Alberic III, Count of Tusculum, obtains the…

Alberic III, Count of Tusculum, obtains the Papal chair for his son Theophylact III (or IV), who is a nephew of Pope Benedict VIII and Pope John XIX, at the death of the latter in October 1032.

He reportedly leads an extremely dissolute life and allegedly had few qualifications for the papacy other than connections with a socially powerful family.

Alberic uses the title of consul, dux et patricius Romanorum: "consul, duke, and patrician of the Romans."

This signifies his secular authority in Rome.

He also bears the titular comes sacri palatii Lateranensis ("Count of the Sacred Lateran Palace"), which signifies his ecclesiastical function in the papal curia.

During the pontificate of his brother John XIX, he had been made a senator, but he had had to abandon this title for the aforementioned consular dignity in order to avoid tensions with the Emperor Henry II.

Alberic does not appear in sources after 1033, when he leaves the comital powers to his son, the newly elected pope.