Pope Romanus

Romanus became bishop of Rome in August 897, stepping into a papacy caught in the crossfire of Italian warlords and church factions. Central Italy was unraveling, and the office itself had become a trophy fought over by rival clans. He ruled the Papal States through the autumn, but by November enemies moved against him. He was deposed, stripped of his title, and sent to monastic confinement — one more casualty in a decade when popes were made and unmade by force.