Ptolemy I of Tusculum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ptolemy I (also Ptolemaeus or Tolomeo) (d.1126) was the count of Tusculum in the first quarter of the twelfth century. He was a son of Gregory III. Peter Pisanus, in his Vita Paschalis II refers to Ptolemy and the abbot of Farfa as the allies of the emperor in the same way that the Saints Peter and Paul were the allies of the pope.

He supported the Pope Paschal II and, in 1108, when the pope left for Benevento, he was given command of the Campania. Soon, Ptolemy, along with the Berald of Farfa (abbot of Farfa) and Peter Colonna, rebelled against papal authority. The pope returned with troops from Richard II of Gaeta and the rebels were unable to take control of Rome.

In 1111, the Emperor Henry V imprisoned the pope and some of his cardinals in Rome and Robert I of Capua sent 300 men to rescue the papal entourage. Ptolemy met the Capuan troops at Ferentino and turned them back, however.

In March 1116, the Roman Prefect Peter died and Paschal appointed a son of Pier Leoni as his replacement. The people revolted and appointed Peter, a great nephew of Ptolemy, instead. The pope was forced to flee to Albano, but not before attempting to buy Ptolemy's loyalty with the grant of Ariccia. The pope then turned on Rome and, in May, retook Trastevere and the Fumone fortress. His men captured the Prefect Peter. His relative imprisoned, Ptolemy turned on the pope once more and defeated his militia at Algidius and freed his nephew. This was the catalyst for more widespread revolt in the Campania and the Papal States.

In Easter 1117, the emperor arrived and the pope fled. Ptolemy quickly did homage to the secular despot. He was confirmed in all the possessions of his grandfather the Consul Gregory. His power extended all the way to the Sabina. He held the port of Astura, taken from the Roman church. He was called the dux et consul Romanorum or "Duke and Consul of the Romans" and formally "prince of Latium." At this point, his son was also titled count and this younger Ptolemy was given in marriage to Bertha, illegitimate daughter of Henry.

On 5 February 1105, after wars with Gaeta, Ptolemy had confirmed by a treaty the safety of the Gaetan traders in his domains. Now, the wars with Gaeta were (temporarily) resumed.

Ptolemy and his nephew the prefect were holding the Castel Sant'Angelo. Peter Colonna and Rainald Senebaldi turned to the pope's side and, soon after Christmas, Ptolemy and the rest of the imperialists in the Eternal City were forced to flee by the pope, who soon died.

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.