Herlève (Falaise) de Mortain (abt. 1003 - abt. 1055)

Born about 1003 in Falaise, Normandie, France [uncertain]

Descendants

Died about 1055 at about age 52 in Mortain, Normandie, France

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Biography

Herleva (Falaise) de Mortain is Notable.

• Herleve^[1]  : Herlava; Arlette (c.1003- c.1050)^[2][3]
• Arlette ^[1]

Parents

Herleve's father was Fulbert de Falaise. ^[4][5]

Herleve's mother was named Doda or Duwa. ^{[5] [6]}

The earliest accounts of Herleva come from Orderic Vitalis (1075 – c. 1142).^[7] They were not written down until 80 years after she met Robert the Magnificent. It was only through Wace and Benoit in the 12th century, and later 17th century writings, that she became known as a the daughter of tanner.^[8]

Scholarship discounts this based on examination of the original source, the context of the public heckling of Duke William, and the Latin and French words later chroniclers had trouble translating.^[8]

According to van Houts (1986), Fulbert was probably a mortician. He is described as, "a person who laid out corpses," and "might have embalmed bodies." As Chamberlain of the ducal court, this was one of Fulbert's duties.^[8]

The Legend of Robert and Herleve

According to one legend, still recounted by tour guides at Falaise, it all started when Robert, the young Duke of Normandy saw Herleva 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. Herleva, legend goes, seeing the Duke on his ramparts above, raised her skirts perhaps a bit more than necessary in order to attract the Duke's eye. The latter was immediately smitten and ordered her brought in (as was customary for any woman that caught the Duke's eye) through the back door. Herleva 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, Herleva, 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 Herleva a semi-official status as the Duke's mistress. ^[9]

1027 Robert I and William the Bastard

There is some controversy as to whether Herleve married Robert. Freeman reports their relationship as a marriage: "Herleve married first Robert, Duke of Normandy. Issue: William the Conqueror ^[10]

There is also the possibility that they were married according to "More danico", the "Danish Way". ^[11] She was referred to in the Grestain abbey as "a legitimate wife according to old Norman traditions." ^[12]

At the same time, up-and-coming reformists like pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand of Sovana) hoped to ban these customs and establish authoritarian rule. As a "concubine" through this lens, a "frilla" like Herleve is a glance at the long process of the Christianization of Europe, and the outing of indigenous culture.^[13][14]

Still struggling for power and legitimacy, the seat of Rome had barely cleaned up its own house, before it got caught between the Roman aristocracy, and the slaughter of the Saracens and unstoppable Norman "barbarians." Unable to maintain its own security, the papacy cut a deal with the devil, and asked for the backing of the Norman military. It worked, but Rome paid a fateful price before it was able to achieve absolute rule.^[14]

So at this juncture, the lack of a wedding sanctioned by the Roman church was no threat to the rank or inheritance of England's future Norman king.^[15] And by the time the Conqueror was on the throne, the papacy was lucky to have any influence on him at all.^[16] Incidentally, William was born around c.1028 in Falaise, Normandy.^[17]

Nevertheless, contemporary genealogists such as Douglas Richardson state that "she became the mistress of Robert I, Duke of Normandy, and by him had one illegitimate son, William the Conqueror, King of England, Duke of Normandy."^[1]

It should also be noted that while William was never known as "the Conqueror" during his life time, he was often referred to as "William the Bastard." ^[18]

1030 Marriage of Herleve and Herluin

About 1030 Herleve married Herluin de Conteville, Vicomte, seigneur of Conteville. ^[1] Some writers assume that the marriage to Herluin occurred only after Robert's death.

Herleve and Herluin had two sons, and one daughter:^[1]

1. Eudes or Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Earl of Kent, died Jan 1097 ^[1]
2. Robert de Mortain, Count of Mortain, ^[1] born after 1040 - d. 8 Dec 1090.
3. Muriel. ^[1]

1050 Grestain Abbey: ✝ Abbey Notre Dame de Grestain ✝

Herluin founded Grestain Abbey i Normandy about 1050. He and his wife renounced their claim to the tithe of Toutainville and to the vill called Mesnil-Dastin to Preaux Abbey. ^[1][19]

At some point, Herlave's second husband supposedly had leprosy.^[20] This is said to have inspired the couple to found the Abbey Notre-Dame de Grestain in 1050,^[20] but other sources state Herleva had no part in it.^[21] It's assumed Herlave is buried there or Mortain, Haute-Normandie.^[22]

1050 Death

Herluin's wife, Herleve, is thought to have been living in 1050-51, but died soon afterwards. ^[1]

Herluin and his first wife, Arlette, were buried in Grestain Abbey. ^[1]

Remarriage of Husband

Herluin married, 2nd, Fredesende. They had two sons, Jean, who appears to have died young, and Raoul Fitz Herluin (or de Conteville), seigneur of Corneville-sur-Risle and Martainville-en-Lieuvin, presumably Domesday tenant of Chapel Allerton, Huish (in Burnham), Adber (in Trent) and Brent, Somerset. Herluin de Conteville died about 1066. ^[1]

His widow, Fredesende, granted part of dower lands at Le Neubourg, Cantelou, and Honnaville, to Grestain Abbey. ^[1]

Issue

Documented Children

Herleve had children by both Robert and Herluin. Herleve and Herluin had two sons, and one daughter:^[1]

1. Guillaume de Normandie or William of Normandy, son of Herleve and Robert of Normandy, born at Falaise Castle in Normandy in 1027.
2. Eudes or Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Earl of Kent. ^[1], born 1030, died 1097.
3. Robert de Mortain, Count of Mortain, ^[1] born after 1040 - d. 8 Dec 1090.
4. Muriel. ^[1]

Other Children Attributed to Herleve

1. An uncertain daughter married Guillaume de la Ferté-Macé. She might have been the dau. of Frendesendis ^[23]
2. Adelais de Lens, born 1035 in Falaise Castle. ^[24]
3. Emma d'Avranches born April 30, 1039 in Conteville, Calvados

Research Notes

Some say family was from Chaumont in diocese of Liège but moved to Falaise, Calvados, Basse Normandie. Other state they were from Huy.^{[citation needed]}

living 1049.[6]

Additional notes from Unknown-290714

From http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/normans.htm

Falaise CastleEngland's first Norman king, the formidable William I, was born in 1028 at Falaise Castle. Wiliam was the illegitimate son of Robert 'the Devil' or the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy and his mistress Herleve, (sometimes called Arlette) the daughter of Fullbert, a tanner of Falaise. Before history renamed him the Conqueror he was more commonly known to his contemporaries as William the Bastard. Herleve was reported to have attracted Duke Robert with her dancing, in some accounts, he is said to have first caught sight of her while she was washing her linen in the castle moat.

The Norman dynasty had been founded by Robert's ancestor Rollo or Hrolf the Ganger, a Viking raider chief, who was granted the duchy by Charles the Simple, King of France, in 911, at the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, in exchange for feudal allegiance and conversion to Christianity at which he took the baptismal name of Robert.

William's mother, Herleve, also had a daughter, Adelaide, to Duke Robert. Although they had a long relationship, the gap in their social standing rendered marriage out of the question and Herleve was married off to one of Robert's vassals, Herluin, a knight. From this marriage, Herleve produced two further sons, Robert, who later became Count of Mortain and Odo, destined to become Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent and also to play a part in England's history.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16} Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Kimball G. Everingham, ed. Salt Lake City, Utah: 2013. Volume 5, page 487
2. ↑ Cawley, C. (2006). Medieval Lands. [1]
3. ↑ Wikipedia: Herleva;
4. ↑ Stewart Baldwin, Henry Project. [2]
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Charles Cawley, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Medieval Lands Database. [3]
6. ↑ Royals and Nobles: A Genealogist's Tool. pp.45. iUniverse, 2002).[4]
7. ↑ Wikipedia: Orderic Vitalis
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Van Houts, (1986). The Origins of Herleva, Mother of William the Conqueror. The English Historical Review, 101(399), pp. 399-404. Oxford University Press. JSTOR. Retrieved 26 Mar 2014.
9. ↑ Posted by Roger Wehr, 2011
10. ↑ "When the said William had been born, in that same year Duke Robert took as his wife the boy's mother, whom he had deflowered." (Freeman, 1870, pp.615)
11. ↑ Danish Way."
12. ↑ Arlette. Abbey Notre-Dame de Grestain
13. ↑ Abbey Notre-Dame de Grestain: The family of Arlette.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} Norwich, J. J. (2011). A History of the Papacy: Absolute Monarchs. NY: Random House. eBook.
15. ↑ Danish Way
16. ↑ Wikipedia:Pope Gregory VII
17. ↑ "William the Conqueror," (n.d.). bio.com. Web. Accessed 08 Mar 2014.
18. ↑ Wikipedia. William the Conqueror. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror. Accessed May 12, 2017. jhd
19. ↑ Wikipedia: Grestain Abbey; Abbey Notre-Dame de Grestain;
20. ↑ ^{20.0 20.1} Wikipedia: Grestain Abbey
21. ↑ Wikipedia: Herleva
22. ↑ Ogle, B. (2014, March 26). Herlave Falaise Mortain: Biography. WikiTree. Web.
23. ↑ Cawley, 2006.[5]
24. ↑ 1 GEDCOM asserts she had another daughter with Robert named Adelaide of Normandy (1029-1090).^{[citation needed]}

• Find A Grave: Memorial #90987094

See also:

• Abbott, J. (1903). William the Conqueror (pp. 41). N.p.
• Chronicle of St-Maxentius.
• Crouch, D. (2002). The Normans- The History of a Dynasty, (pp 52–53, 58). Hambledon.
• Douglas, D.C. (1964). William the Conqueror, (pp. 15, 381-382). Berkeley and LA: University of California Press.
• Freeman, E. A. (1867). The History of the Norman Conquest, (pp. 530, 615). N.p.
• McLynn, F. (1999). 1066: The Year of the Three Battles, (pp. 21–23). N.p.
• Palgrave, F. (1864). The History of Normandy and of England, (pp.145). N.p