LA MAPPA DEL VESCOVO. LE CARTE DEI FEUDI DELLA DIOCESI DI MONREALE (1596-1702)

The two maps of the fiefs of Monreale’s diocese (1596 and 1702) display the outline of a
country estate that up until the 19th century will remain the most lucrative among the ecclesiastical
benefices in the Kingdom of Sicily, as well as one of the richest in the whole Catholic
world. These charts also allow us to gather further evidence on the actual usefulness of such
a benefice in answering needs which the ecclesiastical manomorta – a later and completely
negative paradigm – could hardly satisfy. The “Mensa” of Monreale appears, in fact, to serve
as a reference institution for a great number of subjects, from the nobles to the ecclesiastical
bodies, from the local administrations to the single citizens. Thus, during most of the 18th
century, it still fulfilled both a social and an economic function, of crucial importance to the
communities of the diocese.