My dissertation aims to examine aspects of a relatively
understudied and often mischaracterized area in the medieval
history of Rome- that of the leadership of the house of Theophylact
over Romes political and religious institutions in the first half
of the tenth century. I hope to explore some of the key features of
political life in Rome during this period- the seemingly unique
role played by the women of the Theophylacti such as Marozia in
ruling the city of Rome as political figures in their own right;
the wider political significance of Alberic IIs use of the title
Princep of Rome on taking power in 932; and how these developments
in Rome fit into the wider picture of post-Carolingian Italy and
Europe.
Following from the Comes of Tusculum Theophylact who effectively
ruled post-Carolingian Rome from 905 until his death in 924/25, his
descendants controlled both the political life of the city and the
office of the Bishop of Rome for the next century. They adopted
secular or classicizing titles and sought to present themselves as
rulers of Rome in their own right. They controlled the appointment
of Roman bishops, culminating in Alberics son Octavian being made
Pope John XII. Moreover, the political role seemingly assigned to
the leading women of this family such as Marozia, who held no
official post but ruled Rome as de facto leader for most of the
920s and 930s, is unparalleled in the rest of Latin Europe during
this period.
The key primary source being used as a starting point will be
the Antapodsis and Historia Ottonis of Liutprand of Cremona, a
contemporary bishop who was almost exclusively negative about Rome
and the Romans in his writings about Italian politics during the
tenth century. This will be
Despite the view of hostile contemporaries such as Liutprand and
later historians who colour our view of the period as a pornocracy
of weak popes and dissolute women in charge of the city, historians
of medieval Italy during the 20th century have rehabilitated the
Theophylacti- and recognized that they provided a substantial
period of stable leadership for Rome that would not be replicated
until the eleventh century. Unfortunately, despite the work of
historians such as Chris Wickham to normalise Roman history of this
period into an Italian context, the Theophylacti are still
relatively understudied and what studies there are have not linked
aspects such as the political role of women in Rome or Alberics
principate to the wider post-Carolingian context in the Kingdom of
Italy or in Europe more generally.
I aim to take a more comparative approach to the questions of
gender and leadership in Rome during the tenth century by examining
the extent to which the political role of women in Rome and the
relationship between secular princep and bishop fitted into wider
patterns elsewhere in medieval Europe. We can develop a more
comprehensive picture of the development of Rome as a political
entity in relation to its peers and neighbours.
