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{{Short description|Anglo-Norman baron}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox nobility
| name = Ranulf de Gernon
| other_names =
| image =The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster - Ranulf Gernons, Earl of Chester, 1129-1153.jpg
| caption =[[Seal (document)|Seal]]
| CoA =
| birth_date = 1099
| birth_place = Guernon castle, [[Calvados (department)|Calvados]], [[France]]
| death_date = 16 December 1153
| death_place = [[Cheshire]], [[England]]
| death_cause = Succumbed to poisoning
| resting_place =
| title = [[Earl of Chester]]
| tenure = 1128–1153
| predecessor = [[Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester]]
| successor = [[Hugh of Cyfeiliog, 5th Earl of Chester]]
| issue = [[Hugh of Cyfeiliog, 5th Earl of Chester]]<br>Beatrice
| father = [[Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester]]
| mother = [[Lucy of Bolingbroke]]
| spouse = [[Maud of Gloucester]]
| issue-link = #Biography
}}
[[File:Blason ville 44 La-Marne.svg|thumb|The arms of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester<ref>Fox-Davies. Art of Heraldry. Quarterly Arms of Thomas Hussey. fig 261. Q 21.</ref>]]
'''Ranulf II''' (also known as '''Ranulf de Gernon'''), '''4th Earl of Chester''' (1099–1153),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cronne |first=H. A. |date=1937 |title=Ranulf De Gernons, Earl of Chester, 1129–1153 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/transactions-of-the-royal-historical-society/article/abs/ranulf-de-gernons-earl-of-chester-11291153/1A5BD3429A47AF68CE54E2BB61E166E9 |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |language=en |volume=20 |pages=103–134 |doi=10.2307/3678595 |jstor=3678595 |issn=1474-0648|url-access=subscription }}</ref> was an [[Anglo-Normans|Anglo-Norman]] baron who inherited the [[Honour (feudal land tenure)|honour]] of the [[County palatine|palatine]] county of [[Chester]] and the viscountcy of [[Avranches]] upon the death of his father [[Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tringham |first=Nigel |date=2021-06-01 |title=BASINGWERK ABBEY (FLINTS.) AND ITS FOUNDERS: AN EARL, A KING AND A PRINCE* |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/uwp/whis/2021/00000030/00000003/art00001 |journal=The Welsh History Review |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=287–319 |doi=10.16922/whr.30.3.1|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was descended from the Counts of [[Bessin]] in [[Normandy]].
In 1136 [[David I of Scotland]] invaded England as far as [[Durham, England|Durham]], which led [[Stephen of England]] to negotiate treaties that involved granting Ranulf's lands around Carlisle to [[Scotland]]. Thereafter, Ranulf allied himself to [[Empress Matilda|Matilda]] to further his cause. He took [[Lincoln Castle]] in 1141, which was retaken by Stephen in a siege in which Ranulf was forced to flee for his life. Ranulf enlisted the help of [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester]] to retake the castle and succeeded when King Stephen surrendered to him at Lincoln. While Matilda ruled England, Stephen's queen [[Matilda of Boulogne]] managed to defeat Ranulf and his allies at [[Winchester]], which eventually resulted in Stephen being able to resume the throne.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Ranulf was born in [[Normandy]] at the [[Château_de_Guernon-Ranville|Château Guernon]], in 1099. He was the son of [[Ranulf_le_Meschin,_3rd_Earl_of_Chester|Ranulf Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester]] and [[Lucy of Bolingbroke]], who were both significant landowners with considerable [[autonomy]] within the [[county palatine]]. His father had begun a new lineage of the earldom of Chester. Ranulf married [[Maud of Gloucester|Maud]], daughter of [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester]] and inherited the earldom of Chester in 1128. Three years later he founded an abbey in North Wales, colonised by monks from the [[Normans|Norman]] [[Congregation of Savigny]].
He and Maud had at least three children and possibly more:
* [[Hugh of Cyfeiliog, 5th Earl of Chester]] (1147 – 30 June 1181), married Bertrade de Montfort of Évreux
* possibly Richard of Chester (died 1170/1175), buried in [[Coventry]]
* Beatrice of Chester, married Raoul de Malpas
* possibly Ranulf of Chester; fought in the siege of Lisbon; granted the lordship of [[Azambuja]] by [[Afonso I of Portugal]]
* Alice, married [[Richard FitzGilbert de Clare]] (1190–1136)
===Loss of northern lands to Scotland===
{{Unsourced|section|date=January 2023}}
In late January 1136, during the first months of the reign of [[Stephen of England]], his northern neighbour, [[David I of Scotland]], crossed the border into England. He took [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]], [[Wark on Tweed|Wark]], [[Alnwick]], [[Norham]], and [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] and struck towards [[Durham, England|Durham]]. On 5 February 1136, Stephen reached Durham with a large force of [[Mercenary|mercenaries]] from [[Flanders]] and forced David to negotiate a [[Treaty of Durham (1136)|treaty]] by which the Scots were granted the towns of Carlisle and [[Doncaster]], for the return of Wark, Alnwick, Norham, and Newcastle.
Lost from England to Scotland, along with Carlisle, was much of [[Cumberland]] and the honour of Lancaster, lands that belonged to Earl Ranulf's father and had been surrendered by agreement to [[Henry I of England]] in return for the Earldom of Chester. Ranulf claimed that his father had at that time been [[disinherit]]ed. When he heard of the concessions made to the Scottish King, Ranulf left Stephen's court in a rage.
In the second [[Treaty of Durham (1139)|Treaty of Durham]] (1139), Stephen was even more generous to David, granting the Earldom of [[Northumbria]] (Carlisle, Cumberland, [[Westmorland]], and [[Lancashire]] north of the [[River Ribble|Ribble]]) to his son, [[Henry, Earl of Northumbria|Prince Henry]]. Ranulf was prepared to revolt in order to win back his lordship of the north.
===Capture of Lincoln===
{{main|Battle of Lincoln (1141)}}
By this time [[Empress Matilda|Matilda]], named as the future Queen by her father [[Henry I of England|Henry I]], had gathered enough strength to contest Stephen's usurpation. She was supported by her husband [[Geoffrey of Anjou]] and her half-brother [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester|Robert of Gloucester]]. Prince Henry was to attend the English court that [[Michaelmas]] and Ranulf planned to overwhelm him on his return to Scotland. Stephen's queen [[Matilda of Boulogne]] heard about the plot and persuaded Stephen to escort Henry back to Scotland. Ranulf then used subterfuge to seize [[Lincoln Castle]]. He and his half-brother, [[William de Roumare]], sent their wives to visit the constable's wife there and then arrived (dressed in ordinary clothes and escorted by three knights), apparently to fetch the ladies. They then seized the weapons in the castle, admitted their own men, and ejected the royal garrison.<ref>[[Ordericus Vitalis]]</ref>
Stephen eventually made a pact with Ranulf and his half-brother and left [[Lincolnshire]], returning to [[London]] before Christmas 1140, after making William de Roumare Earl of Lincoln and awarding Ranulf with administrative and military powers over Lincolnshire and the town and castle of [[Derby]]. The citizens of Lincoln sent Stephen a message complaining about the treatment they were receiving from Ranulf and asking the King to capture the brothers. The King immediately marched on Lincoln. One of his key pretexts was that according to the settlement, Lincoln Castle was to revert to royal ownership and that the half-brothers had reneged on this. He arrived on 6 January 1141 and found the place scantily garrisoned: the citizens of Lincoln admitted him into the city and he immediately laid siege to the castle, captured seventeen knights and began to batter down the garrison with his siege engines.
Ranulf managed to escape to his earldom, collect his Cheshire and [[Wales|Welsh]] retainers and appeal to his father-in-law [[Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester|Robert of Gloucester]], whose daughter Maud was still besieged in Lincoln, possibly as a deliberate ploy to encourage her father's assistance. In return for Robert's aid, Ranulf agreed to promise fidelity to the Empress Matilda.
[[File:Observatory Tower - geograph.org.uk - 134033.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Lincoln castle]]
To Robert and the other supporters of the Empress, this was good news, as Ranulf was a major [[magnate]]. Robert swiftly raised an army and set out for Lincoln, joining forces with Ranulf on the way. Stephen held a [[council of war]] at which his advisors counselled that he leave a force and depart to safety, but Stephen disregarded the odds and decided to fight, but was obliged to surrender to Robert. Ranulf took advantage of the disarray amongst the king's followers and in the weeks after the fighting managed to take the Earl of Richmond's northern castles and capture him when he tried to ambush Ranulf. Richmond was put in chains and tortured until he submitted to Ranulf and did him homage.
Stephen had been effectively deposed and Matilda ruled in his place. In September 1141, Robert of Gloucester and Matilda besieged [[Winchester]]. The queen responded quickly and rushed to Winchester with her own army, commanded by the professional soldier [[William of Ypres]]. The queen's forces surrounded the army of the empress, commanded by Robert, who was captured as a result of deciding to fight his way out of the situation. The magnates following the empress were forced to flee or be taken captive. Earl Ranulf managed to escape and fled back to Chester. Later that year Robert was exchanged for Stephen, who resumed the throne.
===Defection to Stephen===
In 1144, Stephen attacked Ranulf again by laying siege to Lincoln Castle. He made preparations for a long siege but abandoned the attempt when eighty of his men were killed whilst working on a siege tower that fell and knocked them into a trench, suffocating them all.
In 1145 (or early 1146), Ranulf switched allegiance from the Empress Matilda to Stephen. Since 1141, King David had been allied to Matilda, so Ranulf could now take up his quarrel with David of Scotland regarding his northern lands. It is probable that Ranulf's brother-in-law Phillip, (the son of Earl Robert), acted as an intermediary as Phillip had defected to the king. Ranulf came to Stephen at Stamford, repented his previous crimes and was restored to favour. He was allowed to retain Lincoln Castle until he could recover his Norman lands. Ranulf demonstrated his goodwill by helping Stephen to capture [[Bedford]] from Miles de Beauchamp and bringing 300 knights to the siege of [[Wallingford, Oxfordshire|Wallingford]].
Stephen welcomed Ranulf's support but some of the king's supporters, (especially William de Clerfeith, [[Gilbert de Gant]], [[Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond]], [[William Peverel the Younger]], [[William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel]] and John, [[Count of Eu]]), did not. Many of the magnates were alarmed when it was discovered that Ranulf wanted the king to take part in a campaign against the Welsh. Ranulf's opponents counselled the king that the earl might be planning treachery since he had offered no hostages or security and could easily be ambushed in Wales. Stephen contrived a quarrel with Ranulf at [[Northampton]], provoked by an advisor who told the earl that the king would not assist him unless he restored all the property he had taken and rendered hostages. The earl refused these terms. He was accused of [[treason]] and was arrested and imprisoned in chains until his friends succeeded in coming to terms with the King on 28 August 1146. It was then agreed that the earl should be released, provided he surrendered all the royal lands and castles he had seized (Lincoln included), returned hostages and took a solemn oath not to resist the king in future.
Ranulf, arrested in contravention of the oath which the king had sworn to him at [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]], revolted as soon as he regained his liberty and "burst into a blind fury of rebellion, scarcely discriminating between friend or foe”. He came with his army to Lincoln to recover the city but failed to break into its north gate and his chief lieutenant was slain in the fighting. Ranulf also tried to recover the castle at [[Coventry]], by building a [[counter castle]]. The King came with a relief force to Coventry and although wounded in the fighting, drove Ranulf off and seized his hostages, including his nephew Gilbert fitz Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, whom Stephen refused to release unless Gilbert surrendered his own castles. Gilbert, while agreeing to the condition, revolted as soon as he was at liberty. This action pushed the [[De Clare|Clares]] into a conflict from which they had previously remained aloof.
===Agreement with King David===
In May 1149, the young [[Henry II of England|Henry FitzEmpress]] met the king of Scotland and Ranulf at Carlisle, where Ranulf resolved his territorial disputes with Scotland and an agreement was reached to attack [[York]]. Stephen hurried north with a large force and his opponents dispersed before they could reach the city. The southern portion of the honour of Lancaster (the land between the Ribble and the [[River Mersey|Mersey]]) was conceded to Ranulf, who in return resigned his claim on Carlisle. Hence the Angevin cause secured the loyalty of Ranulf.
Henry, whilst trying to escape south after the aborted attack on York, was forced to avoid the ambushes of [[Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne|Eustace]], King Stephen's son. Ranulf assisted Henry, creating a diversion by attacking Lincoln, thus drawing Stephen to Lincoln and allowing Henry to escape.
===Treaty with Robert, Earl of Leicester===
The Earl's territory in [[Leicestershire]] and [[Warwickshire]] brought him face to face with [[Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester]], whose family (including his cousin [[Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick]] and his brother [[Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester]]) controlled a large part of the south Midlands. The two earls concluded an elaborate treaty between 1149 and 1153. The Bishops of Chester and Leicester were both entrusted with pledges that were to be surrendered if either party infringed the agreement.
===Death===
In 1153, Henry, by then Stephen's accepted heir, granted [[Staffordshire]] to Ranulf. That year, whilst Ranulf was a guest at the house of [[William Peverel the Younger]], his host attempted to kill him with [[poison]]ed wine. Three of his men who had drunk the wine died, while Ranulf suffered agonizing pain. A few months later Henry became king and exiled Peverel from England as punishment. Ranulf succumbed to the poison on 16 December 1153: his son [[Hugh of Cyfeiliog, 5th Earl of Chester|Hugh]] inherited his lands as held in 1135 (when Stephen took the throne), while other honours bestowed upon Ranulf were revoked.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{DNB|wstitle=Randulf (d.1153)|ref=none}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|en}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Earl of Chester]]
| years = 1129–1153
| before = [[Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester|Ranulf le Meschin]]
| after = [[Hugh of Cyfeiliog, 5th Earl of Chester|Hugh of Cyfeiliog]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chester, Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of}}
[[Category:1099 births]]
[[Category:1153 deaths]]
[[Category:Anglo-Normans in Wales]]
[[Category:Norman warriors]]
[[Category:People of The Anarchy]]
[[Category:Viscounts of Avranches]]
[[Category:Earls of Chester (1121 creation)]]
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