Nicholas Picingli

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Nicholas (or Nicolaus) Picingli was the Byzantine strategos of Bari who led the Greek contingent in the famous Battle of Garigliano in 915.

He was appointed in 915 to replace Melisianus by Emperor Constantine IX. He immediately set to work rounding up the various south Italian princes in a concerted effort to expel the Saracen menace. He had the assistance in this endeavour of the Byzantine navy. The Lombard prince of Salerno, Guaimar II, and the prince of a united Capua and Benevento, Landulf I, joined his standard and together they marched north towards the River Garigliano, where the Saracens' chief fortress was. The thalassocrats of Gaeta and Naples, Dukes John I and Gregory IV respectively, both technically Byzantine vassals, came to his camp to receive Byzantine titles and the duke of Gaeta and his son, Docibilis, and the duke of Naples and his, John, were made patricians. This large force met that of Pope John X, who was personally leading an army of Latins, Romans, and Tuscans, and that of Alberic I of Spoleto. They met the Saracens in June and the battle was a rout.

He was relieved of his post in 921.

[edit] Sources

• Gwatkin, H.M., Whitney, J.P. (ed) et al. The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III. Cambridge University Press, 1926.