Richard le Goz [a], Vicomte d'Avranches, b abt 1022, of Avranches, France, d aft 1082. He md Emma de Conteville [b] abt 1045, daughter of Herluin de Conteville, Viscount of Conteville, and Arlette/Herleve of Falaise. She was b abt 1030.
Children of Richard le Goz and Emma were:
- Hugh "Lupus" d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, b abt 1048.
- Judith d'Avranches b abt 1052. She md Richer de l'Aigle, Seigneur de l'Aigle, abt 1066.
- Margaret/Maud d'Avranches b abt 1055. She md Ranulph II of Bayeux, Vicomte of Bayeux, abt 1070, son of Ranulph I of Bayeux, Vicomte of the Bessin, and Alice of Normandy.
Child of Hugh Lupus d'Avranches and Ermentrude de Clermont was:
Geva b abt 1077. She md Sir Geoffrey de Ridel, Lord of Witheringe, abt 1092.
NOTES:
a. Vicomte d'Avranches in Normandy, he was the son of Thurstan le Goz.
b. Emma, wife of Richard le Goz, has long been stated to be a "kinswoman" of William the Conqueror. While some researchers, including Prof. Douglas, state this is "fictitious", the current research of Keats-Rohan shows strong evidence that she was sister of Robert de Mortain, son of Herluin de Conteville and Herleve/Arlette of Falaise. Complete Peerage also shows Emma as the daughter of Herluin and Herleve/Arlette, claiming that it was King William who granted the earldom of Chester to his nephew, Hugh "Lupus".
c. Styled by his contemporaries "Lupus", evidently for his rather vicious nature, he received from the King (his maternal uncle), in 1071, the whole of the county palatine of Chester, and thus became Count Palatine as Earl of Chester. By the nature of Chester as a true palatine earldom, he thus had his hereditary Barons, of which there were, by varying accounts, at least nine, (1) Eustace, Baron of Hawarden, (2) William Fitz-Niel, Baron of Halton, (3) William Malbank, Baron of Nantwich, (4) Robert Fitz Hugh, Baron of Malpas, (5) Hamond de Mascy, Baron of Dunham-Massy, (6) Richard Vernon, Baron of Shipbrooke, (7) William Venables, Baron of Kinderton, (8) Robert de Stockport, Baron of Stockport, and (9) Hugh Fitz Osbern, Baron of Pulford. He succeeded his father, who was living as late as 1082, as Vicomte d'Avranches in Normandy. He remained loyal to William II during the rebellion of 1096. After founding the abbeys of St. Sever in Normandy and St. Werburg at Chester, he became a monk at St. Werburg some four days before his death. His son and heir, Richard, also Earl of Chester (died s.p. legit.), was among those nobles who drowned upon the sinking of the White Ship at Barfleur in Nov of 1120. The earldom of Chester passed via Margaret/Maud (sister to Hugh Lupus), to her son Ranulph le Meschin.
SOURCES:
CP: Vol III[164-166]; AR: Line 132A[25]; G-MED: Todd Farmerie.
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