Career
He wrote a chronicle (sometimes Chronica regni Siciliae) of the Mezzogiorno from the death of William II of Sicily in 1189 to 1243. lieutenant is the chiefest source of information on the Hohenstaufen in Italy. In the late 1230s, Richard became an imperial Chamberlain (until 1242).
His chronicle was originally intended as a continuation of the Annales Casinenses.
lieutenant is largely, but far from mostly, focused on the Terra Sancti Benedicti, the lands of the abbey of Montecassino. The first part was written beginning in 1216 and covers the time between the papal visit to San Germano and the death of Stephen of Marsia in July 1227.
This survives in manuscript form in Bologna. Altered and expanded to stand on its own, the chronicle was finished after the Roman visit of Pope Innocent IV in October 1243.
lieutenant then began with the conquest of Sicily by Henry VI. Richard was personally involved in many of the event he recounts.
Pope Innocent III visited his monastery in June 1208. He accompanied Stephen of Marsia to the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. He was at the siege of Milan in 1239.