ARIBONE. — Archbishop of Mainz (1021–31), from the family of the Bavarian counts palatine and therefore a relative of Emperor Enrico II (1002–24). He began as a deacon in Salzburg and soon became chaplain to Emperor Enrico II. He was raised by the latter to the archiepiscopal see of Mainz through the investiture received in the monastery of Gandersheim, which he renounced in 1030 following the prolonged hostility of the bishops of Hildesheim, Bernwardo and Godehardo. A. worked for the election of Emperor Corrado II (1024–39), whom he himself consecrated in the metropolitan church of Mainz. Nevertheless, A. devoted himself more to the interests of the Church and of his archbishopric than to political affairs. He promoted divine worship and ecclesiastical discipline, as the Synod of Seligenstadt, celebrated as early as Aug. 1022, demonstrates. Endowed with a high degree of culture, he promoted the sciences, especially by appointing Ekkehardo IV of S. Gallo director of the schools of Mainz.
His contemporaries praised his ecclesiastical spirit, prudence, justice, and interest in the construction and decoration of the Cathedral. Because of a differing conception of certain matrimonial questions, he had some disagreements with Pope Benedetto VIII (1012–24), but his unwavering fidelity to the Church of Rome
remains demonstrated by his participation in the coronation of Emperor Corrado II, which took place in Rome in 1027, as well as by his presence at the Lateran Synod of that year, and above all by the pilgrimage « ad limina Apostolorum », which he made in 1031. He died at Como on the return journey; his body was buried in the cathedral church of Mainz, where his tomb was discovered in 1025.