LE DONNE DELLA NOSTRA STORIA / WOMEN OF OUR PAST
La regina Maria
con Martino d’Aragona
Il Castello di Baida
Lo stemma della regina Maria
T
he castle of Baida, built at the end
of 1200 as a fortified position in
defense of the barony, at the end of
1300 bound its name to the character
of Baroness Allegranza Abbate,
descendant from Palmerino Abbate
from Trapani, one of the protagonist of
the Sicilian Vespers.
When she was only 15 was forced to
marry the fifty years old Raimondo
Peralta, Count of Caltabellotta
and Baron of Castellammare, left
widower of Isabel, the daughter of
the King Frederic III. To overcome
the opposition of his family the
Count didn’t hesitate to kidnap her.
Some years later the Count died and
Allegranza got married again to Matteo
Moncada, Count of Agosta (Augusta).
She became a fist rank character in
the Sicilian History when in 1379
her stepson Guglielmo Raimondo
Moncada kidnapped the 16 years old
Queen Maria from the Ursino castle in
Catania, where she had been left from
her dying father Frederic IV under
the custody of Artale of Aragon. The
Countess who had personally lived
the experience of the kidnapping,
put up lovely the Queen in the Castle
of Augusta and was close to her in
the different stops of the journey to
Aragon preparing her to the marriage
to Martino of Aragon.
For the loving presence side by side
to the Queen for so many years, she
enjoyed her confidence and it’s for
this reason that the four deputies and
the other Sicilian Barons addressed
to her with secret letters to get favors
and graces from the Sovereign. It
was said the Queen willingly listened
her advices and never said no to her
requests. But there are some curious
letters from other Barons addressed
to Martin of Montblanc, the Queen’s
father in law, who recommended him
to be careful on the plots hatched
secretly by Madonna Allegranza, by
them defined as a treacherous and
intriguing woman.
When the Queen Maria and Her
husband Martino of Aragon, together
with Allegranza Abbate, succeeded in
coming to Sicily in 1392, she wanted
to reward the noblewoman who had
been next to her for 15 years and
granted her the barony of Baida.
The Queen put ashore in Trapani and
on the way, full of risks and contrasts,
to the capital of the Island stopped
in Castellammare, welcomed by the
Baron Guglielmone Peralta.
S ea C astle M agazine 21