The Tusculan Papacy was a period of papal history from 1012-1048 where three successive Counts of Tusculum

Counts of Tusculum

The counts of Tusculum were the most powerful secular noblemen in Latium, near Rome, in the present-day Italy between the 10th and 12th centuries. Several popes and an antipope during the 11th century came from their ranks. They created and perfected the political formula of noble-papacy, wherein...

 installed themselves as pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

.

Background

Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum

Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum

Theophylact I was a medieval Count of Tusculum who served Louis III, Holy Roman Emperor as judex and then was elected to head Rome as consul by the city's nobility in 915, an appointment that was confirmed by the Pope. He also was styled as senator, glorissimus dux, judex dativus, and magister...

, his wife Theodora, and daughter Marozia

Marozia

Marozia, born Maria and also known as Mariuccia or Mariozza , was a Roman noblewoman who was the alleged mistress of Pope Sergius III and was given the unprecedented titles senatrix and patricia of Rome by Pope John X.Edward Gibbon wrote of her that the "influence of two sister prostitutes,...

 held great sway over the appointment of popes from 904 to 964. The lovers of Theodora and Marozia, as well as the son and grandson of Marozia rose to the papacy during this period. However, a Count of Tusculum had not yet attempted to appoint himself as pope until 1012. Their rivals, the Crescentii

Crescentii

The Crescentii clan — if they were an extended family — essentially ruled Rome and controlled the Papacy from the middle of the 10th century until the nearly simultaneous deaths of their puppet pope Sergius IV and the patricius of the clan in 1012.-History:Several individuals named Crescentius who...

 had taken over the papacy from 974 to 1012.

According to Cushing, "in many ways, increasing respect for papal authority from the mid-tenth century to mid-eleventh centuries can be best viewed through the spectrum of two Roman families: the Crescentians and the Tusculans, whose control of the papacy would have important ramifications for both the control and direction of reform." Both the Crescentii and the Counts of Tusculum were descended from Theophylact I, the former papal vestararius

Vestararius

The vestararius was the manager of the medieval Roman Curia office of the vestiarium , responsible for the management of papal finances as well as the papal wardrobe...

. The Crescentii had cooperated with German empress Theophanu

Theophanu

Theophanu , also spelled Theophania, Theophana or Theophano, was born in Constantinople, and was the wife of Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor.-Family:...

 and Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto III , a King of Germany, was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected King in 983 on the death of his father Otto II and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 996.-Early reign:...

, who resided in Rome from 999 to 1001.

The Tusculans did not expropriate church property to increase the already substantial holdings of their family; in fact, they appear to have expended their own resources to increase the power of the papacy. According to Luscombe and Riley-Smith, "in contrast to the Crescentians, who had largely relied on the entrenchment of their own dynasty and their supporters in the duchy of Rome

Duchy of Rome

The Duchy of Rome was a Byzantine district in the Exarchate of Ravenna. Like other Byzantine states in Italy, it was ruled by an imperial functionary with the title dux...

 as secular magnates and landowners - often at the expense of the temporal power of the Roman church - the Tusculans used their secular power and successes to shore up the standing of the papacy among the Roman nobility. The position of Patrician, so important to Crescentian rule, remained vacant."

Abbot Odilo of Cluny flourished during this period receiving support form Benedict VII and John XIX for monastic immunity. The power of the Tusculan popes derived both from their assertions of papal supremacy and from their ability to balance power between the competing families of Rome.

The Counts of Tusculum were centered at Tuscolo, above Frascati

Frascati

Frascati is a town and comune in the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific...

, protected by an ancient fortress in Borghetto

Borghetto

Borghetto is a common Italian place name:*Borghetto d'Arroscia, a commune in the province of Imperia*Borghetto di Borbera, a commune in the province of Alessandria...

; their principle monasteries were Grottaferrata

Grottaferrata

Grottaferrata, Italy is a small town and comune in the province of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, 20 km south east of Rome. It is bounded by other communes, Frascati, Rocca di Papa, Marino, and Rome.-History:...

 and Subiaco

Subiaco, Italy

Subiaco is a town and comune in the Province of Rome, in Lazio, Italy, from Tivoli alongside the river Aniene. It is mainly renowned as a tourist and religious resort for its sacred grotto , in the St. Benedict's Abbey, and the other Abbey of St. Scholastica...

; they also controlled many churches and religious houses in and around Rome.

Benedict VIII

In 1012, Rome saw a violent political upheaval then ended Crescentii domination and elevated Theophylact, the son of Gregory I, Count of Tusculum

Gregory I, Count of Tusculum

Gregory I was the Count of Tusculum sometime between 954 and 1012. Consul et dux 961, vir illustrissimus 980, praefectus navalis 999. He was the son of Alberic II and Stephanie....

, as Pope Benedict VIII

Pope Benedict VIII

Pope Benedict VIII , born Theophylactus, Pope from 1012 to 1024, of the noble family of the counts of Tusculum , descended from Theophylact, Count of Tusculum like his predecessor Pope Benedict VI .Benedict VIII was opposed by an antipope, Gregory...

 (1012-1024). Benedict VIII was a layman until his election. However, during his papacy he was a strong proponent of papal supremacy

Papal supremacy

Papal supremacy refers to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that the pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ and as pastor of the entire Christian Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: that, in brief,...

 and frequently interfered in ecclesiastical matters on the Italian peninsula outside Rome. Benedict VIII's brother, Romanus, was the city prefect ("Senator of all the Romans". His other brother, Alberic, was a Consul and Senator ("consul et dux"). Alberic was responsible for overseeing courts of justice in the Imperial Palatinate, near Santa Sabina

Santa Sabina

The Basilica of Saint Sabina at the Aventine is a titular minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Dominican order in Rome, Italy. Santa Sabina lies high on the Aventine Hill, beside the Tiber, close to the headquarters of theKnights of Malta....

.

Gregory I had been a figure in the court of Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto III , a King of Germany, was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected King in 983 on the death of his father Otto II and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 996.-Early reign:...

 as the "naval prefect" and Alberic had been the "master of the imperial palace." Other Roman families still held important offices: the Stefaniani family held the prefecture of Rome and the Ottaviani retained the rectorate of Sabina.

Among Benedict VIII's first acts as pope was a military campaign against the strongholds of the Crescentii around Rome. The Crescenzi fortresses in Sabina

Sabina

Sabina, the region in the Sabine Hills of Latium named for the Sabines, is the ancient territory that today is still identified mainly with the North-Eastern Province of Rome and the Province of Rieti, Lazio.-History:...

 were demolished. The Crescentii faction set up a rival to Benedict VIII: Antipope Gregory VI

Antipope Gregory VI

On the death of Pope Sergius IV in June, 1012, "a certain Gregory" opposed the party of the Theophylae , and got himself made Pope, seemingly by a small faction...

 (1012). John Crescentius

John Crescentius

John Crescentius was the son of Crescentius the Younger. He succeeded to his father's title of consul and patrician of Rome in 1002 and held it to his death....

 still remained the Prefect of Rome, but was soon dispossessed of much of his property.

Benedict VIII was an ally of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...

; he called upon the emperor to visit Rome, which he did in late 1013 (spending Christmas in Pavia

Pavia

Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

). A synod convoked by the emperor deposed the archbishop of Ravenna, who was replaced with Arnulf

Arnulf

Arnulf , a Germanic name common in the Middle Ages and rare at present, may refer to:*Arnulf of Metz, saint *Arnulf of Eynesbury, saint*Arnulf of Carinthia...

, a half-brother. Benedict VIII and the emperor met in Ravenna, and then proceeded to Rome (with the emperor arriving later).

Benedict VIII confirmed his privileges at Bamberg

Bamberg

Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...

 and crowned him on February 14, 1014 as emperor, in a ceremony in Old Saint Peter's Basilica

Old Saint Peter's Basilica

Old Saint Peter's Basilica was the building that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, on the spot where the Basilica of Saint Peter stands today in Rome. Construction of the Basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began during the reign of emperor Constantine I...

. These twelve people calling themselves the Senate of Rome had doubtlessly consented to the coronation before it occurred. Benedict VIII visited Henry II in Bamberg in 1020 (where he celebrated Easter), and the emperor came to Italy the following year. In Bamberg, Henry issued the Henricianum, which repeated the Diploma Ottonianum

Diploma Ottonianum

The Ottonianum was a document co-signed during the darkest days of the Papacy by Pope John XII and Otto I, King of the Germans; it confirmed the earlier Donation of Pippin, granting control of the Papal States to the Popes, regularizing Papal elections, and clarifying the relationship between the...

, which itself had repeated donations of land which date back to the Frankish Papacy

Frankish Papacy

From 756 to 857, the papacy shifted from the orbit of the Byzantine Empire to the that of the kings of the Franks. Pepin the Short , Charlemagne , and Louis the Pious had considerable influence in the selection and administration of popes...

. The Henricianum, as much as the forged "Donation of Constantine

Donation of Constantine

The Donation of Constantine is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the emperor Constantine I supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the pope. During the Middle Ages, the document was often cited in support of the Roman Church's claims to...

", played a central role in papal territorial and sovereignty claims in the coming centuries.

Just as Henry II was promising the pope this territory, the pope was being deprived of nearly all of his temporal power by the armies of John Patricius, and competing hereditary counts had "sprung up on both sides of the Tiber." While the Tusculans remained strong in the Latin mountains, the Counts of Segni controlled Campagna

Campagna

Campagna is a small town and comune of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy.-History:The town, located in a mountainous district, gradually lost importance in the 20th century...

, the Crescentii held Sabina, the Counts of Galeria controlled Tuscany, and Thrasmundus, Berardus, and Oderisius retained the Marsian territory as far as Subiaco

Subiaco, Italy

Subiaco is a town and comune in the Province of Rome, in Lazio, Italy, from Tivoli alongside the river Aniene. It is mainly renowned as a tourist and religious resort for its sacred grotto , in the St. Benedict's Abbey, and the other Abbey of St. Scholastica...

. According to Gregorovius, "of the dominions founded for them by the Carolingians the popes possessed little beyond the yellowed deeds of gift in their archives."

In 1016, a Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

n and Genoese

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

 fleet defeated the Arabs, in a victory which Benedict VIII may have something to do with; he also possibly schemed with the Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 against the Byzantines in southern Italy. Benedict VIII himself led an allied force against Mussetus, who escaped after the battle of Luni. However, in 1018, Melo

Melo

Melo is the capital city of the Cerro Largo Department of north-eastern Uruguay. It is located at the centre of the department, on the intersection of Route 7 with Route 8, south of Aceguá and the border with Brazil. Other primary roads to the city are Route 26 and Route 44. The stream Arroyo...

, the leader of the rebellion against the Greeks was defeated. The Germans honored the Henricianum in 1022 by sending their own army to southern Italy.

In 1022, Benedict VIII held with Henry II a council in Ravenna which issued stringent prohibitions against clerical concubinage.

John XIX

Benedict VIII's brother Romanus succeeded him as Pope John XIX

Pope John XIX

Pope John XIX , born Romanus, was Pope from 1024 to 1032.He succeeded his brother, Pope Benedict VIII , both being members of the powerful house of Tusculum...

 (1024-1032). John XIX did not resign his secular titles ("senatorial dignity") upon his election as pope; documents would refer to him not as "Senator" but as "Count Palatine and Consul." According to Cushing, John XIX was "somewhat less adept" than his brother in cooperating with Henry II's successor, Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor

Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor

Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...

 but was "by no means a puppet."

John XIX was open to rapprochement with Byzantine emperor Basil II

Basil II

Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...

 and was willing to declare the patriarch of Constantinople

Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....

 an ecumenical bishop; the Italian bishops and congregation of Cluny, however, opposed such moves.

Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX , born Theophylactus of Tusculum, was Pope on three occasions between 1032 and 1048. One of the youngest popes, he was the only man to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have sold the papacy.-Biography:Benedict was born in Rome as Theophylactus, the...

 (1032-1044, 1045, 1047-1048) was the nephew of Benedict VIII and John XIX. Norwood Young calls Benedict IX the "Nero of the Tusculan Papacy. Absolute power appears to paralyse the brain if applied at an early age." According to Cushing, "the report of [his] crimes and deviance became ever more squalid as the latter reformers grew in power" but was for the first 12 years of his papacy "adequate and credible, if not perhaps immensely pious." Another interpretation of his first twelve years is provided by successor Victor III:

Leading a life so shameful, so foul, so execrable that he shuddered to describe it. He ruled like a captain of banditti, rather than a prelate. Adulteries, homicides perpetrated by his own hand, passed unnoticed, unrevenged; for the patrician of the city, Gregory, was the brother of the Pope; and another brother, Peter, an active partisan [...] The oppressed people at length grew weary of his robberies, murders, and abominations. They rose and drove him from the city, and proceeded to the election of John Bishop of Sabina, who took the name Silvester III.

By Autumn 1044, the position of Benedict IX was "seriously threatened" by the creation of Pope Silvester III

Pope Silvester III

Pope Sylvester III, né Giovanni dei Crescenzi – Ottaviani family ; was Pope in 1045. When Pope Benedict IX was driven from Rome in September 1044, John, bishop of Sabina, was elected after fierce and protracted infighting and took the title of Sylvester III in January 1045...

 (1045). In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned the papacy in favor of John Gratian, who became Pope Gregory VI

Pope Gregory VI

Pope Gregory VI , born John Gratian , was Pope from 1 May 1045 until his abdication at the Council of Sutri on 20 December 1046....

 (1045-1046). Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...

 met Gregory VI in 1046 and received him favorably. By December, however, Henry III had changed his mind and ordered Benedict IX, Silvester III, and Gregory VI to appear before him in a snyod in Sutri

Sutri

Sutri is a town and comune in the province of Viterbo, about 50 km from Rome, and about 30 km south of Viterbo. It is picturesquely situated on a narrow tuff hill, surrounded by ravines, a narrow neck on the west alone connecting it with the surrounding country.thumb|220px|Entrance to the...

. Gregory VI was the only one to show up, and he was declared guilty of simony

Simony

Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

 and deposed on December 20. Silvester III had long since given up being pope and returned to acting as Bishop of Sabina but he too was deprived of his orders and forced to retire to a monastery.

Three days later, in Rome, Benedict IX was excommunicated for simony and Henry III's candidate, Bishop Suidger of Bamberg, was installed as Pope Clement II

Pope Clement II

Pope Clement II , was Pope from December 25, 1046 to his death. He was the first in a series of reform-minded popes from Germany.Born in Hornburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, he was the son of Count Konrad of Morsleben and Hornburg and his wife Amulrad.In 1040, he became Bishop of Bamberg...

 (1046-1047).

Aftermath

According to Cowdrey, "the decline of the Tusculans and Crescentians was to a limited extent balanced by the emergence of newer families which were to provide valuable support for Gregory VII and the popes that followed him," including the Frangipani family

Frangipani family

The Frangipani or Frangipane is a princely family with roots in Ancient Rome. The family was powerful as a Roman patrician clan in the Middle Ages. The family was typically Guelff in sympathy and thus often bravely supported the papacy...

 and Pierleoni family

Pierleoni family

The family of the Pierleoni, meaning "sons of Peter Leo", was a great Roman patrician clan of the Middle Ages, headquartered in a tower house in the Jewish quarter, Trastevere. The heads of the family often bore the title consul Romanorum, or "Consul of the Romans," in the early days.The family's...

.

Legacy

The Tusculan Papacy "shaped other aspects of papal policy far beyond the reigns of the Tusculan popes themselves." The Chancery underwent important changes, and the filoque clause was introduced. A synod following Henry II's coronation in 1014 agreed to adopt the Frankish custom of reciting the Nicene Creed

Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...

 along with other prayers at mass

Mass (liturgy)

"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

on Sundays and other Holidays.

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