Savelli family

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The Savelli (de Sabellis in documents) were a rich and influential Roman family who rose to prominence in the twelfth century and were extinct in the male line in 1712..

The family, who held the lordship of of Palombara Sabina, took their name from the rocca (castle) of Sabellum, near Albano, which had belonged to the counts of Tusculum before it passed to the Savelli. Early modern genealogies of the Savelli, such as the unpublished manuscript "eulogistic treatise compiled by Onofrio Panvinio drew connections to Pope Benedict II, a possible but undocumentable connection, and even to the cognomen Sabellius of Antiquity.

They provided two popes, Cencio Savelli, Honorius III (1216–1227), who confirmed the Savelli's standing, and his great-nephew Giacomo, Honorius IV (1285–1281). The latter's father, Luca Savelli, was Roman senator and sacked the Lateran in 1234. Luca's choice to side for emperor Frederick II against Honorius III's successor, Gregory, gained the family large possessions in the Lazio.

Later members include the condottieri Silvio and Antonello Savelli. Savelli Cardinals include Bertrand Savelli (1212); Giacomo Savelli (1539) Silvio Savelli (1596); Giulio Savelli (1615); Fabrizio Savelli (1647); Paolo Savelli (1664); and Domenico Savelli (1853). The last member of the family left in Rome was Giulio Savelli, who died in 1712, with the exception of the Giannuzzi Savelli ('Giannuzzi' adopted later on) line that moved to the Kingdom of Naples (as Antonio Savelli of the Rignano line) in 1421 to fight as a condottiere.

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References

Norbert M. Borengässer, "Savelli", Biographisch-Bibliografisches Kirchenlexikon 8 (1994).(on-line text)

Savelli family

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