The Pactum Sicardi was a treaty signed on 4 July 836 between the Greek

Duchy of Naples The Duchy of Naples (, ) began as a Byzantine province that was constituted in the seventh century, in the lands roughly corresponding to the current province of Naples that the Lombards had not conquered during their invasion of Italy in the si ...

, including its satellite city-states of

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

and Amalfi, represented by Bishop John IV and Duke Andrew II, and the Lombard Prince of Benevento, Sicard. The treaty was an

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

ending a war between the Greek states and Benevento, during which the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

had not intervened on behalf of its subjects. It was supposed to last five years between the Lombard prince and the Neapolitans. It was a temporary armistice and was distinguished from other treaties such as '' Pactum Warmundi'', which established temporary alliances. The political situation in the

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

region during the ninth- and tenth-century was described as unstable and typified by constant tensions between and within the neighbouring polities. The Pactum Sicardi assumed the form of a multi-clause treaty that probably aimed to address all possible causes of conflict between the two signatories. By the treaty, Prince Sicard recognised the rights of merchants from the three cities to travel through his domains. He made navigation up the rivers Patria, Volturno, and Minturno open to merchants, ''responsales'' (envoys), and ''milities'' (soldiers). Sicard did not give up his powers of enforcement over either the illegal slave trade (in Lombards) or the trafficking of stolen merchandise. He did abolish the '' lex naufragii'' (law of shipwreck) by which the landowner on whose shores a wrecked ship or its cargo washed up was the possessor of that wealth: "If a ship is wrecked because of the fault f the men aboardthe goods found in it are to be returned to the one to whome they belonged and still belong." This measure, protecting the property rights of shipping companies and merchants, was "far in advance of these times".Lopez and Raymond, 33–35, who provide an English translation of a long excerpt from the

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...

original. Despite these efforts, a war began again in 837, when Duke Andrew of Naples called in

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

as allies against Benevento. In 838 Sicard captured Amalfi by sea. The Pactum Sicardi has indicated the interest of the parties on this territory, particularly with the fragmentary reference of the treaty, which detailed an interest on both sides to control the activities of the Amalfitans.

Notes

Sources

* Gwatkin, H. M., Whitney, J. P. (ed) et al. (1926). ''The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Lopez, Robert S. and Raymond, Irving W. (1951). ''Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World''. New York: Columbia University Press. . {{refend

External links

The Art of ''Mercantantia'': Medieval Commerce and Culture in Southwestern Italy
9th century in Italy Byzantine Italy 9th-century treaties 836