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House of Ruffo di Calabria | |
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Founded | 10th century (origin) 1578 (princely title) |
Founder | Pietro I, Count of Catanzaro Fabrizio (VIII Count of Sinopoli, I Prince of Scilla) |
Titles | List
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Motto | Omnia bene ("Everything is good") |
Cadet branches | Ruffo di Catanzaro Ruffo di Montalto Ruffo di Sinopoli Ruffo di Bagnaro (extinct) Ruffo della Scaletta Ruffo di Castelcicada (extinct) Ruffo de Laric (or de La Ric) (extinct) Roux de Lemanon Roux de Beauvezet (extinct) Ruffo de Bonneval de La Fare |
The Ruffo di Calabria [1] are one of the oldest and most illustrious families of the Italian nobility, already counted among the seven greatest noble houses of the Kingdom of Naples. [2]
The antiquity of the origins of the Magna Domus [3] of the Ruffo di Calabria has long been the subject of hagiographical and genealogical writings. In the second half of the 13th century, Simone da Lentini, Bishop of Syracuse, wrote: "Rufa nobilissima et vetustissima familia, tempore romanae reipublicae magnopere vixit et usque ad meum tempus potentissime vivit", [4] testifying to the family's prestige and longevity.
In the 17th century, Giovanni Fiore wrote in greater detail: "The Ruffo di Calabria are attributed with remote origins, as if their name derived from the Latin Rufo. Chroniclers reported that the Ruffo and the Giuliani were lords of vast territories, so much so that around the year 1000 'the Emperor of Constantinople, having allied himself with them, reconquered Apulia and Calabria'. Others consider them of Norman origin: Filippo and Errigo Ruffo, in the service of Robert Guiscard, occupied Terra d'Otranto and Basilicata." [5]
Historical sources unanimously attest that the Ruffo were already flourishing in Calabria before the year 1000. As for the alleged Roman origin and the fanciful genealogical reconstructions proposed, these can only be read as a sort of founding myth — a politically legitimising legend in whose construction the family, taking great pride in it over the following centuries, can hardly have been entirely uninvolved. Less implausible, as will be seen, is the hypothesis of a Byzantine origin, for which, however, the same considerations expressed for the Roman one apply; the hypothesis of a Norman origin, though still conjectural, appears to be the most plausible.
According to this colourful but largely fanciful hypothesis, based solely on the similarity of names, the Ruffo were said to descend from the Gens Cornelia, and in particular from its consular branch, the Rufi. This line claimed kinship with Sulla, tracing its eponymous ancestor to a Cornelius Rufus who, according to the Sibylline Books, proposed the institution of the ludi apollinares. [6]
An obscure figure referred to as "Tamusio Tinga" even claimed that the family originated from Ascanio Silvio, son of Aeneas, through his third son Rufus. [7] [8]
This supposed connection, along with the family's veneration of Saint Rufus of Capua — a 1st-century martyr and third bishop of Capua — [9] cannot be regarded as evidence of Roman origins or of an early conversion to Christianity.
Like the previous one, this genealogical hypothesis is not supported by historical documentation and can be considered nothing more than a family vulgata. However, the presence at the imperial court of Byzantium of prominent figures — consuls and generals — bearing the surname Rufus is historically attested. Early hagiographers of the Ruffo family, though not particularly reliable, listed among their supposed ancestors:
According to family tradition, over the centuries the Ruffo became connected to the Byzantine imperial dynasties of the Heraclian, Isaurian, and Macedonian houses, which are said to have entrusted them with the governance of Calabria. [10]
This is generally considered the most plausible theory. [11] Individuals bearing the surname Ruffus or Rufus are documented in the 11th and 12th centuries — the same period in which the Ruffo are first historically attested in Calabria — in England, Sicily, and southern Italy.
It should be noted, however, that this theory could coexist with the previous one, allowing for a possible Norman–Byzantine origin of the family, as Varangian and Norman mercenaries were present in Constantinople as early as the 9th century. [12]
The earliest historical records of the Ruffo di Calabria date back to around the year 1000. In the Chronica Monasterii Casinensis by Leo of Ostia there is mention of the previously noted alliance between the Byzantine emperor and the Ruffo and Giuliani families to recover Calabria and Apulia for the Byzantines. [13]
About a century later, a Pietro Ruffo — said to have been born in 1118 — was created cardinal by Pope Gelasius II. In 1125, a Gervasio Ruffo was appointed strategoto of Messina [14] and, in 1146, was elevated by Roger II of Sicily to the rank of lord of Mizzillicar and Chabucas. [15]
A probable descendant, named Ruggero de Gervasio, was appointed vallectus camerae by Frederick II in 1223. [16] Around the same time, a Serio Ruffo, Grand Marshal of the kingdom, is recorded as having taken part in the escort of the emperor's body to Taranto.