Magnates and their honours · The Papal State: the pope's own lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Conti

The pope's own family is still a middling house of the Campagna on 1 January 1200: lands round Gavignano and Segni, kin in the great Roman families (the Scotti, the Oddolina, the Annibaldi), and a brother on the throne of St Peter.

Riccardo, the pope's elder brother, already spends money on the pope's causes: he has paid for part of the Roman host that is out against Viterbo. Other kinsmen hold office: the marshal Giacomo, the pope's cousin, commands the papal troops; the brother-in-law Landone di Montelongo is rector of the Campagna and Marittima; the nephew Ugolino is a cardinal. The great lordships (Poli, Valmontone, Sora) and the tower in Rome come only from 1203.

Who he is

Name
Riccardo Conti (Riccardo di Segni), the pope's elder brother
Title
Head of the pope's family; a lay landholder of the Campagna with houses in Rome
Since
Head of the family on his father's death (date not pinned)
Born
Before 1160 (DBI); Anagni by tradition
Family
Son of Trasmondo, who held small properties near Segni, and of Claricia (Clarissa) Scotti of Rome; wife Luciana (family unknown); sons Paolo (later lord of Valmontone), Giovanni (later lord of Poli) and Stefano (later cardinal), birth dates not pinned
Confidence
high

The DBI (M. Dykmans, 1983) says the family's lands lay between Anagni and Segni and that the surname 'Conti' may not yet have been used in the twelfth century. Every great acquisition is later than 1 January 1200: Poli in pledge early in 1203 (invested before October 1204), Valmontone with Sacco and Piombinara bought by the pope from the Lateran canons in 1208, the county of Sora in October 1208, Rocca d'Arce bought by the Holy See in 1208.

That winter Riccardo is a rich man of the Campagna rather than a great lord. He paid for part of Rome's militia against Viterbo in 1199 (Gregorovius; the DBI gives 1199 or 1201).

Overlord

The pope, his brother, as lord of the Campagna.

What it holds

  • The family lands between Segni and Anagni, round Gavignano, the pope's birthplace by tradition (DBI: 'small properties near Segni')
  • Houses in Rome (the Torre dei Conti on the Forum of Nerva is built only from about 1203, with the pope's money)
  • Influence in the Campagna through kinsmen in office: the marshal Giacomo, the rector Landone di Montelongo

How it was acquired

Inheritance from Trasmondo; the rest follows the pontificate.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the Scotti (the pope's mother's kin), the Oddolina (the marshal's family), the Annibaldi (Annibaldo married the pope's sister), Pandolfo della Suburra the senator, the Ceccano as fellow Campagna barons. Rivals: the Orsini, Celestine III's kin, whose quarrel with the Scotti and Oddolina will turn to street war in 1202; the lords of Poli later.

How things stand that morning

Holds the family lands near Segni; influential far beyond them because of the pope. Not yet lord of any of the castles the family is known for later.

Wealth

Farms and rents near Segni; the favour of the curia.

Military

His own household knights (no number given); money to hire others, as for the Viterbo war.

Threats

  • The Orsini feud
  • Roman resentment of the pope's kin (the rising of 1203 drives Riccardo out of Rome)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 6 January 1200 or early 1201The Roman victory over Viterbo, partly paid for by Riccardo.Depends on: The battle being fought. Stopped by: A truce.
  2. 1203 onward (beyond 1200)Riccardo takes the Poli castles in pledge, builds the Torre dei Conti and is driven from Rome in the rising of 1203; Valmontone and Sora follow in 1208.Depends on: Ottone of Poli's debts; the pope's money. Stopped by: Roman resistance.

Places of note

  • Gavignano: Family castle near Segni, Innocent III's birthplace by tradition
  • Segni: The town that gives the family its name

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign notes say Riccardo has 'ambitions in the Campagna': true, but on 1 January 1200 he holds no castle of note; his great acquisitions are 1203-1208 (DBI).

Evidence: The DBI is clear on the dates of the later acquisitions; the extent of the family lands in 1200 is not given in detail.

On the map: Only the family's home ground is drawn; Segni itself is a town under its bishop and the pope, not a Conti lordship.

Primary sources for Papal State

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

12 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.

Sources and studies

  1. Riccardo Conti (Treccani, Dizionario Biografico)
  2. F. Gregorovius, Storia della città di Roma nel medio evo, vol. 5
  3. Innocenzo III (Treccani, Enciclopedia dei Papi)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.