Rome - Republic of St Peter II

  General Description   The term "Papal States" was not adopted until around 1200 CE ^[1] ; at this time the polity of the Papacy at Rome was called the Patrimony of St. Peter, Republic of St. Peter or Land of St. Peter. The population of Rome languished at a relative historical low of 35,000 people throughout this period, which was marked by a high degree of fragmentation and sub-regional autonomy. Various areas of the Patrimony of St. Peter were virtually independent of the Papacy or subject to central authority only in a very nominal way. ^[2]
Through the 904-1198 CE period the polity, with its capital at Rome, was dominated by powerful families and a powerful foreign state. The Theophylacti, a noble family from Tusculanum, were the first of a number of aristocratic families who dominated the papacy. ^[3] In the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, the papacy was frequently at war with the German emperors, which caused serious destabilization of political authority in the Patrimony. ^[4] The German Emperor Henry III, became the de facto guardian of the papacy and the Patrimony. ^[5]
When Henry III granted the city of Benevento to Pope Leo IX this marked the furthest extent of (nominal) papal power until Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216 CE) began consolidating what would be called the Papal States. ^[6] It could be argued that the peak of the polity was under the Tusculan Reform Papacy c.1012-1036 CE because of internal and external stability and socioeconomic and (even if limited) demographic expansion.

[1]: (Vauchez 2010, 356) André Vauchez ed. Roma Medievale. Rome: Editori Laterza, 2010 [2001].

[2]: (Wickham 2009, 164) Chris Wickham. Early Medieval Italy. Central Power and Local Society, 400-1000. Ann Arbor, MA: University of Michigan, 2009 [1981].

[3]: (Marazzi 2001, 64) Federico Marazzi. "Aristocrazia e società (secoli VI-XI)," in Vauchez, ed., 41-69.

[4]: (Partner 1972, 231) Peter Partner. 1972. The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.

[5]: (Kreutz 1996, 151) Kreutz, Barbara M. Before the Normans. Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. College Park, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.

[6]: (Kreutz 1996, 152) Kreutz, Barbara M. Before the Normans. Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. College Park, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.