The Counts of Cavaglià, after their home village (Cavaglià), had three fiefs: Ticineto, Frassineto Po and Valmacca. On the web, and in various paper publications, for the past 40 years, there has been a curious phenomenon of self-attribution of the title “Count of Cavaglià” by Pier Felice degli Uberti, formerly Ubertis formerly Noé, and by his father Alfredo, a claim that does not respond to any historical-scientific or documentary criteria. The following is a summary of the scientific work of seven universities that, with their history faculties, and others, have studied and complied the archives and produced an indisputable reconstruction of the fate of the four aforementioned fiefs.

Cavaglià

"The family of counts that we now call Cavaglià succeeded, it seems, in carving out an area of lordly dominion comprising the castles of Cavaglià, Alice, Roppolo, Dorzano and Arelio (a key area for communications between Vercelli and Ivrea, which would remain so until the 20th century, when the Santhià-Ivrea motorway was built). However, during the 12th century and the following century, the geography of lordly powers in the area became more complicated, thanks to the entrenchment of Vercellian families such as the Bondonno and the Bicchieri, and competition for power on a vast scale became more intense, also polarising competitions at a local level (Rondolino, pp. 54-58). The Counts of Cavaglià sided with Frederick Barbarossa and their adhesion to the imperial side marked, albeit negatively, the organic insertion of the counts and the territory around Lake Viverone into the horizon of the territorial policy of the municipality of Vercelli. Cavaglià was firmly included in the districtus commune of Vercelli, also through recourse to the traditional instrument of the pacts of cittadinatico (a pact was stipulated between Count Aimone of Cavaglià and the commune of Vercelli in May 1202: Mandelli, volume III, p. 262). We are not concerned here with the events of the alliances of the counts with one or the other party during the 13th century, when the system of feudal connections, with a legitimising function, between the counts and the superior powers constituted by the bishops of Vercelli, the bishops of Ivrea and the empire became more precise [Rondolino, p. 61 ff.; A.S.T., Corte, Monferrato feudi, m. 25, Cavaglià: dipl. del'imp. Frederick II of 1249 in favour of the counts Giorio and Pietro di Cavaglià]. Rather, it should be noted that the commune of Vercelli began early, and already by the end of the 12th century, to seek direct links, through oaths of citizenship, with individual inhabitants of Cavaglià (cf. Pacta et conventiones, chronological index, nos. 5, 19, 70, 194). The community thus managed to carve out a political role for itself, being able to deal directly with the municipality of Vercelli, even in the context of agreements in which the community was only one of many parties: in the Visconti statute (p. 131v-132r) a pact was recorded between the municipality of Vercelli on one side and on the other the community of Cavaglià, the dominus Pietro Bicchieri and his domus, the Bondoni, the dominus Giacomo di Saluzzola (probably of the family of the Counts of Cavaglià), Ottobono de Raynerio di Bene and other adherents. Indeed, the statutes themselves contain a fair number of chapters expressly dedicated to Cavaglià (pp. 136v-138r), which refer to a tradition of relations often rooted in the previous century: the municipality of Vercelli - by then organically inserted, with a subordinate role, in the complex and variegated Visconti political space - undertook to observe ‘omnes libertates, immunitates concessas et privilegia datas et concessas per commune Vercellarum communi et hominibus Cabaliace’ with an instrument dated 9 January 1257, when the new village of Viverone had been built (cf. further on, Luoghi scomparsi, Statuti). ‘ ’...Cavaglià and its territory belonged, after the dedication of 1429, to Savoy domination. In the 16th century, as under Feudalism, the financial needs of the Duchy suggested the enfeoffment of the offices of Cavaglià and of the empire itself, i.e. full jurisdiction..."

Cavaglià | www.centrocasalis.it

In short, as early as the 13th century, the Counts of Cavaglià were ousted from the town, which carved out its own autonomous dimension. In 1560, Cavaglià passed into the ownership of the wealthy Scaglia dynasty. However, in 1583, the town passed into the power of the court of Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy. Francesco Guasco in his “Dizionario feudale degli antichi Stati Sardi e della Lombardia (dall'epoca carolingica ai nostri tempi, 774-1909), Pinerolo, Tipografia già Chiantore-Mascarelli, 1911, 5 vols., pp. compl. XVI-2370, Biblioteca della Società Storica Subalpina, LIV-LVIII” describes all the successions of the fief of Cavaglià until the succession, in 1789, to Alessandro Doria, Marquis of Cirié and Maro, with the title of marquis.

The Doria family, marquises of Cavaglià, became extinct with Paolina Antonia, who died in Casale Monferrato in 1946.

Frassineto Po

"...The Cavaglià counts of Frassineto, apart from a rather brief period of vassalage to the Bishop of Vercelli, were always direct vassals of the empire, at least until 1294, when they accepted the citizenship of Casale and recognised its jurisdiction. On 12 March 1434, the Counts of Cavaglià branch of Frassineto "havendo l'ill.mo et Ecc.mo Signor Principe Giovanni Giacomo Paleologo reinvestiti per sua benignità e clemenza del castello feudo et luogo di Valmacca, li nobili Sig. Zanino quondam Domenico Aimoneto son of the late Aimoneto on their behalf and of the nobles Sig. Antonio quondam Lodovico, Thomeno quondam Honofrio, Biagio del fu Bernabò, Antonio del fu Odone, Bonifacio quondam Franceschino all of the nobles of Frassineto and of the Counts of Cabaliate. The latter, not wishing to be insignificant of the benefit received, spontaneously on their behalf and their heirs made full acquittance, remittance and release to the aforesaid Prince accepting on his behalf and on behalf of his heirs and successors all the rights that each of the said Cabaliati had and could have in the jurisdiction, men, mere and mixed rule and power of the sword and all things in any way pertaining to the jurisdiction of the aforesaid castle, land and place of Frassineto, as per instrument drawn up by Sig. Secretary Serafino di Santa Maria...". ..." The Counts of Cavaglià then made remittance to the Marquis of Monferrato of all their rights over the castle and the territory of Frassineto and settled definitively in Valmacca. From 1434, “Frassineto was held under the immediate jurisdiction of the Sovereign Princes of Monferrato until the Most Serene Duke Vincenzo, the first of this name, sold it and many prerogatives to Mr Evasio Ardizzi, a gentleman of Casale, on 12 July 1604...” (AST, Giacomo Saletta, Duchy of Monferrato, Manuscript)...".

‘...As is also stated in a decree of 1417, the Marquis Teodoro di Monferrato, cedes to the community of Frassineto ’all the common goods, alluvium, gravel, woods and scrubland between the said place and the river Po". (AST, Paesi A e B, Mazzo 12 F., Frassineto, F.2, Decreto di Teodoro Marchese di Monferrato per cui cede alla comunità di Frassineto tutti li beni comuni, le alluvioni, ghiare, boschi e gerbidi che si trovano tra il detto luogo e il fiume Po, 1417). Another document of a few years later (1436) confirms the cession. (AST, Paesi A e B, Mazzo 12 F., Frassineto, F.3, Convenzione seguita tra il signor Gioanni di Monferrato a nome del Signor Giò Giacomo Marchese di Monferrato e la Comunità et uomini di Frassineto per cui il predetto Signor Marchese cede alla detta Comunità il porto sul fiume Po con tutti i redditi che ne derivano nonché i pascoli pubblici, gerbidi oltre li dazii, forni, taberna e beccaria e questa si obbliga a pagararanno annualmente al Signor Marchese e successori la somma di fiorini 150 da reali 32 caduni, 1436). The statutes of 1537, approved by Federico Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, and his wife Margherita Paleologa, Marquess of Monferrato, provide for the presence within the Frassineto community of a communal oven, land for free and free grazing and woods for making wood. In 1742, the intendant of finance made a report on the state of the assets of the community of Frassineto Po: “The assets of this territory are well cultivated, consisting of fields or meadows, with a few vineyards and 30 moggia of grazing land called the Annunciata grazing land, which is the responsibility of the community and has always been used for grazing cattle, and has no other pasture” (AST, I Archiviazione, Provincia di Casale, Mazzo I, F.18, Relazione dello stato e coltura dei beni de' territori della città e comunità della provincia di Casale; stato de' raccolti, co' quesiti fatti dall' Ufficio Generale di Finanze in dipendenza di detta relazione , 1742- 1743).

Frassineto Po | www.centrocasalis.it

In summary, from 1434, the Cavaglià family no longer owned Frassineto; the community acquired its autonomy through direct relations with the Marquis of Monferrato from 1417. There has therefore been no lordship of the Cavaglià family over Frassineto since 1434.

Ticineto

"...The now increasingly powerful Marquis of Monferrato arrogated to himself the right to extend and consolidate his already vast domains by appropriating the adjacent places: Ticineto became a good prey, given the proximity of its territory to the increasingly important and strategic town of Casale, at that time not yet the capital of the Marquisate of Monferrato (the capital and residence of the Marquis was, until 30 January 1435, the town of Chivasso). On 6 May 1355, with an imperial diploma, Emperor Charles IV granted ‘all the lands that the Counts of Cavaglià owned and were to own’ to the Marquis of Monferrato. The Cavaglià, by now enemies of the marquis, protested strongly and obtained the restitution of the fiefs with a new diploma (14 June 1355): "diploma of Emperor Charles IV of confirmation and new concession in favour of Guglielmo di Ruffinengo fu Francesco and Filippello fu Bonifacio di Frassineto Counts of Cavaglià on their behalf and of the other consorts named therein of the castles and places of Ticineto, Frassineto, Adorno and Molo, Alice, Cavaglià, Casanova, Carcano, Dorzano, Ropolo, Castelnuovo, Paverano, Salamone, Erbario, Loiario, Monte sovra il Po, Lassania, Bremide, Benaiano, Astelliano, Salvarengo and Valmacca... "(AST, Monferrato Feudi, Volume II, Map 64, F. 1 ). But this investiture lasted only a few years, in fact in 1369 the Marquis of Monferrato, John II Paleologus, regained the territory of Ticineto. The Cavaglià sided at this point with Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, in the war that broke out in 1370 with the Marquis of Monferrato. They were therefore taken into account in the peace treaty of 7 July 1377: "... Tabulae pacis inter Galeatium Vice Comitem Mediolani, nec non comitem virtutum ac ipsorum socios ab una: Othonem II vero Marchionem Montisferrati eiusque Curatorem Ducem Brunscvicensem, ac tutorem fratrum dicti Marchionis eorum 1377... Nobiles de Frassaneto de Ruffinenghis, Salvaticis et Cicugnonibus, Aimonetus de Ticineto, coeterique alii consortes eorum, omnes comites Cabaliacae. " (Codex Diplomaticus, vol. III). But even this situation was short-lived: the Marquis of Monferrato obtained, with a diploma dated 16 April 1384, from Emperor Wenceslas the privileges already granted in the years 1355-1369 by Charles IV, but under the vassalage of the Marquises of Monferrato, the Cavaglià gradually lost all independence and were now considered minor vassals. The Cavaglià remained lords of Ticineto and Frassineto until 1390, the year in which Giovanni Radicati di Cocconato married Antonia di Cavaglià, who brought the fief as dowry. ..."

Ticineto | www.centrocasalis.it

From the above analysis, the Cavaglià lost all right and title to Frassineto in 1390: ergo no title can be considered surviving after this date.

Valmacca

"...The last Cavaglià of Valmacca was Ludovico dei Ruffinenghi who, on 23rd March 1625, was invested with the portion of Valmacca, devolved to the Camera Ducale following the death of Agostino Cavaglià. The aforementioned, in 1635, sold part of the privileges: the mill to the Coppo di Casale family and five months of the jurisdiction to the Sannazzaro nobles and, in 1651, the other five months of the jurisdiction to Giuseppe and Pietro Coppa. In the meantime, the small community of Torre d'Isola, which became part of the Valmacca territory in the second half of the 18th century, obtained investiture in favour of Francesco Riccio. ‘The investiture granted by the duchess Anna d'Alecon mother of Federico and Margherita dukes of Mantua and Monferrato in favour of Francesco Riccio of the portions due to him of the fief of Torre d'Isola jurisdiction and appurtenances’. (AST, Monferrato Feudi, Tomo II, Mazzo 65,Torre d'Isola, F.1, Investitura concessa dalla Duchessa Anna d'Alecon madre di Federico e Margherita Duchi di Mantova e Monferrato a favore di Francesco Riccio delle porzioni spettategli del feudo di Torre d'Isola giurisdizione e pertinenze,1538). In the latter part of the century, the brothers Vicenzo, Bartolomeo and Orazio Zanotti (investiture 1 June 1693) were invested with the Valmacca territory with the title of “comitale”, following the purchase of property belonging to the Camera Ducale and formerly belonging to Costantino Maria Mola. In 1706, the “state of the feudal lords in Monferrato” was formed. Valmacca appears as follows: 'Valmacca Consortile e giurisdizione quadriennale Conte Giacinto Sannazzaro, Bernardino Scozia et Girolamo Cocconato. Mr Michele Coppa, Mr Count Vincenzo Zanotti, Mr Antonio Montiglio all living in Casale'. (A.S.T., Monferrato, Ducato, deck 17)..."

Valmacca | www.centrocasalis.it

The last of the family of the Counts of Cavaglià, Ludovico dei Ruffinenghi, returned the fief

to the Marquisate of Monferrato and, in the second half of the 17th century, the fief was re-infeuded to a consortium of several families.

Historical Documentary Conclusions

In the period between the 13th century and the 17th century, the Cavaglià gradually lost all rights and titles over the four fiefs described above. The last of the Cavaglià family, Ludovico dei Ruffinenghi, then ceded all rights to Valmacca in the second half of the 17th century. From that moment on, the family of the Counts of Cavaglià became extinct and all titles were redistributed, by the rulers of the Marquisate of Monferrato, to other families.

But... sometimes they return! It is surprising that, since the end of the 1970s, after 300 years, Alfredo degli Uberti, formerly Ubertis, formerly Noè, together with his son Pier Felice degli Uberti, formerly Ubertis, formerly Noè, a bank clerk, began to take the titles of Count of Cavaglià with Ticineto, Frassineto and Valmacca...

The history of the feuds of the Counts of Cavaglià from the most recent historiography. We would like to thank the following universities: Catholic University of Milan State University of Milan University of Genoa University of Turin Polytechnic University of Turin University of Eastern Piedmont University of Bergamo and the following lecturers and researchers: Emanuele Camillo Colombo - Catholic University of Milan; Beatrice Del Bo - University of Milan; Paola Guglielmotti - University of Genoa; Osvaldo Raggio - University of Turin; Gelsomina Spione - University of Turin; Antonio Stopani - DIST (University of Turin, Turin Polytechnic) ; Vittorio Tigrino - University of Eastern Piedmont; Angelo Torre - University of Eastern Piedmont; Massimo Vallerani - University of Turin; Riccardo Rao - University of Bergamo To read what the Casalis project is, please refer to the website History of the Institution | www.centrocasalis.it Due thanks are due to ‘Vivant, Associazione per la valorizzazione delle tradizioni storico- nobiliari’ ( www.vivant.it ) for the valuable work on the texts of the ‘Dizionario Feudale’, by Francesco Guasco, the ‘Patriziato Subalpino’, by Antonio Manno and other information shared.