Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 13

6

When the Carolingian
Empire collapsed, the Church
again found itself subject to
intimidation by imperial
Constantinople. Pope John XII,
on the second day of February
in the year 962, secured a
protector in Otto I as ruler of the
new Holy Roman Empire but
the mutual cooperation that was
characteristic of the relationship with the Carolingians was not reborn. As the situation
disintegrated over the coming months, expanding imperial authority disregarded the principle
that the pope could not be judged by any earthly power. Otto deposed him, elevated a layman,
rushed him through the clerical orders, and intended that future popes take an imperial oath prior
to consecration. Otto’s actions served as the foundation for imperial intervention in papal
elections for the next century.8 The See of Rome could do nothing without a defender.
Other threats also sought to compromise the integrity of the papacy. Locally, the
influential and powerful Roman families coveted what they considered to be the wealth and
influence of the Roman See. The Theophylact family had risen by the tenth century to
prominence as vestararius, the caretakers of the papal vestments and treasure, and also as chief
soldier or magister militum. At times they provided some stability for the papacy but they too
influenced papal elections. The Crescentian branch of the family would later exert the same
8

Ibid., 118-19.