Sources
- Chalandon, Ferdinand. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile. Paris, 1907.
- Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longmans: London, 1967.
Geoffrey of Hauteville (also Gottfried, Godfrey, Godefroi, Goffredo, or Gaufrido; about 1020-1071) was a Norman military leader, the second youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville by his first wife Muriella. He joined his brothers in the Mezzogiorno around 1053, arriving with his half-brothers Mauger and William. He was certainly present at the Battle of Civitate in that year.
In that year, Humphrey, his brother the count of Apulia, gave Mauger and William the Capitanate and the Principate, respectively, with the title of count. When Mauger died later that decade (in 1054, according to Goffredo Malaterra), the county passed to William, who gave it to Geoffrey. In 1059, his brother Robert Guiscard, Humphrey's successor over Geoffrey, who was older, but had not been in the south as long, helped him quell a revolt in the Capitanate. He also ruled the region around Loritello, where his son Robert was invested as count, and he expanded his domains into those of the pope, conquering Gissi in the Abruzzi. His death is a matter of confusion. The Breve Chronicon Northmannicum states, on the authority of Goffredo Malaterra, that he died in 1063, but the chronicler apparently confused the many Geoffreys of the period. He probably died circa 1071.
He had been married in Normandy and he had three sons from that union: the aforementioned Robert; Ralph, who inherited Catanzaro; and William, who inherited Tiriolo. In the Mezzogiorno, he married, like his eldest brother William Iron Arm, a niece of the Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno, Theodora of Capaccio, daughter of Pandulf, lord of Capaccio, Guaimar's brother. From this second marriage was born at least one son, named Tancred, who was alive in 1103 and 1104. He also had a son, of unknown parentage, named Drogo or Tasso .
Robert "Guiscard" de Hauteville, sometimes Robert "the Guiscard", was a Norman adventurer remembered for his conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.
Roger I, nicknamed “Roger Bosso” and “Grand Count Roger”, was a Norman nobleman who became the first Grand Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101.
Tancred of Hauteville was an 11th-century Norman petty lord about whom little is known. He was a minor noble near Coutances in the Cotentin. Tancred is primarily known by the achievements of his twelve sons.
William I of Hauteville, known as William Iron Arm, was a Norman adventurer who was the founder of the fortunes of the Hauteville family. One of twelve sons of Tancred of Hauteville, he journeyed to the Mezzogiorno with his younger brother Drogo in the first half of the eleventh century (c.1035), in response to requests for help made by fellow Normans under Rainulf Drengot, count of Aversa.
Drogo of Hauteville was the second Count of Apulia and Calabria (1046–51) in southern Italy. Initially he was only the leader of those Normans in the service of Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno, but after 1047 he was a territorial prince owing fealty directly to the Emperor.
Humphrey of Hauteville, surnamed Abagelard, was the count of Apulia and Calabria from 1051 to his death.
Guaimar IV was Prince of Salerno (1027–1052), Duke of Amalfi (1039–1052), Duke of Gaeta (1040–1041), and Prince of Capua (1038–1047) in Southern Italy over the period from 1027 to 1052. From 1041 to 1052 the Duke of Napoli was his vassal. He was an important figure in the final phase of Byzantine authority in the Mezzogiorno and the commencement of Norman power. He was, according to Amatus of Montecassino, "more courageous than his father, more generous and more courteous; indeed he possessed all the qualities a layman should have—except that he took an excessive delight in women."
Serlo I of Hauteville was a son of Tancred of Hauteville by his first wife, Muriella, probably the youngest, though some sources call him the eldest. Born before 1010, he was the eldest son of Tancred's to remain in Normandy. After a dispute with a neighbour, whom he killed over an insult, Serlo was exiled for three years. Around 1041, his father died and he inherited the small fief of Hauteville in the Cotentin and the sirery of Pirou through his wife. He was regarded, as were his brothers, as an exceptional warrior.
Guaimar III was the Lombard prince of Salerno from around 994 to his death. Under his reign, Salerno entered an era of great splendour. Opulenta Salernum was the inscription on his coins. He made Amalfi, Gaeta and Sorrento his vassals and annexed much of Byzantine Apulia and Calabria.
Richard Drengot was the count of Aversa (1049–1078), prince of Capua and duke of Gaeta (1064–1078).
Gaitelgrima is a Lombard feminine name.
Jordan of Hauteville was the eldest son and bastard of Roger I of Sicily. A fighter, he took part, from an early age, in the conquests of his father in Sicily.
Mauger of Hauteville was a younger son of Tancred of Hauteville by his second wife, Fressenda. He travelled to the Mezzogiorno with his brother William and his elder half-brother Geoffrey around 1053, though some sources indicate him coming later, c.1056.
William of Hauteville was one of the younger sons of Tancred of Hauteville by his second wife Fressenda. He is usually called Willermus instead of Wilelmus in Latin annals and so is often called Guillerm instead of Guillaume in French.
Herman of Hauteville was the younger son of Humphrey, count of Apulia and Calabria (1051–1057), and his Lombard wife, Gaitelgrima of Salerno, also known as Altrude. His older brother Abelard was supposed to inherit their father's lands, but Robert Guiscard, their uncle, who was elected count on Humphrey's death, confiscated them.
Geoffrey the Elder was an Italo-Norman nobleman. A nephew of Robert Guiscard through one of his sisters, he was the count of Conversano from 1072 and the lord of Brindisi and Nardò from 1070, until his death.
The Hauteville was a Norman family originally of seigneurial rank from the Cotentin. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. By 1130, one of their members, Roger II, was made the first King of Sicily. His male-line descendants ruled Sicily until 1194. Some Italian Hautevilles took part in the First Crusade and the founding of the Principality of Antioch (1098).
The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1139, involving many battles and independent conquerors.
The noble House of the Sarlo descends directly from Serlo I of Hauteville, son of Tancred de Hauteville and his first wife Muriella. Sarlo the first had a son from his marriage with the daughter of the Lord of Pirou also called Sarlo. Sarlo II went in the Mezzogiorno with his uncles to seek fortune.
The County of Apulia and Calabria, later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria, was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1042 in the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It became a duchy when Robert Guiscard was raised to the rank of duke by Pope Nicholas II in 1059.
