Thomas Brun, also le Brun or Brown, was son or nephew of William Brun (first to bear the name Le Brun), a clerk of

Henry I of England Henry I ( – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henr ...

. He travelled to

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

as a child in the entourage of Robert of Selby about the year 1130. He first appears in a document in Sicily in 1137. Thomas was a ''

kaid Qaid ( ', "commander"; pl. ', or '), also spelled kaid or caïd, is a word meaning "commander" or "leader." It was a title in the Norman kingdom of Sicily, applied to palatine officials and members of the ''curia'', usually to those who we ...

'', or ''magister'', of the royal Diwan throughout the reign of

Roger II Roger II or Roger the Great (, , Greek: Ρογέριος; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became ...

, whose favour he certainly had. His name appears in many official documents and it was probably he who drafted the foundation charter of the

Cappella Palatina The Palatine Chapel /ˈpælətaɪn ˈtʃæpəl/ () is the royal chapel of the Palazzo dei Normanni, Norman Palace in Palermo, Sicily. This building is a mixture of Byzantine architecture, Byzantine, Norman architecture, Norman and Fatimid archite ...

. He is known to have had a secretary named Othman, named in an Arabic source. He appears in charters in Latin, Greek, and Arabic. The Greek transcription of his name and title was ''μαστρο Θωμα του Βρουνου''. Upon the succession of

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

in 1154, Thomas was removed from office (possibly by the Emir Maio of Bari) and returned to England. There he became the

almoner An almoner () is a chaplain or church officer who originally was in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. The title ''almoner'' has to some extent fallen out of use in English, but its equivalents in other languages are often used f ...

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

Sources

* Norwich, John Julius. ''The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194''. London: Longmans, 1970. Anglo-Normans 12th-century English people 12th-century Sicilian people {{England-bio-stub