The Rufoli And Other Noble Families

( Originally Published 1909 )

PREEMINENT among the nobles of Ravello were the Rufoli, the donors of the Cathedral pulpit, benefactors of the church, prosperous merchant princes, and owners of the beautiful palace near the Cathedral, where they entertained kings and prelates.

We cannot accept their supposed descent from Publius Rutilius Rufus, tribune, and afterwards consul in 105 B.C., suggested for no other reason than the existence in the Cathedral of Amalfi of a Latin inscription bearing the name of Quintus Fabritius Rufus ; but they were at an early date among the most noted and wealthy families of the Amalfitan Republic.

Their palazzo was built in the eleventh century, and Freccia in his treatise " De Subfeudis " mentions with admiration the lofty towers, marbles and arabesques of coloured stone.

It is impossible to trace the entire ground plan, but the vineyard walls probably indicate the area enclosed. When Roger of Sicily visited Ravello, the Rufolo family included ninety knights noted for prowess and skill in arms.

Nicola Rufolo seems to have been entrusted by the Emperor Lothaire with the command of the fleet of sixty Pisan galleys which in '137 wrested Amalfi and Ravello from King Roger and re-stored them to the obedience of the Emperor.

After this victory he was appointed by Lothaire governor of the whole costiera; and when, shortly afterwards, the Amalfitans rose against his authority, he successfully besieged the town, and quelled the rising with no other aid than his own followers.

It was this same Nicola who assumed the title of Duke of Sora after seizing that town and territory in defiance of King Roger. But when Roger had the upper hand he compelled Nicola to relinquish Sora, and thereafter we hear no more of the title, which appears to have lapsed.

Nicola was as learned as a jurist as he was great in war. He wrote a commentary on the Code of Justinian, and it is he that is stated to have founded the Cathedral.

A fragment in the south aisle of the Cathedral is inscribed as follows : " Johannis in hoc requiescat Rufulus. Requiem pro questo."

This Bishop Johannes Rufulus held the see from A.D. 1150 to A.D. 1209, and it was popularly believed that at the celebration of his jubilee Pope Adrian IV. himself officiated. This has been repeated in guide-books and elsewhere ; but as a minute record was kept by his secretary of the Pope's journeys, and no reference therein is made to Ravello, it is improbable that Pope Adrian IV. was ever here.

Peregrine Rufolo was consecrated Bishop A.D. 1400, and died the following year of the plague.

Enrico Rufolo was celebrated for his exploits by sea and land ; but falling into disgrace under the Normans, he went to Germany, where he rose to distinction, and is regarded as the founder of the Grisone family, who in the time of Roger of Sicily numbered thirty knights, and one of whom, named Angelo Grisone, was an eminent lawyer and the author of certain glosses on the laws of the kingdom.

Nicola Rufolo, who gave the pulpit in the Cathedral, was admitted by the Neapolitan nobles to a seat in their Seggio di Nilo.

Giacomo Rufolo, his brother, lent considerable sums of money to Charles of Anjou; and probably others of the Rufoli did the same, for in 1269 the king repaid 1000 oz. of gold to Matteo and Orso, sons of the last-named Nicola.

In 1275 Matteo Rufolo and fifteen other nobles of this neighbourhood held the royal crown in pledge for. the repayment of another loan. The Rufoli fought for Charles in the battle of Tagliacozzo, which ensured to him the crown of Naples.

Matteo Rufolo married Anna della Marra, daughter of the tried friend and counsellor of Charles, and their son Lorenzo is supposed to have been the original of the Landolfo Rufolo whose adventures are related by Boccaccio in the " Decamerone " (fourth novel of the second day), beginning as follows : " Credesi, che la marina da Reggio a Gaeta sia quasi la più dilettevole parte d' Italia, nella quale assai presso a Salerno è una costa sopra il mare riguardante, la quale gli abitanti chiaman la costa di Malfi, piena di picciole città, di giardini e di fontane, e d'uomini ricchi, e procaccianti in atto di mercatanzia, siccome alcuni altri, tra le quali città dette n' è una chiamata Ravello, nella quale come che oggi v' abbia di ricchi uomini, ve n' ebbe già uno, quale fu ricchissimo, chiamato Landolfo Ruffolo, al quale non bastando la sua ricchezza, desiderando di raddoppiarla, venne presso che fatto di perder con tutta quella se stesso."

From a long residence in Naples, and from his friendship with King Robert the Wise, Boccaccio was intimately acquainted with the neighbour-hood, and is also believed to have accompanied the King on a visit to Ravello ; and this narrative may well apply to Lorenzo, son of Matteo Rufolo and Anna della Marra, although the name Landolfo does not to our knowledge occur in the annals of the Rufoli.

Lorenzo and his father settled in Apulia, where they traded in woollen goods and in rare and costly wares.

Here they were joined by their kinsmen Angelo, Ruggiero and Galgano della Marra, but meeting with great reverses, they were compelled to dispose of their merchandise at a loss. Charles made them governors and harbour masters of Barletta, and they obtained the right to collect the customs in the Terra di Lavoro, and the Abruzzi. By extortion and illegal taxation they attempted to restore their ruined fortunes, and accumulated great wealth, but excited the popular hatred to such an extent, that they were in the year 1283 denounced to Prince Charles of Salerno, then Vicar-General of the kingdom (and after-wards King Charles II.) as traitors to their country, and abettors of rebellion in Sicily. Prince Charles ordered the three della Marra brothers, Matteo and Lorenzo Rufolo, to be arrested as evil counsellors to his father, and the authors of much evil to their country, when they were branded as usurers and thrown in prison.

Matteo purchased liberty for himself and some others by giving up a ship laden with grain and 16,000 ounces of gold contained in his house at Ravello, but one of his sons died in the Castel Nuovo at Naples. Matteo expired in 1294, and his wife the year after, while his sons and grand-sons fled to Ragusa. Later, however, by further payments to the king, they obtained a safe-conduct from him and permission to return to Ravello, where, reinstated in their former position, they administered their office with justice. The similarity between Boccaccio's tale and the real events suggests the possibility of a close connection between them. Lorenzo, a rich merchant having become poor, turned pirate (or robbed the royal revenues); he is taken prisoner by the Genovese (in reality by Charles) ; he is cast up on Corfu, clinging to a box of jewels, and is saved, by a woman ; whereas Lorenzo, after his release from prison, joined his mother (possibly his ransom was paid by her), and Anna della Marra is said to have stored up jewels from the wreck of their fortune, and with these to have enabled Lorenzo to begin business again at Trani, where some fellow-citizens were already established.

He was afterwards restored to the royal favour and reinstated in his office ; but Charles had obliged the Rufolo and della Marra families to surrender so much of their wealth, that they never recovered from the blow.

Of their actual participation in the Sicilian re-volt we have no evidence beyond the very vaguely worded accusation in the edict of Prince Charles above referred to : " Ipsi vias omnes excogitabant per quas Insula Siciliae a fide Regia deviavit. Quid plura ?

As the Rufoli owed all their power to the house of Anjou, it is hardly likely that this charge of treachery was well founded—unless, indeed, they foresaw the coming storm of royal disfavour, and were preparing for themselves friends beyond the sea.

If the King or the Prince had once determined on their ruin, whether from mere covetousness of their wealth or on account of the oppressive methods by which they had increased it, no charge could have been more effectually devised to blacken them than one of treacherous complicity with Sicilian conspirators. Moreover, they were soon received into favour again, whence it seems more probable that the charge was a mere pretext to confiscate-their riches.

Charles II. and his son Robert frequently visited Ravello for the pleasures of the chase, and they and their queens were magnificently entertained at the Palazzo Rufolo. Various accounts of these banquets have been given by ancient writers, but one especially remains as a popular tradition.

At La Marmorata, a sheltered spot on the sea-shore, where a stream of water flows through lemon and orange groves into the sea, the Rufoli had a marine villa. There the royal guests were entertained, and as each course left the table during the banquet, the silver dishes on which the viands were served were thrown from the windows into the sea below, where they were caught in nets, lowered for the purpose from galleys anchored near. This is often said to have taken place at Ravello,' but it would be obviously impossible for the dishes to have been thrown from the hill-top into the sea.

Lorenzo must have died soon after his parents in 1294 or 1295, for his widow Maria is named in a deed of May 28, 1298, by which she and her brother-in-law Francesco sold a vineyard to the clergy of Minori. The Rufolo property included Villamena, near Minori, and also estates at Bari.

Francesco Rufolo, Bishop of Nola (ob. A.D. 1370), and Carlo Rufolo, a lawyer of repute (ob. A.D. 306), were buried in San Domenico Maggiore at Naples, but their tombs have been destroyed. Francesco Rufolo was buried A.D. 1382 in Sant' Agostino at Naples.