Herluin de Conteville (1001?1066^[1]), also sometimes listed as Herlevin De Conteville, was the stepfather of William the Conqueror, and the father of two men who became prominent in William's reign.

No contemporary record provides the parentage for Herluin^[2], although much later sources have assigned him parents (such as the otherwise unknown Jean De Conteville (965) and Harlette de Meulan). Herluin was a lord of moderate income and some land on the south side of the river Seine. He was viscount of Conteville, probably so created by his stepson. and held the honour of Saint-Marie Eglise, a portion of the county of Mortain. He had a castle there, and founded in its neighbourhood the Abbey of Grestain, in which he and his wives were buried.^[1]

Towards the beginning of the 11th century, Conteville and its dependences appear to be in the hands of Herluin, who married Herleva, the mistress of Robert II, Duke of Normandy and already mother of William the Bastard, called William the Conqueror later. Herluin and Herleva had two sons and one daughter: Odo or Eudes, who became bishop of Bayeux, and Robert who became Count of Mortain; both were prominent in the reign of their half-brother William. The daughter, sometimes called Muriel, married Guillaume, Seigneur de la Ferté-Macé.^[1]

After the death of Herleva (1050), Herluin married Fresendis, who was his wife when he founded Grestain Abbey. By that time she had born him two sons: Raoul de Conteville (d. aft. 1089), who later held land in Somerset and Devon,^[1] and Jean de Conteville. Little is known of the sons of his second marriage.^[2]

Herluin was afflicted with leprosy or some similar disease, and was inspired to found the abbey of Grestain in hopes of achieving a cure..

References

• Bates, David. "Notes sur l'aristocratie normande: Hugues, évêque de Bayeux (1011 env. - 1049) et Herluin de Conteville et sa famille." Annales de Normandie 23 (1973): 7-38.

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