Viscardus

This name derives from the “Whiskard,” composed of two elements: Old Norse and Germanic “víss / vis” (wise, intelligent, cunning, smart one) plus “*harduz / *hardu-” (hard, strong, brave, fearless, powerful one). Robert Guiscard, called Guiscard (the smart), was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy and became Duke of Apulia and Calabria (1057–1085, titled count until 1057). Hauteville-la-Guichard is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France (population: 425 in 2006). It is famous as the original stronghold of the Hauteville family who made their fortunes in southern Italy and Sicily as the Norman kings of Sicily, beginning with the modest Norman seigneur Tancred of Hauteville, who is commemorated by a simple exhibit housed in the former “Presbytère.”