Quick Facts
Biography
Sicardus of Cremona (Latin: Sicardus Cremonensis; Italian: Sicardo) (1155–1215) was an Italian prelate, historian and writer.
Biography
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. (Sicardus episcopus Cremonensis).
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 (Province of Cremona).
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.
Works
- Chronica Universalis (1213) – covers universal history from the creation to 1213 and was used extensively by Salimbene de Adam in his Chronica.
- Summa Canonum (Magonza 1179-1181) – a digest of canon law.
- Apologia Sichardi – a defence against his detractors.
- Mitrale (in 9 books) - a work on ecclesiastical liturgy. Recently this work was published in a new edition: Sicardi Cremonensis episcopi Mitralis de officiis, ed. Gábor Sarbak and Lorenz Weinrich (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008).