Raoul de Montfort Gael

• Preferred Name: Raoul de Montfort Gael^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}
  
• Alternate Name: Ralph de Montfort III
  
• Alternate Name: Ralph de Gael Earl
  
• Alternate Name: Ralph III
  
• Gender: M
  
• Title (Nobility): with note: Description: Seigneur (Lord) of Montfort
  
• Death: ABT 1143 in Gaël, Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, France at LATI: N8.1315 LONG: E2.2217
  
• Birth: ABT 1073 in Montfort-sur-Risle, Eure, Upper Normandy, France at LATI: N9.2955 LONG: E0.6661
  
• Title (Nobility): with note: Description: Seigneur (Lord) of Breteuil
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: Sir
  
• Title (Nobility): with note: Description: Count of Bretagne
  
• Title (Nobility): with note: Description: Seigneur (Lord) of Gaël
  
• FSID: L8YB-8WZ
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  *Normandy
  RAOUL de Gaël. He succeeded his brother as Seigneur de Gaël et de Montfort, in Brittany.
  He received Breteuil in 1119. According to the Complete Peerage, his descendants in the male line continued to hold his estates in Brittany, acquiring Laval and Vitré in the 15th century with the marriage of the heiress of Montmorency-Laval [885]. This descent has not been traced. From a chronological point of view, it seems possible that Guillaume [I] de Montfort was the son of Raoul de Gaël.
  
  m ---. The name of Raoul's wife is not known.
  
  Raoul & his wife had one child:
  
  (a) AMICE de Gaël (-31 Aug [1168 or after], bur Eton). She is named by Orderic Vitalis, who also names her father and specifies that her marriage was arranged by Henry I King of England after she had been betrothed to his deceased son Richard[886]. Heiress of Breteuil. She is said to have become a nun at Nuneaton after her husband's death[887]. The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "II Kal Sep" of "Amicia comitissa Leecestre"[888]. The necrology of Garendon abbey (Leicestershire) records the death “pridie Non Apr...in die Sancti Ambrosii” of “Robertus comes Leyc fundator huius abbatie”, and “die Sancti Egidii abbatis” of “Amicia uxor eiusdem Roberti” and her burial “in monasterio prioratus monialium de Etona”[889]. The necrology of Lyre monastery records the death "31 Aug" of "Robertus comes Leicestriæ, Amicia comitissa"[890].
  Betrothed to RICHARD, illegitimate son of HENRY I King of England & his mistress Ansfride --- (before 1101-drowned off Barfleur, Normandy 25 Nov 1120).
  m (after 25 Nov 1120) ROBERT de Beaumont Earl of Leicester "le Bossu", son of ROBERT de Beaumont-le-Roger Comte de Meulan, & his wife Elisabeth de Vermandois [Capet] (1104-5 Apr 1168, bur Leicester Abbey).
  
  http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISH%20NOBILITY%20MEDIEVAL.htm#AmiceGaeldiedafter1168
  
  === Ralph de Guader, Earl of Norfolk Seigneu ===
  Ralph de Guader, Earl of Norfolk Seigneur de Gael et Montfort (c.1042-c.1096), Earl of Hereford, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, Lord of Gael.
  
  He was probably born before 1040, as not later than 1060 he attested, in company with other Bretons, a notification at Angers as Ralph son of Ralph the Englishman, most probably in 1042 in Hereford.
  
  Dates of his father: Ralph d’Amiens, born at Mantes/Normandy, death 21st December 1057, buried in Peterborough Abbey.
  
  Dates of his mother: Agatha.
  
  Dates of his father’s parents: Dreux Comte d'Amiens, de Mantes et de Vexin, born in Normandy, died June 1035 Bithynia/Palestine; Godgifu Princess of England, born 1017, died 1055.
  
  He inherited the great Breton barony of Gael, 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 doubtful 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 not record of religious benefactions by him in Brittany.
  
  He married, before 1080, Emma, daughter of William Fitzosbern, 1st Earl of Hereford and Adelissa de Tosny.
  
  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, 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 were 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.
  
  For the rest of his life he remained a great baron of Brittany, with no interests in England. In 1076, having plotted against Duke Hoel 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, Ille-et-Vilaine 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.
  
  === Seigneur de Gael and de Montfort in Brit ===
  Seigneur de Gael and de Montfort in Brittany, per "Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists."

1. Amice de Gael de Montfort, b. ABT 1108 in Montfort, Normandy, France     d. 31 AUG 1168 in Leicester Unitary, Authority, Leicestershire, England

1. Title: Some "Colonial Dames" of Royal Descent
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2. Title: Royal Index, University of Hull, England
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   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2332880681
   
3. Title: Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists
   Author: Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists, Frederick Lewis Weis, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1990, Page number: Line 53 No. 25
   
4. Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists
   Author: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Ed, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additons by Walter Lee Shippard Jr, 1999, Page number: 53-25
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5. Title: Burke's Peerage and Baronage
   Author: Burke's Peerage and Baronage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley, Editor-In-Chief {1999}, Page number: 2761
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