Gioeni

Gioeni

 Alias: nan

 Blazon: fusely argent and gules, a chief or with a lion issuant sable. Crown of a prince.

 Origins: Anjou

 Seat: Messina

 Notable people: 

• Perrono, a protonotary of the Kingdom of Sicily and the first possessor of Calvaruso, Bavuso, Castiglione, Rocca and Valdina, and Miraglia.
• Bartolomeo was a great chancellor of the kingdom under the Martinis. 
• Another Bartolomeo from Messina, by privilege on May 11, 1486, obtained the right to add the arms of the royal house of Aragon to his own noble coat of arms. 
• Consalvo, Baron of Aidone, preserved Terranova and Augusta for the royal domain during the Turkish incursions. 
• Lorenzo received the title of royal knight in 1528, and Ettore received the same title in 1571. 
• Giovanni Gioeni, Baron of S. Dimitri from Catania, also obtained the title of royal knight in 1587.
• Tommaso Gioeni e Cardona, Marquis of Giuliana, served as governor of the noble company of the Bianchi of Palermo in 1589-90 and 1598-99, and as praetor of Palermo in 1594-95 and 1598-99. In 1602, he obtained the title of Prince of Castiglione. 
• Ambrogio became a Knight of Malta and Grand Prior of Pisa in 1594. 
• Giacomo was inscribed in Mollica's noble registry (list XIII) in 1599. 
• Lorenzo was stratigò of Messina in 1616. 
• Giovanni became a Knight of S. Giacomo della Spada, praetor of Palermo (1615-16, 1634-35), and justice captain (1624-25). In 1633, he obtained the title of Duke of Angiò. 
• Francesco Gioeni e Platamone was a judge of the Grand Criminal Court in 1643. 
• Vincenzo, Baron of San Dimitri, was justice captain of Catania in 1667-68, 
• Francesco was a sworn official of the same city in 1695-96.
• Giovanni, Baron of S. Dimitri, is noted in the noble registry of Catania of January 16, 1696, among the feudatories and royal knights, along with Diego and Francesco. 
• Girolamo Gioeni e Ventimiglia, Duke of Angiò, was governor of the noble company of the Bianchi of Palermo in 1697, deputy of the Kingdom, vicar general in Girgenti, justice captain of Palermo (1704-05, 1712-13), praetor of the same city (1710-11), and gentleman of the chamber to Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, King of Sicily. 
• Tommaso was pretorian judge of Palermo (1716-17, 1723-24)
• Giacomo held the same office in 1731-32 and was a judge of the Consistory tribunal in 1743. 
• Giuseppe-Mario was treasurer of Catania from 1743 to 1747 and in 1746 obtained the title of illustrious for himself and his descendants. 
• Lorenzo was bishop of Girgenti. 
• Ottavio was field marshal and castellano of Castellammare in Palermo, dying in 1750.
• Giovanni, Duke of Angiò, was appointed master rational of the short cape of the Royal Patrimony tribunal in 1774-75, general intendant of troops, governor of the Monte di Pietà of Palermo, deputy of the Kingdom (1778, 1790), and gentleman of the chamber. 
• Girolamo was a judge of the Grand Criminal Court in 1786. 
• Agesilao, Prince of Petrulla, was senator of Palermo (1792-93, 1796), governor of the noble company of the Bianchi (1792), and gentleman of the chamber. 

 Titles: 

• Prince of Castiglione
• Prince of S. Antonino
• Prince of Petrulla-Solanto
• Duke of Anjou
• Duke of Castellana-Ravanusa
• Duke of S. Biagio
• Marquess of Giuliana
• Count of Chiusa
• Baron of Aidone
• Baron of Bavuso
• Baron of Biribbaida
• Baron of Belice
• Baron of Burgio
• Baron of Calatamauro
• Baron of Casalcarbone
• Baron of Contessa
• Baron of Miraglia
• Baron of Montallegro
• Baron of Oliveri
• Baron of Novara
• Baron of Pietratagliata
• Baron of San Dimitri
• Baron of Valcorrente

 Bibliography: Mango 1912, s.v. 'Gioeni'

The Gioeni family, a very noble lineage, traces its origins back to Arrigo d'Angiò, a prince of the royal Angevin bloodline that dominated Sicily. According to Paladino, Arrigo, having killed Manfredo Svevo in battle, married Beatrice, Manfredo's daughter, receiving the states of Fiedinisi, Calatabiano, Noara and the Motta di Camastra as her dowry. They had three sons, Ruberto, Manfredo, and Luigi, who were saved during the Sicilian Vespers massacre by the Messinese knight Nicolò Palizzi. They were later reinstated in their states by King Pietro d'Aragona, and to erase the memory of the hatred Sicilians bore towards the French Angevins, they changed their name to Gioeni and altered their coat of arms.

The family boasted nobility in Messina from the 15th to the 18th century, as well as in Palermo and elsewhere. They possessed various principalities, duchies, marquisates, countships, and baronies, including S. Antonino, Castiglione, Petrulla-Solanto, Angiò, Castellana-Ravanusa, S. Biagio, Giuliana, Chiusa, Aidone, Bavuso, Biribbaida, Belice, Burgio, Calatamauro, Casalcarbone, Contessa, Miraglia, Montallegro, Oliveri, Novara, Pietratagliata, San Dimitri, and Valcorrente.

The direct primogenital line of the family through Lorenzo, Prince of Castiglione and strategoto of Messina in 1616, ended when his only daughter and heir, Elisabetta, married Prince Marcantonio Colonna, Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples. The line of Giovanni Gioeni e Cordova, first Duke of Angiò in 1633, continued in Palermo.

In 1900, Salvatore Gioeni, son of Giuseppe, born in Catania on August 22, 1835, obtained recognition of the title of noble, transmissible to his descendants of both sexes through a continued direct male line.

Among the Hierosolomitan knights, Fra Ambrogio, prior of Pisa, Fra Ottavio, prior of Barletta in 1573, and Fra Alessandro in 1631 are noteworthy.