Theophylact I (before 864 – 924/925) was a medieval

count of Tusculum The counts of Tusculum or Tuscolo, also known as the Theophylacti, were a family of secular noblemen from Latium that maintained a powerful position in Rome between the 10th and 12th centuries. Several popes and antipopes during the 11th century ...

who was the effective ruler of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

from around 905 through to his death in 924. His descendants controlled the

papacy The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

for the next 100 years.

Biography

Theophylact was the hereditary count of

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...

, 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 Louis the Blind ( – 5 June 928) was king in Provence and Lower Burgundy from 890 to 928, and also king of Italy from 900 to 905, and also the emperor between 901 and 905, styled as Louis III. His father was king Boso, from the Bosonid family ...

. He remained in Rome, commanding a group of soldiers after the emperor's return to

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

in 902, and was prominent in the overthrow of

Antipope Christopher Christopher claimed the papacy from October 903 to January 904. Although he was listed as a legitimate pope in most modern lists of popes until the first half of the 20th century, the apparently uncanonical method by which he obtained the papacy ...

in January 904, whom he very likely ordered to be killed whilst in prison later that year. Theophylact formed an alliance with

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Alberic I of Spoleto Alberic I (died c. 925) was the Lombards, Lombard Duke of Spoleto from between 896 and 900 until 920, 922, or thereabouts. He was also Margrave of Camerino, and the son-in-law of Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum, the most powerful man in Rome. Lif ...

, and with their combined backing,

Pope Sergius III Pope Sergius III ( − 14 April 911) was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States from 29 January 904 to his death. He was pope during a period of violence and disorder in central Italy, when warring aristocratic factions soug ...

was elected in Christopher's place. During his pontificate, Theophylact became Sergius’ '' sacri palatii vestararius'' and ''

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...

'', effectively seizing control of the city. He was also granted other honorific titles, such as ''

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

'', ''glorissimus

dux ''Dux'' (, : ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux'' coul ...

'', and '' dominus urbis''. Sometime between the end of Sergius III's pontificate and the start of

John X Pope John X (; died 28 May 928) was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States from March 914 to his death. A candidate of the counts of Tusculum, he attempted to unify Italy under the leadership of Berengar of Friuli, and was inst ...

's, Theophylact was elected the head of Rome, under the centuries-old title of ''

Roman consul The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

'' 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 The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the bishop of the apostolic episcopal see ...

. Then in 914, she prevailed upon him to support her alleged lover as pope, having him installed as

(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 Berengar I (; ; 845 – 7 April 924) was the king of Italy from 887 and Holy Roman Emperor, emperor between 915 and his death in 924. He is usually known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Friuli from 874 until at least 890, bu ...

. He fought alongside John X against the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

at the

Battle of Garigliano The Battle of Garigliano was fought in 915 between Christian forces and the Saracens. Pope John X personally led the Christian forces into battle. The aim was to destroy the Arab fortress on the Garigliano River, which had threatened central It ...

in 915, and was the pope's principal political support until his death in either 924 or 925.Williams 2004, p. 13 Theophylact had two daughters with Theodora:

Marozia Marozia, born Maria and also known as Mariuccia or Mariozza ( 890 – 937), was a Roman noblewoman who was the alleged mistress of Pope Sergius III and was given the unprecedented titles ''senatrix'' ("senatoress") and ''patricia'' of Rome by Po ...

and Theodora. In the longer term, the heirs of Theophylact, the Tusculani, were the rivals of the

Crescentii The Crescentii (in modern Italian Crescenzi) were a baronial family, attested in Rome from the beginning of the 10th century and which in fact ruled the city and the election of the popes until the beginning of the 11th century. History Severa ...

in controlling Rome, and placed several popes on the Chair of St Peter. Their eventual heirs were the

Colonna family The House of Colonna is an Italian noble family, forming part of the papal nobility. It played a pivotal role in Middle Ages, medieval and Roman Renaissance, Renaissance Rome, supplying one pope (Pope Martin V, Martin V), 23 cardinals and many ot ...

Reputation

It is now believed that Theodora's influence over Theophylact was overstated by contemporary chroniclers such as

Liutprand of Cremona Liutprand, also Liudprand, Liuprand, Lioutio, Liucius, Liuzo, and Lioutsios ( – 972),"LIUTPRAND OF CREMONA" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'', Oxford University Press, New York & Oxford, 1991, p. 1241. was a historian, diplomat, and t ...

, who wished to exaggerate the corruption of the Roman and papal court, as a counterpoint to rulers such as

, and the future emperor

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

, 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 (, "the dark age/century"), also known as the Rule of the Harlots or the Pornocracy, was a period in the history of the papacy during the first two thirds of the 10th century, following the chaos after the death of Pope Formosus in 896, which ...

'' 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

Notes

References

* * *

Biography

Reputation

Family tree

Notes

References

Further reading