Harfleur is a town and commune of France in the Seine-Maritime département of Haute-Normandie, on the north bank of the mouth of the Seine, about 10 km east of Le Havre, and across the river from Honfleur. Population (1999): 6,000.

History

Harfleur is identified with Caracotinum, the principal port of the ancient Calates . In the middle ages, when its name, Herosfloth, Harofluet or Hareflot, was still sufficiently uncorrupted to indicate its Norman derivation, it was the principal seaport of northwestern France. In 1415 it was captured by Henry V of England, but when in 1435 the people of the district of Caux , led by Jean de Grouchy rose against the English, 104 of the inhabitants opened the gates of the town to the insurgents, and thus got rid of the foreign yoke. The memory of the deed was long perpetuated by the bells of St Martin's tolling 104 strokes.

Between 1445 and 1449 the English were again in possession; but the town was recovered for the French by Dunois. In the 16th century the port began to dwindle in importance owing to the silting up of the Seine estuary and the rise of Havre. In 1562 the Huguenots put Harfleur to pillage, and its registers and charters perished in the confusion; but its privileges were restored by Charles IX of France, in 1568, and it was not till 1710 that it was subjected to the "taille."

In 1887 the Tancarville canal restored waterborne access to the town from both the Seine and Le Havre