Anna Colonna
Encyclopedia
Anna Colonna was an Italian noblewoman of the Colonna and Barberini
families and Princess of Paliano
, Prince of Paliano and Lucrezia Tomacelli, dei signori di Galatro, and was thus Princess of Paliano.
On 14 October 1627, at age 26, she married Taddeo Barberini
, Prince of Palestrina
who was two years her junior. The marriage was celebrated by Barberini's uncle, Pope Urban VIII
at Castel Gandolfo
. At the castle, a coat of arms
was erected which merged the heraldic
bee
s of the Barberini
with the single column
of the Colonna.
As the wife of the secular patriarch of the Pope's family in Rome
, Colonna became one of the most powerful women in the city. This is reflected in the personal wealth she and Barberini amassed during Urban's reign; a pontificate known for its unabashed nepotism
. Her status is also made clear by the manner in which she was treated by her peers. In 1634, when crowds was assembled for a tournament
at the Piazza Navona
, her place is described in the following terms:
The event was held in honour of the 1634 visit to Rome
of Prince Alexander of Poland
and the Piazza was decorated with tapestries
of gold and silver. Colonna distributed diamond
s and other prizes to winning tournament entrants.
Botanist Giovanni Baptista Ferrari
spent a significant amount of time working in the gardens established by Colonna's brother-in-law, Cardinal Francesco Barberini
. The second edition of his botany reference book, De Florum Cultura, was dedicated to Colonna in 1638. Colonna was also a patron of botanical artist, Giovanna Garzoni
.
After the death of Pope Urban VIII, newly elected Pamphili
Pope Innocent X
launched an investigation into the Barberini's handling of funds during the Wars of Castro
. Colonna's husband, Taddeo Barberini, and his brothers, cardinals Francesco Barberini
and Antonio Barberini
(Antonio the Younger) went into exile in Paris
with the support of Cardinal Jules Mazarin. Mazarin was the uncle of Marie Mancini
, wife of Colonna's nephew Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna
, and a confidant of Colonna's brother, Cardinal Girolamo Colonna
. Mazarin had also served as infantry captain under Colonna's father, Filippo Colonna.
In 1646, Colonna joined her husband and children in Paris but not before making a passionate appeal (in person) to the Pope, urging him not to strip the Barberini of their assets. The Pope agreed and, though he paid some debts out of the Barberini estate, left the Barberini alone.
While in Paris, Colonna had developed a close friendship with Anne of Austria
(wife of former King Louis XIII of France
), Regent of France
. When Taddeo died in 1647, Anne urged Colonna to stay in France but Colonna chose return to Rome.
In 1653, with the assistance of Olimpia Maidalchini
(who was keen to curry favour with Colonna's cardinal brothers-in-law), she engineered the marriage of her 22-year-old son Maffeo to Maidalchini's 12-year-old grand-daughter (Pope Innocent's grand-niece), Olimpia Giustiniani
. The marriage reconciled the Barberini and Pamphili families, allowed remaining Barberini exiles to return to Rome and ensured the continuation of the Barberini family line.
Having returned to Rome, Colonna also planned to build a convent
and chapel
in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Regina Coeli
. To fund the project she appealed to her eldest son Cardinal Carlo Barberini
for access to part her dowry
which had been substantial and had included the comune
of Palestrina
, substantive basis for the hereditary Barberini principality. But her son declined her request and she was forced to seek funds from her brother, Girolamo.
Colonna died in 1658 and was buried at the grounds of the convent.
Barberini
The Barberini are a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII...
families and Princess of Paliano
Biography
Colonna was born in 1601; the daughter of Filippo ColonnaFilippo I Colonna
Filippo Colonna , 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.-Biography:He was born at Rome...
, Prince of Paliano and Lucrezia Tomacelli, dei signori di Galatro, and was thus Princess of Paliano.
On 14 October 1627, at age 26, she married Taddeo Barberini
Taddeo Barberini
Taddeo Barberini was an Italian nobleman of the House of Barberini who became Prince of Palestrina and Gonfalonier of the Church; commander of the Papal Army. He was a nephew of Pope Urban VIII and brother of Cardinals Francesco Barberini and Antonio Barberini...
, Prince of Palestrina
Palestrina
Palestrina is an ancient city and comune with a population of about 18,000, in Lazio, c. 35 km east of Rome...
who was two years her junior. The marriage was celebrated by Barberini's uncle, Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...
at Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo is a small Italian town or comune in Lazio that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano about 15 miles south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills. It is best known as the summer residence of the Pope. It is an Italian town with the population of 8834...
. At the castle, a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
was erected which merged the heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s of the Barberini
Barberini
The Barberini are a family of the Italian nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII...
with the single column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
of the Colonna.
As the wife of the secular patriarch of the Pope's family in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Colonna became one of the most powerful women in the city. This is reflected in the personal wealth she and Barberini amassed during Urban's reign; a pontificate known for its unabashed nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
. Her status is also made clear by the manner in which she was treated by her peers. In 1634, when crowds was assembled for a tournament
Tournament (medieval)
A tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . It is one of various types of hastiludes....
at the Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones , and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis'...
, her place is described in the following terms:
The event was held in honour of the 1634 visit to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
of Prince Alexander of Poland
Alexander Charles Vasa
Alexander Charles Vasa , , was the fifth son of King Sigismund III Vasa and his wife Constance of Austria....
and the Piazza was decorated with tapestries
Tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
of gold and silver. Colonna distributed diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s and other prizes to winning tournament entrants.
Botanist Giovanni Baptista Ferrari
Giovanni Baptista Ferrari
Giovanni Baptista Ferrari , was an Italian Jesuit and professor in Rome, a botanist, and an author of illustrated botanical books and a Latin-Syrian dictionary....
spent a significant amount of time working in the gardens established by Colonna's brother-in-law, Cardinal Francesco Barberini
Francesco Barberini (seniore)
Francesco Barberini was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. The nephew of Pope Urban VIII , he benefited immensely from the nepotism practiced by his uncle...
. The second edition of his botany reference book, De Florum Cultura, was dedicated to Colonna in 1638. Colonna was also a patron of botanical artist, Giovanna Garzoni
Giovanna Garzoni
Giovanna Garzoni was an Italian painter of the Baroque era. She was unusual for Italian artists of thetime for two reasons: first, in that her themes were mainly decorative and luscious still-lifes of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and second, because she was a woman.Garzoni was born in Ascoli...
.
After the death of Pope Urban VIII, newly elected Pamphili
Pamphili
The Pamphili are one of the papal families deeply entrenched in Roman Catholic Church, Roman and Italian politics of the 16th and 17th centuries ....
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...
launched an investigation into the Barberini's handling of funds during the Wars of Castro
Wars of Castro
The Wars of Castro is a term referring to a series of events in the mid-17th century revolving around the ancient city of Castro , which eventually resulted in the city's destruction on 2 September 1649...
. Colonna's husband, Taddeo Barberini, and his brothers, cardinals Francesco Barberini
Francesco Barberini (seniore)
Francesco Barberini was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. The nephew of Pope Urban VIII , he benefited immensely from the nepotism practiced by his uncle...
and Antonio Barberini
Antonio Barberini
Antonio Barberini was an Italian Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Reims, military leader, patron of the arts and a prominent member of the House of Barberini. As one of the cardinal-nephews of Pope Urban VIII and a supporter of France, he played a significant role at a number of the papal...
(Antonio the Younger) went into exile in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with the support of Cardinal Jules Mazarin. Mazarin was the uncle of Marie Mancini
Marie Mancini
Anna Maria Mancini was the third of the five Mancini sisters; nieces to Cardinal Mazarin who were brought to France to marry advantageously...
, wife of Colonna's nephew Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna
Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna
Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna 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.-Biography:...
, and a confidant of Colonna's brother, Cardinal Girolamo Colonna
Girolamo Colonna
Girolamo Colonna was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and member of the noble Colonna family.-Biography:...
. Mazarin had also served as infantry captain under Colonna's father, Filippo Colonna.
In 1646, Colonna joined her husband and children in Paris but not before making a passionate appeal (in person) to the Pope, urging him not to strip the Barberini of their assets. The Pope agreed and, though he paid some debts out of the Barberini estate, left the Barberini alone.
While in Paris, Colonna had developed a close friendship with Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth...
(wife of former King Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
), Regent of France
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
. When Taddeo died in 1647, Anne urged Colonna to stay in France but Colonna chose return to Rome.
In 1653, with the assistance of Olimpia Maidalchini
Olimpia Maidalchini
Olimpia Maidalchini , also spelled Olympia and known as Donna Olimpia, was the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X .- Early life :...
(who was keen to curry favour with Colonna's cardinal brothers-in-law), she engineered the marriage of her 22-year-old son Maffeo to Maidalchini's 12-year-old grand-daughter (Pope Innocent's grand-niece), Olimpia Giustiniani
Olimpia Giustiniani
Olimpia Giustiniani was an Italian noblewoman of the houses of Giustiniani and Barberini. She was the grand-daughter of Olimpia Maidalchini, niece of Pope Innocent X and wife of Maffeo Barberini, Prince of Palestrina....
. The marriage reconciled the Barberini and Pamphili families, allowed remaining Barberini exiles to return to Rome and ensured the continuation of the Barberini family line.
Having returned to Rome, Colonna also planned to build a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
and chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Regina Coeli
Queen of Heaven
Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Christians, mainly of the Roman Catholic Church, and also, to some extent, in the Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches, to whom the title is a consequence of the Council of Ephesus in the fifth century, where the Virgin...
. To fund the project she appealed to her eldest son Cardinal Carlo Barberini
Carlo Barberini
thumb|Cardinal Carlo Barberini .Carlo Barberini was an Italian Catholic cardinal and member of the Barberini family. He was the grand-nephew of Maffeo Barberini and son of Taddeo Barberini .-Biography:Carlo Barberini was born 1 June 1630 in Rome...
for access to part her dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
which had been substantial and had included the comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
of Palestrina
Palestrina
Palestrina is an ancient city and comune with a population of about 18,000, in Lazio, c. 35 km east of Rome...
, substantive basis for the hereditary Barberini principality. But her son declined her request and she was forced to seek funds from her brother, Girolamo.
Colonna died in 1658 and was buried at the grounds of the convent.
Family
Colonna and Barberini had five children:- Lucrezia BarberiniLucrezia BarberiniLucrezia Barberini was an Italian noblewoman and, by marriage, Duchess of Modena. Born into the Barberini family, she was the last wife of Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena.-Biography:...
(1628–1699) who married Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena - Camilla Barberini (1629–1631) who died in infancy
- Cardinal Carlo BarberiniCarlo Barberinithumb|Cardinal Carlo Barberini .Carlo Barberini was an Italian Catholic cardinal and member of the Barberini family. He was the grand-nephew of Maffeo Barberini and son of Taddeo Barberini .-Biography:Carlo Barberini was born 1 June 1630 in Rome...
(1630–1704) - Maffeo Barberini (1631–1685) future Prince of PalestrinaPalestrinaPalestrina is an ancient city and comune with a population of about 18,000, in Lazio, c. 35 km east of Rome...
- Niccolò Maria Barberini (1635–1699)