Theodora

Theodora (also Teodora) (c. 870 – 916) was a senatrix and serenissima vestaratrix of Rome. Theodora, a Byzantine princess, was married to Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum, of the incredibly powerful Theophylact family. Her daughters Marozia and Theodora II adopted the title senatrix omnium Romanorum. Alberic II of Spoleto was her grandson and he ruled over Rome from 932 to 954.

Her daughter, Marozia, was the alleged lover of Pope Sergius III, and mother of Pope John XI. However, the annalist Flodoard (c. 894–966), a direct contemporary of Theodora's, says John XI was the brother of Count Alberic II of Spoleto. Because Alberic II was Marozia's son by her husband Count Alberic I of Spoleto, John was likely the son of Marozia and Alberic I.

Theodora was characterized by the aforementioned Liutprand as a "shameless whore ... [who] exercised power on the Roman citizenry like a man". Liutprand, a bishop of Cremona, was known to his contemporaries and modern historians as being unfair to adversaries.