ANNI BALDI (ANNIBALDESCHI) DELLA MOLARA, RICCARDO DEGLI

RICCARDO DEGLI ANNI BALDI (ANNIBALDESCHI) OF MOLARA. — He was created cardinal with the title of S. Angelo by his great-uncle Gregory IX in 1237 or 1239. He was appointed, perhaps by Innocent IV, to the rich basilica of St Peter’s, then archdeacon of the Roman Church, and in that capacity crowned Pope Clement IV in 1265. In 1248 he became rector of Campagna and Marittima. By order of Innocent IV he is said to have gathered under the Rule of St Augustine the many hermits scattered in Tuscany; the regulations he drew up to establish the habits of professed religious, novices and lay brothers were confirmed by his uncle Alexander IV with a bull issued at Anagni on 22 July 1255 (Potthast, no. 16334), and in March 1257 the same pope named him protector of the Order. He was entrusted with the most important political affairs of the Church: in 1252 he went to Florence to establish peace between the factions dividing Tuscany; he was chosen by Clement IV to be part of the embassy that invested Charles I with the kingdom of Naples; he was one of the six cardinals to whom the opposing parties, by compromise, referred the papal election; he was charged by Gregory IX with settling the dispute between the churches of Viterbo over the relics of Clement IV; Innocent V entrusted him with judging a contested election to the see of Antwerp. He died perhaps in the summer of 1276 and was buried in St Peter’s Basilica. He was a close friend of St Thomas Aquinas, with whom he was also related, for a niece of the saint had married an Annibaldi of Ceccano.