo ed i figliuoli de questi,
..when, during the civil wars in 1335, one Fetonte of the Spadi
family, together with Papirio and Fillippo and their children..
volle dividersi dalla propria agnazione, e successivamente furono
detti Tonti.
..wanted to separate himself from his own lineage [relatives], and
from then on were known as Tonti.
Camillo e Pietro furono valorosi capitani, il primo nei 1500, e
l'altro nel 1543-
Camillo and Pietro became brave captains, the first in 1500, and the
other in 1543.
Pier-Antonio vesti l'abito di Malta;
Pier-Antonio wore the habit [clothes] of [a knight of the Order of]
Malta
Domizio e Jacopo nei 1679 vestirono quello dei cavalieri de S. Stefano
di Toscana, di cui fu gran conservatore lo stesso Jacopo nei 1704;
Domizio and Jacopo in 1679 put on the clothes of the knights of Saint
Stephen of Tuscany, of which [order] that same Jacopo became great
custodian in 1704.
Francesco del Cav. Domizio Tonti nei 1708 fu aggregato alla stessa
milizia, e nei 1731 ebbe la dignita di gran priore del Convento
Francesco del Cav. Domizio Tonti joined the same order in 1708, and in
1731 had the [honored] rank of great prior of the convent [priory] ..
..Arma?"
This suggests the writer has a query about a coat of arms, probably
the family's.
Wearing the habit of Malta is a phrase which nowadays means taking on
the duties or mission of a Knight of the order of Malta. I compared
Italian and English versions of their site at:
http://www.orderofmalta.org/notizia.asp?IDNotizia=5&idlingua=5
Site of the present day Knights of St. Stephen of Tuscany:
http://www.chivalricorders.org/royalty/habsburg/tuscany/stephen.htm
"Gran Conservatore" seems to be a title in some other orders. Literal
meaning is great preserver or custodian.
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22gran+conservatore%22+++&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Before the translation of the next section, which is partly a
description of a coat of arms, I should point out that Spadi is not
only a name but also the Italian for swords. (I believe that's the
origin of the spades in a pack of playing cards, as they are called
swords in some other languages.)
"Famiglia consolare originaria di Cesena.
Consular family [family of the ruling class], natives of Cesena
Antonio capitano ed ingegnere;
Antonio captain and engineer
(Antonio was probably a military engineer - see below.)
Michelangelo creato Cardinale di S.R.C. da Paolo V il 24 nov. 1608;
indi nei 1609 Vescovo di Cesena
Michelangelo was created Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church by Pope
Paul V on November 24 1608; from 1609 onwards he was Bishop of Cesena.
Arma: Spaccato d' azzurro e d'oro,
Coat of Arms: split into blue and gold
a due spade in croce di S. Andrea al naturale,
with two swords, displayed naturally, in a St. Andrew's cross
con una stella d'argento in capo."
with a silver star on top.
There is a special heraldic style for describing coats of arms but I
thought I would be safer just sticking to the basic meaning, since I
don't have a specialist knowledge of heraldry. The swords are
displayed "al naturale"; this may mean the same as "proper" in
heraldry and imply that they are drawn as 'real' swords not according
to a conventional heraldic style:
http://www002.upp.so-net.ne.jp/saitou/parker/jpglossa.htm
I have had to battle a little with the phrase 'consular family' or
"famiglia consolare". I think you typed 'consolre' but this can't be
an Italian word; though I did find it twice on Google searches of
Italian pages, it was clearly a typo. If you look at your notes again
and see it might be something else, get back to me and I'll see if I
can come up with any other ideas.
Assuming it is "famiglia consolare", the webpages I've seen using this
phrase are referring to people of noble birth or from powerful
families. In ancient Rome 'consul' was an important governmental
position and I think later Italian usage reflects this.
Here's a different layout for the translation, in case that's more
convenient:
In olden times called Spadi, they took the name of Fetonti when,
during the civil wars in 1335, one Fetonte of the Spadi family,
together with Papirio and Fillippo and their children, wanted to
separate himself from his own lineage [relatives], and from then on
were known as Tonti.
Camillo and Pietro became brave captains, the first in 1500, and the
other in 1543.
Pier-Antonio wore the habit [clothes] of [a knight of the Order of]
Malta;
Domizio and Jacopo in 1679 put on the clothes of the knights of Saint
Stephen of Tuscany, of which [order] that same Jacopo became great
custodian in 1704;
Francesco del Cav. Domizio Tonti joined the same order in 1708, and in
1731 had the [honored] rank of great prior of the convent
[priory]..Arms?
--
Consular family [family of the ruling class], natives of Cesena
Antonio captain and engineer
Michelangelo was created Cardinal of the SRC [Holy Church] by Pope
Paul V on November 24 1608; from 1609 onwards he was Bishop of Cesena.
Coat of Arms: split into blue and gold with two swords in a natural
St. Andrew's cross and a silver star on top.
Just a little about engineers:
" Although by the 1600's the term engineer was used to describe those
who designed and built bridges and roads, the term engineer remained
mainly one for a designer of military devices."
http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/~dgerlach/publications/EngineerName.pdf
Thank-you so much for a translation project full of interest. You have
some fascinating material and I have enjoyed working with it. Please
don't hesitate to ask if anything needs further clarification.
Regards - Leli |
