-Historical background
The first historical documented citation of the Church is in 1212 in a list of the Churches of Viterbo[1].
In 1218 the church which had added at this time the hospital annex was at the center of a complex legal battle against the church and hospital of San Giacomo Rianese in Viterbo. The friars of Santa Maria of Centignano had been granted the rights to half of the site, owned by the Roman church of S. Basilio. The delegate of Pope Onorio III ruled in favor of the Roman hospital of S. Basilio and of the bursar of S. Maria of Centignano[2].
A few months after this the prior and the friars who were too distant to really benefit from this grant ,donated the hospital to the church of S. Angelo in Spada in Viterbo and in January 1220 obtained the approval of this grant by the bishop of Viterbo [3]. At the time of these events the church clergy was composed of a prior and rector named Stefano , the friars Giovanni, Rufo, Loctario (bursar) and the oblate friars Rainoldo and Giacomo and aliorum omnium fratrum et oblatorum. It was therefore an important structure.
The hospital of S. Basilio in Rome, located near the homonymous church at the Roman Forum, was already belonged to the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1217 [4]. One can therefore reasonably presume that S, Maria of Centignano too was already under the Knights of S. John of Gerusalem influence. In the above mentioned period Vignanello was probably under the influence of the family of the Vico prefects.
Our research at this point has not been able to trace any documentation for the next two centuries.
In 1415, a Donna Bernardina of Vignanello left a bequest for the realization of a fresco on the apse[5].
In 1453, the preceptory of Centignano together with those of Giove, Terni and Narni was united to that of S. Matteo a Orte [6]. This arrangement lasted at least until 1466 [7].
The Church reappears in documents in 1472 with a request to cut timber to repair the church roof the 12th of December [8]. In these years Vignanello was directly under the Reverenda Camera Apostolica. (Papal Rule) At this time, as one can deduce from some notary documents the commenda was under the Govenor Fra Giovanni Battista Sforzolini from Gubbio, the first documented Saint John of Jerusalem knight.
The church already then had been called “opulentissima” ( Most opulent) as one can deduce from an anonymous not dated document preserved in the Secret Archive of the Vatican, that lists some of the commende and their annual incomes [9].
| Commenda de Vignanello | scudi 230 |
| Commenda de Giovi | scudi 120 |
| Commenda de Viterbo | scudi 60 |
| Commenda de Vetralla | scudi 75 |
| Commenda de Sutri | scudi 40 |
| Commenda de Civitavecchia | scudi 10 |
| Commenda de Narni | scudi 15 |
Between 1533 and 1535 the Commendatore was Tiberio Capodiferro, brother of Domenico who was the , Governor of Vignanello from 1520 to 1523: Tiberio entered the order in 1516. His presence is evidenced by a series of notary acts.
A document preserved in the Secret Archive of the Vatican [10] regarding a notary act dated 1561 certified by Antonio Sanci stated that the possessions of the Commenda had been donated to the Vignanello Community, and that the Commenda itself had to submit to its laudenium [11].
In 1577 the ownership passed to the Florentine Niccolò Tornaquinci, from his notes we can presume that the commenda had been abandoned or at least been neglected. At this point we are in the full Marescotti period in one of the moments of conflict between Alfonso Marescotti and his vassals. Niccolo Tornaquinci defined himself as Com[mendato]re di S.[an]to Matteo Dort [12], S.[an]ta Maria acintignano, S.[an]toLo di ternj [13]. S.[an] San Matteo of Orte was at the time the “head center” of the Commende under the control of Niccolò, while other sites were “members”.
Niccolò arrived in Centignano in the beginning of June 1577. On the 8th of June he started to restore the house and the church, and entered an agreement with the govenor establishing that those who worked on the lands of the commenda had to pay a fifth or a sixth part of the harvest. This agreement obviously had a great impact on Vignanello if in 1578, when similar contracts between the comunity on one side and Ortensia Farnese and her son Alfonso on the other had to be agreed upon. The reppresentatives of the comunities demanded that the same rules apply to whoever worked the lands of Alfonso [14].
In december 1580 Niccolò Tornaquinci rented the Centignano and Orte property to Giulio Cesare Colonna, first Prince of Palestrina as well as among other titles, lord of Carbognano and Bassanello. The rent was about 400 scudi a year to be paid in installments, starting on May 1st 1581 and ending on May 1st 1584 [15].
The successor of Niccolò Tornaquinci who died in 1586 was the Florentine Girolamo Vincenzo Ginori. Ginori already was the Commendatore of S, Maria in Carbonara in Viterbo. His appointment as Commendatore of also the Commenda of Centignano is proof of an consolidation of the properties.
At the beginning of the XVII century , we start seeing the documentation of entries by the cabrei , who were in charge of the land register of the Cavalieri di Gerusalemme. (Knights of Gerusalem) These documents were compiled periodically together with the surveys carried out by the Order regarding the improvements on the Commende of the Commendatori.
In the cabreo (land register) of 1613, the first documented entry for Centignano, the Commenda, is officially listed among the possessions of the Commenda of S: Maria Carbonara. The cabreo shows the impressive dimension of the Vignanello properties that amounted to about 170 hectares.
In the next cabreo dated 1662 the amount of land increased to about 376 hectares, doubling the size of the property.
Between 1667 and 1667 the commenda was rented to Giuliano Musacchi for 360 scudi
In the documents regarding the improvements dated 1707 made by the Commendator Buini , the property was practically the same. If we refer to the extension of thecomunity which was equal to about 2000 hectares, we can infer from the Gregoriano land registry compiled between 1818 and 1819 that this property occupied about 20% of the entire comunal territory, and that it was mostly concentrated in its north, from Fontana Candida and Fosso della Mola to the road connecting Gallese to Soriano.
In the list of the commende dated 1789 the commenda of Centignano is not mentioned, while there is a mention of S: Maria in Carbonara, which at this point included Centignano.
In the entries of Gregorian Land Register between 1818 and 1819, we can see that the “Chiesa della B.[eat]a Vergine di Centignano con casa d’uso proprio” (the church and house for private use,) was registered in sheet 111, position 1742, as the property of the Duke of Bomarzo and Prince of Cantalupo Don Giulio Lante della Rovere (Florence July 9th 1789- Rome April 7th 1873)
The house and church parcel had an extension of 770 square meters. The land register shows that Giulio Lante della Rovere was the owner of almost all the land that had been previously held by the Commenda, for a total of 338 hectares. The purchase of this land probably occured in 1805, the year of the French re-occupation of the Papal State, which had been annexed to the Napoleonic Empire .On May 17th 1809, or more precisely after April 25h 1810, the date of the decry that abolished religious corporations, and not obviously beyond 1818. However because the Papal State was reestablished on January 24th 1814, we can further narrow our investigation. The other possessions of the commende were sold by the Repubblican goverment in 1798, including the possessions of the Commenda of S. Giovanni and Vittore di Montefiascone and those of the Commenda of Santa Lucia of Viterbo, the few leftover possesions of which were merged with the Commenda of S. Maria in Carbonara, as one can see in the cabreo of 1830 [16].
This period marks the end of the history of the of the Commenda as part of the possessions of the Saint John of Jerusalem Knights.
© MAURIZIO GRATTAROLA JANUARY 2017– TRANSLATION FRITZI PIGNATELLI
[1] Francesco Cristofori, in “Le tombe dei Papi in Viterbo e le Chiese di S. Maria in Gradi, di S. Francesco e di S. Lorenzo” , Siena 1887, pag. 8,
2 Pietro Egidi, L’archivio della cattedrale di Viterbo, Forzani e C. Tip. del Senato, Roma 1906, p. 108, doc. 92 [= Bullettino dell’Istituto storico italiano 27]
3 ibid., pp. 110 e 112, docc. 96 e 101
4“Life and religion in the Middle Age” edito da Flocel Sabatè, pag. 146 che riprende un articolo apparso su Clemente Ciammaruconi “L’ordine templare nel Lazio Meridionale” Atti del Convegno Sabaudia 2009, Nicoletta Bernacchio “L’ospedale dei giovanniti nel Foro di Traiano e l’architettura ospitaliera a Roma nel Tardo Medioevo”. Vedi anche Bollettino della deputazione di Storia Patria dell’Umbria” vol 82, 1985, e “Capitolium” vol.30, 1955, pag. 327, Anthony Luttrell “The Hospittalers of Rhodes and their mediterranean world” Ashgate Publishing Company 1992 pag. 51
5 Archivio Lagrimanti, “Fogli sciolti”, busta 9
6 D. Andrews – A. Luttrell “A Hospitaller Tower near Orte” in Annales de l’Ordre Souverain Militaire de Malte, a. XXXI, n. 3-4 ( luglio- dicembre 1973 ) pp. 86-95“Il precettore [di S. Matteo di Orte] nel 1395 era Fr. Nicola de Orte; nel 1446 e 1462 era Fr. Cuctuagino Silvestro, e nel 1453 le commende vicine di Centignano, Giove, Terni e Narni sono state unite, con sede ad Orte. Successivamente le proprietà intorno ad Orte sono diventate parte della commenda di Viterbo, e nel 1613 il cabreo di quella commenda descriveva San Matteo”
7 Antony Luttrell The hospittallers around Narni and Terni: 1333-1373 BDSPU vol LXXXII, Perugia 1985 pg. 5.22. Luttrell afferma che nel 1466, nell’Umbria Meridionale le preceptorie di Cintiniano, Giove, Narni e Terni facevano capo alla preceptoria di S. Matteo di Orte. Egli infatti nell’Archivio dell’Ordine di Malta (cod. 375 f. 88-89) trova questa affermazione:
“Preceptoria Orti remanet capud infrascriptum sibi unitarum videlicet Sanctae Mariae de Cintiniano, Sancti Manigliani de Jovi, sancti Thome de narnea, sancti Petri de Rigone de Interamne cum suis membris in Sannia”
8Archivio Segreto Vaticano Diversorum de Camera Vol. 37 p. 156r
9 Fondo Ruspoli Marescotti, faldone 251, doc. 1
10 Fondo Ruspoli Marescotti, faldone 200 doc. 12
11 L’atto è in ASVit, Fondo Notarile di Vignanello busta 42, Notaio Antonio Sancio dal 5 febbraio 1561 al 6 novembre 1562, volume VI, ff. 69-73 dell’11 maggio 1561
12 Commenda di S. Matteo o Masseo a Orte, unita alle commende di Centignano, Giove, Terni e Narni nel 1453
13 Commenda di S. Eligio (san Lo) a Terni
14 Fondo Ruspoli Marescotti, faldone 196 doc. 5 “Sopra il lavorare la tenuta del buschetto Che se la Com.tà o suoi particolari voranno lavorare la detta tenuta il Sig.re sia obligato concedergli acciò li pover ho.i si possino aiutare con le lor fatige però che quelli che li lavorano diano la medema risposta che danno detti homini allo Ill.mo et Ecc.mo Duca di Parma per le possessioni che ha detto Ill.mo Sig.re nel territorio di detta Terra et anco la medema risposta che piglia il preceptore della comenda di S. Maria de Cintignano che è nel medemo territorio”
15 L’atto di affitto è in ASVit, Fondo Notarile di Vignanello, busta 63, Notaio Serafino Menicucci, ff. 139v.-142r. In questo documento S. Maria di Centignano viene indicata come un membro della Commenda di S. Matteo di Orte.
16 Giuliano Romalli,“La magione di Bagnoregio”, in “L’ordine Templare nel Lazio Meridionale” pag. 295 segg.