Jordan of Hauteville 4315402 221416960 2008-06-24T12:11:44Z 88.178.38.7 born after 1056 ; roger of hauteville arrived in southern italy after 1055 '''Jordan of Hauteville''' (born after [[1056]] - died [[12 September|12]]/[[18 September|18]]/[[19 September]] [[1092]]) was the eldest son and bastard of [[Roger I of Sicily]]. A fighter, he took part, from an early age, in the conquests of his father in [[Sicily]]. In 1077, at the siege of [[Trapani]], one of two [[Saracen]] stronholds remaining in the west of the island, Jordan led a sortie which successfully surprised the guards of the garrison's grazing animals. Its food supply now cut off, the city soon surrendered. He was present at the siege of [[Taormina]] in 1079 and, in 1081, with Robert de Sourval and Elias Cartomi, he retook the city of [[Catania]] from the last [[emir]] of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]] in another surprise attack. The next year, while his father was away helping [[Robert Guiscard]], his brother the [[Duke of Apulia]], Jordan was left in charge. But in the summer of 1083, Jordan led a few disaffected nobles in rebellion. His father returned and immediately blinded the leaders of the revolt, only pardoning his son at the last moment, to instill in him a healthy respect for authority. He was loyal ever thereafter. On [[22 May]] [[1085]], the fleet of his father anchored offshore of Jordan's own cavalry forces fifteen mile north of Syracuse. On May 25, the navies of the count and the emir engaged in the harbour and, the emir himself dying in battle, the forces of Roger landed ashore to find Jordan already besieging the city. The siege lasted throughout the summer, but the city eventually capitulated, leaving only [[Noto]] still under Saracen dominion. In February 1091, Jordan was present at the siege of that city as well. Jordan was made lord of Noto and count of Syracuse and there he died, of fever, probably in 1092<ref>Jordan undersigned a diploma of his father's in April 1092, though most sources still give him a death in 1091. The 1091 date comes from [[Goffredo Malaterra]] and a [[Palermo|Palermitan]] [[necrology]] which derives from Malaterra.</ref>. Despite having inherited all the Hauteville attributes which had made their rule in the [[Mezzogiorno]] all but inevitable, he had not been in line for the succession on account of his illegitimacy until his brother [[Geoffrey, Count of Ragusa|Geoffrey]] became a [[leper]], then he had been designated heir apparent. A stone recording his death can still be seen in the church of S. Maria in Mili S. Pietro, near [[Messina]]. In 1089, his father arranged his marriage to a daughter of [[Boniface del Vasto]]. Roger married, at the same time, [[Adelaide del Vasto]], another daughter of Manfred's. ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== *[[Goffredo Malaterra]], [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/history/weblearning/MedievalHistoryTextCentre/Malaterra%201.doc ''The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of Duke Robert Guiscard his brother'']. *[[John Julius Norwich|Norwich, John Julius]]. ''The Normans in the South 1016-1130''. Longmans: London, 1967. *Ghisalberti, Albert (ed). ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: II Albicante &ndash; Ammannati''. Rome, 1960. [[Category:Normans]] [[Category:1092 deaths]]