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Person Info

• Name: Ralph De Gael, Earl Of Norfolk
• Sex: M
• Birth: Before 1011 ^b
• Death: Abt 1070 ^d
• Burial: Peterborough ^u


Parents:

Family:
Marriage:

• Getha .^m1
  
• Getha

Children:

1. Hardwin De Gael De Montfort
2. Ralph De Gael De Montfort, Earl Of Norfolk Birth: 1040 Death: After 1096 in Holy Land

Bibliography

Sources for birth and parent Information

date:

prob before 1011 [Ref: CP IX p568]

Sources with Inaccurate birth and parent Information

parents:

Dreux Count of Vexin (#17019) & Goda (#17020) [Ref: Watney WALLOP #427]

Sources for death Information

date:

abt 1069 [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p999]

living 1068, definitely died before Apr 1070 [Ref: CP IX p571, CP XII/1 p429]

Sources with Inaccurate death Information

date:

21 Dec 1057 [Ref: Watney WALLOP #427]

Sources for burial Information

place:

[Ref: Watney WALLOP #427]

Sources with Information about marriage to Getha

names:

Ralph the Staller & an Englishwoman [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p999],

child:

[Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p999, Watney WALLOP #427]

Sources with Inaccurate marriage information

date:

1075 [Ref: Holloway WENTWORTH pa4],

names:

Ralph De GAEL & Emma De IVRY [Ref: Holloway WENTWORTH pa4]

Research Notes:
Earl of Norfolk [Ref: CP IX p568, Holloway WENTWORTH pa4]
1st Earl of Suffolk, of Earldom cr 1067? [Ref: CP XII/1 p429]
Staller of Edward the Confessor [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

called "Ralph the Staller" [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p999]

abt 1031: occurs in a Breton document as 'Radulfus Anglicus', during the reign of the Danish Cnut's son Hardecanute in England; his cognomen 'Anglicus' means that he was part English by birth [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

although said to have been an Englishman born in Norfolk, was more probably a Breton, or possibly of mixed English and Breton parentage. [Ref: CP IX p568]

1031-2: attested charters of Alan, Duke of Brittany [Ref: CP IX p568]

after 1042: influential figure in the circle of Emma's son King Edward the Confessor, for whom he acted as staller or constable [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

attested four of Edward the Confessor's charters [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

1060: attests charter of the Confessor as "dapifer" [Ref: CP IX p568]

1060-6: attests a charter of Abbot Aelfwig as "steallere" [Ref: CP IX p568]

1066: supported William when he invaded in October, and was rewarded by the grant of the earldom of East Anglia [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

1068: granted land in Norfolk to Saint-Riquier, confirmed by William I at the request of Ralph and his son Ralph [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

land that Rlaph held was located in eastern England, in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, as well as Lincolnshire; this was the region controlled in 1066, when Harold son of Godwin became king, by Harold's brother Gyrth [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

His cognomen 'Anglicus' means that he was part English by birth. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says as much, and we know from Domesday Book of othe rmembers of his family bearing English names such as Godwin and Ailsi. Perhaps his unknown father had gone first to Normandy with Judith of Rennes, who married Richard II of Normandy, and then a few years later returned to England with Richard's sister Emma, wife of Aethelred II and then of Cnut [Ref: Keats-Rohan DD p1119]

numerous passages in Domesday Book in which he is styled "stalra" or "stalre" The great survey proves that he held extensive estates in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincoln, and one estate in Cornwall, whether wholly by grant from the Crown or partly by inheritance or by marriage to an English heiress, in uncertain. It is probable that he was also in possession, either by inheritance or marriage, of the barony of Gael in Brittany, from which his son took his name. [Ref: CP IX p568]



Pedigree of Ralph De Gael, Earl Of Norfolk
Ralph De Gael, Earl Of Norfolk



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