Title Earl of Chester Spouse Lucia-Mahaut | Term 1101–1120 | |
 | ||
Cause of death Drowned on the White Ship Predecessor Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester Died 25 November 1120, Barfleur, France Successor Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester Parents Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, Adela of Normandy Cousins Empress Matilda, William Adelin, Robert - 1st Earl of Gloucester, Reginald de Dunstanv, Robert FitzEdith - Lord Oke Similar Hugh d'Avranches - Earl of Ch, Adela of Normandy, Stephen - Count of Blois, William Adelin, William - Count of Sully | ||
Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester (1094 – 25 November 1120) was the son of Hugh, 1st Earl of Chester and Ermentrude of Clermont.
Contents
Early life
He was seven years old when his father, known as Hugh the Fat, died. Due to his age, a stewardship would have ruled until he was old enough. He probably became Earl of Chester in 1107. He married Lucia-Mahaut, daughter of Stephen, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy, daughter of William the Conqueror.
Military career
At the age of twenty, in 1114, Richard was on military campaign and was styled the Earl of Chester. Together with King Alexander of Scotland, he led an Anglo-Norman army into Gwynedd as part of a three-pronged campaign organised by Henry I of England against Gwynedd, and Gruffudd ap Cynan. Gruffudd, rather than risk battle, satisfied the King with an oath of homage and a suitable fine. The campaign soon fizzled out, and Richard returned to Chester.
White Ship
The line of the d'Avranches as Earls of Chester failed when Richard, his wife, and his illegitimate half-brother Ottuel, joined the young William Adelin, heir to the English King Henry aboard the doomed White Ship. The ship went down, drowning all but one boy, in the year 1120. Richard died aged twenty-six, leaving no issue. His wife Lucia-Mahaut and half-brother Ottuel also died in the tragedy.
The earldom then passed through his father Hugh's sister Maud to Richard's first cousin Ranulph I, in 1121.