(Added character pictures and updated Duke Romano's entry because I'll be continuing this story with Part II shortly. Enjoy!)
The Counts and Dukes of Tusculum
Defenders of the Holy Roman Church
Part I
Defenders of the Church and rightful heirs to the ancient Roman legacy, the Tusculani trace their descent from Theophylactus (846-924), the first Count of Tusculum,
sacri palatii vestararius, magister militum, senator, glorissimus dux, dominus urbis, and Consul of Rome, and his wife the powerful matriarch and
senatrix Theodora. Through their daughters Marozia and Theodora and their lines, the Tusculani have risen to become the chief of the Papal nobility, presiding over the Papacy as its stalwart shield and guide. Naysayers would speak of the
saeculum obscurum, the Pornocracy and the Rule of the Harlots to challenge the Tusculani's dedication to the Holy Mother Church, but their opinions matter little for as long as there sits a Pope in Rome and a Tusculani to his ever faithful side.
Alberico III (970-1036), Count and Duke of Tusculum (1011/1028-1036)
Albericus, consul, dux et patricius Romanorum
Comes sacri palatii Lateranensis
Alberico II, was the third and youngest son of Giorgio Tusculani, Count of Tusculum, himself a great-grandson of the family patriarch Count Theophylactus. Whereas his two elder brothers Theophylactus and Romanus were made priests of the cloth and princes of the Church, destiny had bound Alberico to rule as a prince of the State and progenitor of the new generation of Tusculani. Count Alberico was a remarkable man cut in the figure of his noble line; a charismatic negotiator with splendid mastery over words and a skillful scheme to navigate Eternal Rome. With his eldest brother having been elected Pope as Benedict VIII in 1012, Count Alberico presided over the apogee of his family in the Curia, a time of unchallenged splendor and grandeur, even as Alberico himself served as Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, his cousin Giovanni, the Pope's son, as Camerlengo, and their brother Romano as one of the crimson-clad Cardinals of the Church.
Alberico extended his family and the Church's rule from the lordships of Tusculum and Segni to the counties of Ceccano and Fondi. For his valor, the Pope made him Duke of Gaeta, although Alberico and his heirs were henceforth known as the Dukes of Tusculum.
Duke Alberico died of pneumonia at age sixty-six. He had five sons. Although none managed to emulate Benedict VIII and rise to the Papal throne, the Tusculani were left in good hands:
- Gregorio (1000-1061), who succeeded his father as Duke of Tusculum, Count of Segni, Ceccano and Fondi, later canonized as Saint Gregorio the Righteous of Tusculum,
- Pietro (1001-1030), the Chancellor of Tusculum, who died young of gluttony. He left two daughters, the ladies Aurora and Luigia, both of whom married members of the Roman court, although only the latter eventually gave him a posthumous grandson, Tommaso Tusculani, a mastermind theologian set for a splendid Church career,
- Cardinal Guido (1003-1055), Bishop of Piperno, Bishop of Ferrentino and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. An unremarkable man, he was married the Lombard noble Adelasia Obertenghi (b. 1011), daughter of the Duke of Milan, who retired to a convent upon his appointment as bishop. They had one son, Pericle Tusculani (b. 1029), Baron of Albano and Gonfalonier of Tusculum, one of the most brilliant minds and generals of the Christian world. With his wife Othelindis, Pericle has a ten year old daughter, Cristina (b. 1058)
- Ottaviano (1004-1032), the least noteworthy of Duke Alberico's sons, ironically named after Octavian Augustus. He was an unremarkable man of unremarkable skill, dying of pneumonia before he could be shuffled off to a Church career,
- Theophylactus (1012-1047), his father's greatest frustration, as unremarkable as Ottaviano, but longer lived. He was made Bishop of Alatri before dying of pneumonia at age thirty-five. (in OTL he became Pope Benedict IX)
Saint Gregory II the Righteous (1000-1061), Duke of Tusculum (1036-1061)
Sanctus Gregorius, consul, dux, senator et patricius Romanorum
Lateranensis et Tusculanensis comes
Duke Gregorio was perhaps the best the Tusculani had to offer. An unambitious man, unlike many of his forefathers, Gregorio was already a paragon of Christendom and a true Christian knight before his inheritance of his father's lands and titles. In his life he was known as Gregorio the Wise for his piety and remarkable skills, which allowed him to serve as Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church and gonfalonier, as his father before him. He ably ruled Tusculum despite his poor health and won renown as a layman member of the Benedictine Order. Gregorio was also a prolific writer, having authored the famed
Speculum Regale, a model example of eleventh century literature in the genre of mirror of princes. However, his crowning achievement was the discovery and acquisition of the glorious
Crown of Thorns, a true relic of Jesus Christ that came into his possession in 1044 and has been held for display at the Vatican ever since, under the always faithful and pious custody of the Tusculani Counts of the Sacred Palace.
For his exemplary service to the Mother Church and his piety and many achievements in life, Gregorio the Wise was first beatified and then canonized as St. Gregorio the Righteous five years after his death. In his act of canonization, Gregorio was described by Pope Alexander II as a man of honest nature and a true exorcist of the forces of Lucifer, although Gregorio was never known to have performed an exorcism in life. He is buried at the fortress town of Tusculum, and his shrine attracts many pilgrims to this day.
Duke Gregorio was married thrice. First, to Bisina Liudolfinger (999-1021), daughter of Emperor Heinrich I, with whom he had one daughter before she prematurely died of the flu. His second wife was Theodoule Boioanna (1001-1030), daughter of the Greek Strategos of Longobardia who by a stroke of fortune later became Emperor Basil III of the Greeks. After Theodoule's death of the flu, Gregorio married one more time to the Roman noblewoman Arianna Trinci, although the marriage was never consummated as he had sworn himself to celibacy following his second wife's death. Gregorio fathered four children:
- Teodora (1020-1080), who married firstly prince Béla of Pannonia, excommunicated and burned at the stake by Pope Stephen IX for heresy, and secondly the handsome and intelligent Bernard the Chiny, a French nobleman. She gave birth to three children of the Árpád and Tusculani bloodlines: the military commander Adalberto Tusculani (childlessly married to Liviana Aleramici), the handsome but otherwise unremarkable Gregorio (who married the Greek noblewoman Helene Kourtikissa), and the promising child Alberico, her only child by Bernard de Chiny, who eventually would reign as Pope.
- Romano (1023-1088), who succeeded his father as Duke of Tusculum
- Libera (1026-1066), Queen of Italy by marriage to King Guiberto d'Ivrée. After Guiberto's death, Libera married Prince Hughes of France, who died at age sixteen before he could succeed to the throne. Libera herself died young, bleeding from the eyes and ears at age forty. She had two daughters by Guiberto: Princess Berta of Italy, recently forced into a convent by her uncle, and Princess Maura, who married her cousin Romolo Tusculani.
- Basilio (1029-1092), Baron of Albano, named after his grandfather the Greek Emperor, a military man second in command of the Tusculani forces, after his cousin Baron Pericle. He married his half-aunt, the Greek purpleborn princess Konstantina Boianna, although her family has since been dislodged from the purple. He was granted the Barony of Albano after Baron Pericle's death, inaugurating the line of the Basilii, which would be extinguished in the male line with the death of his namesake great-grandson in 1111.
Romano II the Brave (1023-1088), Count and Duke of Tusculum and Naples (1061-1088)
Romanus,
consul, dux, senator et patricius Romanorum
Lateranensis et Tusculanensis comes
Romano Tusculani was the eldest son of Duke Gregorio and Theodoule Boianna. A man as competent with words as he is with the sword, Duke Romano was the most powerful of the Roman nobles, reigning from the stronghold of Tusculum when he is not attending the Curia as Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, as his father and grandfather had been before him. Romano was a more ambitious man than his father ever was and dreamed of expanding Tusculani *cough cough* Church lands further south into Italy, watching Naples and Amalfi with hungry eyes, although he was surrounded by the Holy Roman Empire in the north and the Greek Empire in the south.
His ambitions were eventually made manifest through war. It took Romano nearly fifteen years to fabricate solid claims to the lands to his south, but in 1074 he finally went to war against Eirenaios Spartenos of Naples, defeating him the next year and claiming the Duchy of Naples through right of conquest. The Spartenids unsuccessfully rose in rebellion three years later, only for them to be expelled from Italy and for the city of Naples to be added directly to the Tusculani domains. A year later, war against the Republic of Amalfi followed, and Duke Romano had himself made Count of Amalfi.
Duke Romano was married four times. Firstly, to Martina Visconti (1022-1060), genius daughter of the Lord of Martesana, with whom he had three children. Secondly to the Pisan noblewoman Ornella Gherardesca (1033-1076), who gave him another two sons. Thirdly, to Bruna Ottaviani (1031-1076), of the rival Crescentii clan in Rome, who died only weeks after their wedding of dysentery. His fourth and final wife was the Lombard noblewoman Armida di Virle (1048-1116), who gave birth to his youngest son.
- Romolo (1042-1109), a shrewd military man skilled with words. He is married to his first cousin the Princess Maura of Italy, daughter of the late King Guiberto and the true heir to the Iron Crown. Named after the founder of Rome, he considers the Eternal City his birthright. He would reign as Duke Romolo the Magnanimous for ten years and become one of the most successful Dukes of Tusculum in history.
- Oreste (b. 1044), his father's spymaster and later Count of Salerno, born with a clubfoot and thus impeded from a military career. He is a man skilled with words and an admirable schemer, loyal to his father. He married the Lombard noblewoman Asia di Bertinoro (1050-1120), daughter of Count Lamberto of Bertinoro, with whom he had two children: Romano (b. 1067), Teodora (1068-1115) and Ilaria (b. 1070),
- Olimpia (b. 1057), who married Jaromir of the Premyslids and gave birth to two children: the great Caio Tusculani (b. 1076), Baron of Albano and later Count of Montefeltro and Marshall of Tusculum, who married the Greek noblewoman Theocharistine Koutersissa and had one daughter, Teocarista (b. 1106); and the lady Martina Tusculani (b. 1080), Queen of Poland through her marriage to King Wieslaw II the Wicked, mother of three,
- Theophylactus (1065-1118), Baron of Albano, who served Tusculum as Marshall. He married firstly the Tuscan noblewoman Pamela Alliata and secondly a Latin commoner named Fiammetta. He had one daughter, the childless lady Amalia (b. 1090)
- Prospero (1074-1076), who died a sickly infant,
- Pericle (1083-1120), Bishop of Piperno, destined for a Church career, but dead before his time.
Duke Romano was also the author of
On Feudal Warfare, a tome containing multiple chapters highlighting the many strengths of Feudal tactics of war, while he continued his saintly father's quest for holy artifacts and relics. His father had acquired the Crown of Thorns; the son would not outdo him, but two further relics were acquired by the Tusculani to be held in the name of the Holy Roman Church. The first, the
Seal of Solomon, a ring engraved with the Star of David which granted its wearer the power to command demons, thereafter worn by every Tusculani count and duke, and the
Holy Prepuce, the foreskin of Jersus Christ, the only body part of Christ remaining on Earth after his ascension into Heaven. The three relics consolidated the Tusculani as the most pious lords in Christendom, a claim which would only be strengthened by the acquisition of a nail of the True Cross in Duke Romolo's reign.
Although Duke Romano's power would pale in comparison to that of his son and grandson, his tremendous legacy cannot be questioned. With the conquest of Naples and Amalfi, thriving and populous cities in their own right, Romano II became the first of the Tusculani to extend their word and rule beyond Latium into Southern Italy. The men and incomes of Naples and Amalfi would be the backbone of further Tusculani expansion in the reigns of his successors, which would eventually witness the restoration of the Pornocracy and the rise of the family as the most powerful of the Italian princes, for the glory and honor of the Holy Mother Church.