Arlette's Fountain - essai

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT

If the legend is true, this meeting place between the parents of William marks the symbolic point of departure of the Anglo-Norman saga.

DID YOU KNOW?

This episode, can be located near the fountain to feed the imaginations of the medieval chroniclers, who wrote embellished versions

At the foot of the rock on which is the Great Keep of the château is built, at the heart of Val d’Ante in the old tanners' quarter, Arlette's Fountain today marks the legendary site of the meeting between Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, and Arlette, or Herlève de Falaise, a tanner's daughter.  From this meeting, and this union, William will be born in 1027. On the monument, a plaque poetically evokes the circumstances of this meeting.