signory
/ˈsiːnjəri
/noun (plural signories)
1 another term for seigniory.In the meantime, Giovanni Toriglia, the Governor of Ischia, took advantage of the help he offered to Giovanni of Anjou and sacked Procida, the signory of which had been promised to him....
- Venice retained the essential positions of her colonial empire in the Levant, Negrepont and Crete, and the strong citadels of Modon and Coron; her patrician families kept most of their signories in the Archipelago, as did the other Latin states in Greece which were products of the Crusade.
- Each county consisted of eight signories, one for each proprietor, eight baronies, four given to the county landgrave and two to each of its two cassiques, and four precincts of six colonies each for the others.
2 historical The governing body of a medieval Italian republic.The signory of Venice can, with all its force pay for 10,000 horsemen skilled in arms at home, and 5,000 abroad....
- Very important were the relationships with Venice and with the signories of Malatesta and De Polenta, before the dominion of Papal State, from 1509 to 1859.
- Of medieval origin, it was long contested by various signories before, in 1442, together with nearby Carrara coming under the Malaspinas of Fosdinovo, later succeeded by the Cybo Malaspinas.
Influenced by Italian signoria