Maio of Bari

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.

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).

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.

The Arabic writer Ibn al-Athīr, who called Maio a "sad governor" for his role in the rebellion against William I, translated his title as vizier.

The rebels stirred up riots in the capital of Palermo itself, where the people demanded the release of Count Simon of Policastro, whom Maio had imprisoned without trial.

In 1156, it was Maio who was primarily responsible for the Treaty of Benevento which ended hostilities between Sicily and the Holy See and preserved for William the legatine powers granted originally to his father.

On 10 November 1160, in the street called Via Coperta, Bonnellus and his conspirators stabbed Maio to death and severely wounded his chief protégé, Matthew of Ajello.

Though he neglected the widespread conquests (wrought largely by George of Antioch) of the kingdom, he assured a stability that proved after his death to be very volatile.

The King's confidence in him was so great as to result in the nomination of his brother Stephen and his brother-in-law Simon to high posts of captain in Apulia and seneschal.

According to his enemy the chronicler "Hugo Falcandus" put it: This Maio was a very monster; indeed, it would be impossible to find vermin more loathsome, more pernicious or more damaging to the Kingdom.

He was, in addition, much given to debauchery, for ever seeking to bring noble matrons and virgins to his bed; the more unstained their virtue, the more ardently did he strive to possess them.Maio wrote an "Exposition of the Lord's Prayer" in the scholastic tradition.