Giordano Pierleoni
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'''Giordano''' (or '''Jordan''') '''Pierleoni''' (in contemporary [[Latin]], ''Jordanus filius Petrus Leonis'') was the son of the [[Consul]] [[Pier Leoni]] and therefore brother of [[Antipope Anacletus II]] and leader of the [[Commune of Rome]] which the people set up in [[1143]]. According to [[Gregorovius]], he was a "maverick" in the great [[Pierleoni family]], for he continued to oppose the [[papacy]] after Anacletus' death, when the rest of his clan had returned to support of Rome.
In late autumn [[1143]], the democratic element in [[Rome]] set up a [[Roman Senate|Senate]] in opposition to the higher nobility and the papacy. Drawing on the glorious ancient [[Roman Republic]], the citizens declared a senate, based on four elected representatives from each of the fourteen districts of ancient Rome, the first real senators since the [[seventh century]]. The fifty six senators then elected as [[patricianship|patrician]] Pierleoni, because the title of [[consul]] had taken on noble connotations. Pierleoni led the defence of the city against [[Pope Lucius II]]'s assault in [[1145]], where Lucius himself was killed. However, Pierleoni could not maintain order in the city and, despite his overtures of negotiations with Lucius—demanding the pope renounce secular authority and live as a common [[priest]] before being allowed reentry into the city, —he was deposed by the people, who invited [[Pope Eugene III]], Lucius' successor, back. The power vacuum left by Pierleoni's deposition caused even more anarchy and eventually the pope left and a less illustrious man than Giordano, [[Giacomo da Vico]], was elected patrician—though a man his equal, [[Arnold of Brescia]], had arrived in the commune in 1145. Arnold would renew the commune, giving it the intellectual leadership it lacked after Pierleoni's downfall.
==Source==
*[[Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]]. ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages Vol. IV, part 2''. trans. Annie Hamilton.
{{Italy-bio-stub}}
[[Category:Rebels]]
[[Category:People of medieval Rome]]
[[Category:12th century Italian people]]