William I of Sicily dies in 1166; his son succeeds him as William II.

As William is only eleven years old, he is placed under the regency of his mother, Margaret of Navarre, who appeals to her cousin, Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen, to send her a family member to aid and support her in government.

Coincidentally, another cousin, Stephen du Perche, is at that moment preparing to go on crusade to the Holy Land and so decides to visit Palermo, the capital of Sicily, for a few months; he will end up staying for two years.

He is very young at the time, described as puer and adolescens by William of Tyre, and may have still been in his teens.

Nevertheless, in November, Margaret appoints him chancellor.

His appointment is resented by the local nobility.

Margaret has Stephen elected as archbishop of Palermo, the highest ecclesiastic office in the land, in 1167.

He is ordained by Romuald, Archbishop of Salerno, only days before his elevation and it deeply rankles the old noblesse.

Romulad and Richard Palmer, bishop of Syracuse, both candidates for the vacant see of Palermo themselves, are strongly opposed, but Stephen's greatest opponent is Matthew of Ajello, a notary whom he had offended the year previous.

Stephen goes so far as to try and seize Matthew's mail, but nothing indicating conspiracy is ever proven against the notary.

Stephen is never consecrated, perhaps because had not attained the canonical age of thirty.

In this year as well, Henry, Count of Montescaglioso, the queen's brother, returns from the peninsula on the counsel of his friends, who had goaded him into making a complaint to his sister about the rank of Stephen.

Stephen wins Henry over, for a while, but rumors of an affair between Stephen and Margaret is enough to push him into a conspiracy.

Most of the Muslim staff of the palace and the eunuchs are involved in the plots and, …

…on December 15, Stephen promptly moves the court to Messina, whither he has implored his cousin Gilbert, Count of Gravina, to go with an army.

The plotters, led by Matthew of Ajello and Gentile, Bishop of Agrigento, go to Messina, but Henry, for reasons unknown, gives them up to a local judge.

At a meeting of the entire court, Gilbert accuses Henry of treason and the latter is imprisoned in Reggio Calabria.

By allowing Matthew to go free, however, Stephen has prepared the way for future plots against his life.