Sicard of Benevento

Who was Sicard of Benevento?

Sicard 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. 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, Italy.