Rhael Verch Gronwy*

Bran Ap , Lord of Anglesey Dinawal* LORD OF ANGLESEY|LORD OF ANGLESEY

Earl of Chester Ranulph "de Gernon" de Meschines

Notes:

I have taken the king

'" All flew to the spot and the king was taken. King Stephen, foaming atthe mouth in his rage, f inally recognising the inevitable, surrenderedto the Earl of Gloucester. The rest of his divi sion fought on with nohope of escape until all were killed or surrendered. Baldwin fitzRichar d and Richard fitz Urse 'having received many wounds, and, bytheir determined resistance, hav ing gained immortal honour' were takenprisoner. In one short day all had been lost for the ro yalists. Earl Robert?s army consisted of three divisions, his own, the Earl ofChester?s and those disi nherited by Stephen. The latter were grantedthe honour of striking the first blow, while on t he flank was a massof ill-organised Welsh. Stephen?s force included William of Ypres;Simon o f Senlis; Gilbert of Hertford; William of Aumale, Alan ofRichmond and Hugh Bigod, but it wa s markedly short of cavalry. As soon as the battle was joined the majority of the leading magnates,fled the king. Other im portant magnates captured with the king wereBaldwin fitz Gilbert; Bernard de Balliol, Roger d e Mowbray; Richard deCourcy; William Peverel of Nottingham; Gilbert de Grant; Ingelram deSay ; Ilbert de Lacy and Richard fitz Urse, all men of respectedbaronial families, it had only be en the Earls who had fled. The Earl of Chester took advantage of the confusion and disarray ofthe King?s followers to ta ke the Earl of Richmond?s northern castlesin the weeks after the momentus battle. The Earl tr ied to ambushRanulf, but was captured in turn, put in chains and tortured in adungeon until h e submitted to Ranulf and did him homage. The capture of Robert of Gloucester In September 1141 the Earl was with the Empress at Winchester, whereher force was besieging t he town. Queen Matilda responded quickly andrushed to Winchester with her own army, commande d by the professionalsoldier William of Ypres. The Queen?s forces surrounded the army ofthe E mpress, which in turn was still besieging Winchester. EarlRobert, the commander of the Empres s? forces, decided to fight his wayout on the 14 September 1141. The battle was a disaster fo r theEmpress? forces. Robert of Gloucester was captured, and the magnatesfollowing the Empres s were forced to flee the surrounding land or betaken. Earl Ranulf managed to escape and fle d back to Chester. Laterthat year Robert was exchanged for Stephen, and both sides were backt o square one. The second siege of Lincoln (1144) Stephen once again laid siege to Lincoln castle in 1144 after Ranulfhad recovered control o f the place. Stephen make preparations for along siege but when eighty of his men were kille d working on a siegetower which fell down on them knocking them into a trench andsuffocatin g them, Stephen abandoned the attempt. Ranulf defects to the King (1145-1146) Ranulf defected from the Empress to Stephen in 1145. This was rathersurprising as he had exte nsive estates in Normandy, which was nowunder the control of Geoffrey of Anjou, husband to th e Empress. It wasbelieved he had suffered greatly to Welsh incursions into his lands.He was a lso seen as the arch-rebel, as he had precipitated the captureof the king at Lincoln. However , on the other hand, Ranulf couldexercise his quarrel with David King of Scotland regarding h is covetednorthern lands. Since 1141 David had been allied to the Empress, so itis unsurprisi ng that Ranulf switched sides. It is probable thatPhillip the son of Earl Robert, Ranulfs bro ther-in-law, may well haveacted as an intermediary with the king, as Phillip had defected t o theking, standing against his own father. Ranulf came to the king atStamford, repented hi s previous crimes and was restored to favour inlate 1145 or early 1146. Ranulf was allowed t o retain Lincoln Castleuntil he could recover his Normandy lands. Ranulf demonstrated hisgoo d will by helping Stephen to capture Bedford from Miles deBeauchamp and by bringing 300 knigh ts to the siege of Wallingford. Although Ranulf?s support was welcomed by Stephen, it was not sowelcomed by some of Stephen? s other supporters, whom Ranulf had seizedland from. Those magnates especially jealous of Ran ulf were William deClerfeith, Gilbert de Gant, Earl Alan of Richmond, William Peverel ofNotti ngham, William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, and John, Count ofEu. Many of the magnates wer e alarmed when it was discovered thatRanulf wanted the King to take part in a campaign agains t the Welsh.His opponents councilled the king that Wales was ideal for an ambush,and that th e Earl might be planning treachery since he had offered nohostages or security for his good f aith. So far as Stephen wentsuspicions never fell on deaf ears, and it gave him the opportuni ty topractise his special technique of the contrived quarrel at court. Inthis case the quarre l was at Northampton and was provoked by anunnamed advisor who told the Earl that the king wo uld not assist himunless he restored all the property he had taken and deliveredhosatges fo r his future loyalty. The Earl refused the request, statingthat this was not why he had com e back to court and he had not beengiven notice of the matter. In the ensuing quarrel he wa s accused oftreason, arrested and imprisoned in chains until his friends succeededin coming t o terms with the King (28 August 1146). It was then agreedthat the earl should be released pr ovided he surrendered all the royallands and castles he had seized (Lincoln included), gave h ostages andtook a solemn oath not to resist the king in future. Ranulf was understandably angered as he was arrested whilst in theking?s peace and protectio n and in contravention of the oath which theking had sworn to him at Stamford. He revolted a s soon as he regainedhis liberty having learnt it was useless to try to come to terms witha k ing who did not keep his word. When was set free he ?burst into ablind fury of rebellion scar cely discriminating between friend orfoe?. When Ranulf made abortive attacks on Coventry and Lincoln (see below)the king seized his host ages. The most important of these was Ranulf?snephew Gilbert fitz Richard de Clare, Earl of H ertford whom Stephenrefused to release unless he surrendered his castles. Gilbert reactedto t his in the customary method, agreeing to the condition and thenrevolting as soon as he was a t liberty. This action pushed the Claresinto the conflict, from which they had previously rem ained aloof. One of Ranulf?s actions was to recover Lincoln back from the king (hehad given it away as par t of the bargain which gained his release). Hebrought many men to Lincoln to recover the tow n by rapid means butfailed when trying to break into the north gate of the town. His chieflie utenant was slain in the fighting. Ranulf also tried to recover thecastle at Coventry, by bui lding a counter castle. The King came toCoventry to relieve it, and was wounded in the fighti ng. He didhowever drive Ranulf off, winning a victory against the Earl. Agreement between King David and Earl Ranulf In May 1149 the young Henry met the King of Scotland and Ranulf atCarlisle where they agree d to attack York. In the meantime Stephen hadhurried north with a large force his opponents d ispersed; in fact theyhad almost reached York before they had to abandon their intention. Inr esponse to Ranulf?s aggression Stephen appointed a new Earl ofLincoln ? Gilbert de Gant. Whil st in Carlisle Ranulf resolved histerritorial disputes with the King of Scotland and a suitab lecompromise was reached. The southern portion of the honour ofLancaster, the land between th e Ribble and the Mersey, was conceded toRanulf, who claimed the land through his father and i n return resignedhis claim on Carlisle. In addition a marriage was arranged between oneof th e Earl?s sons and one of David?s granddaughters. It was genuinecompromise and the only way i n which the conflicting claims could bereconciled. By its means the Angevin cause at last sec ured thewhole-hearted loyalty of Earl Ranulf. In the same year, the young Prince Henry, whilst trying to escapesouth after the aborted atta ck on York, was forced to avoid theambushes of Eustace, King Stephen?s son. Ranulf, now the l oyalretainer to Prince Henry, assisted Henry by creating a major diversionby attacking Lincol n in force, he did not succeed in taking Lincoln ,but he did draw Stephen to Lincoln and kep t him busy there allowingHenry to escape. Ranulf's treaty with Robert Earl of Leicester The Earl?s territorial power protruded into Leicestershire andWarwickshire and he was brough t face to face with another Earl onlyscarcely less influential than himself, Robert de Beaumo nt, 2nd Earlof Leicester. Robert and his family controlled a large area in thesouth Midlands , his cousin was the Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl ofWarwick and his brother Waleran de Beaumon t, 1st Earl of Worcester.These two Earls handled the potentially combustiable situation byest ablishing an elaborate treaty between the years 1149 to 1153detailing exactly the appropriat e conduct between them. The Bishops ofChester and Leicester were entrusted with two pledges , which were tobe surrendered if either party infringed the agreement. Monastic foundation He founded a North Welsh Cistercian Abbey in 1131 which was colonisedby monks from the Norma n house, the Congregation of Savigny. The death of the Earl (1153) In 1153 Ranulf survived a failed attempt at murder by poison by one ofhis arch-enemies, Willi am Peverel the Younger, when he was guest atPeverel?s house. William had poisoned the wine th at Ranulf and his menhad drunk. Three of Ranulf?s men died but the Earl recovered, thoughhe s uffered agonizingly, as he had drunk less than his men. Williamwas exiled from England afte r Henry took the crown as he was accusedof poisoning Ranulf and his retainers. The Earl die d the same year(due to the poisoning?), on the 16 December 1153. One other notableevent of 11 53, was that Duke Henry granted Ranulf Staffordshire. Afterhis death, the Earl?s son and hei r Hugh was allowed to inheritRanulf?s lands as held in 1135, and other honours bestowed upo n Ranulfwere revoked. His descendants are located in the United States fromaround the areas o f Wisconsin, and New York.

Nicolas De Saint Omer

?*

Hugh De Swynford KNIGHT|KNIGHT

Joan Beaufort QUEEN OF SCOTLAND|QUEEN OF SCOTLAND

Marguerite De Valois

Charles , Count of Alencon De Valois COUNT OF ALENÇON & CHARTR|COUNT OF ALENÇON & CHARTR|Magnime

Catherine De Valois

Countess of Joigny Jeanne DUCHESS OF BRETAGNE|DUCHESS OF BRETAGNE

I , Count of Champagne Guy

Living Dague

Genilles Verch Hoedlyw*

Llywarch Ap , Lord of Cummwd Bran* LORD OF CUMMWD|LORD OF CUMMWD

?*

Gilbert De Ros*

William Wake

Constanza|Of Aragon, Valencia, & Majorca

Bridget De Holand