Pope Stephen VIII
Pope · Italy · Religious Figures · Lived 1000 to 942 · aged -58
Pope Stephen VIII is read about 53 times a day, in 65 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 360 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A tenth-century pope whose reign fell squarely in the Saeculum obscurum - the "dark age" - when Roman pontiffs answered less to God than to the counts of Tusculum, and Stephen's survival hung on the favor of Alberic II of Spoleto.
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About this person
Stephen VIII became bishop of Rome on 14 July 939, stepping into a papacy stripped of real power by feuding Italian nobles. His pontificate unfolded entirely within the Saeculum obscurum, that span when ambitious aristocrats reduced popes to pieces on their chessboard. Stephen's patron was Alberic II of Spoleto, whose rivalry with King Hugh of Italy defined the politics Stephen navigated. He died in October 942, three years into a tenure memorable mostly for what he couldn't control.
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