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Pope Stephen VII

Pope Stephen VII

?–931 CE · Rome

Stephen VII held the papacy as a transitional figure during Marozia's ascendancy over Roman affairs, apparently serving as a caretaker while her young son was groomed for the office. A Roman cardinal-priest of the church of Sant'Anastasia before his election, he left a quiet, poorly documented reign confined largely to routine confirmations of monastic privileges in Italy, France, and Germany. His pontificate produced no major doctrinal or political initiatives. The numbering of popes named Stephen is famously confused owing to the disputed 752 election, so he is sometimes designated Stephen VI. He died in early 931.

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Stop 0 of 1928–931Born

RomeרומאItaly

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Rome in this era

Between the 8th and 15th centuries Rome was the seat of the popes and capital of the Papal States, which grew from the Frankish king Pepin's grant of 756; Charlemagne was crowned emperor in St Peter's in 800. The city shrank far below its ancient size, and from 1309 to 1377 the popes resided at Avignon before returning to Rome.

About Rome

Rome, on the Tiber in central Italy, grew from an Iron Age settlement into the capital of the Roman Republic and then of an empire that by the 1st century CE ruled the whole Mediterranean. Its Jewish community, attested from the 2nd century BCE, is among the oldest in Europe. Christian tradition holds that the apostles Peter and Paul died there, and the city became the seat of the popes. After the Western Empire ended in 476 it passed to Gothic kings, to Byzantium and then to papal rule as capital of the Papal States, until it became the capital of unified Italy in 1871. Vatican City, independent since 1929, lies within it.

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Pope Stephen VII’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Pope Stephen VII’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

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