11. Pope Sergius III had an illegitimate son who became Pope John XI
Sergius III became pope through the force of arms, following the deposing and arrest of Christopher, who had also forcefully seized the Throne of St. Peter. Sergius became pope in 904. Two prior claimants to the papacy then being in prison, the aforesaid Christopher and Leo V, were murdered early in his papacy, allegedly by the order of Sergius, who was little more than a puppet of the Count of Tusculum. Sergius used his papacy to elevate members of his family and friends to positions of authority within the hierarchy of the church and temporal power. Sergius also issued a decree which annulled the ordination of bishops by his predecessors and required they be re-ordained. Sergius was alleged to have had an affair with the daughter of his benefactor, the Count of Tusculum, which led to the birth of a son.
The affair had been arranged by the Count’s wife and mother of the young woman, named Marozia, and the son eventually became Pope John XI. Though the affair was recorded by some contemporaneous writers, historians since have questioned the truthfulness of the story, with some attributing it to political enemies of Sergius and of John XI. The bulk of the story was recorded by Liutprand of Cremona, and was written two decades after the event, based on the stories he was told by others. Nonetheless, the papacy of Sergius III is considered to have been thoroughly corrupt, with the Pope using his office to advance the interests and finances of relatives rather than those of the church. Sergius used his papal army to destroy his enemies, killing them indiscriminately, and has been described as being a malignant force in Rome in the last century of the first millennium of the Common Era.