Origins
The familial origins had roots from the Norsemen Vikings who had settled in Normandy in the 10th century. In Geoffrey Malaterra's account The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of His Brother Robert Guiscard, several allusions are made to the family's ties to the Viking conquest of Normandy by Rollo. 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.
According to Goffredo Malaterra the fourth son by Tancred's second wife, Fressenda, was one Aubrey or Alverardus who remained behind in Normandy. About the time of the Doomsday Book in 1086 a Alverardus or Aluericus Hautville (Halsvilla, Altavilla or Hauteville) is mentioned as having previously held lands in Compton Martin, Somerset, England. His kinsman Ralf de Hauville (also Halsvilla) is mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086 as a tenant-in-chief in Burbage and Wolfhall in Wiltshire. Alverardus most probably founded the Somerset Hautevilles and Ralf most probably founded the Wiltshire/Berkshire Hauvilles. A later group of Hautvilles, Ralf, Humphrey and Tancred are thought to have come to England from the Cotetin with Henry II in 1154. This group settled in Norfolk.
Read more about this topic: Hauteville Family
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