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.
20-596: Several individuals named Crescentius who appear in the very scanty documentation of the period have been grouped together by historians as the "Crescentii." Some do seem to bear family relationships, falling into two main branches, the Ottaviani and the Stefaniani, and their policies were consistent enough, especially as regards confronting the rival gang of aristocratic thugs, the Tusculani , who were descended from
40-618: A century. In addition to the papal influence, they held lay power through consulships and senatorial membership. Traditionally they were pro- Byzantine and anti-Germanic in their political affiliation . After 1049, the Tusculan Papacy came to an end with the election of Pope Leo IX . In fact, the Tusculan papacy was largely responsible for the reaction known as the Gregorian reform . Subsequent events (from 1062 onwards) confirmed
60-512: A cluster of population that depended on them for their defense and were dependable armed members of the Crescentii clientage . After Sergius IV's death (1012), the Crescentii simply installed their candidate, Gregory, in the Lateran , without the assent of the cardinals. A struggle flared between the Crescentii and the rival Tusculani. The failure of their bold attempt and the pontificate of
80-604: A shift in regional politics as the counts came to side with the Holy Roman Emperors against the Rome of the reformers. In 1059, the papal-decree of Pope Nicholas II established new rules for the papal election, therefore putting an end to the noble-papacy formula. This list is partially incomplete in the tenth century and the chronology and dates of the various countships are often uncertain. They were only counts from about 1013, lords before. According to tradition,
100-517: The principality of Capua , in return for oaths of fealty and the promise of assistance in guarding the rights of the Church. This arrangement, which was based on no firmer foundation than the forged " Donation of Constantine ", was destined to give the papacy independence from both the Eastern and Western Empires . Its first substantial result was Norman aid in taking Galeria, where Antipope Benedict X
120-518: The 10th and 12th centuries. Several popes and antipopes during the 11th century came from their ranks. They created and perfected the political formula of noble-papacy, wherein the pope was arranged to be elected only from the ranks of the Roman nobles. The Pornocracy , the period of influence by powerful female courtesans of the family, also influenced papal history. The counts of Tusculum remained arbiters of Roman politics and religion for more than
140-529: The Normans as the perfect force to crush the Muslims. The Normans were by this time firmly established in southern Italy, and later in the year 1059 the new alliance was cemented at Melfi , where the pope, accompanied by Hildebrand, Cardinal Humbert , and Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino , solemnly invested Robert Guiscard with the duchies of Apulia , Calabria , and Sicily , and Richard of Aversa with
160-638: The Roman aristocracy, unless the Holy Roman emperor was strong enough to be able to intervene from a distance to impose his will. As a result of the battles with the Antipope Benedict X, Nicholas II wished to reform papal elections. At the synod held in the Lateran at Easter, 1059, Pope Nicholas brought 113 bishops to Rome to consider several reforms, including a change in the election procedure. The electoral reform adopted by that synod amounted to
180-562: The Tusculan pope Benedict VIII , whose powerful protector was the King of the Germans, Henry II, whom he crowned Emperor in Rome in 1014, forced the Crescentii out of Rome, retreating to the fortified strongholds. In the 1020s, the abbot Hugh of Farfa was able to play one branch of Crescentii against another, and Crescentii support of two unsuccessful antipopes in mid-century, Sylvester III (Pope in 1045) and Benedict X in 1058 were symptoms of
200-570: The clan's loss of unity and political prestige. As landowners, they settled into more local forms of patronage, as the Crescenzi. The last known member of the family was Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi who died in 1768. Tusculani The counts of Tusculum , also known as the Theophylacti , were a family of secular noblemen from Latium that maintained a powerful position in Rome between
220-445: The clergy of numerous churches. Benedict X was elected in 1058, his election having been arranged by the count of Tusculum . However, several cardinals alleged that the election was irregular and that votes had been bought; these cardinals were forced to flee Rome . Hildebrand , archdeacon of the Roman church, was away on a diplomatic mission to Germany. When he heard of Benedict X's election, he opposed it and obtained support for
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#1732765203254240-910: The election of Gerard of Burgundy instead. In December 1058, those cardinals who had opposed Benedict X's election met at Siena and elected Gerard as pope instead. He then took the name Nicholas II. Nicholas II proceeded towards Rome, along the way holding a synod at Sutri , where, in the presence of the Tuscan ruler Godfrey the Bearded and the imperial chancellor, Guibert of Parma, he pronounced Benedict X deposed and excommunicated. The supporters of Nicholas II then gained control of Rome and forced Benedict X to flee to Gerard of Galeria. Having arrived in Rome, Nicholas II then proceeded to wage war against Benedict X and his supporters with Norman assistance. At an initial battle in Campagna in early 1059, Nicholas II
260-725: The influential curial official Theophylact, Count of Tusculum , ruler of Rome at the beginning of the 10th century. Their territorial strongholds were situated mainly in the Sabine Hills . The Crescentii had another formidable enemy, whose power did not always extend to Rome, in the German kings and emperors of the Ottonian Saxon dynasty, notably Otto the Great and Henry II . Emperor Otto's intervention in Italian affairs in 961
280-488: The leaders of the Crescentii installed as puppet popes. They held the secular offices such as praefectus by which Rome was technically still governed, and exacted large contributions and donations from the Papal treasury, in a thinly disguised extortion. From this power base within the city, they were able to influence even those popes who had not been their direct candidates. In the countryside, Crescentii castles concentrated
300-691: The successors of the Tusculum counts were the Colonna family , founded by Peter (1099–1151), son of Gregory III and called Peter "de Columna" from his fief of Colonna , east of Rome. Pope Nicholas II Pope Nicholas II ( Latin : Nicholaus II ; c. 990/995 – 27 July 1061), otherwise known as Gerard of Burgundy , was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 January 1059 until his death in 27 July 1061. At
320-515: The time of his election, he was bishop of Florence . During his Papacy, Nicholas II successfully expanded the influence of the papacy in Milan and southern Italy . He was also responsible for passing papal election reforms. Gerard of Burgundy was born in Chevron , in what is now Savoy . He was a canon at Liège . In 1045 he became bishop of Florence , where he restored the canonical life among
340-657: Was advertised by the unwilling attendance of Wido and the other Milanese bishops at the council summoned to the Lateran Palace in April 1059. This council not only continued the Hildebrandine reforms by sharpening the discipline of the clergy but marked an epoch in the history of the papacy by its famous regulation of future elections to the Holy See. Previously, papal elections had effectively been controlled by
360-568: Was hiding, and the end of the subordination of the papacy to the Roman nobles. Meanwhile, Nicholas II sent Peter Damian and Bishop Anselm of Lucca as legates to Milan , to resolve the conflict between the Patarenes and the archbishop and clergy. The result was a fresh triumph for the papacy. Archbishop Wido , facing ruinous ecclesiastical conflict in Milan, submitted to the terms of the legates, which subordinated Milan to Rome. The new relation
380-478: Was not in Crescentii interests. In February 962, the pope and the emperor ratified the Diploma Ottonianum , in which the emperor became the guarantor of the independence of the papal states. It was the Crescentii who most threatened papal independence. The clan's triumph was in the later 10th century. They produced one pope from among their number — John XIII — and controlled most of the others, whom
400-434: Was not wholly successful. But later that same year, his forces conquered Praeneste , Tusculum, and Numentanum , and in the autumn took Galeria, forcing Benedict X to surrender and renounce the papacy. Nicholas II died on 27 July 1061, less than three years after becoming Pope. To secure his position, Nicholas II at once entered into relations with the Normans. The pope wanted to re-take Sicily for Christianity, and he saw
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