His mother was Bertha, illegitimate daughter of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.
He was, by inheritance, an imperial vassal, but Pope Adrian IV granted him the papal property (the great fortress) in Tusculum and invested him as a papal vassal as well.
He swore homage on 9 July 1155 to the pope excepto contra Imperatorem—"except against the emperor."
The Senate of Rome, however, refused to ratify the grant of the fortress to the count.
In 1163, he was invested with the port of Astura, which his father had illegally held from the church, by the abbot of S. Alessio.