The papal nobility is the nobility of the Holy See. Only the title Count is still granted by the Pope. Others formerly granted include Baron, Marquis, Duke and Prince. The Papal nobility was part of Papal Court until the 1968 apostolic letter Pontificalis Domus, and was part of the Italian nobility from the 1929 Lateran Treaty to the 1946 abolition of the Italian monarchy.
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History[edit]
The Papal States under the temporal jurisdiction of the pope had a territorial nobility, allied and intermarried with the nobility of other Italian states. During this period, throughout Italy, various influential families came to positions of power through the election to the papacy of a family member or were elevated into the ranks of nobility through ecclesiastic promotion. These families freely intermarried with aristocratic nobility. Like other noble families, those with both papal power and money were able to purchase comunes or other tracts of land and elevate family patriarchs and other relatives to noble titles. Hereditary patriarchs were appointed Duke, Marquis and even Prince of various 16th- and 17th-century principalities. According to Ranke:
| “ | Under Innocent X, there existed for a considerable time, as it were, two great factions, or associations of families. The Orsini, Cesarini, Borghese, Aldobrandini, Ludovisi, and Giustiniani were with the Pamphili; while opposed to them, was the house of Colonna and the Barberini. | ” |
Popes commonly elevated members of prominent families to the position of Cardinal; especially second and third sons who would not otherwise inherit hereditary titles. Popes also elevated their own family members - especially nephews - to the special position of Cardinal-Nephew. 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 or a Cardinal, from which position they could dispense further titles and positions of authority to other family members.[1]
The period was famous for papal nepotism and many families, such as the Barberini and Pamphili, benefited greatly from having a papal relative. Families that had previously been limited to agricultural or mercantile ventures found themselves, sometimes within only one or two generations, elevated to the Roman nobility when a relative was elected to the papal throne.[1] 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.
After the Kingdom of Italy annexed the Papal States and captured Rome in 1870, the pope remained a self-described "Prisoner in the Vatican", supported by the "Black Nobility" of families who remained loyal to the papacy rather than the Italian monarchy. The Lateran Treaty ended the dispute and made the Papal nobility a part of the Italian nobility until the 1946 abolition of the Italian monarchy.
As most of the Papal States were annexed by the Kingdom of Italy in 1870, the new kingdom recognized the existing nobility in its new territory, and the papal nobility forms a major branch of the Italian nobility. On the occasion of the signing of the Lateran Accords of 1929, the Italian government recognized and confirmed the pope's power to grant noble titles, and 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. With Paul VI, who responded in Pontificalis Domus to the formal Christmas message of the patriciate by declaring that the papal nobility would no longer be a constituent body in the papal court, the custom of conferring noble titles such as Count, Marquis, Duke or Prince essentially disappeared. Pope John Paul II did grant 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. The popes continue to award knighthoods and medals of merit on a regular basis, which do not confer titled-nobility status with the exception of Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran.[2]
Papal counts[edit]
Count is one of the noble titles granted by the Pope as a temporal sovereign, and the title's holder is sometimes informally known as a papal count or less so as a Roman count, but mostly as count. 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, infrequently before the 14th century, and the pope continued to grant the comital and other noble title even after 1870. Recipients of such honours included both Italians, especially those close to the papacy (some of whom papal relatives), and prominent non-Italian Catholics.
Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran[edit]
The title "Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran" 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 Lateran as well as just the title of Count before their names. The rights were recorded in the "Memorias de la Academia Mallorquina de de Estudios Genealogicos" and approved by King Alfonso XIII of Spain.[3]
Noble houses[edit]
Former noble houses of the papacy include:
- House of Aldobrandini
- House of Barberini
- House of Borghese
- House of Borgia
- House of Borromeo
- House of Chigi
- House of Colonna
- House of Mattei
- House of Medici
- House of Orsini
- House of Pamphili (later Doria-Pamphili-Landi)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b History of the popes; their church and state (Volume III) by Leopold von Ranke (2009, Wellesley College Library)
- ^ Philippe Levillain, ed. John W. O'Malley, tr. The Papacy: An Encyclopedia (2002) vol. ii s.v. "Nobility, Roman".
- ^ 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 1–4: 136–143.