Pope Boniface VIII was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death, in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial origin, with connections to the papacy. He succeeded Pope Celestine V, who had abdicated from the papal throne. Boniface spent his early career abroad in diplomatic roles.
Anagni is an ancient town and comune in the province of Frosinone, Latium, in the hills east-southeast of Rome. It is an historical and artistic centre of the Latin Valley.
Giacomo Colonna (1270-1329), more commonly known by his bynames Sciarrillo or Sciarra, was a member of the powerful Colonna family. He is most famous for attacking Pope Boniface VIII and for crowning Louis IV of Germany as Holy Roman Emperor.
The House of Barberini is a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in the 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII. Their urban palace, the Palazzo Barberini, completed in 1633 by Bernini, today houses Italy's Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.
Marcantonio II Colonna, Duke of Tagliacozzo and Duke and Prince of Paliano, was a Roman aristocrat who served as Viceroy of Sicily in the service of the Spanish Crown, general of the Spanish forces, and Captain General of the Church. He is best remembered for his part as the admiral of the Papal fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. He was "one of the most illustrious land and sea captains of the 16th century".
Pompeo Colonna was an Italian noble, condottiero, politician, and cardinal. At the culmination of his career he was Viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples (1530–1532) for the Emperor Charles V. Born in Rome, he was the son of Girolamo Colonna, whose father Antonio was second Prince of Salerno; and Vittoria Conti, of the Conti de Poli. His family belonged to the highest rank of nobility both of the City of Rome and of the Kingdom of Naples. Pompeo and his family were hereditary supporters of the Holy Roman Empire (Ghibbelines), and they spent their careers fighting their hereditary enemies, the Orsini family, and defending and expanding their family territories and interests. He played a significant, if sometimes disruptive, role in the Conclaves of 1521 and 1523 on behalf of the Imperial interest. His family commitments and his conclave activities brought Pompeo into conflict with the second Medici pope, Clement VII, whose election he vigorously opposed, and made him a leading figure in the attempted overthrow of Pope Clement and the Sack of Rome in 1527.
A crown-cardinal was a cardinal protector of a Roman Catholic nation, nominated or funded by a Catholic monarch to serve as their representative within the College of Cardinals and, on occasion, to exercise the right claimed by some monarchs to veto a candidate for election to the papacy. More generally, the term may refer to any cardinal significant as a secular statesman or elevated at the request of a monarch.
Filippo Colonna, 6th Prince of Paliano, Prince of Paliano, was an Italian nobleman, who was the head of the Colonna family of Rome and the hereditary Gran Connestabile at the court of Naples.
Prospero Colonna di Sciarra was an Italian cardinal of the family of the dukes of Carbognano. He was the brother of cardinal Girolamo Colonna di Sciarra.
Rome was in disorder due to the ongoing conflict between the Colonna and the Orsini. As soon as Holy Week was over, to escape the violence, Benedict XI withdrew to Perugia, where he died that summer, probably of dysentery. The protracted papal conclave held from 10 or 17 July 1304 to 5 June 1305 in Perugia elected non-cardinal Raymond Bertrand de Got as Pope Clement V. At the time of his election de Got was Archbishop of Bordeaux, and thus a subject of Edward I, King of England, although he was a childhood friend of Philip IV of France. Clement V's decision to relocate the papacy to France was one of the most contested issues in the papal conclave, 1314–1316 following his death, during which the minority of Italian cardinals were unable to engineer the return of the papacy to Rome. This immediately preceded the beginning of the Avignon Papacy.
Napoleone Orsini was a Roman Cardinal. His ecclesiastical career lasted 57 years, 54 of them as a cardinal, and included six conclaves.
Prospero Colonna was a cardinal-nephew of Pope Martin V, whose election ended the Western Schism. Colonna was excommunicated for a period due to his rebellion against Martin V's successor, Pope Eugene IV, becoming one of the few excommunicated cardinals. Despite this, Colonna was the leading candidate to succeed Eugene IV in the papal conclave, 1447, where he was two votes away from election for the first three days.
Prospero Colonna (1452–1523), sometimes referred to as Prosper Colonna, was an Italian condottiero in the service of the Papal States, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of Spain during the Italian Wars. Along with his rival Bartolomeo d'Alviano, he is considered the best Italian general of his time.
Benedetto Barberini was a Catholic Cardinal and Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals.
Anna Colonna (1601–1658) was an Italian noblewoman of the Colonna and Barberini families. She was also the Princess of Paliano.
Girolamo Colonna di Sciarra was an Italian Catholic Cardinal of the noble Colonna di Sciarra family.
Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna (1637–1689) was an Italian nobleman of the Colonna family. He was the 8th Duke and Prince of Paliano and hereditary Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples. He was also a Knight of the Golden Fleece.
Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church from 17 December 1316 until his death, was a Roman nobleman, a nephew of Pope Nicholas III and a grandson of Matteo Rosso Orsini.
The Sacchetti family is an Italian noble family originating in Tuscany, now resident in Rome, whose earliest documented member Merlo lived during the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The name of the family is derived from one or more members known as Sacchetto. According to Ugolino di Vieri (1438–1516),"nobile Sacchetti genus est, moenia primus romanus sangius".
Giacomo or Jacopo Colonna was a member of a powerful noble family in Rome, and an Italian cardinal.
Papal States 
Kingdom of Naples 
Kingdom of Sicily 
Kingdom of Italy 
Italy 
Vatican City 
