The City of Rome 229
from the papal curia;19 in a letter of 1299 to the Jews of Rome Boniface Viii
supported their complaints about the activities of inquisitors.20
THE infLuEnCE of THE PiERLEoni fAMiLY
Particularly important for Jews in Europe from the eleventh century onwards was
the patronage of the powerful Pierleoni family who at times interceded with the
papacy on behalf of Jewish communities, particularly in spain.21 This wealthy
banking family, themselves descended from a convert to Christianity and strong
supporters of the papacy, continued to live in close proximity to the Jewish quarter
in Rome on the east bank of the River Tiber, often protected Roman Jews and
attempted to foster harmonious Jewish–papal relations.22
The long association between the Pierleoni and popes brought both financial
support and physical protection. Between 1059 and 1124 Pierleoni strongholds
gave shelter, safe passage, and assistance to a number of medieval popes.23 After
1095 its members aided the election of reformers such as Gregory Vii and urban ii,
and in 1063 the family may have intervened to promote the election of Alexander
ii. Leo, son of the Jewish convert Baruch, supported Alexander ii in his dispute
with the anti-pope Honorius ii. Paschal ii, who had already made Petrus Pierleoni,
the future anti-pope Anacletus ii, a cardinal, showed his gratitude to the Pierleoni
in 1116 further when on the death of the prefect of Rome he appointed a member
of the family to the post.24
The Pierleoni may also have intervened in favour of the election of Calixtus ii
in 1119. According to uodalscalcus of Augsburg, Roman Jews supported Calixtus
19 Alexander iV ‘nolentes ut’ (1 february 1255), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.54–5; Simonsohn, p.211.
20 Boniface Viii, ‘Exhibita (nobis) pro parte’ (13 June 1299), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.204–6; Simonsohn,
pp.286–7. Boniface also stipulated that it was important to proceed against Christians who adopted
or reverted to Jewish rites as against heretics who had confessed or been convicted. see Boniface Viii,
‘Contra Christianos’ (before/c.1298), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.209; simonsohn, pp.285–6. Yet on one par-
ticular occasion Boniface showed himself favourable to Jews. in 1299 he ordered that in cases involving
heresy the names of the accusers and the witnesses should be made known, as in a normal trial, unless
the investigation involved powerful personages. However, he knew that this system was open to abuse,
since when inquisitors were authorized to proceed against Jews it seems they regularly denominated
Jewish defendants as powerful and refused to make public the names of witnesses against them,
thereby stripping these Jews of their right to protection. so, in response to a complaint by the Jewish
community of Rome about their plight, in 1299 Boniface reassured them, stating categorically that
since Jews were weak they were to be numbered among the weak and powerless (‘tanquam impotenti-
bus’), and therefore afforded special protection, even if they were sometimes very wealthy. see Boniface
Viii, ‘Exhibita (nobis) pro parte’, Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.204–6; Simonsohn, pp.286–7.
21 Champagne, ‘Walking in the shadows of the Past’, p.472. for his letters, see Alexander ii,
‘omnes leges’ (1063), Simonsohn, p.35; ‘Placuit nobis’ (1063), Simonsohn, pp.35–6; ‘noverit pruden-
tia’ (1063), Simonsohn, p.36.
22 Champagne, The Relationship between the Papacy and the Jews in Twelfth-Century Rome,
pp.111–12.
23 Champagne, The Relationship between the Papacy and the Jews in Twelfth-Century Rome,
pp.100–1.
24 Pietro fedele, ‘Le famiglie di Anacleto ii e di Gelasio ii’, Archivio della Regia Società Romana di
Storia Patria 27 (1904), 412.