Saeculum obscurum

Saeculum obscurum (Latin: the dark age) is a name given to a period in the history of the Papacy during the first half of the 10th century, beginning with the installation of Pope Sergius III in 904 and lasting for sixty years until the death of Pope John XII in 964.

Periodization

The period was first identified and named by the Italian Cardinal and ecclesiastical historian Caesar Baronius in his Annales Ecclesiastici in the sixteenth century.^[1] Baronius' primary source for his history of this period was Liutprand of Cremona. Other scholars have dated the period more broadly or narrowly, and other terms, such as the Pornocracy (German: Pornokratie, from Greek pornokratiā, "prostitute rule") and the Rule of the Harlots (German: Hurenregiment), were coined by Protestant German theologians in the nineteenth century.

Historian Will Durant refers to the period from 867 to 1049 as the "nadir of the papacy".^[2] The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy covers the period 872-1048.^[3]

10th-century Popes

Main article: Papal selection before 1059

During this period, the Popes were influenced strongly by a powerful and corrupt aristocratic family, the Theophylacti, and their relatives.^[4] The family originated from Theophylactus, who held positions of increased importance in the Roman nobility such as Judex, vestararius, gloriosissimus dux, consul and senator, and magister militum.^[5] His wife Theodora and daughters, Theodora and Marozia held a great influence over the papal selection and religious affairs in Rome through conspiracies, affairs and marriages.^[6]

Marozia became the concubine of Pope Sergius III when she was 15 and later took other lovers and husbands.^[7] She ensured that her son John was seated as Pope John XI according to Antapodosis sive Res per Europam gestae (958–62), by Liutprand of Cremona (c. 920–72). Liutprand affirms that Marozia arranged the murder of her former lover Pope John X (who had originally been nominated for office by Theodora) through her then husband Guy of Tuscany possibly to secure the elevation of her current favourite as Pope Leo VI.^[8] There is no record substantiating that Pope John X had definitely died before Leo VI was elected since John X was already imprisoned by Marozia and was out of public view.

Theodora and Marozia undoubtedly held great sway over the Popes during this time.^{[citation needed]} In particular, as political rulers of Rome they had effective control over the election of new Popes. Much that is alleged about the saeculum obscurum comes from the histories of Liutprand, bishop of Cremona. Liutprand took part in the Assembly of Bishops which deposed Pope John XII and was a political enemy of the Roman aristocracy and its control over Papal elections. He is described by the Catholic Encyclopedia as "ever a strong partisan and frequently unfair towards his adversaries."

List of Popes during the saeculum obscurum

• Pope Sergius III (904–911), alleged lover of Marozia
• Pope Anastasius III (911–913)
• Pope Lando (913–914)
• Pope John X (914–928), alleged lover of Theodora (the mother), allegedly killed by Marozia
• Pope Leo VI (928–928)
• Pope Stephen VII (928–931)
• Pope John XI (931–935), son of Marozia, alleged son of Pope Sergius III
• Pope Leo VII (936–939)
• Pope Stephen VIII (939–942)
• Pope Marinus II (942–946)
• Pope Agapetus II (946–955)
• Pope John XII (955–963), grandson of Marozia, by her son Alberic II of Spoleto.

Family tree

Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum 864–924

Theodora

Hugh of Italy 887-924-948 (also married Marozia)

Alberic I of Spoleto d. 925

Marozia 890–937

Pope Sergius III 904–911

Alda of Vienne

Alberic II of Spoleto 905–954

David or Deodatus

Pope John XI 931–935

Gregory I, Count of Tusculum

Pope John XII 955–964

Pope Benedict VII 974-983

Pope Benedict VIII Pope 1012–1024

Alberic III, Count of Tusculum d. 1044

Pope John XIX Pope 1024–1032

Peter, Duke of the Romans

Gaius

Octavianus

Pope Benedict IX 1012–1055

The Tusculan Papacy, 1012-59

Main article: Tusculan Papacy

After several Crescentii family Popes up to 1012, the Theophylacti still occasionally nominated sons as Popes:

• Pope Benedict VIII, son of Count Gregory I; (1012-24)
• Pope John XIX, son of Count Gregory I, (1024-32)
• Pope Benedict IX, son of Alberic III; (1032-44; 1045; 1047-48)
• Antipope Benedict X, son of Alberic III (1058-59); driven out of Rome after a small war.

Pope Benedict IX went so far as to sell the Papacy to his religious Godfather, who became the unfortunate Pope Gregory VI (1045-46). He then changed his mind, seized the Lateran Palace and became Pope for the third time in 1047-48.

The Tusculan Papacy was finally ended by the election of Pope Nicholas II, who was lucky to be assisted by Hildebrand of Sovana against Antipope Benedict X. Hildebrand was elected Pope Gregory VII in 1073 and introduced the Gregorian Reforms, increasing the power and independence of the papacy.

See also

• List of sexually active popes
• Pope Joan (legendary, probably fictional; legends about her may have stemmed from stories about the Pornocracy)
• Papal appointment

References

• Church and Society in a Crisis Age: Tenth and Eleventh Century Europe by Harlie Kay Gallatin.
• The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Liutprand of Cremona

Notes

1. ^ Dwyer, John C. (1998). Church history: twenty centuries of Catholic Christianity. Mahwah, USA.: Paulist Press.. p. 155. ISBN 0809138301. 
2. ^ Durant, Will. The Age of Faith. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972. p. 537
3. ^ "POPES AND PORNOCRATS: ROME IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES"; Foundations (2003) 1 (1): 5-21; on-line text
4. ^ Brook, Lindsay (2003). "Popes and Pornocrats: Rome in the early middle ages". Foundations 1 (1): 5–21. 
5. ^ Poole, Reginald L (1917). "Papal chronology in the eleventh century". English Historical Review 1917a41 (32): 204–214. 
6. ^ Fedele, Pietro (1910 & 1911). "Ricerche per la storia di Rome e del papato al. sec. X". Archivo della Reale Società Romana di Storia Patria, 33: 177–247; & 34: 75–116, 393–423.
7. ^ Ide, Arthur Frederick (1987). Unzipped: The Popes Bare All : A Frank Study of Sex and Corruption in the Vatican. Austin, USA.: American Atheist Press.. ISBN 0910309434. 
8. ^ Stark, Rodney (2004). For the glory of God. Princeton, USA.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691119502.