Hervey le Breton

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Hervey le Breton (also known as Hervé le Breton) (died August 30, 1131) was a Breton cleric who became Bishop of Bangor and later Bishop of Ely.

Hervey is thought to have been a chaplain of King William II of England and was appointed Bishop of Bangor in 1092. At this time most of Gwynedd had been overrun by the Normans, and following the killing of Robert of Rhuddlan had been taken over by Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester. The appointment of Hervey was probably intended to further consolidate the Norman hold on the area. He was consecrated Bishop of Bangor by the Archbishop of York, since there was no Archbishop of Canterbury at the time.

Relations between Hervey and the Welsh appear to have been very bad. Pope Paschal II in a letter written ten years later describes his appointment as having been barbarously and absurdly carried out. He is said to have relied on his own armed bands for his protection. In 1094 a Welsh revolt against Norman rule in Gwynedd began under the leadership of Gruffydd ap Cynan, and by the late 1090s Hervey had been driven from his diocese by the Welsh. He remained nominally Bishop of Bangor until 1109. There was a considerable correspondence between the king, the Archbishop and the Pope about finding him a new see; in 1106 the Archbishop refused the king's request for his translation to Lisieux. In 1109 he was made Bishop of Ely. He died on August 30 1131.

Following the expulsion of Hervey, the see of Bangor remained vacant until 1120, when Gruffydd ap Cynan was able to secure the election of his own nominee, David the Scot.