Herluin was a lord of moderate income and held 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 Sainte-Mère-Église, a portion of the county of Mortain.

Herluin and Herleva had two sons, Odo or Eudes, who became Bishop of Bayeux, and Robert, Count of Mortain.

[9] The abbey was founded by Herluin himself around 1050,[8] in hopes of achieving a cure to his leprosy or some similar disease.

A Ralph de Conteville appearing in the Domesday Book holding land in Somerset and Devon, has been identified as another son,[10] though others derive that man from the Pas-de-Calais,[11] and hence not of this family.