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Crescentii Family 267 CRESCENTII FAMILY 267 Carson, Thomas, ed. and trans. Barbarossa in Italy.New York: under the same title, see Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Italica, 1994. Pisa, 22, 1953, pp. 3–49.) Cavalcabo`, Agostino. Le ultime lotte del comune di Cremona per Waley, Daniel. The Italian City-Republics, 3rd ed. London and New l’autonomia: Note di storia lombarda dal 1310 al 1322.Cremona: York: Longman, 1988. Regia Deputazione di Storia Patria, 1937. Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Falconi, Ettore, ed. Le carte cremonesi dei secoli VIII–XII,2vols. Society, 400–1000. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Cremona: Biblioteca Statale, 1979–1984, Vol. 1, pp. 759–1069; 1989. Vol. 2, pp. 1073–1162. BARBARA SELLA Fanning, Steven C. “Lombard League.” In The Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Joseph Strayer, Vol. 7. New York: Scribner, 1986, pp. 652–653. Gualazzini, Ugo. Il “populus” di Cremona e l’autonomia del comune. CRESCENTII FAMILY Bologna: Zanichelli, 1940. Several men whose name, Crescentius, appears in tenth- and MMM . Statuta et ordinamenta Comunis Cremonae facta et compilata eleventh-century documents from the vicinity of Rome are currente anno Domine MCCCXXXIX: Liber statutorum Comunis grouped together as a family, the Crescentii. As Toubert (1973) Vitelianae (saec. XIIV).Milan: Giuffre`, 1952. has indicated, the term Crescentii was not used by the medieval MMM. Gli organi assembleari e collegiali del comune di Cremona nell’eta` viscontea-sforzesca.Milan: Giuffre`, 1978. sources, and the “family” called by that name is a creation of Hyde, John Kenneth. Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The modern historiography. But while the degree of consanguinity Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000–1350.New York: St. Martin’s, and of clan solidarity between the various Crescentii, or Cres- 1973. centiuses, has yet to be ascertained by scholars, there are clear Jones, Philip. The Italian City-State: From Commune to Signoria. lineage relationships between some of the most powerful men Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. in and around Rome between 900 and 1050. These men shared Klinkenberg, Hans Martin. “Liutprand of Cremona.” In New policies as well as a name. Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967, In modern studies the Crescentii are grouped into two main pp. 942–943. lineages: the Ottaviani and the Stefaniani. These names derive Koenig, John. “Guelphs and Ghibellines.” In The Dictionary of the from the founders of the lineages. The Tusculani—who, like Middle Ages, ed. Joseph Strayer, Vol. 6. New York: Scribner, 1985, pp. 6–7. the Ottaviani and Stefaniani, were descended from the influen- Larner, John. Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch, 1216–1380. tial papal official Theophylact—competed with the Crescentii London and New York: Longman, 1980. rather than cooperating with them. The Ottaviani tended to Luzzatto, Gino. An Economic History of Italy from the Fall of the dominate the city of Rome, while the Stefaniani were formidable Roman Empire to the Sixteenth Century, trans. Philip Jones. in the Sabine region. Several other Crescentii (the Stilluti, the London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1961. Picti, and the Sandalarii) are named in charters and appear to Mazzaoui, Maureen Fennell. The Italian Cotton Industry in the Later have been lateral branches of the main lineages. Middle Ages, 1100–1600.Cambridge: Cambridge University Although a Crescentius (whose relationship to the clan is Press, 1981. uncertain) appeared at a trial in Rome in 901, the clan’s apogee ˆ Menant, Franc¸ois. Campagnes lombardes du moyen age: L’e´conomie et came in the last third of the tenth century. In that period the la socie´te´ rurales dans la re´gion de Bergame, de Cre´mone, et de Brescia du X au XIII sie`cle. Rome: E´cole Franc¸aise de Rome, Crescentii produced one pope (John XIII, d. 972) and controlled 1993. most of the others; they held the secular offices of Rome, and Montorsi, William. La “Matricola Popolare” di Cremona del 1283. they exploited this combination to obtain lucrative donations Cremona: Biblioteca governativa e Libreria civica, 1961. from the papacy. Exerting influence on the popes and gaining MMM. Cremona: Dalla citta` quadrata a Cittanova.Modena: Aedes territorial and jurisdictional concessions from them were an im- Muratoriana, 1981. portant part of the strategy of the clan; the counties of Terracina Persico, Giovanni Gaetano, ed. Le “Noie” cremonesi. Istituto di and Palestrina and the county and rectorate of Sabina were con- Filologia Romanza dell’Universita` di Roma, Collezione di Testi e sidered crucial. Even when a pope of non-Crescentian origin Manuali, 36. Modena: Societa` Tipografica Modenese, 1951. ruled, the Crescentii held on to the decisive secular offices in (Courtly tales from thirteenth-century Cremona.) Rome. The Crescentian system depended on monopolizing Porter, Arthur Kingsley. Lombard Architecture,4vols. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1915–1917. Roman secular posts rather than the papacy itself and has been Repertorio diplomatico cremonese, Vol. 1, Dall’anno DCCXV al MCC. styled “Alberician” by Toubert. Despite direct interference by Cremona: Ronzi e Signori, 1878. the Saxons in the workings of this system after 961, and despite Romanini, Angiola Maria. L’architettura gotica in Lombardia,2vols. a notorious period of repression under Otto III in 998 (when Milan: Ceschina, 1964. Crescentius Nomentanus made an unlucky stand at Castel Sant Tabacco, Giovanni. The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy: The Angelo and was slain), the Crescentii maintained control until Structures of Political Rule, trans. Rosalind Brown Jensen. the virtually simultaneous deaths of “their” pope Sergius IV and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. the patrician John II in the spring of 1012. Vauchez, Andre´. “Le ‘trafiquant ce´leste’: Saint Homebon de The Crescentii also promoted the system of incastellamento Cre´mone (d. 1197), marchand et ‘pe`re des pauvres.’ ” In in the second half of the tenth century. This involved creating Horizons marins, itine´raires spirituels (V–XVIII sie`cles), eds. Henri Dubois, Jean-Claude Hocquet, and Andre´ Vauchez. Paris: population clusters in defensible locations which reinforced the Publications de la Sorbonne, 1987, Vol. 1, pp. 115–122. hold of the Crescentii on the land and thus settled and aug- Violante, Cinzio. “Le Noie cremonesi nel loro ambiente culturale e mented their agricultural income. Opportune marriages were sociale.” In La cortesia chiericale e borghese nel Duecento. Florence: another tool by which the Crescentii enlarged their spheres of Olschki, 1995, pp. 81–108. (For a revised version of this article, influence, their territories, and their clientele. 0078$$00C1 05-08-03 09:10:21 268 CRESCENTII FAMILY Detail of neoclassical elements, house of the Crescentii, Rome. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz. The pontificate of the Tusculan Benedict VIII and his alliance Italic interference in Rome, in its Byzantine form, when this with the Saxon Henry II began the dissolution of the Crescentian helped perpetuate their own power (that is, in the risings of 965, system. The Crescentii, deprived of influence over the popes 974, and 984). The peculiarly Crescentian use of archaic titles and deprived of secular authority in Rome, fell back on their (the patrician “of the Apostolic Lord,” “of the Romans,” or “of Sabine fastnesses. They proved unable to organize a comeback, the Roman Senate”), and the continuation of the “senatorial” and within a few years they had relinquished Palestrina and nomenclature of Alberic imply no desire cast off the barbarian numerous Sabine castles to papal forces. The collapse of Cres- yoke. The Crescentii used epitaphs, names, and dwellings in- centian power was not total or sudden, however, for a Cres- spired by ancient models as a signal of their allegiance to local centius was urban prefect (a judicial office) in Rome until at traditions, the traditions of the city on which their ambitions least 1017, and another held that post in 1032. The Stefaniani were focused. Similar romanizing is detectable in Crescentius lost most in the fray with the Tusculani but fared quite well in Nomentanus’s scheme to drain the Pontine marshes, reviving a the 1020s, to the extent that Abbot Hugh of Farfa was obliged project which had been dear to the ancient emperors. to make a pact with the Ottaviani for protection from incursions Charters referring to transactions by the Crescentii and place- by the Stefaniani. The Ottaviani used this pact to appropriate names with Crescentian origins are found in Gregory of Catino several Stefaniani strongholds in the Sabine hills and then refused (1883, 1888, 1892; and 1903), and in Regesto Sublacense (1887). to return them to Farfa. During this period, the solidarity of Narratives (all hostile) in which various members of the family the clan reached a low point. The competition between the play prominent roles are found in Hugh of Farfa (1903). branches of the clan may even have contributed to the Cres- centii’s loss of power after 1012. Although Abbot Hugh pro- See also Farfa; Otto III; Rome tested vehemently against thefts and usurpations suffered by Farfa, throughout the eleventh century land and fortified sites Bibliography passed from the Crescentii to the monastery. A loss of political Primary Sources preeminence, underscored by the Crescentii’s support of the Annales Quedlinburgenses, ed. G. Pertz. Monumenta Germaniae unsuccessful antipopes Sylvester III (1045) and Benedict I Historica Scriptorum, 3. Hannover, 1839, pp. 72–90. (The best (1058), accompanied the loss of property and jurisdiction. After of the nonlocal accounts.) 1058 the Crescentii were dormant politically, but they remained Il chronicon di Benedetto monaco di Santo Andrea del Soratte, ed. G. wealthy landowners in the Roman region as it was subsumed Zucchetti. Rome, 1920. (Covers the period up to about 985.) into the patrimony of the reformed papacy. Chronica Sancti Bartholomaei in Insula, ed.
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