Maieul was a Provençal who studied at Lyon and entered Cluny under Abbot Aymard, succeeding him as fourth abbot in 954. He governed Cluny for forty years (954–994) — its longest abbacy of the period — through which the Cluniac reform reached its peak of influence in the Empire.
Through him Cluny brought into its observance dozens of imperial monasteries, including the great houses of Aurillac, Marmoutier, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, and the imperial favorite of Otto I, Pavia. Emperor Otto III revered him and offered him the papacy in 991, which Maieul refused.
In 972 he was kidnapped by Saracen raiders in the Alps while returning from Italy and held for an enormous ransom — a famous incident that shocked Christian Europe and led directly to the expulsion of the Saracens from southern France. He died at Souvigny in 994. His successor Odilo extended Cluniac influence even further.