Geoffrey of Hauteville

Who was Geoffrey of Hauteville?

Geoffrey of Hauteville 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, 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.