Sicard of Benevento
Sicard (d.
839) was the prince of Benevento from
832. He was the last prince of a united Benevento which covered most of the
Mezzogiorno. On his death, the principality descended into civil war which split it permanently (except for very briefly under
Pandulf Ironhead from
977-
981). He was the son and successor of the
Spoletan Sico.
He warred against the
Saracens and his neighbours continually, especially
Sorrento,
Naples, and
Amalfi. He was the strongest military and economic power in the region. By the
Pactum Sicardi of
4 July 836, he signed a five year armistice with the three aforementioned cities and recognised the right of travel of their merchants. Nonetheless, war continued. In a war of
837 with Duke
Andrew II of Naples, the latter called in the first Saracens as allies and a trend began, drawing more and more Moslems into Christian wars on the peninsula. He also captured Amalfi in
838 by sea.
Despite his warmaking, he was also a builder. He built a new church in Benevento and to equip it with relics, rescued those of
Saint Bartholomew, then in the
Lipari Islands, from the Saracens by hiring some Amalfitan merchants to retrieve them. In his capture of Amalfi, he took the relics of
Saint Trofimena, recently brought there from
Minori[
1].
Sicard was assassinated in 839 and the treasurer
Radelchis immediately proclaimed himself prince. But Sicard's brother,
Siconulf, broken out of prison, was proclaimed in
Salerno and a ten year civil war broke out.
*
Gwatkin, H.M.,
Whitney, J.P. (ed) et al.
The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III.
Cambridge University Press,
1926.
*
The Art of Mercantantia: Medieval Commerce and Culture in Southwestern Italy*
Lexikon des Mittelalters VII.1833
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