Sico was the Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 Prince of Benevento from the 817 to his own death.

Life

Before becoming the Prince of Benevento, he had been the gastald

Gastald

A gastald was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne with civil, martial, and judicial powers. By the Edictum Rothari of 643, the gastalds were given the civil authority in the cities and the reeves the like authority in the countryside...

 of Acerenza

Acerenza

Acerenza is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.-History:With its strategic position 800 m above sea-level, Acerenza has been sacked by a series of invaders....

. On the assassination of Grimoald IV

Grimoald IV of Benevento

Grimoald IV , son of Ermenrih, called Falco, was the Lombard Prince of Benevento from 806 until his death. He was a thesaurarius or stolesayz/stoleseyz before becoming prince on the death of Grimoald III, over Grimoald's own son, Ilderic, another stoleseyz.In 812, he was forced to pay 25,000 solidi...

, Sico succeeded to the princely throne. He made the same empty pledges of tribute and fealty to the Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

 Louis the Pious

Louis the Pious

Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...

 which Grimoald had made.

Sico tried to extend the principality at the expense of Byzantium

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

. He besieged Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 at an unknown date (perhaps c.831), but could not take the city. He did, however, remove the body of the Neapolitan patron saint, Januarius, who was originally from Benevento. It was also Sico who founded a line of rulers at Capua by bestowing that ancient fortress on Landulf I

Landulf I of Capua

Landulf I , called the Old, was the first gastald of Capua of his illustrious family, which would rule Capua until 1058. According to the Cronaca della dinastia di Capua, he ruled in Old Capua for twenty five years and four months and in New Capua for another year and eight months...

 as gastald. Landulf honoured his benefactor by naming his first castle Sicopolis.

Children

When Sico died he was succeeded by his son Sicard

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...

. His daughter Itta (also spelled Ita or Itana) married Guy I

Guy I of Spoleto

Guy I was the Duke of Spoleto from 842. He was the son of Lambert I of Nantes and Adelaide of Lombardy, the eldest daughter of Pepin of Italy. He travelled with his father in 834 in the entourage of Lothair I. He was given the abbey of Mettlach in Lotharingia in 840, when the Emperor Louis the...

, Duke of Spoleto. Sico is sometimes numbered "Sico I" and Sico of Salerno

Sico of Salerno

Sico II was the first prince of Salerno. Son and successor of Siconulf, he reigned from his father's death in 851 to his deposition in 853. He is given the ordinal "II" because he was the second Sico to rule in the south, the previous Sico being prince of Benevento.Sico was a minor when his father...

is numbered "Sico II".