Maio of Bari

Maio of Bari (Italian: Maione da Bari) (died 10 November 1160) was the third of the great admirals of Sicily and the most important man in the Norman kingdom of Sicily during the reign of William I (1154–66). Lord Norwich calls him "one of the most influential statesmen in Europe."

Maio was born in the first decades of the twelfth century to Leo of Rayza and Kuraza, members of the urban upper class in Bari. Leo is documented as a judge in Bari between 1119 and 1135, as a royal justice from 1141 and as a regalis supra iudex ("royal superior judge") or protoiudex ("first judge") from 1142 to 1147. He was dead by 1155. The death of Maio's mother, Kuraza, is recorded in the necrology of the cathedral of Salerno as falling on 26 July 1158. The contemporary Liber de regno sicilie, a partisan source, falsely claims that Maio was the son of an oil merchant. In his Chronicle and Annals, Romuald Guarna (died 1181/2), a partisan of the other side, calls Maio "certainly an eloquent, fully honest and discreet man" (vir utique facundus, satis providus et discretus).

Maio is first documented as the royal scriniarius, the official in charge of the archive of the royal court (curia regia), in a royal concession to the monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena di Valle Giosafat in October 1144. Down to February 1148 he continued to witness documents, always as scriniarius, whenever the chancellor, Robert of Selby, was absent. The written record attests that he was constantly present with the court at either Messina or Palermo during this period. In 1149 he was granted the title "vice-chancellor" (vicecancellarius), which appears to have been created specifically for him. His new rank probably reflected a change in status, from that of a functionary internal to the chancery to a more clearly defined role in the government. After the death of Robert of Selby he was promoted to head the chancery. He first appears with the title of "chancellor" (cancellarius) in May 1152, in an Arabic-language document of the duana regia (or dīwān al-ma’mūr), the office which controlled the royal fisc, concerning a dispute between the monastery of San Giorgio di Triocala and the lord of Calamonaci.

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