In 1035, William Iron-Arm, the first of the Hauteville boys, arrived in southern Italy to back a Lombard nobleman against Zoë’s forces. Sicily remained Muslim, while Naples and Apulia belonged to Zoë – and Rome was ruled by the Marozian pope Benedict IX, son of Alberic of Tusculum. Benedict, elected at twenty, became notorious for ‘his rapes, murders and other unspeakable acts of violence and sodomy’, according to a later pope. ‘His life as a pope was so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it.’ But Benedict’s conduct was typical of a priesthood that was denounced by the reforming priest Damian in his aptly titled
Tancred de Hauteville, a minor Norman baron descended from a Viking named Hiallt, had twelve sons, so most of them had to seek their fortunes abroad.
The two eldest brothers, Drogo and William, arrived in Italy where they fought for all sides. In 1036, one of the Arab amirs of Sicily appealed to Empress Zoë, who raised an army that included Viking mercenaries led by a Norwegian prince Harold Hardrada and the Hauteville brothers. Zoë’s Sicilian expedition was a disaster; the imperious Romaioi disrespected the Hautevilles, who thereafter hated Constantinople. The brothers changed sides, joined the army of Heinrich, defeated Zoë’s forces and seized Apulia. Heinrich (now emperor) recognized Iron-Arm William as count of Apulia. In 1042, they were joined by Humphrey and Robert. The latter was known as Guiscard, meaning Wily, and was best described by Anna Komnene, emperor’s daughter and the finest (female) historian of the era: ‘His stature was so lofty that he surpassed even the tallest, his complexion was ruddy, his hair flaxen, his shoulders were broad, his eyes all but emitted sparks of fire – he was neatly and gracefully formed from tip to toe.’ Robert arrived alone, too poor to afford a servant, but his brother Iron-Arm died soon afterwards and Count Drogo fobbed him off. Robert earned his nickname with his trick of taking castles by pretending to be dead, being borne into the castles inside a coffin by his solemn warriors – only to kick the lid off and spring out, sword in hand.
In 1053, the rise of the Hautevilles was suddenly challenged from a surprising direction. A new pope, Leo IX, a German priest backed by Heinrich, launched a resurgence of the papacy, banning simony and ordering celibacy for priests, a concept unique to the Catholic Church. And terrified of the ‘wicked race’ of Hautevilles, he led an army southwards to destroy them. Instead Wily Robert and his brother Humphrey defeated and captured Leo, an experience that convinced the Holy Father that he needed closer relations with Constantinople, where – Zoë having died – her widower Monomachos now ruled. But in Constantinople Leo’s delegates achieved the opposite, aggressively confronting the Greeks about their differences in doctrine.* Behind this lurked a rising confidence as western Europe became richer and more populous, combined with a seething jealousy of Constantinople, metropolis of sacred
The Hautevilles released Leo only when he recognized their territories. After the death of Humphrey, Robert became the count, now joined by the eighth brother, Roger, ‘a youth of the greatest beauty, of lofty stature, of graceful shape, eloquent in speech, cool in action, pleasant and merry, furious in battle’. Wily Robert already had a son Bohemond, but the foundation of a royal house was now within his reach so he rejected the first wife as a concubine and married a Lombard princess whose flaxen locks and Amazonian swagger equalled his own. This Sichelgaita fought in battle brandishing an axe. ‘When dressed in armour,’ writes Anna Komnene, ‘this woman was a fearsome sight.’
The schism with Constantinople left Pope Nicholas II no choice but to turn to the Hautevilles, whom he commissioned to conquer Sicily from the Arabs in a holy war. In 1060, they landed on the island.
North and south, the descendants of the Vikings were changing Europe. In Sicily, 1066 was another of year of stalemate for the Normans, but not in northern Europe. That year William the Bastard, duke of Normandy, descendant of Rollo the Viking, invaded England.
