Herleva (c. 1005 – c. 1050) was an 11th-century Norman woman known for having been the mother of William the Conqueror, born to an extramarital relationship with Robert I, Duke of Normandy, and also of William's prominent half-brothers Odo of Bayeux and Robert, Count of Mortain, born to Herleva's marriage to Herluin de Conteville.
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Life
Herleva's background and the circumstances of William's birth are shrouded in mystery. The written evidence dates from a generation or two later, and is not entirely consistent, but of all the Norman chroniclers only the Tours chronicler and William of Malmesbury, the latter thought to have simply copied the Tours source, assert that William's parents were subsequently joined in marriage. According to Edward Augustus Freeman, the Tours chronicler's version cannot be true, because if Herleva married the Duke, then William's birth would have been legitimized, and thus he would not have been known as William the Bastard by his contemporaries.
The earliest source to refer to Herleva's origin is the early-12th-century additions made by Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum, where Herleva's father is named as Fulbert, who would become the Duke's Chamberlain (cubicularii ducis). Orderic reports the birth of William as occurring at Falaise, in Normandy, presumed to be Herleva's native town, apparently during 1026/7.
In a separate addition to the Gesta, Orderic relates an anecdote that has given rise to Fulbert being characterized with more humble origins, as a tanner. During his siege of Alençon, the townspeople are said to have called William peliciarius (pelterer) because his mother's kinsmen had been pollinctors. The latter is a rarely-used word, and two late-12th century poets, Wace and Benoît de Sainte-Maure, translate it differently, as parmentier (skinner/furrier/tanner) and peletier (tailor), respectively. An alternative suggested reading of pollinctors would see Fulbert as an embalmer, apothecary, or a person who laid out corpses for burial, the latter perhaps in turn an allusion to the court official who supervised that process, the chamberlain. Indirect evidence suggests that Herleva's father was not a lowly tanner but, rather, a member of the burgher class. Her brothers appear in a later document as attestors for an under-age William. Also, the Count of Flanders accepted Herleva as a proper guardian for his own daughter. Both of these would have been nearly impossible had Herleva's father only been a mere tanner, which would place his social standing little above that of a peasant.