The counts of Tusculum, also known as the Theophylacti, were a family of secular noblemen from Latium that maintained a powerful position in Rome between the 10th and 12th centuries. Several popes and antipopes during the 11th century came from their ranks. They created and perfected the political formula of noble-papacy, wherein the pope was arranged to be elected only from the ranks of the Roman nobles. The Pornocracy, the period of influence by powerful female courtesans of the family, also influenced papal history.
The counts of Tusculum remained arbiters of Roman politics and religion for more than a century. In addition to the papal influence, they held lay power through consulships and senatorial membership. Traditionally they were pro-Byzantine and anti-Germanic in their political affiliation.
After 1049, the Tusculan Papacy came to an end with the election of Pope Leo IX. In fact, the Tusculan papacy was largely responsible for the reaction known as the Gregorian reform. Subsequent events (from 1062 onwards) confirmed a shift in regional politics as the counts came to side with the Holy Roman Emperors against the Rome of the reformers. In 1059, the papal-decree of Pope Nicholas II established new rules for the papal election, therefore putting an end to the noble-papacy formula.
This list is partially incomplete in the tenth century and the chronology and dates of the various countships are often uncertain. They were only counts from about 1013, lords before.
See main article: Tusculan Papacy.
According to tradition, the successors of the Tusculum counts were the Colonna family, founded by Peter (1099–1151), son of Gregory III and called Peter "de Columna" from his fief of Colonna, east of Rome.