He first appears as the notary of the
Admiral Maio of Bari who drew up the
Treaty of Benevento of 1156. He rose to prominence in the next reign, that of
William II of Sicily, becoming first
grand protonotary and then
chancellor. Maio groomed Matthew to be his successor and, it was alleged, even used him to get permission from
Pope Alexander III in
Rome for Maio to succeed
William I in 1159. On 10 November 1160, Matthew warned Maio of an impending assassination attempt, but to no avail. While Matthew escaped, Maio was killed by
Matthew Bonnellus. In 1162, Matthew interceded to prevent the William I from sacking
Salerno. On William's death, he became foremost among the advisors of the
queen regent,
Margaret of Navarre. After the rebellions of the later years of William's reign, Matthew compiled from memory a vast catalogue of records lost in the revolts. In 1166, he was a candidate for the chancellorship but was passed over in favour of
Stephen du Perche, which caused him lasting resentment. He took part in the conspiracies of
Henry, Count of Montescaglioso, but was not arrested. However, he joined with
Gentile, Bishop of Agrigento to assassinate Stephen in
Palermo after Henry's arrest in
Messina. This failed and both were arrested. Yet from prison Matthew coordinated a new conspiracy, and his plotters successfully besieged the chancellor in the cathedral tower and released Matthew, who offered the chancellor the opportunity to leave unmolested on
crusade, paving the way for Matthew's own rise to the chancellery. Matthew was not raised immediately to the rank of chancellor. He was first appointed vice-chancellor (1169), in which capacity he constantly advised Margaret against interfering in the crisis between church and state in
England, where Margaret supported
Thomas Becket and Pope Alexander III, and Matthew firmly supported King
Henry II, believing his cause was similar to that of the previous monarchs of Sicily. For similar reasons, in his later years he opposed
Walter of the Mill's feudalising and pro-
imperial policies. The chronicler Richard of San Germano described Walter and Matthew as "the two firmest columns of the Kingdom." Matthew was known to be a cruel bigamist. Though racked with
gout, which the poet
Peter of Eboli states he tried to cure by washing his feet in the blood of children. Matthew opposed the marriage of
Princess Constance paternal aunt of William II to Prince Henry of Holy Roman Empire, the future
Henry VI; while William II had named his aunt heiress to the Sicilian throne and ordered Matthew and others to swear fealty, Matthew induced Walter and other barons to support
Tancred, Count of Lecce, an illegitimate cousin of William, for the throne after the death of William. It was Matthew's propaganda against
Roger of Andria that ruined that claimant's candidature and secured Tancred's coronation and Matthew's urging that brought the
Pope Clement III on side. For this, Tancred created Matthew chancellor, the first since the flight of Stephen du Perche in 1168. In 1191 Emperor Henry attempted to invade Sicily to strive for the Sicilian crown for Empress Constance but failed and retreated, leaving Constance at Salerno as a sign that he would soon return.
Nicholas son of Matthew who had been made
archbishop of Salerno was hostile to Germans, and at then he was at Naples to help the defense there. He wrote letters to some friends at Salerno, and later they resubmitted to Tancred and handed Constance over to him. Unable to persuade Tancred to put Constance to death,
Queen Sibylla discussed with Matthew on the place to imprison Constance, and Matthew wrote a letter to Tancred at her presence, managing to persuade him to lock Constance in
Castel dell'Ovo at Naples, a castle on an island and surrounded by water to be better-guarded and secluded from people, in the custody of nobleman Aligerno Cottone who was defending Naples. In addition Matthew wrote to Aligerno ordering him to "
ut imperatricem in Castro Salvatoris ad mare benè custodiat" (guard the empress in
Castle of the Savior (i. e. Castel dell'Ovo) in the sea properly). However, only one year later under the pressure of
Pope Celestine III Tancred had to send Constance to Rome to exchange for his recognition from the Pope, and on the way Constance was released by German soldiers. Matthew's health, however, continued to deteriorate and he died at a great old age in 1193. He left as his monument a nunnery in Palermo named
San Benedetto. He had two sons of influence:
Richard, who was made count of
Ajello (
Calabria), and the aforementioned Nicholas. ==Assessment==