The Crescentii clan (in modern Italian Crescenzi), if in fact they were an extended family, essentially ruled Rome and controlled the Papacy from the middle of the 10th century to the unlucky, all but simultaneous death of their puppet pope Sergius IV and the patricius of the clan in 1012, after which their power dissipated. 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 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. Pope Sergius IV, né Pietro Boccapecora (died May 12, 1012) was pope from July 31, 1009 until his death. ... The counts of Tusculum were the most powerful secular noblemen in Latium during the tenth through twelfth centuries. ... In the early 10th century, Theophylact, Count of Tusculum and his beautiful and unscrupulous wife, Theodora controlled the city of Rome and the Papacy. ... Sabina, the region in the Sabine Hills of Latium named for the Sabines, is the ancient territory that is today identified with the Province of Rieti, in Lazio (Roman Latium). ...

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 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. For others with the same name, see Otto I (disambiguation). ... Henry II with his wife Cunigunde of Luxemburg Saint Henry II (972 – 13 July 1024), called the Holy or the Saint, was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty. ... The Diploma Ottonianum was a document confirming the Donation of Pippin, co-signed during the darkest days of the Papacy by Pope John XII and Otto I, King of the Germans. ...

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 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, 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. John XIII (died September 6, 972) served as Pope from October 1st, 965 until his death in 972. ...

In the countryside, Crescentii castles concentrated a cluster of population that depended on 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 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 (1045) and Benedict X in 1058 were symptoms of the clan's loss of unity and political prestige. As landowners, they settled into more local forms of patronage, as the Crescenzi.' Benedict VIII, né Theophylactus (born in Rome, died April 9, 1024), pope (1012-1024), of the noble family of the counts of Tusculum (son of Gregory, Count of Tusculum, and Maria, and brother of John XIX), descended from Theophylact, Count of Tusculum like his predecessor Benedict VI, was opposed by... Farfa Abbey (Italian: Abbazia di Farfa) is a large medieval abbey in the town of Farfa in the Italian province of Rieti, once very important with numerous dependencies and possessions thruout the northern Lazio. ... Silvester III (or Sylvester), né John (born in Rome; probably died in 1062 or 1063); was pope in 1045. ... Pope/Antipope Benedict X (reigned 1058–1059; died ca. ...

External links

• The Crescentii family
• crescenzi.com
• The Waiting Game: The Twenty-First and Eleventh Centuries Compared - by John C. Rao