Benediktos 6 was the brother of pope Sergius II (Sergios 60) (and therefore son of Sergios 59 and Anonyma 52, a native of Rome and of noble family); described as coarse and insensitive ("brutus et stolidus valde"); because of his brother's weaknesses he took control of ecclesiastical and public affairs at Rome ("propter imbecillitatem illius pontificis curam ecclesiasticam et publicam immerito usurpaverat"); described also as uncouth and unsophisticated ("insulsus et operibus rusticis deditus"), he embarked on an extravagant and wasteful building programme: Lib. Pont. 104. 40A.

Benediktos 6 visited the (Frankish) emperor bearing gifts and requested and obtained absolute authority at Rome ("primatum et dominium Romae ab eo petiit et concessisse sibi gloriabatur"); he is said to have behaved like an absolute ruler after his return there ("ad tantam perrupit contumaciam et vesaniam, ut monarchiam obtineret Romae"), exercising total control; his conduct is described as immoral and he was a womaniser, but nevertheless he usurped the bishopric of Albanum ("Albanensem episcopatum usurpare non metuit"); one of his first acts was the demolition of the splendid old church of St Martin and its reconstruction: Lib. Pont. 104. 41A. For three years he misused the revenues of monasteries and stole the wealth of individuals both at Rome and in the cities and towns subject to it, employing official imperial (i.e. from the Frankish emperor) documents and orders ("cum cartulis et praeceptis imperialibus"): Lib. Pont. 104. 42A.

During the three years of pope Sergios 60 and his brother simony is said to have flourished: Lib. Pont. 104. 43A. After the death of Sergios 60, Benediktos 6 perhaps set up an inscription in his brother's memory in the Church of St Martin: Rossi, ICUR II, p. 437 (cited by Duchesne, Lib. Pont. II, p. 103, n. 29) (the monogram of the donor's name perhaps read "Bened(ictus)"). On the position held by Benediktos 6 at Rome under the emperor Lothar (Lotharios 1)'s authority (perhaps "missus et apocrisiarius sanctae sedis apostolicae"), see the discussion by Duchesne, op. cit., p. 103, n. 30.

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