Alberich II.

Alberich II of Spoleto (* before 915; † 31st of August, 954 in Rome) was one of the most influential princes in the 10th century Rome.

Alberich II was born as son Markgraf Alberich I of Spoleto and the Marozia, daughter of Theophylakt I of Tusculum. He had been with Alda d. J., the daughter of his stepfather King Hugo I of Italy. In 932 he seized power in Rome after he had expelled his stepfather Hugo I, the third husband of his mother, from Rome. He had his mother and his half brother, Pope John XI, imprisoned, thus ending the age of the pornocracy (mistress rule).

For over 22 years, he was ruler of Rome and the Papacy as "princeps ac senator omnium Romanorum". Under his rule, order and decency returned to Rome. In 951 he opposed the attempt to invite the German king Otto I to the imperial crown to Rome. All the popes enthroned during his reign (Leo VII, Stephen VIII, Marinus II, Agapitus II) were dependent on him. In 954, in order to secure the secular and spiritual domination of his house, he had the Roman nobility swear to elect his son and heir Octavian to the pope in the next occupation of the papal chair. Octavian became 955 as John XII. the successor to Agapitus II, and became one of the most unworthy persons on the papal throne. Edit source text

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