i66 CHESTER his wife, her cousin William (the only s. and h. ap. of the King), and a vast number of the nobihty, by the shipwreck of the "Blanche Nef," off Barfleur. IV. 1 121. I. Ranulph le Meschin,(*) styled^ also, " de Briquessart,"() Vicomte de Bayeux in Normandy, s. and h. of Ranulph, Vicomte de Bayeux, by Margaret, sister of Hugh (d'Avranches), Earl of Chester abovenamed, being thus ist cousin and h. to the last Earl (whom he sue. as Vicomte d'Avranches, &'c., in Normandy), obtained, after the Earl's death in 1120, the grant of the county palatine of Chester, becoming thereby EARL OF CHESTER. He appears thereupon to have surrendered the Lordship of the great district of Cumberland, which he had acquired,('=) shortly before, from Henry L In 11 24 he was Commander of the Royal forces in Normandy. He m. Lucy,('^) widow of Roger Fitz-Gerold (by whom she was mother of William de Roumare, afterwards Earl of Lincoln). He d. about 1129, and was bur. at St. Werburg's, Chester. (') The Countess Lucy confirmed, as his widow, the grant of the Manor of Spalding to the monks of that place. V, II 29. 2. Ranulph, styled " de Gernon,"(^) Earl of Chester, also Vicomte d'Avranches, tfc, in Normandy, s. and h. He was b. before iioo, in the Castle of Gernon in Normandy. To the detriment of his elder br. of the half blood, William (de Roumare), Earl of Lincoln, he appears to have long held a large portion of the profits of the Earldom of Lincoln. He distinguished himself as a soldier both on the side of the Empress Maud and of that of King Stephen, with the greatest impartiality. He was one of the 5 Earls C") who witnessed the (') i.e. "The young," from the Latin "Mischinus;" French "Meschin" (Le Jeune). "Apud Francos medije aetatis scriptores sumitur vox ^Machirt' pro adoles- cente et juvenculo." Ducange. (^) So called from Briquessart in the commune of Livry, where the earthworks of his castle are still visible. He is called by Ordericus "Rannulfus Baiocensis," from having succeeded his father as Vicomte of the Bessin (of which Bayeux was the capital) in Nov. 1120. {ex inform. J. H. Round). i^) He is hence sometimes, erroneously, called Earl of Cumberland, or Earl of Carlisle. See artte, p. 30, note "a" for some remarks on this subject. {^) As to her identity, see note sub Lincoln. V.G. (') There is no ground for supposing that he or his son held the Earldom of Lincoln. See J. H. Round's " Adeliza the Viscountess," in Genealogist, N.S., vol. viii, pp. 148-150. V.G. (') She paid 500 marks to King Henry in 1130 for licence to remain unmarried for 5 years. V.G. (^) As to de Gernon (possibly des Gernon), J. H. Round points out its resemblance to als Gernon ("aux Moustaches") the sobriquet of William de Percy. C") The four others were, Robert of Gloucester, William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, Robert of Leicester and Roger of Warwick. See J. H. Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 265. V.G.
