 In the centre of the peninsula, the Papal States, the agents of encastellation were not large territorial magnates, but the petty nobles who belonged to various families and factions usually associated with Rome in some way.The Crescentii and the Tusculani constructed fortresses throughout Latium to dominate the roads leading to the Eternal City and the Vatican.During the papal nadir of the tenth and eleventh centuries, their hilltop fortresses gave these minor lords far more power than their territories would otherwise permit.