BONCOMPAGNI, FAMILY. — According to tradition, the family originated in Umbria, but it is found in Bologna where it belonged to the middle class. CRISTOFORO (b. 1470, d. 1546) was a merchant and brought his family a certain degree of prosperity; he married Angela Marescalchi by whom he had four sons, one of whom, Ugo, later became Pope Gregory XIII. At first reluctant to favor his relatives, he later contributed to the family’s rise to prominence. A further increase in the family’s standing occurred when Gregory, son of Ugo, married in second nuptials Ippolita Ludovisi (1681), the last heiress of that family, and thus the Boncompagnis became Princes of Piombino and Venosa, adding to the Boncompagni coat of arms—featuring a dragon with a severed tail—the three gold bands of the Ludovisi.
The principality of Piombino remained in the hands of the Boncompagnis until the Napoleonic invasion, and they claimed their patrimonial rights at the Congress of Vienna (1815), concluding a financial settlement with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, into which Piombino had been incorporated. In the 18th century, PIETRO GREGORIO BONCOMPAGNI, through his marriage to Maria Francesca, the last of the Ottoboni, added her surname to his own, though adopting the Ottoboni coat of arms.
Though loyal to Spain, the Boncompagnis played no significant role in the politics of their time.
GIACOMO BONCOMPAGNI was the son Ugo had in 1548, ten years before entering holy orders, outside of wedlock. When his father became pope, he appointed him in May 1572 castellan of Castel Sant’Angelo and in April 1573 commander of the papal troops. In 1576, on the occasion of his marriage on 25 February, the pope legitimized him; he wed the wealthy Countess Costanza Sforza of Santa Fiora and thus entered the high Roman nobility. Later he acquired his greatest estates: the marquisate of Vignola (in 1578), the duchy of Sora (in 1580), and the county of Arpino, all outside the Papal States, over which he exercised no authority. He purchased the palace later known as the Palazzo di Sora near the Vallicella. Upon the pope’s death, he was forced to leave Rome and take refuge in Lombardy; he did not return to Rome until the pontificate of Clement VIII, but soon departed for Sora, where he died on 26 August 1612, leaving his titles and estates to his son.
FILIPPO BONCOMPAGNI, son of Boncompagno and brother of the pope, was created cardinal of San Sisto at the age of thirty-five on 15 May 1572 to serve as cardinal-nephew at his side; but as he was insignificant and inexperienced, he left the management of the Secretariat to Cardinal Gallio. He was legate to Venice to greet Henry III, King of France, returning from Poland in 1574, archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore (1581), and major penitentiary. At the death of his uncle, he favored the Farnese candidacy but later agreed to that of Cardinal Montalto. He died in Rome on 9 June 1586 and was buried in Santa Maria Maggiore.
CRISTOFORO BONCOMPAGNI, brother of Cardinal Filippo, did not enjoy the same favor from the pope; he was appointed archbishop of Ravenna only on 15 October 1578 and took up residence there at the beginning of 1579. The following year he began a pastoral visitation, which he conducted with great diligence, repeating it in 1582. He also convened four diocesan and one provincial synod (1582), showing true zeal in the governance of his diocese. He died in September 1604.
Cardinalate returned to the Boncompagni family with another Gregory XIII, Francesco; born in Sora in 1596, he was created cardinal by Gregory XV on 19 April 1621 and appointed archbishop of Naples on 2 March 1626. He later lived in a reputation for sanctity because of his piety and charity. He died on 9 December 1641. The Boncompagni family gave three more cardinals to the Church. GIROLAMO, nephew of the foregoing, born in Isola di Sora on 22 March 1622, was archbishop of Bologna from 11 December 1651. He was majordomo of the Apostolic Palace in June 1660 and was created cardinal on 14 January 1664. He died in Bologna on 24 January 1684.
GIACOMO BONCOMPAGNI, nephew of Cardinal Girolamo, born in Sora on 19 May 1653, was a Knight of Malta, governor of Orvieto and then of Fermo, appointed archbishop of Bologna on 15 April 1690 and later created cardinal by Innocent XII on 12 December 1695. As papal legate, he blessed the marriage of the future Emperor Joseph I to Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Modena and received with great magnificence Maria Casimira, Queen of Poland, in Bologna. He commissioned a more noble monument to Gregory XIII in St. Peter’s Basilica. On 19 June 1724 he also received the suburbicarian see of Albano and died in Rome on 24 March 1731.
IGNATIUS BONCOMPAGNI LUDOVISI, born in Rome on 18 June 1793, was vice-legate in Bologna and devoted considerable attention to hydraulic engineering for the regulation of the waters of that region. Created cardinal deacon of Santa Maria in Portico (from which he later moved to the Pantheon and then to Santa Maria in Via Lata) on 17 July 1775 and published on 13 November, he was sent as cardinal legate to Bologna. At the death of Cardinal Pallavicino (23 February 1785), after long hesitation Pius VI appointed him Secretary of State in June; but Boncompagni left Bologna reluctantly and under differing judgments, on 17 August. He was a friend of Cardinal de Bernis and of Azara, chargé d’affaires of Spain, and accepted the policies of Joseph II. He was not lacking in intelligence and learning and took pleasure in the friendship of scholars; but he was criticized for turning night into day and for his lax morals. He soon lost the pope’s confidence, so that he resigned and left Rome on 12 June 1789, returning in December “having become more good and courteous,” as Gaetano Marini wrote. He went to the Baths of Lucca to seek a cure and died there on 9 August 1790.
In more recent times, the Boncompagni family was honored by Prince BALDASSARE, a distinguished scholar and researcher in the history of mathematics and author of highly esteemed memoirs.
UGO BONCOMPAGNI LUDOVISI, born in 1856 to Rodolfo, Prince of Piombino, twice widowed, entered holy orders and became a Vatican canon and vice-camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. He died in Rome on 9 November 1935.
Publications: *Ricordi di mia madre Agnese Borghese B. Ludovisi* (Rome 1921); *Lettere di una signora romana del sec. XVIII: Eleonora B. Ludovisi* (ibid. 1935); *Roma nel Rinascimento* (Albano-Laziale 1928–29) in four volumes, which met with little favor; *Vita della ven. Camilla Orsini Borghese* (Rome 1931) and some other minor works. After the demolition of the Palazzo di Piombino in Piazza Colonna, he built the Palazzo Boncompagni on Via Vittorio Veneto.