Jordan of Hauteville

In 1077, at the siege of Trapani, one of two Saracen strongholds remaining in the west of the island, Jordan led a sortie which successfully surprised the guards of the garrison's grazing animals.

He was present at the siege of Taormina in 1079 and, in 1081, with Robert of Sourdeval (or Sourval) and Elias Cartomi (a Saracen turncoat), he retook the city of Catania from the last emir of Syracuse, Ibn Abbad, 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.

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.

[2] 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 became a leper, then he had been designated heir apparent.