The Catholic church had more influence because of the location of the Vatican it is in the south so the priest would travel mostly around the south to spread the word of God.
I think the Saddlers died by the plague. I'm not sure if in wrong you can read this to find out http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1665/09/03/
They handled some of the manual labor on their fiefs.
Italy surrender is announced sep 8 1943
