Welcome to the House of Tortora Brayda
This website serves as the official digital repository of the House of Tortora Brayda — a living tribute to our lineage, heritage, and legacy. It brings together generations of history, noble tradition, and scholarly research into a single, enduring platform.
What began as a private conservation effort has evolved into a major restoration project. Over centuries, our family archives endured the devastations of theft, arson, and natural decay. In response, we embarked on a mission to preserve what remains — rescuing our centuries-old manuscripts, parchments, and genealogical records from obscurity and transforming them into a secure digital legacy for future generations.
This site marks our inaugural effort to consolidate our patrimony. It is organized into three major sections:
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Genealogy: An authenticated family tree tracing the unbroken patrilineal line of descent, supported by archival and historical evidence.
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Archives: A curated collection of documents of legal, diplomatic, and historical significance.
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Landmarks: Sites of ancestral relevance, with annotations and historical context.
This work would not have been possible without the dedication of internationally renowned conservators.
Kathleen Orlenko — formerly Chief Conservator at Stanford University Libraries and the U.S. National Archives (Western Region) — has overseen the physical restoration, scanning, and preservation of fragile artifacts.
Dr. Diana Ferrara, expert in 16th to 18th-century Italian history and doctoral scholar of the National Archives of Capua, has led the Latin translation, cataloguing, and interpretation of feudal parchments.
Our hope is that this site becomes not only a reference for descendants and extended family, but also a valuable resource for historians, genealogists, and scholars of Italian and European nobility.
Historical Legacy
The Tortora Brayda family is known as an ancient noble ruling family from Naples, with Lombard and Frankish origins.
The family descends from the Guideschi (or Widonids) dynasty, through a direct patrilineal line.
The family had been known at the turn of the first millennium under the pseudonym of Giffoni or de Jefuno. Their Lombard and then Frankish lineage ascends to Guaimar IV Prince of Salerno Giovanni Lamberto II Prince of Salerno e Lambert II Duke of Spoleto who was in turn the son of Guy of Spoleto, Holy Roman Emperor, all the way back to Garnier I of Bourgogne, first Count of Poitiers..
Having left the Principality of Salerno the family moved to take over the ancient Roman market town of Blanda Julia, currently set in Northern Calabria and made it their headquarters, their Castle was known to roost Turtledoves (Tortore in Italian, Turturae in Latin), they became known as the Lords of the turtledoves and eventually, the geographical area took the same name, Tortora (State archives of Naples, Register of King Charles I of Anjou, n. 1269 folios 143 e 144).
The family also had feudal privilege over the lands of Casilino, Roggiano and Belvedere (State Archives of Naples, volume: "Privilegiorum" year 1767, folio 886). Furthermore the family were Patricians of Bisceglie and Molfetta. King Philip II of Spain reaffirmed the family's aristocratic privileges with a Royal Decree of 29 January 1579 (State Archives of Naples – volume 69 "de' Privilegi", year 1577/79, folio 268). The family was also recognized as "of ancient nobility" by Emperor Charles VI by Royal Decree 10 apr. 1730.
Through the marriage (11 dic. 1781) of Carlo Tortora with Francesca Brayda, the only child of Marquis Michele Brayda, Patrician of Giovinazzo, the family added the Brayda name and coat of arms to its own.
The ancestors of the Brayda family governed Provence in Merovingian times, Ubaldo Brayda was Governor of Provence and Commander General of the Armies of King Clovis. The family eventually set residence in Brayda (now Bra, near Asti) and became known as "de Brayda" and moved on to govern the region from the Castle at Alba and eventually at Moliterno.
Subsequent to the Normans and through marriage, Moliterno became a possession of the Swabian Kings, Frederick II "Red Beard" of Hohenstaufen, and his illegitimate son Manfred, King of Sicily.
With Manfred's death in battle against the Angevins in 1266 Moliterno came under the Angevin domination, and specifically under the control of the Brayda Barons. King Charles of Anjou, in fact, granted the fief and Castle of Moliterno to Oddone of Brayda, who was General of the King Charles d'Anjou's Cavalry.
(Diploma of Charles I of Anjou, released in 1269 in favor of the Lombard Baron Oddo of Brayda (Castrum Moliterni cum hominibus et pertiis torri et blandis contentis in eo).
The Brayda family retained its dominion on Moliterno for 108 years from 1268 to 1477. During that period the city and stronghold of Moliterno were attacked heavily by Swabian rebels.
Requesting compensation from King Charles of Anjou, Odolina Baroness d'Aquino, widow of Oddo Brayda, was granted by King Charles the fiefdom of Sanseverino in the Cilento.
He is recorded in the Chronicles as having participated in the battle of Tagliacozzo (23 ag. 1268) against Conrad of Hohenstaufen, earning special favor with Charles of Anjou, who rewarded him greatly. In 1269 the king granted him in fief the land of Moliterno Basilicata, confiscated from the Swabian rebels.
He had married in 1273 Odolina Aimone Aquinas, niece of Saint Thomas Aquinas, intermarrying with one of the most powerful families of the kingdom. From the marriage, three children were born: Ruggiero, Margaret, and Oddone, who was born after his father's death and was entrusted by the king to the tutelage of John of Bois.
Michele Brayda of the branch of the Marquises of Carife, descended from this line and having no male heirs, requested that his family be merged into the House of Tortora. The titles and fiefs held by the Brayda family were as follows:
Duke of San Pietro in Galatina (1608)
Marquis of Rapolla (1605), Specchia (1570), Soleto (1613) and Carife (1602)
Count of Alessano (1572), Serramezzano (1621)
Baron of Avigliano, Barrile, Bisaccia, Bruzzano, Cancellara, Capiti, Casaletto, Casalorda, Castel San Marco, Castigliano, Chiusano, Collecorvino, Corleto, Cornigliano, Frigiano, Ginosa, Giugliano, Melissano, Moliterno, Monte, Montemilione, Montesano, Monteverde, Nevano, Pati, Pietralomba Plantellario, Ruggiano, Ruffano, Salignano, Sanchirico, Sandano, Sanseverino di Camerota and Scorrano.
In the year 1900, Gian Lorenzo Tortora Brayda, the chief of the family, was recognized by Royal Decree of 11 January 1900 (published 8 mar. 1900 e included in Volume 77, pag. 96 of the Official selection of Royal Decrees of the Kingdom of Italy) by right of succession from the illustrious Carafa della Spina and Severino Longo families with the titles of Duke della Chiusa, Duke of Forli, Marquis of S. Giuliano, Marquis of Belvedere, Count of Policastro, Baron ofTeverola, Noble Lord of Pascoli, Palmoli, Fratta Piccola, Sapri, Libonati, Pardinola, and of Molfetta.
His son Francesco, was a Knight of Justice of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
Royal Reconfirmation
The Last King of Italy, Umberto II, reconfirmed and authenticated the family Title of Marquess originally granted in 1754, by Royal Decree of 2 apr. 1980. On this occasion the King granted the quartering of the original Tortora Brayda Coat of Arms, with the Symbol of the Lion of Judah, to mark the family's Union with the Imperial House of Solomon.
Arms: quartered. The 1st and 4th being partitioned: Azure in the first part, three green peaks, holding a turtledove centrally, above which are three gold stars in a horizontal band, blue in the second part with 3 silver chevrons; in the second and third red with a lion passant in majesty, reversed, red borders.
Motto: FORTITER IN RE SUAVITER IN MODO.
Learn more about the Guideschi Dynasty
The Guideschi dynasty, also known as the Widonids, was a powerful Frankish noble house that emerged in the 8th and 9th centuries, playing a prominent role in the political and military affairs of the Carolingian Empire and its successor states in Italy. Originating from the Austrasian aristocracy, the Guideschi were closely tied to the Carolingian royal family through both blood and loyalty, and often served as dukes, counts, and margraves tasked with defending imperial frontiers. Their power base centered on Spoleto, Benevento, and Camerino, strategically important duchies in central Italy, from which they asserted influence over much of the peninsula during periods of Carolingian fragmentation.
Among the most illustrious members of the dynasty was Guy III of Spoleto, who rose to become King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor in 891, and his son Lambert II, who co-ruled with him and succeeded as emperor. The Guideschi were known not only for their military valor—particularly in campaigns against the Saracens and rival Lombard factions—but also for their deep involvement in ecclesiastical patronage and monastic foundations. Their legacy endures through the noble houses descended from their line, including the House of Tortora Brayda, which claims direct patrilineal descent. The dynasty exemplifies the blending of Frankish martial aristocracy with the emerging feudal nobility of Italy, leaving an indelible mark on the political and cultural landscape of early medieval Europe.
Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church, remains one of the most towering figures in Western intellectual and theological history. Born in 1225 near Roccasecca, in the Kingdom of Sicily, to a noble Lombard family, Thomas was the son of Count Landulf of Aquino and Theodora of Theate, both of whom held ancestral titles and lands tied to the Holy Roman Empire. Despite fierce familial opposition—including his brief imprisonment to dissuade him from joining the Dominican Order—Thomas embraced a life of scholarly devotion. His monumental work, the Summa Theologica, stands as a masterful synthesis of Christian doctrine and Aristotelian logic, addressing profound questions on God, natural law, ethics, and salvation with intellectual precision that shaped medieval scholasticism and continues to influence both theology and philosophy to this day.
The Aquinas family's noble lineage extended beyond Thomas himself. Among his kin was Odolina d'Aquino, his niece. Odolina married Oddone (Oddo) Brayda, a Lombard noble from Alba in Northern Italy, who was later granted the fiefdom of Moliterno in Basilicata by Charles I of Anjou in 1269, following Oddone's valor at the Battle of Tagliacozzo. This strategic marital union between the Houses of Aquinas and Brayda not only reinforced the feudal power base of both families, but also wove a sacred thread of philosophical and theological heritage into the Brayda bloodline. Odolina and Oddone had three children—Ruggiero, Margherita, and Oddone II—the latter of whom carried the lineage forward. Through a series of subsequent noble marriages and inheritances, this line would eventually evolve into the House of Tortora Brayda, uniting Carolingian, Lombard, and Frankish ancestry with the intellectual legacy of Aquinas himself.
Thus, the Tortora Brayda family today carries not only the titles and estates of medieval nobility but also a direct genealogical and symbolic connection to one of Christianity's greatest minds—Saint Thomas Aquinas. This convergence of spiritual, intellectual, and aristocratic heritage continues to define the family's historical identity, from Moliterno and Giovinazzo to Belvedere Marittimo and beyond.
The Connection to Thomas Aquinas
