ANGUILLARA. — Comital family that takes its name from the town of the same name situated on the southern shore of Lake Bracciano, 33 km from Rome. It is presumed to be of Lombard origin, but its securely documented genealogy begins only with Count Pandolfo I (1186). From the second half of the 13th century it is found in constant conflict with the family of the Prefetti di Vico, which dominated the northern part of the Patrimony. In the 14th century the A. also held offices in Rome as representatives of the Angevins, taking their side in opposition to the Vico; indeed, Francesco and Pandolfo were vicars of King Roberto, while Orso, senator on several occasions, crowned Francesco Petrarch as poet on the Capitoline, having previously hosted him at Capranica, on the orders of the same king. During the 15th century it was Everso who governed and enlarged the fortunes of his house, maneuvering as a condottiero amid the rivalries of the great Roman families, the Colonna and the Orsini, and those between the Church and its neighbors. The palace with a tower that the A. built on the right bank of the Tiber offered ample opportunity for intervention in urban affairs. Everso, together with his brother Dolce, sided with Eugenio IV and the Orsini in Aug. 1431 in the struggle against the Colonna and their allies, and likewise remained with the Orsini during the disturbances of 1434. Both were with Giovanni Vitelleschi at the siege of Vetralla, which they captured in Aug. 1435, subsequently taking Giacomo di Vico prisoner, and they shared in the division of his possessions. Everso had Porta Maggiore, which had been temporarily occupied by factions, restored to the Church (23 March 1436), and in the following years served Vitelleschi, who had become a cardinal, in the campaign to recover the Church’s possessions in southern Lazio. He was with him when Vitelleschi was treacherously seized in Castel S. Angelo (19 March 1440), and took possession of the baggage train of his army; but he was forced to return it to the new papal legate Lodovico Trevisan, and he also followed the latter in subsequent campaigns. Under Niccolò V, after brief disagreements, Everso was restored to the Pope’s favor together with other barons. He took part with the Orsini in a campaign in Umbria and in the siege of Cascia, but in June 1454 he was forced to flee and withdraw to his domains. Yet the friendship with the Orsini was soon to be broken, although Deifobo, Everso’s son, married Maria, daughter of Antonio Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo. Indeed, on the occasion of the election of Callisto III, during the procession for the taking of possession at the Lateran (20 Apr. 1455), Everso provoked a riot against Napoleone Orsini, which was quickly suppressed through the intervention of Cardinal Orsini; the people took sides against Everso, accusing him of being “a traitor, an enemy of the Roman Church, a breaker of roads, and a public robber.” And these accusations certainly had a basis. The following year there was war between the Orsini and the A.; in 1457 Everso was at Galeria (23 Apr.), and in July he again fought against the Vico; in 1458 he was with the Colonna, continuing to fight against the Orsini and against the Church on behalf of Jacopo Piccinino, against whom, under the orders of the Cardinal Chamberlain, he had instead fought in July 1455. He made peace with the new Pope Pio II, while continuing to keep the Patrimony in turmoil. For this reason Cardinal Nicolò di Cusa was forced in 1459 to march against him and his son Deifobo; nevertheless, Everso succeeded for a time in seizing Viterbo and occupying Capranica (June–July); in the autumn he supported the campaign of the Angevin Giovanni, Duke of Calabria, against Ferdinando of Naples, and Deifobo served him in the Kingdom. On 12 Oct. 1560 Everso took Anguillara from the sons of his brother Dolce, as well as other lands near the Orsini, but the peace of Naples of 13 Sept. 1462 made his position difficult. He died on 4 Sept. 1464, leaving as heirs his sons Deifobo and Francesco, who paid homage to the new Pope Paolo II. However, the good relations lasted only a short time; the two brothers were excommunicated on 24 June 1465 and were defeated by Cardinal Nicolò Forteguerri, who had been sent against them; Francesco was taken prisoner and died in 1471 in Castel S. Angelo; Deifobo fled to Venice and entered the service of that Republic as a condottiero. He attempted a reconquest under Innocenzo VIII in the summer of 1484, but subsequently contented himself with receiving a pension from him. The Pope granted Fran-
reschetto Cybo the county of Anguillara, left vacant by the death of Domenico, on 21 Feb. 1490; thus this family disappeared from history.
BIRL.: P. Paschini, Roma nel Rinascimento, Bologna 1940, pp. 127 ff., passim; E. Re, s. V. in Enc. Ital., III, pp. 347 ff. Pio Paschini