The International Association is a lineage society, serving to unite those of proven descend of former noble families of the ancient Holy Roman Empire. The Association is responsible for the maintenance of the official listing of all individuals holding an award from the Caputo Family Association. It is also responsible for record keeping of membership donations and distribution to Caputo Children´s Fund or direct humanitarian or educational activity. The Association also assists in educating members and interested parties in the history, culture, and tradition of the Caputo Family and the ancient Holy Roman Empire.

The Association has as one of its main goals the preservation of memory of the nobility, valuing the family traditions, so necessary today for the transmission of authentic virtues and moral values to current members of Noble Dynasty the Caputo Family Association. It is also its goal to preserve the ideal of social body and the spirit of duty, which is one of privileges of the members as well as to safeguard, in broad sense, their highest interests.

Like other associations of nobility in the world, Noble Dynasty The Caputo Family Association, wishes to encourage the youth, promote lectures, courses and trips, providing for its younger generation the opportunities to know themselves, to transmit and recognize the value of the ideals cherished by their ancestors and therefore retain a true sense of nobleness.

The Association concentrates on fostering and passing on to the coming generation inherited aristocratic spiritual and moral values including notions of personal probity, Christian morality and charity. It also encourages its members to support and assume responsibility for general Association activities.

Stimulating community spirit and ties between the generations is considered to be one of the Association's most important roles. Those spiritual and moral values, which in the past have been held up as aristocratic ideals, must be passed on to the youth, if in a more contemporary form. The Association has always emphasized the traditional aristocratic virtue of strong social contacts between it members and with similar circles elsewhere.

Everyone is proud of his/her ancestors’ achievements. Hence the glorious cultural heritage is a subject of pride for every community member. Sometimes, prevalent dire state produces depression in a person or among a community. At such times the achievements of the past are forgotten. In such circumstances if the past is presented in a realistic form, it can be inspiring for the person and the community. It creates self-respect in each of the community members and inspires to move ahead.

The Association believes that the role of the nobility should not be considered exhausted and that it can, today, in the overall crisis of values ​​that involves contemporary society, play a specific role and not easily replaceable, ideally linked to the great activity of the ruling classes passed. To this end, the Association intends to play a dual action, facing the inside of the aristocratic world to regroup in the common values ​​and outward, with the intent to promote the positive role of the nobility

The fourteenth transitory and final disposition of the current Constitution of the Republic of Italy did not intend to abolish noble titles, or even to forbid their use (Noble titles are not recognized. The predicates of those existing prior to 28 October 1922 are applicable as part of the name).

It simply does not recognize them, but the fact of not admitting them implies nothing more than the republican disinterest in the aforementioned titles – which are a private and historic heritage – since the Constituent Assembly could not deprive citizens of a natural right: in short, according to the Constitution, the State does not care whether someone has a noble title, be it old or new, nor does it forbid him to style himself with it or use it in public and private relations, nor does it consider the abuse of noble titles a crime, as the noble title has simply lost the particular protection guaranteed by the law.

We do not believe that the change of the institutional regime can “cancel” history, and not still attach today an undeniable historic importance to titles of nobility and, therefore of chivalry; whatever opinion one may have on the subject, one thing that is certain is that, faced with the phenomenon of the real existence of these ideas and suggestions, the law cannot disregard them but must study and regulate any effects and friction that may arise there from.

So, if a wise portion of modern society maintains the just respect for noble traditions and appreciates their high dignity, also the remaining part – which shows disregard and even scorn for the old forms of life – is not completely immune from the allure of the title and the prestige it brings.

The increasing interest in family history is one of the most significant aspects of contemporary cultural movement, and in this sense, the role of family history can not be considered exhausted. This fact, in the light of the Constitution of Republics, can assume an important significance for society thematically related to the ruling classes and leaders of the past and what they have produced their works by helping to write the history of our country.

The aim is to recover the ancient history of our ancestors through meetings with those who live elsewhere but do not want to forget their origins. And why can not remain indifferent. The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present.

Knowing your own history, or the history of your culture, is important because it helps us to know who we are while molding the future. Knowing history also provides a sense of empowerment to the learner. If a person studies his ancestry or personal history, this will provide them with a great deal of helpful information and may assist them in forming an identity of their own. Knowing who or what we have descended from or evolved from tells us where we come from and what the secrets of our past. Our family is the root of our being and the source of our creation.

Honoring our Ancestors

We must honor and keep those in remembrance as we go about our daily activities. Life in itself is about lineage.

"We believe in celebrating together--our faith, our heritage, our traditions."

Celebrating our heritage comes through in so many ways--we are who we are somewhat because of where we come from.  Although our past doesn't define us, our perspective of the world can largely be shaped by the faith, heritage and traditions we choose to hold on to. 

Our heritage was the greatest achievement of our ancestors, and our fathers kept it for us, we implant this heritage in the minds of our children, our heritage is a river full of light which we take continuously to guide us to the good, to the prosperity in the future. 

Our past is behind us but if we choose to forget it, we then choose to lessen the many sacrifices made by our ancestors.

One of the Association's mission is to create a social network that encourages the encounter with all the realities in the area, Town Hall, associations, cooperatives, people ... to meet and dialogue in a spirit of cooperation, in order to shrink the forces all of them and direct them in a coordinated manner. For this we will spokesman for projects, initiatives and events that affect the integration, aggregation, promote and develop friendly relations among the members to make them better capable of serving the public interest.

But above all because the culture constantly offers the opportunity for a harmonious dialogue with the many realities of the world and our society. Because the cultural development of man is as important as economic and social development.

The Association is also open, although not descedant of the ancient Holy Roman Empire, to worthy individuals who support the ideals of chivalry, nobility and goals of the Association. With the invitation to support and promote our ideals and take with us the difficult but rewarding path associated in the consciousness of what the role, both our own and each other, within the Association.

The organization is, by character, a cultural and familial association to gather within the organization, without discrimination whatsoever, all persons whom may be interested to promote cultural, educational and social development; and to collaborate with other organizations and groups of similar character, in addition to assisting other organizations with the same purpose. Our purpose is the preservation and promotion of our culture.  

Today, Noble Dynasty is granted as a Merit Award to a qualified individual regardless of religion, race, sex, or national origin for cultural or humanitarian contributions made on behalf of Noble Dynasty The Caputo Family Association anywhere in the world. They must also be a significant member of their field, and have achieved acknowledged professional recognition in this field.

Noble Dynasty – The Caputo Family Association is an International Organization offering personal aid and community service to people around the world. Noble Dynasty is an organization without borders, open to people of all origins and cultures. We would love to welcome you to our global family. We share a passion to do the very best by all of those with The Caputo Family Association and their families – wherever they may be in our world.

Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution.

Like the world as a whole, the family is in transition. In every culture, families are disintegrating, fragmenting under pressure of economic and political upheavals and weakening in the face of moral and spiritual confusion. The conditions surrounding the family surround the nation. The happenings in the family are the happenings in the life of the nation.

Harmony and cooperation in the family, as in the world, are maintained in the balance of rights and responsibilities. All family members "have duties and responsibilities towards one another and to the family as a whole," which "vary from member to member because of their natural relationships."

Association membership is currently comprised of individuals and businesses in dozens of countries. Represented businesses include associations, destination marketing organizations and more. The Association is not engaged in any political advocacy or lobbying activity, nor do we expect to engage in this work in the future. The activities of the Association are not oriented to making a profit.

Other objects of the Organization are genealogical, historical, and education purposes; to preserve lines of descent from Corrado Caputo and the Holy Roman Empire; to recognize acts of merit and achievements that help achieve these goals; to cooperate with lineage, charitable, educational, and patriotic organizations.

The descendants of Corrado Caputo in particular and the Holy Roman Empire are notable for the diversity of its people and for its ability to absorb their differences without denying their origins. It encourages respect for heritage and values the cultural attributes with which immigrants have and continue to enrich the American continent experience. Descendants of Conrad Caputo in particular and the Holy Roman Empire must recognize the opportunity and the obligation to offer and honor the best of their culture and heritage.

In the pluralistic society in which we live today it is useful and important for each of us to belong to communities which help and assist each other. There is no other community more suitable for this as a family like ours into which we have been born and to which we belong as long as we live. The heirs of Corrado Caputo in particular and the descendants of the Holy Roman Empire hand down their own traditions through the surviving families.

Still more important is that learning to know each other and that we are not only concerned with our undoubtedly unique past but help each other to cope with the great and little problems of today and the future.

In order for public to better assess the Nobility’s great role in today’s world we will have to briefly mention the Nobility of ancient times. The Italian and Spanish Crown has bestowed Titles on and confirmed Arms for its subjects for what is America, from the middle of the 16th Century until the beginning of the 19th Century or about 1819, it did so directly from the Crown in Spain or through Viceroys and Governors of the Colonies.

Since the Revolution of 1776 America had not Kings or Queens, but has an old European Nobility which the great majority emigrated after the First World War onward, becoming stable and prosperous. Their children would be US citizens without any interference or threat from the Government in Washington.

Many other Nobles have inherited their Titles after becoming US citizens and as of now there is no law that would have the Government bases any action against the said Nobles, if one was even taken.

This way the concept of nobility, today without any conceit or privilege, becomes part of sociology as a refinement of the human race in its continued future, with the aim of holding high the banner of the country’s history, which is the symbol of respect for traditions, undeniable life force and source of energy in any evolution of time, society and institutions".

The Caputo Family Association through the Caputo Children`s Fund is dedicated to charity, helping the poor and sick and it also provides direct aid to orphanages, the indigent elderly, seminaries and other people in need, and acknowledging those who performed similar acts of kindness and generosity. That acknowledgment could take many forms.

Noble Dynasty The Caputo Family Association is in its activity open to cooperation with any state, Church and Cultural Institutions. It has to be an open, two-way cooperation, based upon mutual respect and acknowledgment of its independence.

We hope that through the abundance of information you will find in our website you will come to know more about the ancient principles, purposes and history of the Caputo Family Association and it´s philanthropic mission in the modern world.

We intend to keep its contents up to date, and to improve it at every opportunity. We would welcome your comments and suggestions for ways to improve and expand it.

The President of the Caputo Family Association is responsible for general operations and may create and fill positions within the Association to execute the Organization's vision.

We welcome you to join our Prestigious International Nobility Association. Noble Dynasty is a respected World Class Association. A group of humans broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, participation in characteristic relationships, shared institutions, and a common culture.

The name of the association you belong to is sometimes even more important than your professional successes or academic decorations.

THERE ARE VARIOUS RANKS OF MEMBERSHIP: 

Members help facilitate and support the assistance projects of the Association by paying their membership fees and by possibly making additional donations. Some members fully participate in the work of the association and support the association not only with their membership fees but by cooperating actively and on an honorary basis.

HISTORY OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

Holy Roman Emperor: AD 800

In 799, for the third time in half a century, a pope is in need of help from the Frankish king. After being physically attacked by his enemies in the streets of Rome (their stated intention is to blind him and cut out his tongue, to make him incapable of office), Leo III makes his way through the Alps to visit Charlemagne at Paderborn.

It is not known what is agreed, but Charlemagne travels to Rome in 800 to support the pope. In a ceremony in St Peter's, on Christmas Day, Leo is due to anoint Charlemagne's son as his heir. But unexpectedly (it is maintained), as Charlemagne rises from prayer, the pope places a crown on his head and acclaims him emperor.

Charlemagne expresses displeasure but accepts the honor. The displeasure is probably diplomatic, for the legal emperor is undoubtedly the one in Constantinople. Nevertheless this public alliance between the pope and the ruler of a confederation of Germanic tribes now reflects the reality of political power in the west. And it launches the concept of the new Holy Roman Empire which will play an important role throughout the Middle Ages.

The Holy Roman Empire only becomes formally established in the next century. But it is implicit in the title adopted by Charlemagne in 800: 'Charles, Most Serene Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, governing the Roman Empire.'

Emperors and Popes: AD 962-1250

The imperial role accorded by the pope to Charlemagne in 800 is handed on in increasingly desultory fashion during the 9th century. From 924 it falls into abeyance. But in 962 a pope once again needs help against his Italian enemies. Again he appeals to a strong German ruler.

The coronation of Otto I by Pope John XII in 962 marks a revival of the concept of a Christian emperor in the west. It is also the beginning of an unbroken line of Holy Roman emperors lasting for more than eight centuries. Otto I does not call himself Roman emperor, but his son Otto II uses the title - as a clear statement of western and papal independence from the other Christian emperor in Constantinople.

Otto and his son and grandson (Otto II and Otto III) regard the imperial crown as a mandate to control the papacy. They dismiss popes at their will and install replacements more to their liking (sometimes even changing their mind and repeating the process). This power, together with territories covering much of central Europe, gives the German empire and the imperial title great prestige in the late 10th century.

But subservience was not the papal intention in reinstating the Holy Roman Empire. 

Papal decline and recovery: AD 1046-1061

The struggle for dominance between emperor and pope comes to a head in two successive reigns, of the emperors Henry III and Henry IV, in the 11th century. The imperial side has a clear win in the first round.

In 1046 Henry III deposes three rival popes. Over the next ten years he personally selects four of the next five pontiffs. But after his death, in 1056, these abuses of the system bring a rapid reaction. Pope Nicholas II, elected in 1058, initiates a process of reform which exposes the underlying tension between empire and papacy.

In 1059, at a synod in Rome, Nicholas condemns various abuses within the church. These include simony (the selling of clerical posts), the marriage of clergy and, more controversially, corrupt practices in papal elections. Nicholas now restricts the choice of a new pope to a conclave of cardinals, thus ruling out any direct lay influence. Imperial influence is his clear target.

In 1061 the assembled bishops of Germany - the emperor's own faction - declare all the decrees of this pope null and void. Battle is joined. But meanwhile the pope has been enlisting new allies.

In 1059 Nicholas II takes two political steps of a kind, unusual at this period, which will later be commonplace for the medieval papacy. He grants land, already occupied, to recipients of his own choice; and he involves those recipients in a feudal relationship with the papacy, or the Holy See, as the feudal lord.

This time the beneficiaries are the Normans, who are granted territorial rights in southern Italy and Sicily in return for feudal obligations to Rome. The pope, in an overtly political struggle against the German emperor, is playing a strong hand. The issue will be brought to a head within a few years by another pope, Gregory VII.

Gregory VII and investiture: AD 1075

Pope Gregory seizes political control by decreeing, in 1075, that no lay ruler may make ecclesiastical appointments. Powerful bishops and abbots are henceforth to be pope's men rather than emperor's men.

The issue becomes known as the investiture controversy, being in essence a dispute over who has the right to invest high clerics with the robes and insignia of office.

The appointment of bishops and abbots is too valuable a right to be easily relinquished by secular rulers. Great feudal wealth and power is attached to these offices. And high clerics, as the best educated members of the medieval community, are important members of any administration.

In subsequent periods compromises are made on both sides, particularly in the Concordat of Worms, in 1122, where a distinction is made between the spiritual and secular element in clerical appointments. But investiture remains a bone of contention between the papacy and lay rulers - not only in the empire, after the first dramatic flare up between Gregory and Henry IV, but also in France and England.

Rome and the struggle for power: AD 1076-1138

The nine-year struggle between pope Gregory VII and the emperor Henry IV provides a vivid glimpse of the political role of the medieval papacy. St Gregory, canonized in the Catholic Reformation, is one of the great defenders of papal power. His career involves incessant power-broking and military struggle.

Henry IV, alarmed at the demands being made over investiture, sends a threatening letter to the pope in 1076. The pope responds by excommunicating the emperor. By his public penance at Canossa, Henry has the excommunication lifted. But the truce is short-lived. Henry's enemies, prompted by the pope's action, take a hand.

German princes opposed to Henry IV elect and crown, in 1077, a rival king - Rudolf, the duke of Swabia. Rudolf and Henry engage in a civil war, which Henry wins in 1080. By then the pope has recognized Rudolf as the German king and has again excommunicated Henry.

This time Henry's response is more aggressive. He summons a council which deposes the pope and elects in his place the archbishop of Ravenna (as pope Clement III). Henry marches into Italy, enters Rome and is crowned emperor by this pope of his own creation. Meanwhile the real pope, Gregory, is living in a state of siege in his impregnable Roman fortress, the Castel Sant'Angelo.

Gregory appeals for help to his vassals the Normans, recently invited by the papacy to conquer southern Italy and Sicily. A Norman army reaches Rome in 1084, drives out the Germans and rescues Gregory. But the Norman sack of the city is so violent, and provokes such profound hostility, that Gregory has to flee south with his rescuers. He dies in 1085 in Sicily.

Clement III returns to Rome and reigns there with imperial support as pope (or in historical terms as antipope) for most of the next ten years. Urban II, the pope who preaches the first crusade in 1095, is not able to enter the holy city for several years after his election. Unrest prevails in Rome, and uncertainty in the empire, until the Hohenstaufen win the German crown in 1138.

Hohenstaufen: AD 1138-1254

The castle of Staufen, in Swabia, lends its name to the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Frederick, the builder of the castle, is a faithful follower of the emperor Henry IV. In 1079 he marries the emperor's daughter, Agnes. In 1138, after some years of upheaval and civil war, their son Conrad is elected the German king - as Conrad III.

For more than a century, with one minor interruption, members of the Hohenstaufen family inherit the German kingdom - usually together with the status of Holy Roman emperor. The first Hohenstaufen to make a profound impression on the empire is Conrad's nephew, Frederick I.

In a reign of thirty-eight years Frederick, known also as Frederick Barbarossa, asserts his authority throughout Germany and extends imperial power into Bohemia, Poland and Hungary. But his greatest effort is in Italy, where he tries to recover the empire in the north and to extend it south of the Papal States down to Sicily.

He meets strong opposition in the north from the Italian communes, who form the Lombard league to resist him. And his attempts in the south are unpopular with the papacy, alarmed at the danger of being surrounded. In the long term Frederick's most significant act, before his death on crusade in 1190, is to marry his son Henry to Constance, heiress to the Norman kingdom of Sicily.

The marriage of Henry to Constance brings Sicily and southern Italy into the German empire. Henry VI is crowned emperor in Rome in 1191 and king of Sicily in 1194. But he dies shortly afterwards, in 1197, when his son Frederick is just three years old.

At first it seems unlikely that the boy can inherit both Sicily and the German kingdom, particularly since the prospect displeases the papacy. From 1198 he is recognized only as king of Sicily. But after a period of confusion, with warring candidates, he is also elected king by the German princes in 1211. With some reluctance the pope accepts the situation. He crowns Frederick II emperor in Rome in 1220.

Subsequent popes have cause to regret this coronation. They excommunicate Frederick II twice, and even proclaim a crusade against him, in a prolonged power struggle which eventually weakens his authority in both Sicily and Germany. In spite of the brilliance of his court in Sicily, and the nonchalant ease with which he achieves his own crusade to Jerusalem, Frederick leaves an inheritance which cannot long survive him.

His son, Conrad IV, becomes the last ruler in the Hohenstaufen line. With Conrad's death, in 1254, there is a vacancy on the German throne which is not filled for another nineteen years.

After the Hohenstaufen: AD 1254-1438

The Hohenstaufen period has seen some notably forceful popes (Innocent III, Gregory IX, Innocent IV) and powerful emperors (Frederick I, Frederick II). It is followed, after the death of the last Hohenstaufen ruler in 1254, by a prolonged time of uncertainty in both papacy and empire.

The popes abandon Rome in 1309 and spend most of the 14th century in self-imposed exile in Avignon. From 1378 there are two rival popes (a number subsequently rising to three) in the split known as the Great Schism.

Meanwhile, for almost twenty years after the death of Conrad IV in 1254, the German princes fail to elect any effective king or emperor. This period is usually known (with a grandiloquence to match the Great Schism in the papacy) as the Great Interregnum.

The interregnum ends with the election of Rudolf I as German king in 1273. The choice subsequently seems of great significance, because he is the first Habsburg on the German throne. But the Habsburg grip on the succession remains far in the future. During the next century the electors choose kings from several families. Not till the coronation of Charles IV in 1346 is there the start of another dynasty - that of the house of Luxembourg.

Charles IV is crowned emperor in Rome in 1355. He makes his capital in Prague (he has inherited Bohemia as well as Luxembourg), bringing the city its first period of glory. The imperial dignity remains in Charles's family until 1438, when it is transferred to the Habsburgs.

At the beginning and end of those eighty years Charles and his son Sigismund take a strong line with the papacy. Within a year of his coronation, Charles issues the Golden Bull of 1356 which excludes the pope from any influence in the choice of emperor. And in 1414 Sigismund is instrumental in bringing together the Council of Constance which finally ends the Great Schism and restores a single pope to Rome.

The Golden Bull and the electors: AD 1356-1806

The Golden Bull, issued by Charles IV in 1356, clarifies the new identity which the Holy Roman Empire has been gradually adopting. It ends papal involvement in the election of a German king, by the simple means of denying Rome's right to approve or reject the electors' choice. In return, by a separate agreement with the pope, Charles abandons imperial claims in Italy - apart from a title to the kingdom of Lombardy, inherited from Charlemagne.

The emphasis is clear. This is now to be essentially a German empire, as reflected in a new form of the title adopted in 1452 - sacrum Romanum imperium nationis Germanicae (Holy Roman Empire of the German nation).

The Golden Bull also clarifies and formalizes the process of election of a German king. The choice has traditionally been in the hands of seven electors, but their identity has varied.

The group of seven is now established as three archbishops (of Mainz, Cologne and Trier) and four hereditary lay rulers (the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony, the margrave of Brandenburg and the king of Bohemia).

This group of seven electors remains unchanged until the 17th century, when an eighth vote is added (the newcomer to the list is the duke of Bavaria). In 1708 the ruler of Hanover becomes a ninth elector. But by this time the idea of election is as meaningless as in any rotten borough. The office of Holy Roman Emperor has become a hereditary attachment of one family.

From 1438 to 1806 every Holy Roman Emperor but one is part of the Habsburg dynasty. The reason for the exception, in 1742-5, is that the Habsburg ruler of Austria is a woman, Maria Theresa.

An abrupt end: AD 1806

The official Holy Roman Empire, based in Vienna, is by the early 19th century little more than a ceremonial shell, brittle with age and dignity. And it is under threat. It is widely assumed that Napoleon's intention, after appointing himself emperor of France, is to claim the greater title by defeating Austria.

At a stroke this ends the medieval feudal allegiance of most of the territories within the Holy Roman empire. Francis responds by taking what can be seen as a logical step. A month after the Confederation of the Rhine, in August 1806, he renounces his title as Holy Roman emperor (of which he has been Francis II) and becomes plain Francis I, emperor of Austria.

By this action, widely accepted as ending the medieval institution, he prevents Napoleon from becoming Holy Roman emperor in his place (though Napoleon now controls more of the empire than anyone has done for centuries). Francis has had this spoiling action in mind for some time. He declared himself emperor of Austria in 1804, on the news of Napoleon's plan to assume imperial rank in France.

In 1806 Francis formally abolishes the Holy Roman Empire. It has lasted just over 1000 years.

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IF YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN SUPPORTING THE ORGANIZATION YOU SHOULD CONSIDER JOINING THE ASSOCIATION TODAY.

“For our ancestors, in honor of all those great Princes that Honored Our Family and Noble Blood. We all have roots in Our Name and Stories; Maintaining a Great Family Tradition and safeguard the heritage bequeathed to us by our ancestors as historic heritage”  

Reasons why you should consider becoming a member of the Caputo Family Association.

Your personal involvement as a Member will provide opportunities, in charity and fraternity, in the assistance of the street children of Guatemala City and world hungry children; to your communities; and to the less fortunate in our midst.

You'll share in the sense of pride all Members feel in knowing that their Organization is second to none in support for our fellow man, especially those most in need; and in binding together to preserve traditional values in the face of attacks against the family and innocent human life.

You will promote a cosmopolitan society in which differences will be respected, welcomed and appreciated. Each one of us strives to make a difference in the betterment of all humanity through kindness, care and noble virtues.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership is not only for men; women also are welcomed into Caputo Family Association. Membership expenses are maintained at an affordable level, in order not to exclude a worthy candidate of modest means.

When you have looked at all pages on this website, and thought over what we do, then is the time to contact us and become a member of the Caputo Family Association.

CONTACT US:  Noble Dynasty