Raniero Capocci
Raniero Capocci,also known asRanieri,Rainier,orRainerio da Viterbo(c.1180-1190 – 27 May 1250) was an Italiancardinaland military leader, a fierce adversary of emperorFrederick II.
Biography
[edit]Capocci was born atViterboin 1180–1190. Few details exist about his early life, and his alleged adherence to theCistercian Order,including the role of abbot in theTre Fontane AbbeyinRome,is unconfirmed. He entered theRoman curiabefore 1215, the year in whichPope Innocent IIIsent him to theAbbey of Montecassinoto investigate about abbot Adenulf's tenure. In 1216 Capocci was createdcardinal deaconofSanta Maria in Cosmedin,and later became papal legate toLombardy.
Innocent's successor,Honorius III,appointed Capocci asrectorof theDuchy of Spoleto,and later of the areas ofAssisi,Nocera UmbraandGubbio.In 1231 he becamecardinal protodeacon.
In 1234 the new popeGregory IXnamed CapoccirectorofTuscia,as well ascapitano(commander) of the Papal troops. In the same yearLuca Savelli,grandson of Honorius III, forced the pope to flee from Rome toUmbria.Emperor (and King of Naples and Sicily) Frederick IImoved from southern Italy with an army to help Gregory, joining Capocci's troops atMontefiascone.Savelli's army was besieged in a fortress a few kilometers south of Viterbo and, although Frederick left the siege in advance, Capocci was able to defeat them. Frederick's ambiguous behaviour led to his excommunication by Gregory four years later, and Capocci defended the pope's move with a series of letters and treatises disseminated throughout Europe, including the manifestoAscendit de mari.
When Gregory died in 1241, Capocci was jailed by the Roman senatorMatteo Rosso Orsiniin the ruins of theSeptizodium.After the short reign ofCelestine IV(17 days), Ranieri supported the election of a pope who would not show any compromise with Frederick II. The new pope was the GenoeseInnocent IV,who would continue Gregory's anti-imperial policy. This is manifest in the events leading to thesiege of Viterbo,in which Capocci was instrumental in the expulsion of the imperial garrison from the city, and in the following defeat of the rescue army led by Frederick in person. Capocci was left in the city as papal legate with full powers (he was alsobishop of Viterbofor one year).
In 1244 a peace treaty was signed between Innocent and Frederick. However, the latter soon began military and diplomatic moves to overthrow the pope, who decided to take refuge inLyon,leaving Capocci as his plenipotentiary in Italy. When the news arrived that a compromise with the emperor was likely, he had a series ofpamphlets,full of insults and accusations of heresy against Frederick, published in the French city: their success among the prelates in theFirst Council of Lyonled to the deposition of the Sicilian leader (1245). Frederick replied by re-conquering Viterbo, although Capocci was able to gain back most ofUmbriaand theMarch of Ancona,includingIesi,the emperor's birthplace. In 1246 Innocent appointed him as papal legate also in theKingdom of Sicily.
In October 1249, however, Innocent started to consider Capocci's power as excessive, and called him back to the Roman curia. Ranieri never accepted the decision and, now ill, moved to Lyon, where he died in 1250. He was initially buried in theAbbey of Citeaux,but later his remains were transferred to the church ofSanta Maria in Gradiat Viterbo, which he had built in 1217–1221 as a gift to his personal friend,Saint Dominic.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Sources
[edit]- Gregorovius, Ferdinand(1973).Storia della Città di Roma nel medioevo.Turin: Einaudi.
- Signorelli, Giuseppe (1907).Viterbo nella Storia della Chiesa.Viterbo: Cionfi.
External links
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