Annibaldi family



The Annibaldi were a powerful baronial family of Rome and the Lazio in the Middle Ages. They began to rise to prominence in the 13th century with the favour of Popes Gregory IX and Alexander IV, in the vacuum left by the Counts of Tusculum. In the late years of the same century they were however overwhelmed by the Caetani.

History
The family's most outstanding figure was Riccardo Annibaldi (1210–1276), who was created cardinal in 1237 by Gregory IX, and bought the fief of Molara. Other family lines than that originated with Riccardo were those of Monte Compatri, Castel Zancato and of the Colosseum. Riccardo was the first protector of the Augustinian Order.

Another cardinal of the family was the Dominican Annibaldo degli Annibaldi (1230c.-1272c.), who completed his preliminary studies at the Santa Sabina studium conventuale in Rome, and later was sent to the studium generale of the Dominican Order in Paris c. 1255. Annibaldo was an associate of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Thomas dedicated his Catena aurea, drawn up while he was living at the Santa Sabina studium, to Annibaldo Annibaldi. Annibaldo was named Master of the Sacred Palace by Pope Innocent IV in 1246. He was named a cardinal in the Consistory of May 1262, and died in 1272.