Beno of Santi Martino e Silvestro

Beno or Benno (fl. AD 1082–98), also known as Bruno, was an imperialist Roman Catholic cardinal and priest of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monte during the Investiture Controversy. He was one of the bishops who abandoned Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand) in 1084 and consecrated Antipope Clement III, the candidate of Emperor Henry IV, in Rome. He wrote the Gesta Romanae ecclesiae contra Hildebrandum, an account of the alleged misdeeds of Gregory.

Nothing is known of his date or place of birth, but since the time of Onofrio Panvinio in the 16th century he has been regarded as a German. He may have been from Lorraine. In his writings he praises Duke Godfrey III of Lower Lorraine and according to Alfonso Chacón, also writing in the 16th century, Pope Stephen IX, who was Godfrey's brother, appointed him cardinal of Santa Sabina. In fact all that is known with certainty is that he was the cardinal-priest of Santi Silvestro e Martino before the pontificate of Gregory VII.

On 4 May 1082, Beno participated in a meeting of cardinals that found it was illegal to use church property in the fight against the antipope, declaring that "the sacred things of the church are by no means to be expended on a secular army" (sacras res ecclesiarum nullatenus in militia saeculari expendendas) but are to be reserved for charitable use. Since earlier that year Pope Gregory had used the property of the church of Canossa against the antipope, the cardinals decision must be regarded as a direct rebuke of the pontiff. Most of these cardinals, including Beno, abandoned the pope two years later. In 1084, when the emperor came to Rome to have Clement enthroned in the Lateran thirteen cardinals, all deacons or priests, agreed to declare Gregory deposed and confirm the election of Clement. On 4 November, Beno and eleven other cardinals (including two bishops recently created by Clement) witnessed Clement grant a privilege to the church of San Marcello al Corso.

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