Pope John XII personally leads an attack against the Lombard duchies of Beneventum and Capua in around 960, presumably to reclaim parts of the papal states which had been lost to them.

Confronted by the sight of John marching at the head of an army of men from Tusculum and Spoleto, the dukes of Beneventum and Capua appeal for help from Gisulf I of Salerno, who comes to their aid.

John retreats north and enters into negotiations with Gisulf at Terracina.

A treaty is secured between the two parties, and the price for Gisulf’s non-interference is John agreeing that the papacy will no longer claim Salerno as a Papal patrimony.

John soon finds that he is unable to control the powerful Roman nobility as his father had so effortlessly done.

At around the same time, Berengar II, King of Italy, begins to attack the territory of the pope.

In order to protect himself against political intrigues in Rome and the power of Berengar II, in 960 John sends papal legates to the King of Germany Otto I, who had previously been granted the rank of Patrician, asking for his aid.