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

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s of the city itself when

Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cr ...

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. 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. 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, and the

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, fortress of the popes. He was the greatest man in Rome in his time, the grandson of a Jew of Trastevere. His large marble sarcophagus is preserved in the

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. 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 ...

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(later Patrician of the Commune of Rome), 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