Richard the Qaid

Richard (died 1187) was a kaid of the curia regis or diwan of Palermo during the latter years of the reign of William I of Sicily and during the regency of his wife, Margaret of Navarre, for their son William II. He was already the Great Chamberlain, or magister camerarius, when William I died in 1166.

Richard was a powerful opponent of the chancellors Peter and Stephen du Perche during the regency. He represented the palatine officials and the eunuchs, neither of whom Margaret trusted. After Stephen's fall in 1168, a privy council was formed to advise the regent and Richard was a member and familiaris. In 1169, his complex title was magister regie duane de sectretis qui est super omnes secretos: "master of the royal diwan of secretaries, who is above all secretaries". He was also the treasurer at that time and may have been acting as a sort of ammiratus ammiratorum, though nobody had officially taken that title ever since the murder of Maio of Bari in 1160.

Richard was sent by the privy council in 1171 to investigate royal property in Messina. He continued to hold his high post in the palace after the regency ended (1172) and until his death, though he took no more part in conspiracy.

Sources

• Norwich, John Julius. The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194. Longman: London, 1970.
• Matthew, Donald. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Cambridge University Press, 1992.