[4][5] He was the great uncle of the chronicler Arnulf of Milan,[1][2] who describes him as "truly declining evil and doing good" (Latin vere declinans a malo et faciens bonum).
[5] The only recorded act from his three years and four months as archbishop is his attendance at Otto I's placitum (court) in Milan on 30 July 972.
[3][6] On that occasion, in the palace attached to the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Otto granted a privilege to the monastery of Bobbio "with the licence and permission of the archbishop Arnulf" (de licentia et permissione archiepiscopi Arnulphi).
[5] This may indicate that Arnulf held comital (public) authority in Milan and its contado (district).
[6] Paolo Morigia [it] asserted that it was Arnulf I who acquired from the Byzantine emperor the statue of the brazen serpent that now stands in the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio.