I come Y. Una pergamena "esotizzata" di Tolomeo, conte di Tuscolo (1105)

This study aims to provide a contextualised analysis of a well-known document that has never before been examined in detail from palaeographical and diplomatic perspectives: the agreement signed in 1105 by the inhabitants of Gaeta and Tolomeo, count of Tusculum, to settle a dispute concerning the shared ownership of a boat. This dispute had previously involved Tolomeo’s father, Gregorio. The document is remarkable for its graphic elements, especially in the section about Tolomeo, which seems to be the result of a deliberate effort by the count and his scriniarius to achieve a sense of ‘exoticism’. Relating these elements to what we know about Tolomeo – starting with the Latin form of his name, Ptolomeus – and the counts of Tusculum between the 11th and 12th centuries reveals that they form part of a broader political and cultural programme implemented by the family to distance itself from its Roman and papal past and establish a new “seigneurial” identity.