Between 1762 and 1763, Prince Francesco Rodrigo Moncada, his father, and Bernardino Castrense Moncada, his elder brother, both died. He thus succeeded the first in the titles and fiefs of the family, such as the
Principality of Paternò, the
Duchy of San Giovanni, the
Counties of Caltanissetta and
Cammarata, and the various Baronies and Lordships, of which he obtained investiture on 16 December 1764. From 1763, he also had the title of
Grandee of Spain, First Class. In 1771, he began a work of patrimonial reorganization, managing to remove the
feudal states from the Deputation of the
Kingdom of Sicily and to regain full possession of them. He also managed to recover some fiefs previously alienated - such as the Nisseno fief of Mimiano, returned to him by the
Duke of Villarosa, and claimed others. The action undertaken by the Prince generated the hostility of the local nobilities of
Caltanissetta and
Paternò, who in 1779, as in 1754, asked for the reduction of the respective cities to the state domain. Among the feudal domains claimed by the Prince of Paternò, there was the
County of Adernò together with the lands of
Biancavilla and
Centorbi, of which he obtained restitution following a sentence issued by the Tribunal of the Consistory of the Sacred Royal Conscience on 25 June 1797, and of which he received investiture on 20 October of the same year, having been taken from
Francesco Borgia Alvarez de Toledo,
Duke of Fernandina. The Duke of Fernandina was also condemned to pay the Prince of Paternò a substantial compensation of 40,000 scudi, for the income accrued on the lands that he returned to him. Moncada thus became the richest aristocrat in Sicily, with feudal possessions that extended to many areas of the island, particularly in the
Catania area: in 1808, the vast patrimony of the Prince of Paternò brought him an overall annual income of 93,048 ounces, mostly due to the taxes paid by his vassals.
Kidnapping by the Bey of Tunis In the summer of 1797, while journeying from Palermo to
Naples, his ship was ambushed near
Ustica by a group of Tunisian pirates who captured him. The Prince of Paternò, who had embarked with a treasure of 50,000 scudi, as well as jewels, silverware, horses and gifts for the Neapolitan court, was taken to
Tunis where he was held prisoner by the
Bey of Tunis,
Hammuda ibn Ali. After months of negotiating, an agreement was reached for his ransom on the basis of a large sum of 300,000 scudi to be paid to the Bey of Tunis, of which 60,000 was in cash, and the rest in installments or from money obtained from the disposal of part of his enormous patrimony.
Political career Moncada's political career began in 1770 when he became a Deputy of the
Kingdom of Sicily for the first time, a position he also held in 1778, 1790 and 1794. He was Captain of Justice in the Sicilian capital from 1777 to 1780. He served as a
Gentleman of the Chamber of King
Ferdinand III in 1782, after the abolition of
feudalism in the
Kingdom of Sicily in 1812, which occurred following the promulgation in the same year of the constitution granted by the Bourbon sovereign, which led to the institution of the
Sicilian Parliament, the Prince of Paternò obtained a hereditary seat in the
House of Peers of the Parliament. ==Personal life==