The Italian prelate Benedetto Caetani (ca. 1235-1303) reigned as Pope Boniface VIII from 1294 to 1303. During his pontificate he issued a new addition to canon law, participated in Italian political and dynastic struggles, and opposed King Philip IV of France.

The son of Roffredo and Emilia Caetani, Benedetto Caetani was born at Anagni. His family had important political and ecclesiastical connections, and during the 1250s Benedetto was sent to live with his uncle, the bishop of Todi. There he probably began the study of law, which he continued at Spoleto and, between 1263 and 1274, at Bologna, the center of legal studies in Christendom. In 1264 Benedetto received his first ecclesiastical appointment, a junior secretarial post in the legation of Cardinal Simon of Brie (later Pope Martin IV) to France. In 1265 Benedetto joined another legation, led by Cardinal Ottoboni Fieschi (later Pope Adrian V) to England, where he remained probably until 1268.

In...