Saeculum Obscurum - The Tusculan Papacy, 1012-59

The Tusculan Papacy, 1012-59

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, 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 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.