Hugh OF KEVELIOC (1147-1181)

	The coat of arms of Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

	Bertrade de Montfort, Queen Consort of the Franks

Individual Note

Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester (1147 – 30 June 1181) was the son of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester and Maud of Gloucester, daughter of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (otherwise known as Robert de Caen, the illegitimate son of Henry I of England, making her Henry's granddaughter).

He is thought to have been born Kevelioc in Monmouth. But he may have taken the name of, the cwmwd of Cyfeiliog (in modern Powys) in the southern part of the Kingdom of Powys, Wales.

He was underage when his father's death in 1153 made him heir to his family's estates on both sides of the channel. He joined the baronial Revolt of 1173–1174 against King Henry II of England, and was influential in convincing the Bretons to revolt. After being captured and imprisoned after the Battle of Alnwick, he finally got his estates restored in 1177, and served in King Henry's Irish campaigns.

In 1169 he married Bertrade de Montfort of Evreux, daughter of Simon III de Montfort. She was the cousin of King Henry, who gave her away in marriage. Their children were[1]:

Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester

Matilda (Maud) of Chester (1171–1233), married David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon

Mabel of Chester, married William d'Aubigny, 3rd Earl of Arundel

Agnes of Chester (died 2 November 1247), married William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby

Hawise of Chester (1180–1242), married Robert II de Quincy

Hugh also had an illegitimate daughter, Amice of Chester, who married Ralph de Mainwaring.

One letter from the Pope suggests that Llywelyn Fawr may have been married to an unnamed sister of Earl Ranulph of Chester in about 1192, but there appears to be no confirmation of this.[2] If this was the case it could have been either Mabel or Hawise, or perhaps Amice, and the marriage would have had to have been annulled before any subsequent marriages.

Hugh of Kevelioc died 30 June 1181 at Leek, Staffordshire, England. He was succeeded by his son, Ranulf.

NOTES:

1 The Annales Londonienses record that Ranulphus comes Cestrić had four sisters primogenita...Matilda...secunda...Mabillia...tertia...Agnes...quarta...Hawisia.

Charles Cawley, England, earls created 1067-1122

2 Lloyd, John. E. A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest. Longmans, Green & Co. (1911) pp. 616-7

SOURCES:

Chronicle of the Abbey of St. Werburg at Chester (Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society)

Chester, 3rd Earl, Hugh de Kevelioc, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography²

Sources