Anastasius III
Anastasius · 911 – 913
A quiet pope who served during the domination of the Roman aristocrat Theophylact, leaving few traces in the historical record.
Anastasius was a Roman. He became pope in 911 during the period when the Theophylact family controlled Roman politics and effectively chose who sat on the papal throne. He confirmed the territorial rights of the bishop of Pavia and maintained the Church's basic administration, but he left almost no independent mark on history. His pontificate lasted about two years. He was not known to have caused harm, which in this era of papal history was itself an accomplishment.
In the Shadow of the Theophylacts
Anastasius governed in a period when Roman aristocratic families treated the papacy as their personal property. He kept his head down, maintained the basics, and avoided the violent ends that befell several of his neighbors in the papal chronology. Sometimes survival is its own achievement.