Ptolemy II (died 1153) was the count of Tusculum and consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 of the Romans (consul Romanorum) from 1126 to his death. He was the son and successor of Ptolemy I

Ptolemy I of Tusculum

Ptolemy I was the count of Tusculum in the first quarter of the twelfth century. He was a son of Gregory III...

.

The younger Ptolemy entered the political scene of central Italy for the first time in 1117, when he appears as joint count with his father and is given in marriage to Bertha, illegitimate daughter of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...

. At this time, the counts of Tusculum first claimed descent through the gentes Julii and Octavii

Octavii

The gens Octavia was a plebeian family at Rome, which was raised to patrician status by Caesar during the 1st century BC The first member of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, quaestor circa 230 BC...

, a claim Ptolemy continued. The counts were also confirmed in their possession of all the territory of the Consul Gregory, Ptolemy I's grandfather.

When the Emperor Lothair II marched home from Southern Italy in 1137, Ptolemy II met him at Tivoli

Tivoli, Italy

Tivoli , the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills...

. There, Lothair confirmed all of Ptolemy's possessions and his title of "Prince of Latium." In turn, Ptolemy gave his son Raino

Raino of Tusculum

Raino, also Rayno, Ranulf, or Reginulf , was the last count of Tusculum from an unknown date when he was first associated with his elder brother, Jonathan, to his own death. His father, Ptolemy II, died in 1153...

 over to the emperor as a pledge of loyalty.

On 8 April 1149, Pope Eugene III

Pope Eugene III

Pope Blessed Eugene III , born Bernardo da Pisa, was Pope from 1145 to 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become Pope.-Early life:...

 took refuge in Ptolemy's Tusculuan fortress. This was the first time in forty years that the count of Tusculum had acted as a true ally of the true pope. At that time, Louis VII of France

Louis VII of France

Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...

 stopped in Tusculum on return from the Second Crusade

Second Crusade

The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...

. Though shocked by the pope's straits, the king of France did nothing to help the pontiff. On 7 November, Eugene left Tusculum.

In Ptolemy's latter years, his house declined. In 1141, Bertha died and the tie to the old imperial family was broken. Ptolemy married a Pierleoni

Pierleoni family

The family of the Pierleoni, meaning "sons of Peter Leo", was a great Roman patrician clan of the Middle Ages, headquartered in a tower house in the Jewish quarter, Trastevere. The heads of the family often bore the title consul Romanorum, or "Consul of the Romans," in the early days.The family's...

, a daughter of Petrus Leonis

Pier Leoni

Pier Leoni was the son of the Jewish convert Leo de Benedicto and founder of the great and important medieval Roman family of the Pierleoni. He was called the Jewish Crassus by Gregorovius....

 himself. He fell into debts which caused many properties in Tusculum itself to be lost or mortgaged. Many fell to the Frangipani family

Frangipani family

The Frangipani or Frangipane is a princely family with roots in Ancient Rome. The family was powerful as a Roman patrician clan in the Middle Ages. The family was typically Guelff in sympathy and thus often bravely supported the papacy...

 and the old fortress even fell to Eugene III. Ptolemy died in 1153 and was succeeded by his elder son Jonathan of Tusculum

Jonathan of Tusculum

Jonathan was the count of Tusculum from the death of his father, Ptolemy II, in 1153 to his own death. His mother was Bertha, illegitimate daughter of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor....

. His second son, the aforementioned Raino, was joint count and then sole count: the last count of Tusculum. Ptolemy did leave another son, named Jordan, who settled in Gavignano

Gavignano

Gavignano is a hill top town of 1,982 inhabitants in the Province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. Gavignano is approximately 50 km south east of Rome in the lepini hills and can be easily reached by local train service. The nearest train station being located in the town of Colleferro...

 in Volscia after the destruction of Tusculum in 1191.

Sources

• Gregorovius, Ferdinand
  Ferdinand Gregorovius
  Ferdinand Gregorovius was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome. He is best known for Wanderjahre in Italien, his account of the walks he took through Italy in the 1850s, and the monumental Die Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter , a classic for Medieval and early...
  
  . Rome in the Middle Ages Vol. IV Part 1. 1905.
• Lexikon des Mittelalters: Ptolemaeus (Tolomeo) II. Graf von Tusculum.