Pier Leoni

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Pier Leoni (or Pierleone) (

Gregorovius
.

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

After the election of Bishop John of Gaeta as

papal gonfalonier Stephen the Norman
, who restored the pope's freedom.

Pierleone held the Theatre of Marcellus, Tiber Island, and the Castel Sant'Angelo, 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 Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. 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), Jordan (later Patrician of the Commune of Rome), Roger, and Huguizon. It is said that his daughter married Roger I of Sicily.

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