The Legendary Eugène Matteo d'Armenia

Published on 02/07/2014

by Loïck PORTELLI

Introduction

The genealogist who manages to reach the 16th century in Malta may come across a certain Eugenio Matteo d'Armenia. His biography, mentioned on several websites and in a few works, would undoubtedly make his possible descendants proud. It must be said that the portrait is flattering if one does not dwell too much on the inconsistency of certain dates:

Eugenio Matteo Pietro d'Armenia: illegitimate son of King Jacques II of Cyprus. Prince Eugenio Matteo de Lusignan also known as Pietro Matteo d'Armenia born in 1466 and killed in 1536 in a naval battle against the Turks, titular king of Cyprus, Jerusalem, Armenia, titular prince of Antioch, Tripoli and Galilee (r. 1474-1536). He traveled to Padua, Sicily, then to Malta where he settled and married a Sicilian heiress Donna Paola Mazzara in 1508. Appointed Baron of Baccari (Tal-Baqqar) in 1508, Pietro d'Armenia received as a fief the garden of Baccari with its lands (Girghenti and the pond of S. Giorgio), but was never officially invested, having been killed in a naval battle with the Moors in the sea off the Barbary coast. He was captain of a ship belonging to Giovanni di Nava but also had his own ship.

His heir James Antonio (known as Blasio) d'Armenia succeeded him and became the second Baron di Baccari and was appointed Barone di Benuwarred by the Grand Master of Malta in 1514. He married Dona Isabella di Avello. Blasio d'Armenia died in 1558.

We notice multiple names:

Eugenio Matteo de Lusignan
Pietro Matteo d'Armenia

We will trace the history of these persons and determine whether they are one and the same person

Multiple Names

Let us trace the history of this figure and his multiple appellations through historical evidence

Eugène de Lusignan

In order to verify these claims, let us consult the reference work for this period: Nouvelles preuves de l'histoire de Chypre sous le règne des princes de la maison de Lusignan, by Louis de Mas Latrie (1873), fortunately available online. From this work we can draw a brief portrait of the illegitimate son of King Jacques II whose first name was indeed Eugène:

Eugène de Lusignan: born around 1469, imprisoned in Venice in 1476 then in the castle of Padua in 1478. On May 30, 1502, the Doge of Venice, Léonard Lorédano, following a deliberation decided by the Council of Ten (1) and upon the complaint of the children of the King of Cyprus, authorizes the captain of Padua André Venier and his successors to allow the princes to leave two or three times a week at most and under good guard from the castle where they are detained, on the condition that they do not go beyond the barriers of the city and that they sleep every evening at the castle. In Padua, on October 23, 1502, Eugène and Jean de Lusignan, children of the late King of Cyprus, apologize in a letter to the Council of Ten for having dared to request silk blankets. This request was not made in their own interest but rather to honor the Council; if it appeared inappropriate, they ask forgiveness, and beg the Council to grant them simple blankets of cloth or coarse wool. On October 24, 1502 Louis de Candie, one of the children's guardians, writes a letter denouncing to the Council of Ten the suspicious relations that his companion Marc Marchesin appears to have with the princes, and the disorders that this causes in their lives. On January 4, 1503 letter from Eugène and Jean de Lusignan to the heads of the Council of Ten, complaining of being miserably treated by their guardians and asking the Council to grant them some subsidies to redeem the clothing they have been reduced to pawning. On March 31, 1513 Eugène escapes from the arsenal of Venice with his brother. On July 30, 1518 Marc Minio writes to the Council of Ten that a certain Agostino del Sol, banished from Venice, has recently arrived in Rome; that he has managed to gain the confidence of Jean de Lusignan, one of the sons of the late King of Cyprus, who recently fled from Venice. He has thus learned that Eugène de Lusignan, residing in Vienna, near the Emperor, hoped to see an alliance between the Empire, Spain and England concluded soon, and that thanks to this league, he hoped to be able to go to Cyprus. Agostino del Sol proposes to go there to poison Eugène. In July 1520 the Pope grants a pension to the two brothers: "Dilectis filiis Andree Belanti et sociis pecuniarum aluminum Sancte Cruciate depositariis. Sub indignationis nostre pena mandamus quatenus de dictis pecuniis solvatis illustribus dominis Eugenio et lohanni, filiis regis Cipri, ducatos septuaginta de bononenis 72 pro ducato, videlicet provisionem ordinariam per nos eis dari solitam, etc. Datum Rome apud Sanctum Petrum, die. (sic) Januarii M. D. XX." He died accidentally in Venice in 1536 (see Généalogie des rois de Chypre de la famille de Lusignan, Mas-Latrie, 1881).

To summarize, from a genealogical point of view, we therefore have:

Jacques II de Lusignan (between 1438 and 1440 - July 10, 1473)

Charlotte (April 1468 - July 24, 1480)
Eugène (circa 1469 - after 1523)
Jean (after 1469 - after 1523)

Pietro d'Armenia

Other individuals bearing the name Armenia are mentioned in two works devoted to Malta: Slavery in the Islands of Malta and Gozo ca. 1000 - 1812 by Godfrey Wettinger (2002) on page 8 and Malta illustrata accresciuta dal Cte G.A. Ciantar, by Giovanni Francesco Abela (1780), page 454. We can thus draw a fairly complete portrait of a certain Pietro d'Armenia, Baron of Baccari:

Pietro d'Armenia: In 1468 he was captain of a vessel bringing wheat from Sicily to Malta. Two years later he appears in the records of Rhodes as the captain of a Maltese galley belonging to Joannes (Giovanni) De Nava. On October 11 the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John Battista d'Ursino grants him a safe-conduct. In 1494 he was engaged in corsairing and trade with Cyrenaica. On December 12, 1495 he owned a quarter of a caravel. Half of the ship had been sold by Lorencius di Falczono to Marco Felu, a Maltese living in Syracuse, the remaining quarter being owned by Jackinus Caruana. In 1496 he paid the ransom of a Maltese captive of the Moors and had difficulty getting reimbursed by the former captive and his relatives. He gave power of attorney to Salvus Fauczuni to recover the sum, as he could not stop in Malta being called to important business by the king. This was probably the rebellion of Djerba against the Hafsid rulers. On March 20, 1496 the Viceroy of Sicily declared that Pietro d'Armenia had informed him by letter and in person that the inhabitants of Djerba had raised the flag of the King of Spain (who also ruled Sicily), and Pietro d'Armenia had personally handed him the keys of the city. The same year, back in Malta he persuaded five other vessels to accompany him to Djerba in an expedition financed at his own expense, later reimbursed by the royal administration. In 1508 Pietro obtained as a fief the vineyard and garden of Baccari with its lands (Girghenti and the pond of Saint-George) for his merits and services by King Ferdinand. In 1508 he died aboard his ship fighting the Moors.

Giovanni Francesco Abela also mentions his son Antonio, whose trace we find in the records of the site geneanum.com:

Antonio d'Armenia: On June 14, 1508 he received the fief of Baccari with its lands (Girghenti and the pond of S. Giorgio) from King Ferdinand, his father having died. On January 22, 1514 the fief of Benuarrat was granted to him by King Ferdinand in recognition ("recompensam") for his loyalty in naval battles in Africa against the "treacherous Moors." On August 30, 1518 his title of Viceportulano of the islands of Malta and Gozo was confirmed by Queen Giovanna and Emperor Charles in Saragossa. At an unknown date he married Lorenza Vassallo. On January 3, 1524 the spouses sold to Andrea Xara son of the late Bartolomeo a garden called le Gorghenti. On March 6, 1527 Emperor Charles V wrote a personal letter of recommendation for Antonio to the Count of Montebelone, Viceroy of Sicily, in reference to the heroic deeds of his father Pietro: "Y a deueys informado de les Buenos, y muchos servicios, que el quondam Pedro de Armenia natural de la Isla de Malta hizo con su persona, y ropa, al Catolico Rey Don Hernando mi Senor, y Aguelo de gloriosa memoria, y de como ultimadamente murio' peleando con los moros en defension de nuestra Santa Feè Catolica, por donde es mucha razon mirar por sus hyos, y beneficiarlos, &c". He died in 1549, the probate inventory took place on August 20.

What about Matteo d'Armenia? Wettinger and Abela mention him as well. He was a corsair (Wettinger, page 9), but it is not known whether he was the brother or the son of Pietro: "Matteo d'Armenia, che non sappiamo se fosse fratello, o' figliuolo di Pietro" (Abela, page 455).

Here is a beginning of a descendancy tree:

Pietro d'Armenia, corsair (? - 1508)

Antonio d'Armenia (? - 1549) x Lorenza Vassallo
Beatrice d'Armenia x Matteo ? xx Giacobo Cumbo
Caterina d'Armenia x Andrea Xara

Conclusion

What can we conclude from this study? That in order to establish a link between Malta and a King of Cyprus, "someone" has involuntarily or deliberately merged the biographies of three people. Eugenio Matteo Pietro d'Armenia is cited by several websites or books, and certain "descendants" include him in their family tree. Let us repeat it once more: an error repeated several times does not become a truth; it is better to carefully verify the sources.

First of all, we note that in the historical sources, we have on one side Eugène de Lusignan and on the other Pietro d'Armenia. They therefore share neither the same first name nor the same surname.

In terms of dates, there are also contradictions. Eugène is cited in documents up to 1523. So he was alive in 1523. Whereas Pietro died in 1508.

Matteo, for his part, is a blood relative of Pietro.

There is therefore not a shadow of a doubt that the three persons existed separately.

So no, neither Pietro d'Armenia nor Matteo d'Armenia are descendants of Jacques II of Cyprus. The latter has no descendants in Malta.

PS: You may be wondering where the name Blasio comes from, which is said to be the middle name of Antonio d'Armenia? Well, so are we! There was indeed a Blasio d'Armenia, married to Isabella di Avello. The problem is that legend has him deceased in 1558, while Antonio died in 1549... So once again these are two distinct persons.

Notes

The Council of Ten – in Italian, Consiglio dei Dieci, often referred to as the Ten – was, from 1310 to the fall of the republic in 1797, one of the principal organs, an executive and judicial committee, of the government of the Republic of Venice, whose role was to safeguard the security of the State.

Published with the kind permission of Loïck PORTELLI