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In August 1944, Mortain was the site of a battle between the German and Allied forces.

Mortain was, in the Middle Ages, the head of an important comté, reserved for the reigning house of Normandy. Around 1027 it was established for Robert, who was probably an illegitimate son of Richard I of Normandy. He was succeeded by William Warlenc ("the waning") who was probably his son. In or about 1049Events Leo IX becomes pope. Births Deaths 1049. Duke William took it from William Warlenc and bestowed it on his half-brother, RobertRobert, Count of Mortain (d. 1095) was a half-brother of William the Conqueror, and became a great landholder in both England and Normandy. He was the son of William the Conqueror's mother Herleva, and Herluin, viscount of Conteville. Odo, Bishop of Bayeu, thenceforth known as "count of Mortain," whose vast possessions in England after the Conquest (1066) gave name to "the small fees of Mortain," which owed less feudal service than others. Robert was succeeded as count by his son William, Count of Mortain , who rebelled against Henry IHenry I (c. 1068 December 1, 1135), called Henry Beauclerk or Henry Beauclerc because of his scholarly interests, was the youngest son of William the Conqueror. He reigned as King of England from 1100 to 1135, succeeding his brother, William II Rufus., was captured at the battle of Tinchebrai (1106) and forfeited his possessions. Some years later, Henry bestowed the comtéship on his nephew StephenStephen ( 1096 October 25, 1154), the last Norman King of England, reigned from 1135 to 1154, when he was succeeded by his cousin (or, as the gossip of the time had it, his natural son) Henry II, the first of the Angevin or Plantagenet Kings. Stephen was, who became king in 1135. On Stephen's death (1154) his surviving son William became count of Mortain, but when William died childless in 1159 the title was resumed by Henry II. On the accession of Richard Ibronze, brandishes his sword outside the Palace of Westminster Richard I ( September 8, 1157 April 6, 1199) was King of England from 1189 to 1199. He was often referred to as Richard the Lionheart Coeur de Lion and Oc et No by the French, and Melek-Ric by (1189) he granted it to his brother JohnJohn ( French: Jean ( December 24, 1166/ 67 October 18/ 19, 1216) reigned as King of England from 1199 to 1216. He succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I (known as "Richard the Lionheart"). John acquired the nicknames of "Lacklan, who was thenceforth known as count of Mortain till he ascended the throne (1199). With his loss of Normandy the comté was lost, but after the recapture of the province by the House of Lancaster, Edmund Beaufort, a grandson of John of GauntJohn of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster ( June 24, 1340 February 3, 1399), was the fourth son of King Edward III of England and is so called because he was born at Ghent in 1340. He became Duke of Lancaster by his first marriage to his cousin, Blanche ( 1359, was created count of Mortain and so styled till 1441, when he was made earl of Dorset.

Adapted and updated from a 1911 encyclopedia.