Drogo De Hauteville

Drogo de Hauteville, Italian Drogo, or Drogone, d’Altavilla, French Dreu de Hauteville, (born, Hauteville-la-Guichard, Normandy [France]—died Aug. 10, 1051, Monte Ilario, Salerno [Italy]), Norman count of Apulia (1046–51), half brother of the conqueror Robert Guiscard. He led the Norman conquest of southern Italy after the death of his older brother William Iron Arm, whom he succeeded as count of Apulia.

Arriving in Italy about 1035 with William and his younger brother Humphrey, Drogo fought for the Byzantines against the Muslims in Sicily, and in alliance with the Lombards in Apulia against the Byzantines. In 1042 the Lombard prince Gaimar V of Salerno recognized William as count of Apulia and distributed the territories of Apulia among the Normans, giving Venosa, 80 miles (130 km) east of Naples, to Drogo. When William died in 1046, Drogo succeeded him as count of Apulia, marrying Gaimar’s daughter. Drogo’s title was confirmed in 1047 by the Holy Roman emperor Henry III. Drogo was assassinated, along with several of his followers, in an anti-Norman conspiracy as he entered the chapel of his castle at Monte Ilario to attend a mass on St. Lawrence’s Day, 1051.