Post by Half Sicilian Guy on Jul 18, 2009 7:48:55 GMT -6
Since Nitai brought up the subject of Sicilian ancestors on another topic, let's see now, how would I characterize my ancestors on the Sicilian side of the family?
This is probably the most accurate assessment of them: Bunch of lazy, indolent aristocrats of the Norman French lesser nobility who were sent into southern Europe in the middle ages to set up the feudal system in that region. Who knows how they enriched themselves once settling in Sicily? Taxing the locals and appropriating their land and property by strong arm tactics, no doubt. Robber barons is the term, I believe. By the time of my grandfather the decadent lot of them were embroiled in petty vendettas, which disgusted my grandfather to the point of his leaving his life of luxury in Siciliy to a life of hard labor in America, just to get away from them.
Yep, that's about the size of it. Yep.
This is probably the most accurate assessment of them: Bunch of lazy, indolent aristocrats of the Norman French lesser nobility who were sent into southern Europe in the middle ages to set up the feudal system in that region. Who knows how they enriched themselves once settling in Sicily? Taxing the locals and appropriating their land and property by strong arm tactics, no doubt. Robber barons is the term, I believe. By the time of my grandfather the decadent lot of them were embroiled in petty vendettas, which disgusted my grandfather to the point of his leaving his life of luxury in Siciliy to a life of hard labor in America, just to get away from them.
Yep, that's about the size of it. Yep.
