Cencio I Frangipane
Encyclopedia
Cencio I Frangipane was a Roman nobleman of the Frangipani family
Frangipani family
The Frangipani or Frangipane is a princely family with roots in Ancient Rome. The family was powerful as a Roman patrician clan in the Middle Ages. The family was typically Guelff in sympathy and thus often bravely supported the papacy...

 of the latter half of the eleventh century. He was a Roman consul

His parentage is cited first in 1066, when he appeared as Cencio vir magnificus filio quondam Johannes de Imperator. His father was Giovanni Sardo de Imperator. In 1039, three siblings, Leo, Bernard, and Bona made a donation to Santa Maria Novella as filii quondam Petri Frajapane de Imperator. Peter was the first known member of the family and he clearly carried two surnames. Leo, his son, had two sons, Robert and John, the latter being the father of Cencius. John and Robert were only known by their Imperator name, though Cencius used Frangipane.

Cencius began his career as a follower of the Gregorian reform
Gregorian Reform
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...

. His seal appears on a document of Pope Nicholas II
Pope Nicholas II
Pope Nicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...

 investing Abbot Bernard of Farfa with the castles of Tribuco and Arce
Arce
Arce is a comune in the province of Frosinone, in the region of Lazio, Italy. it is an agricultural center located on a hill overlooking the Via Casilina, in the middle valley of the Liri.-History:...

. The militantly imperialist Benzone, Bishop of Alba, recorded in his Ad Heinricum imperatorem libri VII that Cencius worked to influence the election of Alexander II
Pope Alexander II
Pope Alexander II , born Anselmo da Baggio, was Pope from 1061 to 1073.He was born in Milan. As bishop of Lucca he had been an energetic coadjutor with Hildebrand of Sovana in endeavouring to suppress simony, and to enforce the celibacy of the clergy...

 in 1061. However, despite all this, on 25 December 1075, Pope Gregory VII
Pope Gregory VII
Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...

 was kidnapped and imprisoned by Cencius while he was officiating in Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope was liberated by the people, but he accused the Emperor Henry IV of being behind the attempt. The event is often cited as the beginning of Investiture Controversy
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was the most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of Popes challenged the authority of European monarchies over control of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such...

.

In the 1080s, the Chronica of Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...

 referred to Cencius as consul Romanorum or "consul of the Romans." In 1084, when Henry besieged the Eternal City, Cencius sustained Gregory in the Leonine City
Leonine City
The Leonine City is that part of the city of Rome around which the ninth-century Pope Leo IV commissioned the construction of the Leonine Wall. It is on the opposite side of the Tiber from the seven hills of Rome and was not enclosed within the ancient city's Aurelian Walls, built between 271 and...

 and negotiated with the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 of Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard
Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...

, allowing the sack of the city
Sack of Rome (1084)
The Sack of Rome of May 1084 was a Norman sack, the result of the pope's call for aid from the duke of Apulia, Robert Guiscard.Pope Gregory VII was besieged in the Castel Sant'Angelo by the Emperor Henry IV in June 1083. He held out and called for aid from the Guiscard, who was then fighting the...

 as a reward for rescuing it from Henry, but preserving the pope's liberty and the papal city.

In the election of 1085, Cencius advanced Odo of Lagery, the cardinal-bishop of Ostia and future Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...

, as a candidate. However, the electors selected Desiderius of Benevento
Pope Victor III
Pope Blessed Victor III , born Daufer , Latinised Dauferius, was the Pope as the successor of Pope Gregory VII, yet his pontificate is far less impressive in history than his time as Desiderius, the great Abbot of Monte Cassino.-Early life and abbacy:He was born in 1026 or 1027 of a non-regnant...

 as Victor III. Cencius and Victor had strained relations, but he participated in the Council of Capua, at which Victor was confirmed as pope, in March [1087 with the Normans.

Cencius was last mentioned in November 1102 assisting Matilda of Canossa with the distribution of her property.

Sources

  • Caravale, Mario (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: L Francesco I Sforza – Gabbi. Rome, 1998.
  • Gregorovius, Ferdinand
    Ferdinand Gregorovius
    Ferdinand Gregorovius was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome. He is best known for Wanderjahre in Italien, his account of the walks he took through Italy in the 1850s, and the monumental Die Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter , a classic for Medieval and early...

    . Rome in the Middle Ages Vol. II. trans. Annie Hamilton. 1905.
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