CHRISTOPHER, PRIMICERIUS. - A very important figure in Roman history of the second half of the 8th century. Adviser to Stephen II and inspirer of the policy of Paul I, he had to flee upon the latter's death, following the reaction of the aristocracy, which under the leadership of Toto, duke of Nepi, elected as pope his brother Constantine. Having returned, however, with the help of the troops of the duke of Spoleto and entered the city, he had the people elect a Sicilian, pious but weak, Stephen III (Aug. 768). C. was in favor of a policy of understanding with the Franks and to that end sent there his son Sergius, who was secundicerius. But the Lombard king Desiderius managed to persuade the Pope to abandon C. Thus, when the king came to Rome in 771, there was a brief attempt at armed defense, then C. and his followers tried to flee. His antagonist was the cubicularius Paul Afiarta (v.). Having fallen prisoner, C. was blinded and died of grief three days later.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: O. Bertolini, Roma di fronte a Bisanzio ed ai Longobardi, Bologna 1943, pp. 621-30, 632-63 and passim; id., La caduta del primicerio C. (771) nelle versioni dei contemporanei e le correnti antilongobarde e filolongobarde in Roma alla fine del pontificato di Stefano III (771-72), in Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia, 1 (1947), pp. 227-62, 349-78.

Paolo Brezzi

@incollection{ec4_cristoforo_primicerio, author = {Brezzi, Paolo}, title = {Cristoforo, primicerio}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {926}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/cristoforo-primicerio} }

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Christopher, Primicerius

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