Nobility of the Holy See
For the Roman aristocratic families who sided with the Papacy in 19th century, see
Black nobility
.
The
papal nobility
are the
aristocracy
of the
Holy See
, composed of persons holding titles bestowed by the
Pope
. From the Middle Ages into the nineteenth century, the papacy held direct temporal power in the
Papal States
, and many titles of papal nobility were derived from
fiefs
with territorial privileges attached. During this time, the Pope also bestowed ancient civic titles such as
patrician
. Today, the Pope still exercises authority to grant titles with territorial designations, although these are purely nominal and the privileges enjoyed by the holders pertain to styles of address and heraldry. Additionally, the Pope grants personal and familial titles that carry no territorial designation. Their titles being merely honorific, the modern papal nobility includes descendants of ancient Roman families as well as notable Catholics from many countries. All pontifical noble titles are within the personal gift of the pontiff, and are not recorded in the Official Acts of the Holy See.
Background
[
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]
The Roman heritage of the papacy accounts for many of its traditions regarding ranks of nobility. As temporal ruler of the city of Rome, the Pope awarded civic titles of classical origin such as
Patrician
and
Summus Senator
. The Roman title of
Dux
originally applied to a military leader. During the
Byzantine period
, it came to refer to the military governor of a certain district appointed by the Exarch. The Duchies of
Rome
,
Perugia
and
Pentapolis
were established in this context. In 751 the
Exarchate of Ravenna
fell to the Lombards. Five years later,
Pepin the Short
, King of the Franks, defeated the Lombards and granted the lands of the Duchy of Rome to the Papacy.
[1]
The Lombard Duchies of
Spoleto
and
Benevento
existed within the future lands of the Papal States. Under the Carolingian empire, the
County
(also derived from a Roman precedent;
Comes
,
Comitatus
), was instituted as the basic jurisdictional unit centered on a fortified town or castle. The
march
or mark, ruled by a
marquis
(or "march count") was a border territory with defensive significance. The status of
Count Palatine
also emerged for high officers of the Imperial household. Key to the military organization of the Lombards and Franks was the free association between the local military leader and the warrior caste - hence the Germanic origin of the title of
Baron
. As
feudalism
developed the old Byzantine, Lombard, and Frankish structures were worked into a hierarchy, and the old military and administrative offices became hereditary titles with fiefs attached.
History
[
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]
Middle Ages
[
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]
By the year 900, Frankish power in Italy had dissipated. the Popes assumed direct control in the
Patrimony of St. Peter
rather than creating intermediate feudatories. However, the Roman baronial families exerted enormous control. The
Counts of Tusculum
held enormous influence over the papacy for a period, installing several of their own family members. Up through the Renaissance, the papacy was intermittently threatened by the violent struggle between the noble families.
The late middle ages were marked by a rivalry between the
Guelphs and Ghibellines
? the parties favoring Pope and Emperor, respectively ? that roiled the cities of Northern Italy. Papal power was retained, but the Popes frequently fled Rome for the safety of Orvieto, Perugia and Viterbo. The instability of the communes gradually gave way to the stabilizing influence of the
podesta
or
signoria
. Gradually, magnates of certain powerful families (such as the
Ordelaffi
, the
Manfredi
, the
Scaligeri
, the
Malatesta
, the
Da Polenta
, the
Bentivoglio
, the
d'Este
, and the
Da Montefeltro
) began to establish hereditary lordships and expand their power to neighboring towns. During the Papal exile, Cardinal
Gil de Albornoz
was commissioned by
Innocent VI
to subdue the independent states.
Early modern period
[
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]
When the Pope returned to Italy at the end of the fourteenth century, he had to either overthrow or force the submission of the lords of the cities of
Emilia-Romagna
,
Le Marche
and
Umbria
. The
Medici
of Florence and other noble families set their sights on the papacy as a means of aggrandizing themselves and establishing dynastic goals through marriage, diplomacy and ennoblement.
Cesare Borgia
notably ousted many of the lords of Le Marche and established himself as the
Duke of Romagna
before being overthrown by his father's successor
Julius II
. Julius managed to marry his nephew,
Giovanni Della Rovere
, to the heiress of the
Duchy of Urbino
.
Paul III
created the Duchy of Parma out of conquered territory for the
Farnese
. Prominent families could purchase curial offices for their sons and regularly did, hoping that the son would rise through Church ranks to become a
bishop
cardinal, or even Pope, from which position they could dispense further titles and positions of authority to other family members.
[2]
Bourgeois families found themselves, sometimes within only one or two generations, elevated to the Roman nobility when a relative was elected to the papal throne.
[2]
Modern Italy is dotted with the fruits of their success; various family
palazzi
remain standing today as a testament to their sometimes meteoric rise to power.
From the second half of the 16th century onwards, members of the higher clergy and the aristocracy connected to the papal court built a number of stately homes, or suburban villas in the countryside of Lazio.
[3]
The
Ville Pontificie
were designed by renowned architects. The
Villa Farnese
in
Caprarola
was the work of
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
and
Baldassare Peruzzi
.
[4]
The homes were often decorated by noted artists.
Taddeo Zuccari
was commissioned to paint the
Histories of Alexander
for the
Castello Orsini
at
Bracciano
.
[5]
As modern statehood emerged and the boundaries between imperial and papal territory solidified, titles of nobility were proliferated as a means of establishing allies and friendly buffer states. The Emperor elevated the Duchies of Milan, Florence, Mantua, and Modena, and the Pope likewise elevated the Duchies of Urbino, Ferrara and Parma. From the late sixteenth century onward, with the papal territory relatively secure, noble families were enriched with the title of
Prince
, their counties and marquisates were elevated to duchies, and the Medici were even made
Grand Dukes of Tuscany
by
Pius V
. Likewise, papal orders of knighthood and personal titles, sometimes attached to positions of honor in the
papal household
, came into greater use.
1800?1870
[
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]
The Napoleonic occupation of Rome led to the temporary abolition of noble titles. Upon restitution of sovereignty to the Papal States,
Pius VII
decided to abolish feudalism, transforming all the titles to honorifics disconnected from territorial privileges. In 1853,
Pius IX
put an end to the centuries-old duality between the papal nobility and the Roman baronial families by equating the civic patrichiate of the city of Rome with the nobility created by the Pope. In 1854 a complete list of Roman princely families was drawn up and entered into the Golden Book of the Capitoline nobility (established by the
Urbem Romam
constitution of
Benedict XIV
of 1746). Both the civic nobles and the papal aristocracy thus obtained the title of
Patrician
.
1870?1946
[
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]
After the
Kingdom of Italy
annexed the
Papal States
and
captured Rome
in 1870, the new kingdom recognized the existing nobility in its new territory. The pope remained a self-described "
prisoner in the Vatican
", supported by the so-called "
black nobility
" of families who remained loyal to the papacy rather than the Italian monarchy. The
Lateran Treaty
ended this dispute.
Pope Leo XIII
ennobled French and American philanthropist
Joseph Florimond Loubat
as the
Duc de Loubat
. In 1902 he made Pennsylvania businessman
Martin Maloney
a papal marquis, and two years later a member of the papal court as a
Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape
. Among Maloney's various charitable activities was a home for the elderly in honor of his parents, donations to the
Catholic University of America
, and towards the refurbishment of the
Lateran Basilica
.
[6]
In 1903, Leo created New York City socialite and benefactress
Annie Leary
a Papal Countess, the first such title to have been bestowed upon a woman in the United States.
[7]
Pope Pius X
named New York City builder John D. Crimmons a Knight of the
Order of St. Gregory the Great
. A trustee of
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
, Crimmons established
Corpus Christi Monastery
at
Hunts Point
in the Bronx for the Dominican Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
On the occasion of the signing of the
Lateran Accords
of 1929, the Italian government recognized the sovereignty of the Holy See and confirmed the pope's power to grant noble titles. It also recognized the titles granted by the Pope until that date and all future titles as equivalent to the noble titles of the Kingdom of Italy. This rule remained in force until the 1946
abolition of the Italian monarchy
. In 1969 the
Italian Council of State
determined that the provision of the Lateran Treaty concerning the recognition of papal titles that was incorporated into the
Italian Constitution
was still valid and therefore that their use in Italy was still licit. No provision, however, has been made for their use in
Italian passports
,
identity cards
or civil state registries.
Since 1946
[
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]
Few Pontifical titles, other than personal nobility obtained by individual appointment into the several
Pontifical equestrian orders
, have been granted since the election of
Pope John XXIII
in 1958. In 1968,
Paul VI
reformed the
papal court
via the apostolic letter
Pontificalis Domus
, which reorganized the court into the
Pontifical Household
. At this time he also declared that the papal nobility would no longer be a constituent body in the Pontifical Household.
[8]
Although the custom of conferring noble titles such as
prince
,
duke
,
marquis
,
count
, and
baron
has since essentially disappeared,
Pope John Paul II
ennobled several distinguished individuals during his pontificate, as did
Pope Benedict XVI
, through the
Vatican Secretariat of State
. John Paul II granted several noble titles to Polish compatriots at the beginning of his pontificate, but quietly and without their being published in the
Acts of the Apostolic See
.
[8]
The popes continue to award
knighthoods and other honors
, which do not confer titled-nobility status, with the exception of
Count of the Sacred Palace of the Lateran
.
[9]
Structure
[
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]
Titles
[
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]
Historically, papal nobility has included the titles of
prince
,
duke
,
marquis
,
count
,
viscount
,
baron
and
knight
.
At times, certain rulers paid a type of feudal homage to the papacy (Poland, 991; England, 1213). Inversely, the Pope claimed the authority to create and anoint rulers (
Holy Roman Empire
, 800, 962, etc.;
Sicily
, 1059;
Kingdom of Aragon
, 1204;
Latin Empire
of Constantinople, 1217; Sicily, 1265), to depose them (Holy Roman Empire, 1076, 1245;
Portugal
, 1247), to elevate them (
Croatia
, 925;
Hungary
, 1001; Sicily, 1130; Portugal, 1179;
Tuscany
, 1569), and to decide disputes between them (
Corsica
, 1217;
Treaty of Tordesillas
, 1493). The Pope also had strong claims to the feudal sovereignty of Naples-Sicily.
While some titles were traditionally linked to territorial privileges to a fief of the
Papal States
, others were associated only with privileges of court, notably,
Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne
.
Within the ecclesiastical hierarchy Cardinals are referred to as
Princes of the Church
, and are considered analogous to temporal princes within a kingdom. Historically, many popes have designated a member of their family as an official
cardinal-nephew
. Certain offices of the
Curia
and the
Papal Household
carry honorifics, such as the style
monsignor
.
Just as Catholic monarchs sometimes exercised veto powers in papal elections, bishops and abbots were historically represented in the
parliaments
or "estates-general" (legislative and consultative assemblies) of many countries. The archbishops of
Mainz
,
Trier
, and
Cologne
served as
ex officio
prince-electors
of the
Holy Roman Empire
. Within the Empire,
prince-primates
,
prince-bishops
and
prince-abbots
often held territorial privileges.
Papal counts and countesses
[
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]
Count
/
Countess
is one of the noble titles still granted by the Pope as a mark of personal distinction without any territorial entailment. The holder is styled
Count X
/
Countess X
and may be informally referred to as a
papal count
/
papal countess
or, more rarely, as a
Roman count
/
Roman countess
. The comital title, which can be for life or hereditary, has been awarded in various forms by popes and
Holy Roman Emperors
since the Middle Ages, and the pope continued to grant the comital and other noble titles even after 1870, when the
Papal States
were
taken from the pope
.
Recipients of such honours included both Italians ? especially those close to the papacy (some of whom were/are papal relatives) ? and prominent non-Italian Catholics, including Irish tenor
John McCormack
, Irish art historian and politician
George Noble Plunkett
, American financier George MacDonald, American philanthropist
Katherine E. Price
, and
Rose Kennedy
(mother of U.S. president
John F. Kennedy
).
[10]
American
Francis Augustus MacNutt
was a papal
marquis
, and Argentine
Mercedes Castellanos de Anchorena
was a papal marchioness. During the 1920s,
Genevieve
and
Nicholas Frederic Brady
of New York were granted papal
dukedoms
. Pontifical noble titles, like marquis Silva de Balboa, also as count of Urquijo. All pontifical noble titles are within the personal gift of the pontiff, and they are not recorded in the Official Acts of the Holy See.
[10]
Count of the Sacred Palace of the Lateran
[
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]
The title "Count of the
Sacred Palace of the Lateran
" is an honour that is granted
ex officio
and
ad vitam
to those who have been created Pontifical Chamberlains (now styled as
Gentlemen of His Holiness
) as attendants to the Pontifical Court. Additionally, the honour was collectively granted to the Spanish chapters of the
Order of the Holy Sepulchre
, the only purely noble chapters of the order. Their members enjoy several
heraldic
privileges in addition to the right to use the Comital title. This tradition can be traced back to the
Reconquista
, in which the Order played an important role. According to heraldic expert Lord Manuel de Mata, the Spanish Members of the Order are allowed to use both the full title of Count of the Sacred Palace of the Lateran as well as just the title of Count before their names. The rights were recorded in the
Memorias de la Academia Mallorquina de Estudios Genealogicos
and approved by King
Alfonso XIII of Spain
.
[11]
Fiefs of the State of the Church
[
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]
From the sixteenth century forward, strong
statehood
developed in Italy and vague, overlapping territorial claims were gradually determined and settled through conquest and treaty. Although temporal rule in Italy was theoretically shared with the
Holy Roman Emperor
, the papacy held most of
Lazio
,
Umbria
,
Le Marche
, and parts of
Emilia-Romagna
directly from the
Carolingian period
to the
Risorgimento
by right of treaty or donation from secular rulers (
Donation of Sutri
, 728;
Donation of Pepin
, 756;
Otto IV
, 1201;
Rudolf I
, 1278). Within this territory, known as the
State of the Church
, the pope had authority to dispose of certain hereditary fiefs, notably:
- The
Duchy of Urbino
(1155,
Frederick Barbarossa
cr. Antonio da
Montefeltro
Imperial Vicar of Urbino; 1213, elevated to county by
Frederick II
; 1443, elevated to duchy by
Eugene IV
; 1508, inherited by
Francesco Maria I della Rovere
the son of Giovanna da Montefeltro; 1516, given to
Lorenzo II de' Medici
, Lord of Florence, during the
War of the League of Cambrai
; 1521, restored to Della Rovere; 1625?1631, willed to Papacy by
Francesco Maria II
)
- The
Duchy of Ferrara
(756, part of the Donation of Pepin; 1187, signory held by the Marquis d'Este; 1278, part of the donation of
Rudolf I
; 1288, Modena and Reggio gained by the d'Este; 1293, Ferrara, Modena and Reggio elevated to Marquisates; 1308?1309, succession crisis, Papacy defeats Venetian attempts to control Ferrara; 1317, d'Este restored with papal support; 1452, Emperor
Frederick III
elevates Modena and Reggio to Duchies; 1571, Paul II elevates Ferrara to duchy; 1598, Ferrara devolves to the Papacy, Modena and Reggio to d'Este heirs recognized by the Emperor)
- The Duchy of
Parma and Piacenza
(In 1512, during the
War of the League of Cambrai
, territories of Parma and Piacenza ceded to
Julius II
by the Sforza-controlled Duchy of Milan under terms of the Congress of Mantua, Este duchies of
Modena
and
Reggio
also confirmed as a papal fief; in 1516, after reverses of fortune, Parma ceded back to French-controlled Milan and claims to Modena renounced under the terms of the Congress of Bologna; in 1521, during the
Four Years' War
, Parma captured by Hispano-Papal forces, confirmed to the papacy in the Treaty of Rome of 1525, Milan ceded to Imperial party and Sforza re-instated; 1545,
Pier Luigi Farnese
is created Duke of Parma and Piacenza by
Pope Paul III
, his father; 1547, Pier Luigi assassinated by Ferrante Gonzaga, Imperial Governor of Milan, and Piacenza occupied by Imperial troops,
Ottavio Farnese
succeeds in Parma; 1549, in an attempt to ensure direct papal control against Imperial-Milanese encroachment, Ottavio dispossesed, 1550, reinstated by
Julius III
; in 1551, Ottavio, threatened by the ambitions of
Charles V
, places himself under the protection of France initiating the
War of Parma
; 1552, Treaty of Chambord, France distracts Imperial forces to Germany, Julius III negotiates a truce with Farnese who is tentatively restored; 1556, Charles V abdicates Milan to his son,
Philip II
of Spain, and Ottavio Farnese submits to his protection in the Treaty of Ghent)
- The
Principality and Duchy
of
Paliano
(Colonna)
- The Principalities of
Palestrina
,
Valmontone
,
Anticoli
and
Roviano
(Barberini),
Arsoli
,
Roccasecca dei Volsci
,
Prossedi
,
Triggiano
(Massimo),
Canino
and Musignano (Bonaparte),
Farnese
and
Campagnano
(Farnese), and
Meldola
(of the Doria-Pamphilj),
Cerveteri
,
Parrano
, Poggio Suasa
- The Lombard
Duchy of Benevento
(1805?1814, Napoleon elevates Benevento and
Pontecorvo
to Principalities)
- The Duchies of
Castro
and
Latera
(Farnese), the Duchy of Ariccia (of the Chigi), the
Duchy of Bracciano
, the Duchy of Fiano, the
Duchy of Camerino
(of the Da Varano), The
Duchy of Spoleto
, The Duchy of Romagna, the Duchy of Giove, the Duchy of Cerveteri, the Duchy of Monterotondo, Duchy of Nemi,
Calcata
,
Rignano
,
Ferentillo
- The Counties of
Tusculum
,
Segni
,
Spello
and
Bettona
,
Fondi
,
Vignanello
, Falcino,
Ronciglione
- The Marquisates (or Marches) of
Ancona
,
Fermo
,
Riano
,
Belmonte
- The Lordships (Signories) of
Perugia
,
Foligno
,
Fano
,
Pesaro
,
Rimini
,
Cesena
,
Forli
,
Faenza
and
Imola
Noble houses
[
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]
Examples of Italian
noble houses
of the papacy include:
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
Schnurer, Gustav. "States of the Church." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 15 November 2022
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
a
b
Leopold von Ranke (2009),
History of the popes; their church and state
, Volume III,
Wellesley College
Library
- ^
"Villas of the Papal Nobility"
, UNESCO, January 6, 2006
- ^
Coffin David,
The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome
, Princeton University Press, 1979: 281?285
- ^
Cheney, Liana De Girolami.
"Zuccaro"
.
Oxford Art Online
. Oxford University Press.
(subscription required)
- ^
"Marquis Martin Maloney Succumbs in Quaker City"
.
The Scranton Republican
. 9 May 1929. p. 3.
- ^
McNamara, Pat.
"
'The Church Would Look Foolish Without Them': Countess Annie Leary, New York, New York"
.
patheos.com
.
- ^
a
b
"The Papal Nobility"
, The Christian Knighthood Information Center
- ^
Philippe Levillain, ed. John W. O'Malley, tr.
The Papacy: An Encyclopedia
(2002) vol. ii
s.v.
"Nobility, Roman".
- ^
a
b
"How to... join the papal nobility"
,
The Catholic Herald
, July 11, 2019
- ^
de Mata, Manuel (1955). "Breve resena de la Orden del Santo Sepulcro presentada a S.M. el Rey D. Alfonso XIII el 25 de julio de 1904 por el Excmo. Sr. D. manuel de Mata".
Memorias de la Academia Mallorquina de Estudios Genealogicos
(in Spanish).
1?4
: 136?143.