They had a son, Ranulph de Meschines, to whom the earldom of Chester
passed upon the demise of the son of Hugh de Abrincis, Richard de
Abrincis, 2nd Earlof Chester, at which time the male line of the
Abrincis family became extinct. Ranulph de Meschines was a first cousin
to Richard de Abrincis.
Viscount De Avranches and Eu
Accompanied the conqueror and was granted the Earldom of Chester in
1086.[91502.ftw]
Viscount De Avranches and Eu
Accompanied the conqueror and was granted the Earldom of Chester in 1086.
They had a son, Ranulph de Meschines, to whom the earldom of Chester
passed upon the demise of the son of Hugh de Abrincis, Richard de
Abrincis, 2nd Earlof Chester, at which time the male line of the
Abrincis family became extinct. Ranulph de Meschines was a first cousin
to Richard de Abrincis.
Hugh Vras Lupus Avranches 1st Earl of Chester
Hugh de Abrincis (or Avranches in Normandy), surnamed "Lupus", and
called bythe Welsh, Vras or "the Fat". Upon the detention, a prisoner in
Flanders, ofGherbod, a Fleming who first held the Earldom of Chester,
that dignity was conferred, in 1070, by William the Conqueror, upon the
above Hugh, who was theson of William's half-sister. "Which Hugh," says
Dugdale, "being a person ofgreat note at that time amongst the Norman
nobility, and an expert soldier, was, for that respect, chiefly placed so
near those unconquered Britains, thebetter to restrain their bold
incursions: for it was by the advise of his council, that King William
thus advanced him to that government; his powers being, also, not
ordinary; having royal jurisdiction with the precincts of his earldom,
which honor he received to hold as freely the sword as the King himself
held England by the crown.
But, though the time of his advancement was not until 1070, it is certain
that he came into England with the Conqueror, andthereupon had a grant
of Whitby, in Yorkshire, which lordship he soon afterwards disposed of to
William de Percy, his associate in that famous expedition." In the
contest between William Rufus, and his brother Robert Curthose, this
powerful nobleman sided with the former, and remained faithful to him the
whole of his reign. He was subsequently in the confidence of King Henry
I.,and one of that monarch's chief councillors. "In his youth and
flourish age,"continues the Dugdale, "he was a great lover of worldly
pleasures and secular pomp; profuse in giving, and much delighted with
interludes, jesters, horses, dogs, and other like vanities; having a
large attendance of such persons,of all sorts, as ere disposed to those
sports; but he had also in his familyboth clerks and soldiers, who were
men of great honor, the venerable Anselme(Abbot of Bec, and afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury) being his confessor;nay, so devout he grew
before his death, that sickness hanging long upon him,he caused himself
to be shorn a monk in the abbey of St. Werburge, where, within three
days, after, he died, July 27, 1101."
Of the illegitimate issueof Hugh Lupus there were Ottiwell, tutor to
those children of King Henry I. who perished at sea; Robert, originally a
monk in the abbey of St. Ebrulf, inNormandy, and afterwards abbot of St.
Edmundsbury, in Suffolk; and possibly the daughter, Geva, listed above.
That Hugh Lupus enjoyed immense wealth in England is evident, from the
many lordships he held at the general survey; for,besides the whole of
Cheshire, excepting the small part which at the time belonged to the
bishop, he had nine lordships in Berkshire, two in Devonshire, six in
Wiltshire, ten in Dorsetshire, four in Somersetshire, thirty-two in
Suffolk, twelve in Norfolk, one in Hampshire, five in Oxfordshire, three
in the shire of Buckingham, four in Gloucestershire, two in
Huntingdonshire, fourin Nottinghamshire, one in Warwickshire, and
twenty-two in Leicestershire. Itappears too, by the charter of
foundation to the abbey of St. Werburge, at Chester, that several eminent
persons held the rank of baron under him. This charter was signed by the
earl himself, Richard, his son; Ranulph de Meschines, his nephew, who
eventually inherited the earldom; Roger Bigod; and others.All those
barons were each and all of them men of great individual power, andlarge
territorial possessions.
Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, was succeeded by his son (then but seven
years of age), Richard.
Richard Avranches 2nd Earl of Chester
Richard de Abrincis, his successor, 2nd Earl of Chester. After he had
attained maturity, he attached himself faithfully to King Henry I., and
never subsequently swerved in his allegiance. He married Maud, daughter
of Stephen, Earlof Blois, by Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror,
but had no issue, himself and his countess being soon afterwards among
the victims of the memorableshipwreck, December 1119, wherein the king's
two sons, William and Richard,with their tutor Ottiwell, the earl's
bastard brother, Geoffrey Riddell, hissister Geva's husband, and many
others of the nobility perished.
Upon the demise thus of Richard de Abrincis, 2nd Earl of Chester, the
male line of thefamily became extinct, the earldom passed to the
deceased nobleman's first cousin, Ranulph de Meschines, son of Ralph de
Meschines, by Maud de Abrincis, sister of Earl Hugh Lupus.
The legitimacy of this lady is in question, according to Burke, but is
maintained from the circumstances of her father having bestowed upon her
the manorof Drayton, in free marriage, which the lawyers say could not
be granted to abastard; however, had she been legitimate, she would have
surely succeeded to the earldom before her aunt.
Walter de Beauchamp, from whom the Beauchamps, Barons of St. Amand,
derived.He was a military person of renown in the reigns of King Henry
IV. and King Henry V. He married Elizabeth Roche, daughter of John
Roche.