Girolamo II Angelo Flavio Comneno (

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: ''Hieronymus

Angelus FIle:Jean-François Millet (II) 001.jpg, ''The Angelus (painting), The Angelus'' (1857–1859) by Jean-François Millet The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation (Christianity), Incarnation of Jesus ...

Flavius The gens Flavia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Its members are first mentioned during the last three centuries of the Republic. The first of the Flavii to achieve prominence was Marcus Flavius, tribune of the plebs in 327 and 323 BC; how ...

Comnenus The House of Komnenos ( Komnenoi; , , ), Latinized as Comnenus ( Comneni), was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries. The first reigning member, Isaac I Komnenos, ruled from 1057 to 1059. Th ...

''; 1629–1687) was the Grand Master of the Constantinian Order of Saint George from 1679 to 1687. Girolamo's family, the

Angelo Flavio Comneno The Angelo Flavio Comneno or Angeli () were a Venetian noble family of Albanians, Albanian descent who claimed descent from the Angelos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. In the 16th century, the family founded the Sacred Military Constantinian Order ...

, claimed descent from the

Angelos The House of Angelos (; pl. Angeloi; , pl. ) was a Byzantine Greek noble family that produced several Emperors and other prominent nobles during the middle and late Byzantine Empire. The family rose to prominence through the marriage of its foun ...

dynasty of

Byzantine emperors The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

, and Girolamo also claimed the titles "Prince of

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" and "Duke and Count of Drivasto and Durazzo".

Biography

Girolamo was born in 1629 as the eldest son of Andrea Angeli, who in turn was the youngest son of Girolamo I Angeli. Girolamo's family, the

, claimed descent from the

dynasty of

. In the mid-15th century, Andrea's uncles

Andrea Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that re ...

and Paolo were officially acknowledged as descendants of the Angelos emperors by Pope

Paul III Pope Paul III (; ; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era follo ...

(1534–1549) and founded the

Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (; ), also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Order of the Constantinian Angelic Knights of Saint George, is a dynastic order of knighthood ...

, a

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with invented Byzantine connections. Girolamo's father Andrea, and then Girolamo himself, had challenged the claim of Angelo Maria Angeli (grand master 1634–1678) to the grand mastership of the Constantinian Order, on the basis of Angelo Maria's father Michele Angeli having been born illegitimate. Despite this, Angelo Maria's lack of children, and the lack of children of his brother and possibly brief successor

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, led Angelo Maria to designate Girolamo as successor. Girolamo maintained the friendly relationship that had been established between Angelo Maria and

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; ; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, List of Croatian monarchs, Croatia, and List of Bohemian monarchs, Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Rom ...

. On 6 January 1679, Leopold acknowledged a letter from Girolamo which informed the emperor of Angelo Maria's death, and on 22 June 1679, Leopold formally recognized Girolamo's accession to the position of grand master. The relationship between the Angeli and the Holy Roman imperial family went beyond simple courtesies. The two families informed each other of deaths in either family, members of the imperial family sometimes wrote to Girolamo to recommend appointments to the Constantinian Order, and in the correspondence between Girolamo and Leopold, Girolamo was at times addressed as if he were a fellow sovereign monarch. Girolamo died in 1687. He was succeeded as grand master by his younger brother, Giovanni Andrea II, the last male member of his family. With his wife, whose name is not known, Girolamo at some point fathered a daughter, Laura. Laura's death in 1756 extinguished the Angelo Flavio Comneno family.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Angeli, Girolamo II 1629 births 1687 deaths Byzantine pretenders after 1453 17th-century Italian nobility

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography