Papal nobility

The papal nobility are the aristocracy of the Holy See, composed of persons holding titles bestowed by the Pope in his capacity as the head of state of Vatican City (rather than his positions within the Roman Catholic Church). 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.

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.

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.

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, Catholic Gil de Albornoz was commissioned by Innocent VI to subdue the independent states.

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. 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. 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. 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. The homes were often decorated by noted artists. Taddeo Zuccari was commissioned to paint the Histories of Alexander for the Castello Orsini at Bracciano.

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.