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Abelard of Hauteville[1] (c. 1044 – 1081) was the eldest son of Humphrey, count of Apulia and Calabria (1051–1057), and his Lombard wife, Gaitelgrima of Salerno, also known as Altrude. He was supposed to inherit his father's lands, but Robert Guiscard, his uncle and guardian, who was elected count on Humphrey's death, confiscated them.

In April 1064, Abelard joined three discontented barons (Geoffrey I of Conversano; Joscelin, Lord of Molfetta; and Robert, Count of Montescaglioso) in rebellion against Robert, who had just left for Sicily. They received the aid, financial and military, of Perenos, the Byzantine duke of Durazzo, and held out for several years, neither making headway against Robert nor he against them. On 1 January 1068, Romanus Diogenes was acclaimed emperor in Constantinople and the Greeks transferred their military attention to the Seljuk threat to their east. The rebellion fell apart and by February only Geoffrey remained. Abelard was exiled, but Robert forgave him and gave him cities.

Abelard was again at the head of a revolt later in December 1071. Then, he recruited not only the Byzantines, but his brother Herman, whose inheritance had also been confiscated by his guardian Guiscard at the same time, and the lords of Giovinazzo and Trani. To their aid came the prince of Capua, Richard Drengot, and the prince of Salerno, Gisulf II, both of whom feared the ascendancy of Robert Guiscard. Robert, however, did not leave the siege of Palermo. He preferred to ignore the insurrection, then spreading to Calabria, in favour of speeding up events in Sicily.
Family grave of the Hauteville, Abbey of the Holy Trinity (SS. Trinità), Venosa.

Palermo fell in 1072 and Robert returned to the peninsula the next year, easily putting down most of the rebels. However, he fell ill at Trani and was taken to Bari, where Sichelgaita, his wife, had the barons proclaim her son Roger Borsa his heir. Abelard was the only baron to dissent from the election of Roger, claiming that he was the rightful heir to the duchy. He rebelled yet again in 1078, with Geoffrey and Peter II of Trani again, and with the support of Jordan, Prince of Capua, Richard's son. A separate peace was made with Jordan and the rebellion, which was originally very well-organised, fell apart in 1079. Abelard was exiled in 1080. He travelled to Constantinople with his brother, where he was welcomed cordially by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus. He died, perhaps assassinated, probably in Illyria, in 1081, around April. He was buried in Greece and never brought back to Venosa, where most of his family lies to this day.

Herman of Hauteville (Ermanno in Italian) (c. 1045 – 1097) was the younger son of Humphrey, count of Apulia and Calabria (1051–1057), and his Lombard wife, Gaitelgrima of Salerno, also known as Altrude. His older brother Abelard was supposed to inherit their father's lands, but Robert Guiscard, their uncle, who was elected count on Humphrey's death, confiscated them.

In 1064, Abelard was at the head of a revolt of the barons against the Guiscard. Robert put it down, but Herman was given as a hostage to the Greek catepan of Italy, Apochara, to ensure Abelard's continued loyalty. Upon his release, he went to Trani and held it during the revolt of 1071, when he lent his assistance to the rebels (including Abelard). In 1073, he was finally captured, by Guy, Duke of Sorrento, the constant ally of the Norman leadership in the Mezzogiorno. He was first imprisoned in Rapolla (at Melfi) and then taken to Mileto, then under Roger, Robert's brother. Eventually released, he travelled far away, to Constantinople. During Guiscard's Byzantine expedition of 1081–1082, he returned to the peninsula and took Cannae, which he held as count for over a decade before joining Bohemond, Robert's disinherited eldest son, on the First Crusade, where he was present at and died during the Siege of Antioch.