Orsini Family, one of the oldest, most illustrious, and for centuries most powerful of the Roman princely families. Their origins, when stripped of legend, can be traced back to a certain Ursus de Paro, recorded at Rome in 998. They first became important in the late 12th century with the election of Giacinto Orsini as Pope Celestine III (1191–98), whose generosity to his nephews founded the territorial fortunes of the family. During the next 100 years, allegiance to the papacy developed into a firm, if profitable, tradition in the house of Orsini; they assumed leadership of pro-papal Guelf interest against the pro-imperial Ghibelline Colonna family, and for centuries afterward the savage rivalry of these two magnate families dominated the politics of Rome and its territory.
In 1241, as senator of Rome, Matteo Orsini (d. 1246) saved the city from capture by the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II and the Colonna. As the 13th century advanced, the Orsini acquired increasing influence in church policy and administration; four of the family were chosen cardinals, and one of them, Giovanni, also became pope, as Nicholas III, in 1277. Their Guelf allegiance also brought them land and lordships in the Angevin kingdom of Naples, where several long-lived lines of the family took root among the nobility. At the end of the 13th century, the Orsini were among the principal supporters of Pope Boniface VIII in his attacks on the Colonna family and were rewarded for their services with the grant of Nepi in fee. Not all of them, however, were partisans of Boniface. Napoleone Cardinal Orsini, partly for family reasons, sided with the Colonna and the French, and it was he who promoted in 1305 the election of a French pope, Clement V, the first of the “popes of Avignon.”
From this time on, apart from the brief interval of Borgia rule (late 15th and early 16th centuries) when the Orsini were dispossessed of their castles and three of them were put to death, the Orsini retained their dominant place among the Roman aristocracy, providing soldiers, statesmen, and prelates to the church. In 1629 they were created princes of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1718 they were raised to the princely dignity at Rome. In 1724 Pietro Francesco Orsini was elected pope as Benedict XIII.
The family survived in the Orsini dukes of Gravina, descended from Napoleone Orsini, son of the 13th-century senator, Matteo. Their principal fiefs were Bracciano (near Rome), acquired in the 14th century, and Gravina (near Bari), acquired in the 15th century. They received the ducal title from Pius IV in 1560 and held Bracciano into the 17th century and Gravina to 1807. From the 16th century it became regular for an Orsini to hold the office of prince assistant to the pontifical throne.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
