Pope Sergius III
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{{Infobox Pope|
English name=Sergius III|
image=[[Image:Emblem of the Papacy.svg|150px]]|
birth_name=Sergius|
term_start=[[January 29]] [[904]]|
term_end=[[April 14]], [[911]]|
predecessor=[[Pope Leo V|Leo V]]|
successor=[[Pope Anastasius III|Anastasius III]]|
birth_date=???|
birthplace=[[Rome]], [[Italy]]|
dead=dead|death_date={{death date|911|4|14|mf=y}}|
deathplace=[[Rome]], [[Italy]]|
other=Sergius}}
'''Sergius III''' was a [[Pope]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] in two intervals (between [[897]] and [[April 14]], [[911]]). Because Sergius III was allegedly the only pope known to have ordered the murder of another pope and the only pope known to have fathered an illegitimate son who later became pope, his pontificate has been described as "dismal and disgraceful."<ref>Wilkes. 2001, October 31. "[http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/his31_cadaver.html The Cadaver Synod: The Strangest Trial in History]." ''Flagpole Magazine''. p. 8.</ref>
His tenure was part of a period of [[feudalism|feudal]] violence and disorder in central Italy, when the [[Papacy]] was a pawn of warring aristocratic factions. It was also the dawn of an age of powerful women. Sergius was the son of Benedictus, and came from a noble Roman family.
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 (10th century)|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 [[excommunication|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 of Spoleto|Lambert]], [[Duchy of Spoleto|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 [[bishop]]s ordained by Formosus be reordained, an unwelcome 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,<ref> "Nor was he [Sergius III] content with thus dishonouring the dead Pope [Formosus], but he drags his carcass again out of the grave, beheads it as if it had been alive, and then throws it into the Tiber, as unworthy the honour of human burial." {{Citation
| last = Platina
| first = Bartolomeo
| authorlink = Bartolomeo Platina
| title = The Lives of the Popes From The Time Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII
| publisher = Griffith Farran & Co.
| location = London
| pages = 243
| volume = I
| url = http://www.archive.org/details/thelivesofthepop01platuoft
| accessdate= 2008-01-08.
}}</ref> although Joseph Brusher, [[Society of Jesus|S.J.]] says that "Sergius [III] indulged in no resurrection-man tactics himself"<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/POPEp120.htm#T1
|title= Sergius III
|accessdate= 2008-01-02
|last= Brusher
|first= Joseph
|publisher= Neff-Kane
|year= 1959
|work= Popes Through the Ages
}}</ref> and [[Philip Schaff|Schaff]], [[Henry Hart Milman|Milman]],<ref>{{Citation
| last = Milman
| first = Henry Hart
| authorlink = Henry Hart Milman
| title = History of Latin Christianity
| publisher = John Murray
| year = 1867
| location = London
| pages = 287-290.
| volume = III
| edition = 4th
}}</ref>, [[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius]],<ref>{{Citation
| last = Gregorovius
| first = Ferdinand
| authorlink = Ferdinand Gregorovius
| title = The History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages
| publisher = George Bell & Sons
| year = 1903
| location = London
| pages = 242-248
| volume = III
| edition = 2nd
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=tLk4AAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage
| accessdate= 2008-01-08.
}}</ref> [[Johann Lorenz von Mosheim|von Mosheim]],<ref>{{Citation
| last = von Mosheim
| first = Johann Lorenz
| authorlink = Johann Lorenz von Mosheim
| title = Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern
| publisher = Stanford and Swords
| year = 1852
| location = New York
| pages = 120-121
| volume = II
| edition = 5th
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=RxEQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage
| accessdate= 2008-01-08.
}}</ref> [[John Miley|Miley]],<ref>{{Citation
| last = Miley
| first = John
| authorlink = John Miley
| title = The History of the Papal States From Their Origin to the Present Day
| publisher = T.C. Newby
| year = 1850
| location = London
| pages = 269-281
| volume = II
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=mrsLAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage
| accessdate= 2008-01-08.
}}</ref> Mann,<ref>{{Citation
| last = Mann
| first = Horace Kinder
| title = The Lives of the Popes In The Early Middle Ages
| publisher = Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co., Ltd.
| year = 1910
| location = London
| pages = 119-142
| volume = IV
| url = http://www.archive.org/details/livesofpopesinea04mannuoft
| accessdate= 2008-01-08.
}}</ref> [[Joseph-Epiphane Darras|Darras]],<ref>{{Citation
| last = Darras
| first = Joseph-Epiphane
| authorlink = Joseph-Epiphane Darras
| title = A General History of the Catholic Church
| publisher = Excelsior Catholic Publishing House
| year = 1898
| location = New York
| pages = 560-564
| volume = II
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=oeoQAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage
| accessdate= 2008-01-08.
}}</ref> [[John, deacon of Naples|John the Deacon of Naples]], [[Flodoard]], and others make no mention of this story.
His nemeses, [[Pope Leo V]] ([[903]]) and [[Antipope Christopher]], both died in [[904]], allegedly strangled in prison on the order of Sergius,<ref>{{Citation
| last = Vulgarius
| title = De Causa Formosiana, c. xiv.
}}</ref> a claim that the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] called "extremely doubtful."
Sergius III restored the [[Lateran|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]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0119.htm Catholic Forum.com]: Pope Sergius III
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13729a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'':] Pope Sergius III
*[http://www.societaschristiana.com/Encyclopedia/P/Pornocracy.html ''Societas Christianae Encyclopedia:] The "Pornocracy"
*[http://fmg.ac/FMG/Popes.pdf Lindsay Brook, "Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the Early Middle Ages"] offers some more specific documentation
*[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0904-0911-_Sergius_III.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with anlytical indexes]
{{Pope|
Predecessor=[[Pope Leo V|Leo V]]|
Successor=[[Pope Anastasius III|Anastasius III]]|Dates=904–911}}
{{Popes}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sergius 03}}
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:9th century archbishops]]
[[Category:10th century archbishops]]
[[Category:Early Middle Ages]]
[[Category:People from Rome (city)]]
[[Category:911 deaths]]
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