Hauteville family

The House of Hauteville (French: Maison de Hauteville, Italian: Casa d'Altavilla, Sicilian: Casa d'Autavilla) was a petty baronial Norman family from the Cotentin which rose to prominence in Europe, Asia, and Africa through its conquests in the Mediterranean, especially southern Italy and Sicily. They also participated in the Norman conquest of England.

Origins

The familial origins had roots from the Norsemen who had settled in Normandy in the 10th century. They are said to be descended from Hiallt, a Norseman who settled in the Cotentin Peninsula and founded the village of Hialtus Villa (Hauteville) from which the family takes its name. From just which village of Hauteville, which may simply mean "high town", the family drew its name is hard to identify with certainty, though modern scholarship favours Hauteville-la-Guichard.

The first of the family well known to us is Tancred of Hauteville, the founder of the eponymous villa. He remained until his death (c. 1041) a minor baron of Normandy, but he had twelve sons and at least two daughters by two wives, Muriel and Fressenda. His small patrimony was hardly enough to satisfy his sons' desire for land and glory and so eight of the twelve went south to the Mezzogiorno to seek their fortunes there.