Fabrizio Branciforte (1551–1624) was an aristocrat, 3rd prince of

Butera Butera ( Sicilian: ''Vutera'') is an Italian town and a '' comune'' in the province of Caltanissetta, in the southern part of the island of Sicily. It is bounded by the ''comuni'' of Gela, Licata, Mazzarino, Ravanusa and Riesi. It has a popu ...

and Count of Mazarin. He was knighted into the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

in 1607.Diari della città di Palermo dal secolo XVI al XIX
Volume 1, by Gioacchino Di Marzo; 1869; page 226.

Biography

He was born to Giovanni, IV count of Mazarin, and Dorotea Barresi Santapau, princess of Pietraperzia. In April 1566, upon the death of his father, he was awarded his fiefdoms under regency; for which he was reinvested formally on 16 November 1557. In 1571, he married Caterina Barresi Branciforte, sister of the deceased Vincenzo, Marquis of Militello and second husband of her mother Dorotea, and through this union the Branciforte thus acquired the possession of the Marquisate of Militello. In 1580, his maternal great-uncle Francesco Santapau Branciforte, prince of Butera, who had no children, designated Fabrizio as heir of the Principality of Butera and of the fief of Occhiolà, of which he was invested on the 8th December 1591, as well as of the Principality of Pietraperzia, inherited from his mother who died in that same year. He was a poor feudal administrator, and his massive estate lost money. He had contracted substantial debts with the Qàbala of Palermo since his youth. The administration of the family assets passed to the eldest son

Francesco Branciforte Barresi Francesco Branciforte Barresi (15 March 1575 – 23 February 1622) was an aristocrat, Marquis of Militello and 4th prince of Butera, as well as a notable patron of the arts and sciences in Sicily. Biography He was born in Militello in Val di Cata ...

, with whom he had numerous quarrels and who had him banned from Palermo until 1621. As Prince of Butera, he was a deputy of the Kingdom of Sicily in the years 1594, 1603, 1606, 1609, 1615 and 1618. On September 30, 1612, he was conferred by King Philip III of Spain the dignity of Grand of Spain of the first class, confirmed in 1625. He died in Palermo. Fabrizio Branciforte Barresi and his wife, the marchesa Caterina Barresi Branciforte, had nine children: Francesco, Giovanni, Vincenzo, Pietro, Filippo, Dorotea, Caterina, Imara, and Isabella.

References

*Derived from Italian Wikipedia entry {{DEFAULTSORT:Branciforte Francesco 1551 births 1624 deaths Sicilian nobility Knights of the Golden Fleece