Editing Colonna family (section)

===Colonna versus the Papacy===
In 1297, Cardinal [[Giacomo Colonna (cardinal)|Jacopo]] disinherited his brothers Ottone, Matteo, and Landolfo of their lands. The latter three appealed to [[Pope Boniface VIII]], who ordered Jacopo to return the land, and furthermore hand over the family's strongholds of Colonna, [[Palestrina]], and other towns to the [[Papacy]]. Jacopo refused; in May, Boniface removed him from the [[College of Cardinals]] and excommunicated him and his followers.

The Colonna family (aside from the three brothers allied with the Pope) declared that Boniface had been elected illegally following the unprecedented [[papal abdication|abdication]] of [[Pope Celestine V]]. The dispute led to open warfare, and in September, Boniface appointed Landolfo to the command of his army, to put down the revolt of Landolfo's own Colonna relatives. By the end of 1298, Landolfo had captured Colonna, Palestrina and other towns, and razed them to the ground. The family's lands were distributed among Landolfo and his loyal brothers; the rest of the family fled Italy.

The exiled Colonnas allied with the Pope's other great enemy, [[Philip IV of France]], who in his youth had been tutored by Cardinal [[Egidio Colonna]]. In September 1303, Sciarra and Philipp's advisor, [[Guillaume de Nogaret]], led a small force into [[Anagni]] to arrest Boniface VIII and bring him to France, where he was to stand trial. The two managed to apprehend the pope, and Sciarra reportedly slapped the pope in the face in the process, which was accordingly dubbed the "Outrage of Anagni". The attempt eventually failed after a few days, when locals freed the pope. However, Boniface VIII died on 11 October, allowing France to dominate his weaker successors during the [[Avignon papacy]].