Enrico Josi
Caetani - The C. family castle (13th–15th centuries). – Sermoneta.
Among other castles in the Campagna region, besides those in the Sabina, the C. family acquired this one. With these acquisitions, the C. family was now able to confront, as a bastion of the Guelph party, the Ghibelline faction represented by the Colonna family; and indeed, they fought against them for five lustrums until the peace concluded in 1327.
A brother of Pietro was Francesco, created cardinal by his uncle on 17 December 1295, who died in Avignon on 16 May 1317. He worked strenuously to safeguard the memory of Boniface VIII during the celebrated trial under Clement V. On 14 March and 19 July 1302, he purchased from the Gabelluzzi the possession of Cecilia Metella on the Appian Way and built the related castle; however, he held it for only a few years. In those years, relatives of Boniface included Benedetto C., *iunior*, created cardinal in the first half of 1295 and who died on 14 December 1296, STEFANESCHI, GIACOMO (v.), created cardinal together with Francesco.
Loffredo III, son of Pietro, expanded the family domains with the vast and wealthy lordship of Fondi and Traetto.
Rodolfo Sommaruga
The fortunes of the nephews and great-nephews of Boniface VIII unfolded in continuous contact with those of the Campagna and Marittima regions of the Papal State and of Rome itself, as well as with those of the Kingdom of Naples. Of notable importance among them were Niccolò, a captain of singular skill, and in particular Onorato I (b. c. 1336), his son by Giacoma Orsini, count of Fondi, who is found at the court of Naples in 1352. In 1358, together with his brother Giacomo, he received the lordship of Anagni from the citizens; in 1367, in league with other lords, he seized Ferentino but was driven out shortly afterward and was also excommunicated by Urban V. Gregory XI in 1377 appointed him rector of Campagna and Marittima. Upon the death of Gregory XI, he refused to recognize the election of Urban VI and adhered to the rebel cardinals. After defeating the Romans at Ponte Salario on 16 July 1378, he retired to Fondi, where, under his protection, on 20 September in the cathedral, Robert of Geneva (v.) was elected and crowned pope by the schismatics under the name of Clement VII.
From the antipope he received the government of Campagna and Marittima, which had been taken from him by Urban VI, but for this he incurred the excommunication launched by the latter. He found support for his policy in Queen Joanna of Naples until Charles III of Durazzo ascended the throne and sided with the true Pope. He waged a long struggle both against Charles III and, with greater violence, against Ladislaus, who succeeded his father in 1386. He was forced into a truce in 1390, which he renewed with the new pope Boniface IX in 1397 but broke in 1398. Finally defeated by the combined forces of the Pope and the king, he was compelled to sue for peace. He died on 20 April 1400, leaving as his heir his only daughter Jacobella with whatever remained of his possessions after his misfortunes.
Emma Santovito
Caetani – Statutes of the borough of Sermoneta (late 15th century).
Giacomo II (d. 1423) did not participate in the disturbances stirred up by his brother Onorato and inherited from his niece Jacobella whatever remained of her paternal inheritance. By Sveva Sanseverino he had Giacomo III, to whom he assigned the possessions located within the Papal State; to Cataloroso, who was a valiant captain, he assigned the goods situated in the Kingdom; and indeed Cataloroso later played a major role in its affairs and founded the branch of the C. of Aragon, who continued their father’s tradition in the service of the Aragonese kings. A third brother was Antonio, who entered the ecclesiastical career. Born around 1360, he was archdeacon of Bologna in 1387 and in 1390 is found as prior of S. Giacomo sopr’Arno in Florence. In 1395 he aspired to the archdiocese of Patras; instead, in February 1395 he obtained the patriarchate of Aquileia at a difficult moment for the internal discord of the region. With the help of his brother Cristoforo, he was able to enter Friuli and Istria, of which he was not only metropolitan but also feudal lord and governed the region with great skill. He left Friuli at the beginning of 1401 to go to the Kingdom, and on 27 February 1402 Boniface IX created him cardinal of S. Cecilia after he had resigned the patriarchate.
He was the only great and illustrious prelate of his house between the group of the 13th–14th centuries and that of the 16th–17th centuries. As for the schism in which he was involved, he was constantly concerned with working for its end in the conclaves in which he participated. He held in commendam the monastery of SS. Alessio e Bonifacio (1404); he was major penitentiary, archpriest of the Lateran Basilica, bishop of Palestrina (1405), abbot of Farfa (1407). In 1408 he separated from obedience to Gregory XII and promoted the Council of Pisa in the hope of ending the schism. He then participated in the election of Alexander V and adhered to that of John XXIII. He died on 11 January 1412 in Rome and was buried in the church of the Minerva.
Pio Paschini
During the 15th century, the C. of Sermoneta maintained active relations with the great Roman families in connection with the policies of Eugenius IV, and especially those of Sixtus IV.
A critical moment for them came when Alexander VI, taking occasion from their continual conflicts with the people of Sezze, intervened against them with a bull on 22 September 1499 and adjudged their patrimony to the Apostolic Chamber.
Enrico C., born in Sermoneta in 1550, studied in Perugia and entered the Curia as an apostolic referendary. Named patriarch of Alexandria on 29 July 1585, he was created cardinal by Sixtus V on 18 December of the same year and appointed camerlengo on 26 October 1587; from 1586 to 1587 he was also legate in Bologna. After the assassination of Henry III, king of France (10 August 1589), Sixtus V sent C. to Paris on 25 September with the task of defending Catholic interests in the succession to the throne and preventing a national council. C., accompanied by St. Robert Bellarmine as theologian, proved too favorable to Spain, contrary to the Pope’s intentions, and opposed the Catholic partisans of Henry of Navarre, the future king. He died in the Curia on 13 December 1599 and was buried in the sumptuous family chapel in S. Pudenziana, which he had had built. At Alexandria he was succeeded by his brother Camillo
(from G. Caetani, *Domus Caietana*, Sancasciano 1933, pp. 260–27) **CAETANI** — Entrance of the Cardinal Legate Enrico C. into Paris, 25 January 1590. Woodcut — Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Estampes.
He served as nuncio to the Emperor, and then, in October 1592, as ordinary nuncio in Spain.
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Another member of the Sacred College was Antonio C. (b. 1566), of the ducal house of Sermoneta. He studied law at Bologna and Perugia and accompanied his uncle Enrico on his legations. On 31 August 1605 he succeeded Cardinal Bellarmino in the see of Capua, and in 1606 was sent as nuncio to Germany to the Emperor. Returning to Rome in 1611, he was immediately dispatched as nuncio to Spain. Created Cardinal of S. Pudenziana on 19 July 1621, he died in the Curia on 17 March 1624 and was buried at S. Pudenziana.
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The last of this group of prelates is Luigi C., born at Piedimonte in July 1565, also of the Sermoneta branch; he was made Patriarch of Antioch on 14 March 1622, created cardinal on 19 January 1626, coadjutor to Cardinal Antonio at Capua, and succeeded him in that see. He died in the Curia on 15 April 1642 and was buried at S. Pudenziana.
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With the decline of the 17th century, the fortunes of the Caetani of Sermoneta also waned, until Michelangelo C., Duke of Sermoneta and Prince of Teano, son of Enrico and Teresa de’ Rossi, arose to restore their luster. Born in Rome on 20 March 1804, he died there on 12 July 1882. A man of keen wit, singular intellect, and wide culture, he devoted himself especially to Dante studies and, under the guidance of Tenerani and Minardi, to sculpture and painting. In his ancestral palace, “l’eremo delle Botteghe Oscure,” he freely welcomed eminent men from every land—Stendhal and Talleyrand, Balzac and the Prince of Wales, d’Azeglio and Gregorovius. A moderate liberal, he distrusted facile enthusiasms (“The ignorance of Italians in political matters—he lamented in 1848—is beyond belief. All conspire to obstruct every semblance of legality”) and called for measured, gradual reforms. Favoring the election and early acts of Pius IX, he supported the Pope’s policy as president of the Circolo Romano (December 1847) and as Minister of Police in the Bofondi cabinet (12 February 1848). After the fall of the Roman Republic he devoted himself anew to his beloved studies and to political-cultural relations with the finest minds of Europe, even after blindness struck him in 1865. On the morrow of the October 1870 plebiscite, as president of the Provisional Government Junta, he officially conveyed its results to Victor Emmanuel II.
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A son of Michelangelo was Onorato, born 18 January 1842; deputy for several legislatures, he also served as mayor of Rome, president of the Royal Geographical Society (1879–1887), and promoted African exploration. He left writings on geographical subjects. Minister of Foreign Affairs from March to July 1896, he died on 25 September 1917. His son was Leone C., who essayed political life but won fame for his specialized expertise in Islamic studies, notably the *Annali dell’Islam* (10 vols., 1904–1906) and an *Onomasticon arabicum* (only one volume issued in Rome, n.d.), compiled with G. Gabrielli.
His brother Gelasio, an able engineer, restored with great skill the castle of Sermoneta; he also published a series of volumes on the history and documents of his house and, having reconstituted the family archives, arranged for their preservation in the Vatican Archives. He also served as ambassador to Washington.