Ralph DE GAEL (bef1042-1096?)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

Individual Note

Ralph de Gael (otherwise Ralph de Guader, Radulf Waders or Ralph Wader) (before 1042 – c. 1096) was the Earl of East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk) and Lord of Gaël and Montfort (Seigneur de Gaël et Montfort). He was the leading figure in the Revolt of the Earls, the last serious revolt against William the Conqueror.

Ralph was born before 1042, most probably about 1040 in Hereford, as not later than 1060 he attested, in company with other Bretons, a notification at Angers as son of Ralph the Staller.

He inherited the great Breton barony of Gaël, which comprised more than forty parishes. In England, whether by inheritance or by grant from the Crown, he held large estates in Norfolk, as well as property in Suffolk, Essex, Hertford, and possibly other counties. In some of these estates he certainly succeeded his father, but it is not known whether he obtained the Earldom immediately on his father’s death.

In 1065 he was with Conan II, Duke of Brittany when he besieged Thiwallon, Lord of Dol, in the castle of Combour.

In 1066 he fought on the Norman side at the Battle of Hastings.

In February or March 1068 he was present at William the Conqueror’s court with his father.

In 1069 he routed a force of Norsemen which had invaded Norfolk and occupied Norwich. It may been in recognition of this exploit (or of services rendered at Hastings) that the Conqueror created him Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, or the East Angles, the Earldom being also styled, from its capital, of Norwich.

It is presumably this Ralph who, on 13 April 1069 was with the King at Winchester and witnessed, as Earl Ralph, a diploma in favour of St.Denis of Paris and in the same year witnessed, as Earl Ralph, a grant in favour of the Bishop of Essex.

1074- It is possible that Ralph defended Dol when the Conqueror besieged it unsuccessfully in 1074.

Ralph built a church in Norwich, in the new town, and give it to his chaplains; but there is no record of religious benefactions by him in Brittany.

He married, in or before 1075, Emma, daughter of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford and Alice or Adelise (or Adelissa), daughter of Roger I of Tosny. Their offspring were:

William de Gael

Raul de Gael

Alain de Gael

In 1075 the king's refusal to sanction this marriage caused a revolt in his absence by Ralph, his new brother-in-law Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford and Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The revolt was plagued by disaster. Waltheof lost heart and confessed the conspiracy to Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who urged Earl Roger to return to his allegiance, and finally excommunicated him and his adherents- Waltheof was later executed by William. Ralph encountered a much superior force under the warrior bishops Odo of Bayeux and Geoffrey de Montbray (the latter ordered that all rebels should have their right foot cut off) near Cambridge and retreated hurriedly to Norwich, hotly pursued by the royal army. Leaving his wife to defend Norwich Castle, he sailed for Denmark in search of help, and eventually returned to England with a fleet of 200 ships under Cnut and Hakon, which failed to do anything effective.

Meanwhile the Countess held out in Norwich until she obtained terms for herself and her followers, who were deprived of their lands, but allowed forty days to leave the realm. Thereupon the Countess retired to her estate in Brittany, where she was rejoined by her husband. Ralph was deprived of all his lands and of his Earldom.

At the time of his revolt, he was a land-holder in Whaddon, Cambridgeshire. This is according to the Domesday Book, which uses the name of Radulf[us] Waders.

For the rest of his life he remained a great baron of Brittany, with no interests in England. In 1076, having plotted against Hoel II, Duke of Brittany, he was besieged at Dol, and the Conqueror came to Hoel's aid; but Ralph finally made his peace.

In 1089 he attested the judgment in a dispute between the monks of Redon Abbey and the chaplains of the Duke of Brittany. He also attested a charter of Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, in favour of St.Georges at Rennes (1084-1096). The Conqueror being dead, Ralph appears in Normandy c.1093 as a witness in the record of a suit between the abbots of Lonlay and St.Florent. There is, however, no record of religious benefactions by him in Brittany.

In 1096, accompanied by his wife and under Robert Curthose, he went on Crusade. He was one of the Breton leaders who took part in the siege of Nicaea, after which he joined Bohemund I of Antioch’s division of the army.

Both Ralph and his wife Emma died on the road to Palestine in the course of the Crusade.

SOURCES:

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.²

Sources