[2] While the Pierleoni during their greatness spuriously claimed to be descended from the ancient Roman noble family of the Anicii, their enemies in Rome made much of their Jewish extraction and levelled the usual charges of usury.
Pope Paschal II made Pierleone's son, Peter Peirleone, a cardinal, as well as bestowing the Castel Sant'Angelo on Petrus.
[4] Pierleone's attempt to install one of his sons as Prefect of Rome in 1116, though favoured by Paschal II, was resisted by the opposite party with riot and bloodshed.
[5] Peter, would later become Antipope Anacletus II (1131),[6] and another, Giordano Pierleoni, with the revival of the Commune of Rome, became the head of the Republic as Patricius in 1144.
The family generally supported the papacy and represented the Guelf faction of the city against the Ghibellines, often under the leadership of the Frangipani.