Sicard of Cremona

Who was Sicard of Cremona?

Sicardus of Cremona was an Italian prelate, historian and writer.

Sicardo was born into a Cremonese family, probably the Casalaschi. He studied law in Bologna and Mainz, then returned to Cremona where he became a subdeacon in 1183 and bishop of Cremona in 1185..

On April 18, 1188, Bishop Sicardo laid the first stone of a new castle to defend Cremona. This was an outpost toward Crema, the Castrum Leonis, today Castelleone.

In 1203 he followed the Pontifical legate Cardinal Peter of Capua to the East and during the Fourth Crusade he was found in Constantinople. In 1205 Sicardo returned to Cremona where he supported Frederick II against the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV of Braunschweig.

Sicardo died in Cremona in 1215.