The Hautevilles

From the 8th century, the men of the North — the Normans — leave the coasts of Scandinavia and Denmark in sleek flat-keeled ships, fit for both the icy sea and the rivers. Population growth, more than famine, drives the boldest to piracy and adventure. The first documented deed is the sack of Lindisfarne Abbey, in 793. Three routes emerge: the Danes westward (Frisia, England, Atlantic France), the Norwegians north and south (Iceland, Greenland with Erik the Red, as far as North America with Leif), the Swedes eastward (Russia, the Black Sea).

In 911, Charles III the Simple grants a fief to Rollo (Hrolf), a Norman chief, who accepts baptism: his people merge into the Carolingian world. The fief becomes in 924 the Duchy of Normandy, capital Rouen. Rollo’s great-grandson, William « the Conqueror » (1027-1087), natural son of Duke Robert I, takes power in 1046. Named heir by his cousin Edward the Confessor, but betrayed by Harold of Wessex, he lands in Sussex and wins at Hastings in 1066: he becomes King of England. Normandy is thus a possession of the King of England and a fief of the King of France.

In the early 11th century, Norman adventurers reach southern Italy as pilgrims and mercenaries. Around 1016 they free Salerno from the Saracens; in 1030 Rainulf Drengot obtains the county of Aversa, the first Norman nucleus. In 1038, three sons of Tancred of Hauteville — William « Iron Arm », Drogo and Humphrey — follow the Byzantine army into Sicily. In 1042, at Melfi, the Normans proclaim William count of Apulia. The region is divided among their twelve chiefs.

Robert « Guiscard » (the cunning), half-brother of the first counts, arrives in Italy with few men and prevails by daring. In 1053 he captures Pope Leo IX at Civitate. In 1059, by the concordat of Melfi, Pope Nicholas II recognizes him Duke of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily. He takes Bari in 1071, Palermo in 1072 with his brother Roger’s help. He dreams of the East: he lands in Greece but dies of plague near Cephalonia in 1085. His brother Roger I, « the Great Count », completes the conquest of Sicily in 1091.

Roger II, son of the Great Count, unifies all the Norman fiefs and is crowned King of Sicily at Christmas 1130. A learned king of Eastern splendour, he protects the arts and the Latin, Greek and Muslim cultures. On his death (1154) he is succeeded by William I « the Bad » and William II « the Good ». Without a direct heir, William II marries his aunt Constance to Henry VI of Hohenstaufen. After the interlude of Tancred of Lecce, Henry VI conquers the kingdom (1194). Constance, the last of the Hautevilles, gives birth at Jesi to the future Frederick II and dies in 1198.

The male dynasty dies out with Constance (1198), but Norman blood continues by several paths. Albiera (Elvira) of Hauteville, of the kings of Sicily, marries Tegrimo VI of the Conti Guidi: from this union descends the MALE line which, through the Conti Guidi of Porciano and Val d’Ambra, gives rise to the Guerri of Siena, then the Guerri dall’Oro, down to Léon. A second path, through the Gesualdo of Hauteville, reaches the Caracciolo, the Spinelli, the Acquaviva and the d’Avalos, then the Pignatelli (1772) and the Gallone (1796). The blood of the Hautevilles thus flows, twice, to the family.