Herleva de Mortain Falaise

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• Reference Number: 8093

Notes:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Falaise-2

BIOGRAPHY FROM GENEALOGICS.ORG:

Herleve, also known as Herleva, Harlette, Arlette, Arletta and Arlotte, was born about the year 1000. She was the mother of William I of England. She had two further sons, Eudes of Bayeux and Robert, comte de Mortain, who became prominent in William's realm.

The background of Herleve and the circumstances of William's birth are shrouded in mystery. The written evidence dates from a generation or two later, and it is not entirely consistent. The most commonly accepted version says that she was the daughter of a tanner named Fulbert from the small Norman town of Falaise, where they lived. Translation being somewhat uncertain, Fulbert may instead have been a furrier, embalmer, apothecary, or a person who laid out corpses for burial. It is argued by some that Herleve's father was not any of these, but rather a member of the burgher class. The idea is supported by the fact that her brothers appear in a later document as attesters for an under-age William. Also, the count of Flanders later accepted Herleve as a proper guardian for his own daughter. Both facts would be nearly impossible if the father (and therefore the brothers) of Herleve was little more than a peasant.

According to one legend, still recounted by tour guides at Falaise, Herleve's relationship to Robert started when he, the young Duke of Normandy saw her from the roof of his castle tower. The walkway on the roof still looks down on the dyeing trenches cut into stone in the courtyard below, which can be seen to this day from the tower ramparts above. The traditional way of dyeing leather or garments was for individuals to trample barefoot on the garments which were awash in the dyeing liquid in these trenches. Herleve, legend goes, seeing the duke on his ramparts above, raised her skirts perhaps a bit more than necessary in order to attract his eye. The duke was immediately smitten and ordered her brought in (as was customary for any wench who caught the duke's eye) through the back door. Herleve refused, saying she would only enter the duke's castle on horseback through the front gate, and not as an ordinary commoner. The duke, filled with lust, could only agree. In a few days Herleve, dressed in the finest her father could provide, and sitting on a white horse, rode proudly through the front gate, her head held high. This gave Herleve a semi-official status as the duke's mistress. She later gave birth to his son William in 1028, and to a daughter Adela who may have been born in 1030.

Some sources maintain that Herleve married Herluin, vicomte de Conteville in 1031. According to these accounts, Robert always loved her, but the gap in their social status made marriage impossible, so to give her a good life he married her off to one of his favourite noblemen.

From her marriage to Herluin she had two sons: Eudes, who later became bishop of Bayeux and earl of Kent, and Robert, who became comte de Mortain and earl of Cornwall. Both had progeny, and became prominent during William's reign. Herleve and Herluin also had a daughter Emma who married Richard Le Goz, vicomte d'Avranches, and had progeny. It is unsure whether Herluin's unnamed daughter who married Guillaume, seigneur de la Ferté-Macé, was by Herleve or his second wife Fredesindis.

Some sources believe that Herleve died about 1050. According to the monk and chronicler Robert of Torigni (d.1186), she was buried at the abbey of Grestain, which was founded by Herluin and their son Robert around 1050. This would put Herleve in her mid forties around the time of her death. However, David C. Douglas, author of _William the Conqueror,_ suggests that Herleve probably died before Herluin founded the abbey because her name does not appear on the list of benefactors, whereas the name of Herluin's second wife Fredesendis does.

Family/Spouse: Robert I Duke of Normandy Normandie. Robert (son of Richard II Duke of Normandy and Judith Bretagne) was born on 22 Jun 1000 in Rouen, Duchy of Normandy; died before 3 Jul 1035 in Nicaea, Byzantine Empire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. William Guillaume of Normandy Normandie was born in 1027 in Normandie, France; died on 9 Sep 1087 in Rouen, Normandie, France.