Herluin of Bec

Herluin otherwise Hellouin (995/997 – 26 August 1078) was a knight at the court of Gilbert of Brionne and subsequently a Benedictine monk.

According to the Vita Herluini, (Gilbert Crispin, c. 1055–1117), Ansgot was descended from a Danish Viking follower of Rollo, while his mother, Heloise, was related to the counts of Flanders.

One day in 1034, amid a frightful melée where he had little hope of survival, he vowed to "drop the sword" and become a monk.

[3] With several companions, he laid the foundation of a monastery at Bonneville, or Burneville, where, in 1034/1035, the Duke granted land to the abbey.

Herluin and the brothers resolved to leave, and in about 1039 settled about two miles away, by the banks of the Bec, from which the abbey gets its name.