Page "Pope Stephen III" Paragraph 4

The role of Stephen III in these events is somewhat obscure.

According to the historian Horace Mann, Stephen was an impotent observer, and that the responsible agent was in reality the Chartularius, Gratiosus.

However, according to Louis Marie DeCormenin, Stephen was the key person responsible for issuing the orders, and took great delight in destroying his rival and his supporters.

A middle position was taken by the historian Ferdinand Gregorovius, who observed that Stephen, while he may not have instigated or ordered the atrocities, did not seek to prevent them either, either through self-interest or the weakness of his position.

What is clear however, is that the recent creation of the Papal States had seen the traditional rivalries of the ruling families of Rome transformed into a murderous desire to control this new temporal power in Italy, dragging the papacy with it.