Hauteville Family - Mezzogiorno

Mezzogiorno

The eldest of the twelve sons, William and Drogo, were the first to arrive in the south sometime around 1035. They so distinguished themselves against the Greeks that William was inaugurated as count of Apulia and Calabria and lord of Ascoli, Drogo as lord of Venosa. In 1047, Drogo was confirmed by the Emperor Henry III as William's heir and a direct vassal of the imperial crown. Their next brother, Humphrey, succeeded Drogo and defeated Pope Leo IX at the Battle of Civitate, making the Hauteville power the highest in the region. He was in turn succeeded by a fourth brother, the first by Tancred's second wife, Robert Guiscard.

It was Robert who began the conquest of Sicily which was to yield a kingdom seventy years later, as he renewed the war against Byzantium with vigour. Along with the valiant warriorship displayed by his youngest brother, Roger Bosso, the two began to amass notoriety around the Mediterranean. According to William of Apulia's The Deeds of Robert Guiscard, although his Norse roots would seem to suggest otherwise, until the invasion of Sicily, Guiscard had not participated in naval warfare. It was during this conquest that Guiscard and his amphibious command pioneered the ability to transport over 200 troops in a mere 13 vessels, an advantage that would have an influence in the Norman invasion of England. In 1059 he was created duke by the pope and invested with as yet unconquered Sicily, which he gave, in 1071, to his brother Roger with the title of count. The Guiscard's heirs, Bohemond and Roger Borsa, fought over the inheritance and Roger of Sicily began to outshine the Apulian branch of the family. Roger united the Greek, Lombard, Norman, and Saracen elements of Sicily under one rule and refused to allow religious differences to spoil his conquests. By utilizing a tactic similar to the contemporary Spanish convention of La Convivencia, Roger was able to employ a policy of "conquest by accommodation" in order to unite the island in spite of being significantly outnumbered by the inhabiting Muslim population.

Roger bequeathed a powerful state to his young sons, Simon and Roger. It was this Roger who, upon inheriting all from Simon in 1105, began the quest to unite into one all the Hauteville domains: Apulia and Calabria (then under Borsa's son William II) and Taranto (which had been given to Bohemond as a consolation for being deprived of Apulia) with his own Sicily.