Pope Alexander III (Rolandus Bandinelli) 1159-1181

Alexander III was a Tuscan, born in Siena, named Rolandus, the son of Rainucci. Sienese tradition has assigned him to the Bandinelli family. If this attribution is correct, his family had been active in the political life of Siena since the eleventh century. But his filiation with the Bandinelli may be a later tradition; there is no contemporary evidence for the connection.  Before John T. Noonan, Alexander was always described as the first great lawyer pope to occupy the throne of Saint Peter.

John T. Noonan, Jr. "Who was Rolandus?" Law, Church and Society:  Essays in Honor of Stephan Kuttner (The Middle Ages; Philadelphia:  University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977) 21-48.