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Pope Sergius, III

Male 864 - 911  (47 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Sergius  
    Prefix Pope 
    Suffix III 
    Birth 864 
    Gender Male 
    Prominent People 0904-0911 
    Death 14 Apr 911  Roma, Latium, Italia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial San Pietro, Vatican Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I434177  Geneagraphie
    Links To This person is also Pope Sergius III at Wikipedia 
    Last Modified 19 Mar 2010 

    Father Benedictus,   b. Abt 775   d. Aft 847 (Age 73 years) 
    Family ID F239190  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Princess Marozia di Spoleto,   b. Bef 924, Roma, Latium, Italia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 932, Roma, Latium, Italia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 9 years) 
    Children 
    +1. Pope Ioannes, XI,   b. 909   d. 936 (Age 27 years)
    Family ID F200453  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 19 Mar 2010 

  • Event Map Click to hide
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 14 Apr 911 - Roma, Latium, Italia Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - San Pietro, Vatican Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Photos Photos (Log in)Photos (Log in)

  • Notes 
    • The pontificate of Sergius III, according to Liutprand of Cremona , was remarkable for the rise of what papal historians saw as a " pornocracy ," or rule of the harlots, a reversal of the natural order as they saw it, according to Liber pontificalis and a later chronicler who was also biased against Sergius III. This "pornocracy" was an age with women in power: Theodora , whom Liutprand characterized as a "shameless whore... [who] exercised power on the Roman citizenry like a man" and her daughter Marozia , the mother of Pope John XI (931-935) and reputed to be the mistress of Sergius III, largely upon a remark by Liutprand (see Brook link below).
      Sergius III owed his rise to the power of his patron, the military commander Theophylact, Count of Tusculum who held the position of vestarius in control of the disbursements at the top of papal patronage. Sergius III and his party opposed Pope Formosus (891-896), who ordained him bishop of Caere ( Cerveteri ) - in order to remove him from Rome, as an unsympathetic source records. He was his faction's unsuccessful candidate for the papacy in 896 ; when Pope John IX (898-900) was elected instead, he excommunicated Sergius III, who had to withdraw from his see at Cerveteri for safety. Elected Pope in 897, Sergius III was forcibly exiled by Lambert , duke of Spoleto , and all the official records were destroyed; consequently most of the surviving documentation about Sergius comes from his opponents.
      When antipope Christopher (903-904) seized the seat of St. Peter by force, the Theophylact faction of Romans revolted and ejected him in 903-904. They then invited Sergius III to come out of retirement. His return is marked as January 29 , 904 .
      Back in power, Sergius III now annulled all the ordinations of Formosus and demanded all bishops ordained by Formosus be reordained, an unwelcomed decision reversed again after his death. Sergius III honoured pope Stephen VI (896-897), who had been responsible for the " Cadaver Synod " that had condemned and mutilated the corpse of Pope Formosus , and placed a laudatory remark on Stephen VI's tombstone. He then reportedly had the much-abused corpse of Formosus exhumed once more, tried, found guilty again, and beheaded, thus in effect conducting a second Cadaver Synod.
      His nemeses, Pope Leo V (903) and Antipope Christopher, both died in 904 , allegedly strangled in prison, a claim that the Catholic Encyclopedia called "extremely doubtful."
      Sergius III restored the Lateran Palace , which had been shattered by an earthquake in 896. He is the first pope to be depicted wearing the triple-crowned papal tiara .

      Bf. v. Caere 893-896, Gegenpapst 898, Papst 904-911



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