Place A location with a street address or larger region. Examples include building, statue, piazza, fountain, port, neighborhood, paintings, sculptures, frescoes, floors. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Frangipane Family in the Roman Forum Description An account of the resource The Forum, resting symbolically and physically at the heart of Rome, was a key locus of power for the medieval baronial families of Rome. In the 12th and 13th centuries, it was occupied by the Frangipane family, one of the two dominant families of Rome through the 12th century. Their base of operations was on the Palatine Hill, but they laid claim to the Forum with a series of prominent fortifications on the Via Sacra, an ancient road running through the Forum. At the western end of the Forum, a set of three Frangipane towers were built on and around the Arch of Septimus Severus. These towers were intended to exert control over both the Via Sacra and a street called the Argiletum, which formed the primary junction between the Roman Forum and the Imperial Forums. At the center of the Forum, the Frangipane built a fortified complex around the Arch of Fabianus (no longer standing today). This complex included a massive tower called the Torre dell’Inserra, a palace, and a barricade that stretched across the entire Forum, incorporating the ruins of the Regia, Temple of Caesar, and Arch of Augustus. At the east end of the Forum stood a famous Frangipane fortress named Cartularia, constructed around the Arch of Titus and S. Maria Nova. This fortress was referred to in medieval chronicles as firmissima munitione (most solid stronghold) or locus tutissimus (most protected site), suggesting its importance as a site of Frangipane power. Cartularia was adjoined to a thick, defensible wall that connected it to the Arch of Constantine and probably the Coliseum—also a Frangipane stronghold and residential center. This whole area, then, was fortified to an extent that left little doubt as to the Frangipane’s power. Military fortifications were only a part of the picture in the medieval Forum, however: The Roman cattle market was held here, and modest two-story houses belonging to craftsmen and shopkeepers under Frangipane protection would have been clustered around the family’s towers and walls. Finally, the Via Sacra was a central route for trade, pilgrimage, and papal processions, a fact which became a source of significant tension when the papacy was controlled by rival baronial families. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Galen Berger-Fletcher (2019) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Keyvanian, Carla. Hospitals and Urbanism in Rome, 1200-1500. Leiden: Brill, 2015. Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context frangipaneforum_2017 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Via della Salara Vecchia, 5/6, 00186 Roma RM Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1100s Towers