Pier Leoni (or Pierleone) ( la, Petrus Leo or ) (died 2 June 1128) was the son of the Jewish convert Leo de Benedicto and founder of the great and important medieval Roman family of the

Pierleoni The family of the Pierleoni, meaning "sons of Peter Leo", was a great Roman patrician clan of the Middle Ages, headquartered in a tower house in the quarter of Trastevere that was home to a larger number of Roman Jews. The heads of the family ofte ...

. He was called the Jewish

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by Gregorovius. Pierleone himself was a consul of the eternal city in the early twelfth century. He was one of the

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

s of the city itself when Pope Paschal II left in 1108 to deal with raising troops. "Rome remained the pit of daily rebellion," as Gregorovius says. In 1111, Pierleone negotiated the imperial coronation of the Emperor Henry V. Ever a faithful ally of the pope, in 1117, he retook Rome for him, but was subsequently holed up in his tower by

Ptolemy I of Tusculum Ptolemy I ( la, Ptolemaeus or it, Tolomeo; died 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 th ...

. After the election of Bishop John of Gaeta as Gelasius II on 24 January 1118, the new pope was thrown into prison by

Cencio II Frangipane Cencius II or Cencio II Frangipane was the son of either of Cencio I or of John, a brother of one Leo. He was the principal representative of the Frangipani family of Rome in the early twelfth century. One night in 1118, he interrupted the Coll ...

. It was Pierleone, with his son Peter, Peter the prefect of the city, and the papal gonfalonier Stephen the Norman, who restored the pope's freedom. Pierleone held the

Theatre of Marcellus The Theatre of Marcellus ( la, Theatrum Marcelli, it, Teatro di Marcello) is an ancient open-air theatre in Rome, Italy, built in the closing years of the Roman Republic. At the theatre, locals and visitors alike were able to watch performances o ...

Tiber Island The Tiber Island ( it, Isola Tiberina, Latin: ''Insula Tiberina'') is the only river island in the part of the Tiber which runs through Rome. Tiber Island is located in the southern bend of the Tiber. The island is boat-shaped, approximately ...

, and the

Castel Sant'Angelo The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausol ...

, fortress of the popes. He was the greatest man in Rome in his time, the grandson of a Jew of

Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th '' rione'' of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin ''trans Tiberim'', literally 'beyond the Tiber'. Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a li ...

. His large marble sarcophagus is preserved in the

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls ( it, Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura), commonly known as Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, is one of Rome's four major papal basilicas, along with the basilicas of Saint John in th ...

. Its inscription reads, "a man without an equal, immeasurably rich in money and children." Of these children, he left several sons: Leo, Peter (later

Antipope Anacletus II Anacletus II (died January 25, 1138), born Pietro Pierleoni, was an antipope who ruled in opposition to Pope Innocent II from 1130 until his death in 1138. After the death of Pope Honorius II, the college of cardinals was divided over his succ ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

(later Patrician of the

Commune of Rome The Commune of Rome ( it, Comune di Roma) was established in 1144 after a rebellion led by Giordano Pierleoni. Pierleoni led a people's revolt due to the increasing powers of the Pope and the entrenched powers of the nobility. The goal of the ...

), Roger, and Huguizon. It is said that his daughter married

Roger I of Sicily Roger I ( it, Ruggero I, Arabic: ''رُجار'', ''Rujār''; Maltese: ''Ruġġieru'', – 22 June 1101), nicknamed Roger Bosso and The Great, was a Norman nobleman who became the first Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was a member of the ...

Sources

* Gregorovius, Ferdinand. ''Rome in the Middle Ages Vol. IV''. trans. Annie Hamilton. 1905. 1128 deaths 12th-century Italian Jews Petrus Leo Year of birth unknown {{Italy-bio-stub