Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum

Theophylact I (before 864 – 924/925) was a medieval count of Tusculum who was the effective ruler of Rome from around 905 through to his death in 924. His descendants controlled the papacy for the next 100 years.

Biography

Theophylact was the hereditary count of Tusculum, a small hill town near the vicinity of Rome. He is mentioned for the first time in a document of 901 as palatine iudex (palace judge, or leader of the militia) of Emperor Louis the Blind. He remained in Rome, commanding a group of soldiers after the emperor's return to Provence in 902, and was prominent in the overthrow of Antipope Christopher in January 904, whom he very likely ordered to be killed whilst in prison later that year. Theophylact formed an alliance with Duke Alberic I of Spoleto, and with their combined backing, Pope Sergius III was elected in Christopher's place. During his pontificate, Theophylact became Sergius’ sacri palatii vestararius and magister militum, effectively seizing control of the city. He was also granted other honorific titles, such as senator, glorissimus dux, and dominus urbis.

Sometime between the end of Sergius III's pontificate and the start of John X's, Theophylact was elected the head of Rome, under the centuries-old title of Roman consul by the city's nobility. Like the ancient office, this consulship must have been for a year only, as in 915, he is referred to as a senator only, although first among the listed nobility. In this capacity, Theophylact was able to dominate the papal electoral process, with all popes until his death in 925 chosen after he had hand-picked them.

Theophylact's rule of Rome was shared to a large degree with his wife Theodora, who was styled senatrix and serenissima vestaratrix of Rome. It was by her suggestion that the popes who followed Sergius III, Anastasius III and Lando, were chosen by her husband for the papal see. Then in 914, she prevailed upon him to support her alleged lover as pope, having him installed as John X (although it has been suggested that John was in fact related to either Theodora or Theophylact). Theophylact worked closely with the able John X, who supported Theophylact's overall objectives with regards to strengthening the imperial presence in Italy by supporting Berengar I of Italy. He fought alongside John X against the Saracens at the Battle of Garigliano in 915, and was the pope's principal political support until his death in either 924 or 925.

Theophylact had two daughters with Theodora: Marozia and Theodora. In the longer term, the heirs of Theophylact, the Tusculani, were the rivals of the Crescentii in controlling Rome, and placed several popes on the Chair of St Peter. Their eventual heirs were the Colonna family.

Reputation

It is now believed that Theodora's influence over Theophylact was overstated by contemporary chroniclers such as Liutprand of Cremona, who wished to exaggerate the corruption of the Roman and papal court, as a counterpoint to rulers such as Alberic I of Spoleto, and the future emperor Otto I, whom Liutprand later served. The charges of adultery against Theodora, the use of the term "harlot", and the presumption that she was using her "feminine wiles" to prostitute herself in order to influence her husband and appoint numerous lovers to important posts were used to tarnish the rule of Theophylact and his successors. Later historians, influenced by the moral tone of this critique, described the influence of Theodora and her descendants over the papacy as the "pornocracy" or the "Rule of the Harlots". Modern historians now instead use the term saeculum obscurum to describe the period when the papacy was under the direct control of the Roman nobility, in particular when it was under the domination of the family of Theophylact.

Family tree

Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum 864–924 HOUSE OF THEOPHYLACT

Theodora senatrix

Hugh of Italy 887-948 (also married Marozia)

Alberic I of Spoleto d. 925 HOUSE OF TUSCULUM

Marozia 890–937

Pope Sergius III 904–911

Theodora elder

Gratian Consul

Alda of Vienne

Alberic II of Spoleto 905–954

David or Deodatus

Pope John XI 931–935

Giovanni Crescentius

Theodora younger

Octavian Pope John XII 955–964

Pope Benedict VII 974-983

Maria

Pope John XIII 965–972

Crescentius the Elder

Gregory I, Count of Tusculum

Theophylact Pope Benedict VIII 1012–1024

Alberic III, Count of Tusculum d. 1044

Romanus Pope John XIX 1024–1032

Gregory II, Count of Tusculum

Peter, Duke of the Romans

Guy/Gaius Count of Tusculum

Octavian Count of Tusculum

Theophylact Pope Benedict IX 1032–1048

Gregory III, Count of Tusculum

Ptolemy I of Tusculum

Peter de Columna Colonna family

References

• Williams, George L. (25 August 2004). Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-2071-1.
• Gregorovius, Ferdinand (1895). History of the city of Rome in the middle ages. Vol. 3. Translated by Hamilton, Annie. London: George Bell & Sons.
• Brook, Lindsay (January 2003). "Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the early middle ages" (PDF). Foundations. 1 (1). Hereford, UK: Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: 5–21.

Further reading

• Chamberlin, Eric Russell (1986) [1969]. The bad Popes. Dorset Press. ISBN 978-0-88029-116-3.
• Merlo, Brian (2018). Pope John X and the end of the Formosan dispute in Rome (Master's thesis). Saint Louis University.
• Telford, Lynda (2020). Women of the Vatican: Female power in a male world. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-8624-0. OCLC 1147806993.
• West-Harling, Veronica (9 July 2018). "The Roman past in the consciousness of the Roman elites in the ninth and tenth centuries". In Pohl, Walter; Gantner, Clemens; Grifoni, Cinzia; Pollheimer-Mohaupt, Marianne (eds.). Transformations of Romanness: Early medieval regions and identities. Berlin: de Gruyter. pp. 173–194. doi:10.1515/9783110598384-013. ISBN 978-3-11-058959-7. OCLC 1045333049.
• Whalen, Brett Edward (4 December 2013). "The reordering of the west". The Medieval Papacy. European History in Perspective. Vol. 53. Basingtoke: Red Globe Press. pp. 63–85. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-37478-3_4. ISBN 978-0-230-27283-5. OCLC 866836500.
• Wickham, Chris (21 June 2000). "'The Romans according to their malign custom': Rome in Italy in the late ninth and tenth centuries". In Smith, Julia M. H. (ed.). Early medieval Rome and the Christian west: Essays in honour of Donald A. Bullough. The medieval Mediterranean. Vol. 28. Leiden: Brill. pp. 151–166. doi:10.1163/9789004473577_015. ISBN 978-90-04-11716-7. OCLC 43662198.