Savelli family

For the Italian comune, see Savelli, Calabria
The Coat of Arms of the Savelli over a wall of the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome.
Giacomo Savelli (c1210-87), who reigned as Pope Honorius IV from 1285 to 1287.

The Savelli (de Sabellis in documents) were a rich and influential Roman aristocratic family who rose to prominence in the 13th century and became extinct in the main line with Giulio Savelli (1626—1712).[1]

The family, who held the lordship of Palombara Sabina, took their name from the rocca (castle) of Sabellum,[2] near Albano, which had belonged to the counts of Tusculum before it passed to the Savelli. Early modern genealogies of the Savelli, such as the unpublished manuscript "eulogistic treatise"[3] compiled by Onofrio Panvinio,[4] drew connections to Pope Benedict II, a possible but undocumentable connection, and even to the cognomen Sabellius of Antiquity.

They provided at least one pope: Giacomo Savelli, Honorius IV (1285–1287).[5] His father, Luca Savelli, was a Roman senator and sacked the Lateran in 1234. Luca's decision to side for Emperor Frederick II against Honorius III's successor, Gregory, gained the family large possessions in the Lazio. Honorius' brother, Pandolfo Savelli, was the podestà of Viterbo in 1275.

Later members include the condottieri Silvio and Antonello Savelli. Savelli Cardinals include Giovanni Battista Savelli (1471 in pectore, 1480); Giacomo Savelli (1539); Silvio Savelli (1596); Giulio Savelli (1615); Fabrizio Savelli (1647); Paolo Savelli (1664); and Domenico Savelli (1853).[6] The last member of the family left in Rome was Giulio Savelli, who died in 1712. A collateral line, the Giannuzzi Savelli ('Giannuzzi' adopted later on) represent descendants of Antonio Savelli of Rignano who moved to the Kingdom of Naples in 1421 to fight as a condottiero.[1] The title principe di Cerenzia has been held in that family since Ercole Giannuzzi Savelli dei baroni di Pietramala inherited it in 1769 from his mother Ippolita Rota, last of her house. The republican patriot Luigi Giannuzzi Savelli dei principi di Cerenzia was shot 3 April 1799 by orders of Cardinal Ruffo, and the feudal lands of Prince Tommaso Giannuzzi Savelli of Cerenzia were confiscated: Cerenzia, Casino (Castelsilano) Montespinello (Spinello) Belvedere Malapezza, and Zinga.[7]

By the 17th century, the Savelli had fallen on lean times. Castel Gandolfo had been relinquished under terms of Pope Clement VIII's "bull of the barons" to the Apostolic Camera in return for a mere 150,000 scudi in 1596, and in 1650 Albano, with its princely title, was turned over to Giambattista, the only son of Camillo Pamphili.[8]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Norbert M. Borengässer (1994). "Savelli, röm. Adelsfamilie (de Sabellis)". In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 8. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 1446–1447. ISBN 3-88309-053-0.
  2. ↑ "Reversus Albam postera die ad nemora inferiora descendit spectatu digna sub castello, quod Sabellum vocant, unde Sabellae familiae nomen inditum." Flavio Biondo, Commentarii XI.22
  3. ↑ So described by Charles T. Davis in "Roman Patriotism and Republican Propaganda: Ptolemy of Lucca and Pope Nicholas III" Speculum 50.3 (July 1975:411-433) p. 424.
  4. ↑ Onofrio Panvinio, De gente Sabella, edited by Enrico Celani, in: Studi e documenti di storia e diritto 12 (1891:271-309).
  5. ↑ Four popes are claimed in the Website of Savelli Family Stores: "The Savelli name belongs to an old Roman family that has given the church four Popes: Benedict II, Gregory II, Honorius III and Honorius IV." However, according to the modern historiography the attribution of Pope Honorius III to the Savelli family is incorrect (S. Miranda Cardinal Cencio - Pope Honorius III (note 1); Werner Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Vienna 1984, p. 111-112). The attribution of Benedict II and Gregory II to that family started only in 15th century and is also very unlikely.
  6. ↑ Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
  7. ↑ Giuseppe Aragona, Cerenzia, Historical Notes on the Antiquity of the City and the Modern Town, translated by Tom Lucente on line text
  8. ↑ George L. Williams, "Savelli, part II", Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants of the Popes, 2004:112.

References

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