Early 12th century additions made by Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum report that William the Conqueror was born at Falaise, in Normandy, to an extramarital relationship between Robert I, Duke of Normandy and Herleva, daughter of Fulbert, the one-time Duke's Chamberlain (cubicularii ducis),[1] an office to which he was likely appointed after William's birth.
[2] Orderic reports the birth of William as occurring at Falaise, presumed to be Herleva's native town, apparently from a relationship formed during the siege in 1026–1027.
In an anecdote relating to the siege of Alençon (1051–1052), he reported that local residents had been mutilated by William after they called him a pelliciarius (pelterer), because his mother's kinsmen had been pollinctores, a term that seems not to have been clearly understood by French poets writing as early as the late 12th century, who translated it differently.
In part due to flawed transcripts of Orderic dating from the 17th century, later historians often referred to Fulbert as a tanner, and several recent scholars have assigned him this traditional occupation,[4] but Elisabeth van Houts has suggested an alternative translation of pollinctores, that Herleva's family had been embalmers or those who laid out bodies for burial.
In an episode related by Orderic Vitalis, Walter is said to have once spirited away his nephew to hide him in a poor villager's cottage when the boy-duke was in danger of assassination.