Theodora (10th century)
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Theodora was a senatrix and serenissima vestaratrix of Rome, mother of Marozia, and concubine to Pope Sergius III, whose pontificate, so far as is known, was remarkable for nothing but the rise of the pornocracy of Theodora and her daughters, a period also called the Rule of the Harlots.
Theodora was a grandmother of Pope John XI, a son of Marozia and—according to Liutprand of Cremona and the Liber Pontificalis—Pope Sergius III.
She was characterized by the aforementioned Liutprand, Italian historian and bishop of Cremona, as a "shameless whore ... [who] exercised power on the Roman citizenry like a man." This bishop of Cremona was described by the Catholic Encyclopedia as frequently being unfair to his adversaries and could be partial in his judgments. Seeing how many in the church were biased against female rule, not all that has been written by him can therefore be taken as undisputed truth.
