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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-09 > 0936177003


From: Francisco Antonio Doria <>
Subject: Cavalcanti II (Dictionary) - long
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 99 09:10:03 -0000


There is an interesting mistake which is made by Portuguese genealogists that describe this branch of the Cavalcanti family: they all mention that Filippo Cavalcanti was the son of Antonio Cavalcanti and a gson of Battista Cavalcanti and Francesca Acciaioli. This runs against the documentary evidence I have presented.

When we check this line in the single Portuguese genealogy for these people that ventures into their Florentine past, we see that there have to be some missing generations (see below). I then recalled two other similar mistakes (``collapse of generations'') on the Acciaioli and Doria Italian ancestries. Litta (tavole II and VIII, Acciaioli di Firenze) identifies Simone Acciaioli who goes to the Madeira with a homonymous character in the same branch, but a couple of generations earlier - Simone di Michele Acciaioli, while the settler in the Madeira was Simone di Zanobi. Second mistake was made by 17th century Portuguese genealogist Affonso Torres when he again `collapses' two generations of the Doria family when he identifies the Clemenza de Oria who marries into the Silva e Meneses family with her gmother from Italy.

My own guess is that Filippo Cavalcanti, father of Lorenzo and ggfather of Filippo Cavalcanti who settles in Brazil is Antonio's son, as given in Eugenio Gamurrini, _Storia delle famiglie nobili toscane, III, 57-78. There is some onomastic confirmation to this, as Filippo Cavalcanti's (the one in Brazil) eldest son is Antonio Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, and that first name is typical of this branch of the family, as in Gamurrini's genealogy.

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Legendary origins of the Cavalcanti family mention three German knights from Cologne who went south to Italy and settled there. (There is a parallel here: the Flanders and Central European legendary connections of so many Scottish families, like the Drummonds and Livingstones.)

Anyway the line we have is:

1. Domenico, given at year 1000. Father of:

2. Berto or Gianiberto, given at 1040 [looks like an estimate, to me]. Son:

3. Cavalcante, given as consul of Florence, 1086. (But I think that this is a confusion with the same-named consul below.) Name `Cavalcante' is a present participle from `cavalcare,' to ride a horse. Means, roughly, the one who rides; might refer to his being created a knight. Son:

4. Gianozzo, Gianozzino, dated [estimate, probably] 1120. Son:

5. Cavalcante di Gianozzo, first historically documented family member. He is the one who became consul of Florence in 1176. Son Schiatta Cavalcanti was a consul in 1214. Son Aldobrando Cavalcanti is attested in 1215 in a treaty with Bologna. Follows:

6. Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. Has a very famous gson, poet Guido [di Cavalcante di Cavalcante] Cavalcanti (1255 - 1300), Dante's great friend and companion. Less famous son:

7. Messer Poltrone Cavalcanti. `Messer' probably refers to him as a knight. Might be the one who sits among the anziani in 1246 and is a member of the Parte Guelfa (see S. Raveggi et al., -Ghibellini, guelfi e popolo grasso_, Firenze 1978). Poltrone means coward, and is certainly a derogatory nickname. Next:

8. Messer Cannino Cavalcanti (Cannino: little hound). M. 1295 Brasia (?) Salimbeni, dec. May 5, 1320, d. of Ciampolo Salimbeni. Next:

9. Messer Ciampolo Cavalcanti. His children change the family name in 1361, to de' Ciampoli, but later reverted to the old name. The reason: they were _magnati_, that is, had the status of ancient nobles, and were thus deprived of participation in the city's government. They as a consequence resigned their noble condition. Similar change of name and resignation of noble status happened with the Tornaquinci, who became Tornabuoni (literally, `becomes good'), for example. Next:

10. Domenico Cavalcanti. Father of:

11. Antonio Cavalcanti [Gamurrini adds a second Antonio here, but I think it's just a `fill-in']. Father (or gfather) of:

12. Battista Cavalcanti, m. Francesca di Zanobi Acciaioli. This presents a problem to me: in the early 15th century there is just one known Zanobi Acciaioli, a Medici enemy who is a priore in 1418 and 1430, and a member of the 1433 balía which almost condemned Cosimo de' Medici il vecchio to death. But this seems a bit late, as all his legitimate children married c. 1440-50. As I estimate that Battista was born c. 1390, she might have been a bastard (not uncommon, and not demeaning). Son:

13. Antonio Cavalcanti [estimate born c. 1420]. Next:

14. Filippo Cavalcant [estimate b.c. 1450]. Then:

15. Lorenzo Cavalcanti, father of:

16. Giovanni Cavalcanti, the one who settles in London before 1521 and married Ginevra Mannelli. Next:

17. Filippo Cavalcanti, b. 1528, in Brazil after 1560.

Source is Arquivos Nacionais da Torre do Tombo (Portugal), genealogias manuscritas (handwritten genealogies), 21 - E - 2, MF 759.




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Francisco Antonio Doria
Prix Caumont-La Force 1995
(Conféderation Internationale de Généalogie et d'Héraldique.)
Full member, Brazilian College of Genealogists (CBG)

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