CAETANI FAMILY

also spelled Gaetani, noble family of medieval origin, the so-called Anagni branch of which won political power and financial success with the election of Benedetto Caetani (c. 12351303) as Pope Boniface VIII (12941303; see Boniface VIII). Boniface's policy of augmenting the family's power at the expense of other Roman aristocratic families, notably the Colonna, put the Caetani in a predominant political position lasting until the end of the 15th century. The Caetani's possessions included the powerful duchies of Anagni, Sermoneta, Fondi, and Piedimonte. About 1420 the family split into two branches on the basis of its possessions in Naples and in Rome. Members of the family were prominent in politics and scholarship into the 19th and 20th centuries.