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Concise History of Mezzojuso -- Poem: "Manzil Jusuf"

CONCISE HISTORY OF MEZZOJUSO

Music: Intermezzo of "Cavalleria Rusticana" - by P. Mascagni

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Mezzojuso is an unique and historic, tranquil little town with about 3,300 inhabitants. It is located some 22 miles south of Palermo, the bustling capital city of Sicily, and only six miles east from the tallest peak (with the highest elevation in all western Sicily) of the majestic La Rocca Busambra mountain range.

Mezzojuso presents a very fascinating history:

It was founded in approximately 1000 A.D., during the Saracen Arab era of Sicily, purportedly being named initially as Manzil Jusuf (as known in Arabic, meaning "the village of Joseph") in honor of Yusuf-Abd-Ibd-Allah, the last reigning Emir of Palermo, who was deposed in 1072 by Norman conquerors and their armies. Its older Arabic name, however, may have been Manzil 'iusu, meaning "the ancient village". The Saracen Arab emirs thus ruled the village for about 72 years (ca. 1000-1072).

During the years of Norman rule, this village of the royal domain eventually was named Menziliusuph (as known in Norman-French). The Normans took over the Arab castle and adjacent mosque (both reportedly constructed in about 1050), thus changing the castle into a military base and barracks and transforming the Moslem mosque into the Christian church of "Maria Santissima Gloriosa". In 1132, the Norman king Roger II granted Mensiliusuph as an ecclesiastical fief to the abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Saint John of the Hermits, in Palermo. Thus, the Normans governed the village for 60 years (1072-1132).

For nearly 400 years (1132-1523), the abbots of this Benedictine monastery ruled the village of Menziliusum, throughout the times of the Norman-French, Swabian-German, Anjevin-French, Aragonese and early Spanish periods of Sicily.

Menzil Jusuf was predominantly Moslem culturally, from its founding until 1222, when its Arab populace -- as a direct result of an Arab uprising centered at the nearby village of Corleone -- fled "en masse" from Menzil Jusuf south to their lofty hideaways on the Pizzo di Chasu mountain, escaping the vengeful troops of Sicily's Norman-Swabian king Frederick II Houhenstaufen. After 1222, Menziliusuph's population was thus predominantly Christian, slowly but steadily increasing. Its inhabitants were actively involved in the Sicilian Vespers uprising (begun on Easter Monday, 1282) against the French Anjevins, and the village was subsequently granted "universitas" status so that Manziliusufum thus sent its representatives to the first Parliament in Palermo during the autumn of 1282.

The Benedictine monastery's abbots continued to govern this small and peaceful village of Medii usum (as known in high Latin) or Mezojuso (as known in vulgar Latin) during its gradual decline into the 1400s, when it became nearly depopulated -- due to recurrent pestilential plagues, droughts and migrations. However, starting in the 1460s, some Albanian soldiers and their families came to live in and near to the village, being attracted to its small Byzantine-rite monastery-church as well as to its strategic location (with its ancient dilapidated Arab-era castle) and to its constant fresh water supply and fertile lands. The Benedictine abbots then permitted, in 1501 by charter as recorded in the "Chapter of Foundation", that 48 Albanian soldiers and their Italo-Albanian (Arbëresh) families could officially settle in this village, which they called Munxifsi (as known in Arbëresh).

Beginning in 1523, however, as a result of the suppression of the Benedictine monastery of Saint John of the Hermits, its various territories (including its ecclesiastical fief of Medii usum) were subsumed by the archbishop of the Cathedral of Palermo, who assigned the governance of Mezojuso into the care of several of the cathedral's canons.

In 1527, four cathedral canons, acting on behalf of Palermo's archbishop, subsequently granted the ecclesiastical fief of Meczu Jusufum (as known in that era's religious church documents and civil notarial documents) as a baronial fief to the noble lord Giovanni Corvino (with family ancestry from Pisa), a wealthy cloth merchant of Palermo. Therefore, the Palermo cathedral canons briefly governed Meczu Jusufum for only four years (1523-1527).

The Corvino family dynasty subsequently ruled the village for just over 300 years (1527-1832), when the village's feudal status ended upon the death in 1832 of its last noble lord, prince Francesco Paolo Corvino Filingeri, who was celibate and had no heirs. During the 1500s and 1600s, Roman-rite settlers came to the village, thereby supplementing its already established Italo-Albanian (Arbëresh) inhabitants of the Byzantine-rite. Both rites were then and are still within the Catholic Church.

In 1832, locally appointed politicians began to govern Mezzojuso (spelled with a "j" due to Spanish influence), also called Mezzoiuso (spelled with an "i" due to Italic influence). Sicily languished during the harsh Spanish-Bourbon era (1848-1860). In 1856, numerous Menzujusari (as they called themselves in their local vernacular dialect) assisted the rebellious Francesco Bentivenga (from the nearby village of Corleone) and his followers in an uprising in the city of Palermo, but they were all subsequently captured and executed by the Bourbons.

In 1860, the revolutionary general Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Thousand Red Shirts landed by ship at Sicily's western coastal port city of Marsala, in order to liberate Sicily first and then mainland Italy. More than 150 Menzujusari readily joined Garibaldi and his troops in their campaign to liberate the city of Palermo from the much despised Spanish-Bourbon rule. Later on, after the unification of Italy politically had occurred, the victorious Risorgimento general Giuseppe Garibaldi actually stayed in Mezzojuso during 2-4 August 1862, being greeted tumultuously by the Mezzojusari (as they are called in the more formal manner).

Since 1860, elected officials have managed Mezzojuso, also officially known as Mezzoiuso, but still referred to in the local Sicilian dialect as Menzujusu. During the latter 1800s and early 1900s, a large number of Mezzojusari immigrated to other parts of Sicily, Italy, Europe, and elsewhere, particularly to the United States of America.

Even today, the inhabitants of the comune of Mezzojuso still proudly celebrate their distinguished history, and their unique dual Catholic heritage as practiced in the Roman-rite as well as in the Italo-Albanian (Arbëresh) Byzantine-rite.

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