Savelli family

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The Coat of Arms of the Savelli over a wall of the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome.
The Coat of Arms of the Savelli over a wall of the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome.
For the Italian comune, see Savelli, Italy

The Savelli (de Sabellis in documents) were a rich and influential Roman family who rose to prominence in the twelfth century and were extinct in the male line in 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 Early modern genealogies of the Savelli, such as the unpublished manuscript "eulogistic treatise"[3] compiled by Onofrio Panvinio,[4] drew connections to Pope Benedict II, a possible but undocumentable connection, and even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 two popes, Cencio Savelli, Honorius III (1216–1227), who confirmed the Savelli's standing, and his great-nephew Giacomo, Honorius IV (1285–1281).[5] The latter's father, Luca Savelli, was Roman senator and sacked the Lateran in 1234. Luca's choice to side for emperor Frederick II against Honorius III's successor, Gregory, gained the family large possessions in the Lazio.

Later members include the condottieri Silvio and Antonello Savelli. Savelli Cardinals include Bertrand Savelli (1212); 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 condottiere. [7] 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 Roti, last of her house. The republican patriot Luigi Savelli prince of 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.[8]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Borengässer 1994.
  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." A more judicious source, Salvador Miranda,"The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church", mentions the Savelli, "...an aristocratic family which included Popes Honorius III (1216-1227) and Honorius IV (1285-1287)."
  6. ^ Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
  7. ^ (Norbert M. Borengässer), Biografisch-Bibliographische Kirchenlexikon (1994) vol. VIII: "Savelli"
  8. ^ Giuseppe Aragona, Cerenzia, Historical Notes on the Antiquity of the City and the Modern Town, translated by Tom Lucente on line text

[edit] References

  • Norbert M. Borengässer, "Savelli", Biographisch-Bibliografisches Kirchenlexikon 8 (1994).(on-line text)

[edit] Further reading

  • Litta, P. Le famiglie celebri italiane, Vol. X: "I Savelli di Roma" (Turin: Liverani) 1872.