The “Pornocracy”
This, along with the equivalent term “The Rule of the Harlots”, is the name often given to one of the darkest times in the history of the Roman Papacy–the period in the tenth century when conditions allowed the selection of popes to be entirely controlled by three prominent and very corrupt Roman families, the Theophylacts, the Alberics, and the Tusculans. These families used the popes they created as pawns in their various political intrigues. Partly this was a natural result of the feudal system of government which prevailed throughout Europe, and partly it came about as an effect of the general decline of strong, moral government in the wake of the collapse of Charlemagne’s Empire and the chaos caused not only by the civil wars of his successors but also by the Viking invasions which were increasing in frequency and scope.
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