FRANGIPANI, FAMILY. - A noble and powerful Roman family that in the 11th and 12th centuries exercised great influence in the city and in papal elections. The name, in its various medieval corruptions, assumed diverse forms: Frajapans, Frajampane, Fragampane, Fyangi-pans, etc. The coat of arms, which in the upper field shows two lions breaking a loaf of bread, is said to be linked to the legend that connected the Frangipani family to the Roman Anicii family, of which a member, Flavius, in the 8th century, during a famine and flood in the city, "frangebat panem" (broke bread) for the people.
It was only at the beginning of the 11th century that a LEO de Imperio de Imperatore "who is called Frangapane" appears as a notable figure; and from that time they were lords of Cisterna near Velletri and extended their dominions along the Tyrrhenian coast between Rome and Terracina.
In Rome they occupied the Palatine Hill, where near the Arch of Titus they owned the famous "Turris carruaria." During the two centuries of their predominance in Rome, they showed themselves alternately favorable to the papacy and to the Empire, playing the political game according to the opportunities of the moment.
In 1011 a CENCIUS F. defended the monk Hildebrand, the future Gregory VII, in the election of Alexander II, and when in 1084 Robert Guiscard was at the gates of Rome to free Gregory VII, the same Cencius was at the head of the Gregorian party in the city, thus facilitating the Guiscard's entry. In 1093 Urban II found refuge in the Torre cartularia; in 1108 two members, PIERLEONE and LEO F., are recorded as having been entrusted by Paschal II with the government of Benevento.
But with GIOVANNI the Frangipani are seen already turning toward the Empire when in 1117 Henry V came down into Italy. Their opposition to the papacy is dramatically evidenced in the scandal of CENCIUS F., who in 1118 carried out the attempted assault against the newly elected Gelasius II in the church of S. Maria in Pallara (S. Sebastiano al Palatino) near the houses of the Frangipani; the attack was repeated in July of the same year at S. Prassede, where the Frangipani had another stronghold. Their hostility continued under Callistus II, who had their towers demolished and forced them into submission.
A new rapprochement with the papacy took place in 1124 with the election of Lamberto di Ostia (Honorius II), a candidate supported by the Frangipani against the Pierleoni. Their loyalty continued more or less throughout the 12th century, thus enabling them to strengthen their position in the city, whose primacy they disputed with the Annibaldi. In 1147, under Eugenius III, at the dismemberment of the territory of Lazio, among the powerful Roman families PIERRO F. was lord of Terracina and Sezze, and in Rome they occupied and fortified the Colosseum. They also held the Septisontium, on account of which the famous JACOPA (q.v.), belonging to this family, was called de' Settesoli.
In the 13th century, under Gregory IX, they are found again taking the side of the emperor Frederick II. Various families established in the Regno d'Italia claimed kinship with the Roman Frangipani and assumed their name.