This chapter documents the precipitous collapse of the fortunes of the papacy, and the Roman Church more generally, following the murder of John VIII in 882. A series of short-lived pontiffs must devote their energy to attempts to protect the city of Rome from physical assault, but the loss of any semblance of security in the surrounding hinterland leads to an economic collapse reflected in the archaeological record, the apparent absence of new building projects or significant gifts of precious objects, and also the discontinuation of the series of papal biographies (Liber pontificalis). The one exception is the Life of Stephen V (885–891), and this reveals the complete impoverishment of the papal treasury. The pope is reduced to making gifts of books, and this leads to a substantial discussion of what is known about book culture in Rome in the ninth century.