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 While not predicting Matthew to be