Jonathan of Tusculum
Encyclopedia
Jonathan was the count of Tusculum from the death of his father, Ptolemy II
Ptolemy II of Tusculum
Ptolemy II was the count of Tusculum and consul of the Romans from 1126 to his death...

, in 1153 to his own death. His mother was Bertha, illegitimate daughter of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...

.

He was, by inheritance, an imperial vassal, but Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV , born Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare, was Pope from 1154 to 1159.Adrian IV is the only Englishman who has occupied the papal chair...

 granted him the papal property (the great fortress) in Tusculum and invested him as a papal vassal as well. He swore homage on 9 July 1155 to the pope excepto contra Imperatorem—"except against the emperor." In turn, he surrendered Montisfortini and Faiola
Velletri
Velletri is an Italian town of 53,298 inhabitants. It is a comune in the province of Rome, on the Alban Hills, in Lazio - Italy. It is bounded by other communes of Rocca di Papa, Lariano, Cisterna di Latina, Artena, Aprilia, Nemi, Genzano di Roma, Lanuvio...

 to the papacy. The Senate of Rome
Commune of Rome
The Commune of Rome was an attempt to establish a government like the old Roman Republic in opposition to the temporal power of the higher nobles and the popes beginning in 1144...

, however, refused to ratify the grant of the fortress to the count.

In 1163, he was invested with the port of Astura
Torre Astura
thumb|260px|The medieval coastal Tower of the [[Frangipani family|Frangipani]].Torre Astura, formerly an island called by the ancients merely Astura , is now a peninsula in the comune of Nettuno, on the coast of Latium, Italy, at the southeast extremity of the Bay of Antium, on the road to Circeii...

, which his father had illegally held from the church, by the abbot of S. Alessio. At some point during his countship, he must have associated his younger brother Raino
Raino of Tusculum
Raino, also Rayno, Ranulf, or Reginulf , was the last count of Tusculum from an unknown date when he was first associated with his elder brother, Jonathan, to his own death. His father, Ptolemy II, died in 1153...

 with him, for Raino appears as sole count in 1167.

Sources

  • Gregorovius, Ferdinand
    Ferdinand Gregorovius
    Ferdinand Gregorovius was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome. He is best known for Wanderjahre in Italien, his account of the walks he took through Italy in the 1850s, and the monumental Die Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter , a classic for Medieval and early...

    . Rome in the Middle Ages Vol. IV Part 1. 1905.
  • Lexikon des Mittelalters: Gionata Graf von Tusculum.
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