Ruspoli family
| House of Ruspoli Marescotti-Ruspoli |
|
|---|---|
| Black noble family | |
Motto: "Loyalement et Sans Douter"
(English: "Loyaly and without doubt") |
|
| Country |
 ItalyFormer countries
 Spain
|
| Parent house | |
| Titles |
|
| Style(s) | "Eminence" (Cardinal) "Excellency" "Grace" |
| Founded | XI century |
| Current head | Prince Francesco Ruspoli |
| Ethnicity | Italian (Scottish origin) |
| Cadet branches |
|
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The House of Ruspoli are an old and noble Roman family. All its members hold the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.
The origins of the family can be traced back to the Ruspoli of Florence in the 13th century and through the family's claimed direct descent from Marius Scotus in the 8th century and the Marescottis of Bologna. In the 17th century the Ruspolis moved to Rome where the last descendant, Vittoria Ruspoli, Marchioness of Cerveteri, married Sforza Vicino Marescotti Count of Vignanello, a descendant of the Farnese family on both his mother's and father's side. One of Vittoria's sons took the Ruspoli name and coat of arms to guarantee the continuity of the house.
In 1708, Vittoria's grandson, Francesco Ruspoli head of the Ruspoli Regiment fought to defend the Vatican State. In 1709 he forced the Austrians to a retreat and Pope Clement XI named Francesco first Prince of Cerveteri.
The papal title was conferred in 1721, and the Italian in 1905.
They held the post of Grand Master of the Sacred Apostolic Hospice, or Quartermaster-General of the Sacred Palaces, which was an hereditary official of the Pontifical Household. He was a Participating Privy Chamberlains and the sole lay member of the Noble Privy Antechamber, as well as a Participating Privy Chamberlains of the Sword and Cape (who were all laymen, traditionally holding hereditary posts). The post was abolished in the reforms of the Papal Curia after 1968.
There are traces of members of the Ruspoli family from the 13th century on the tomb stones in the churches of Ognisanti and of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
Some of its members, in chronological order:
It is Bartolomeo, son of the above-mentioned Lorenzo, that the family moved away from the imperial Ghibellines and came closer to the Vatican State.
Bartolomeo Ruspoli was born in Florence in 1496. He formed a business partnerships with the Altoviti family, who were influential wool traders and bankers. In 1529 Bartolomeo travelled to Rome where he married Maria Ardinghelli niece of Cardinal Niccolò Ardinghelli, an influential member of the Farnese fraction and an intimate associate of Alessandro Farnese, future Pope Paul III. The Ruspoli were thus integrated into the Roman Curia and the papal court, and Bartolomeo’s children, both sons and daughters, were all married into families of the Roman nobility: Muti, Cavalieri and Floridi. In 1531 Bartolomeo Ruspoli was named Petitioner of the apostolic letters by Pope Clement VII. In 1535 he was made Prior of Florence.
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Wikipedia