Pope John X was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States from March 914 to his death. A candidate of the counts of Tusculum, he attempted to unify Italy under the leadership of Berengar of Friuli, and was instrumental in the defeat of the Saracens at the Battle of Garigliano. He eventually fell out with Marozia, who had him deposed, imprisoned, and finally murdered. John’s pontificate occurred during the period known as the Saeculum obscurum.
Berengar (seated on the left) whom John X crowned emperor in December 915
Berengar I was the king of Italy from 887. He was Holy Roman Emperor between 915 and his death in 924. He is usually known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Friuli from 874 until at least 890, but he had lost control of the region by 896.
Berengar's imperial seal
The so-called Cross of Berengar, said to have been Berengar I's pectoral cross and now in the cathedral of Monza
Some coins of Berengar's found in Hungary, possibly from payments made to Magyar raiders or mercenaries
Berengar portrayed as emperor (Berengarius Imperator) in a twelfth-century manuscript