Ranulf de Gernon, Vicomte de Bessin
Abt 1050 - 1129 (~ 79 years)-
Name Ranulf de Gernon , Vicomte de Bessin [1] Suffix Vicomte de Bessin Born Abt 1050 Bayeux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France [2] Gender Male Died 1129 [2] Notes - He gained the title of Vicomte de Bayeux [Normandy] in 1089, or 'de la Bessin', of which Bayeux is the capital.
Ranulf de Briquessart (or Ranulf the Viscount) (died c. 1089 or soon after) was an 11th century Norman magnate and viscount. Ranulf's family were connected to the House of Normandy by marriage, and, besides Odo, bishop of Bayeux, was the most powerful magnate in the Bessin region. He married Margaret, daughter of Richard Goz, viscount of the Avranchin, whose son and successor Hugh d'Avranches became Earl of Chester in England c. 1070.
Ranulf is probably the "Ranulf the viscount" who witnessed a charter of William, Duke of Normandy, at Caen on 17 June 1066. Ranulf helped preside over a judgement in the curia of King William (as duke) in 1076 in which a disputed mill was awarded to the Abbey of Mont St. Michael. On 14 July 1080 he witnessed a charter to the Abbey of Lessay (in the diocese of Coutances), another in the same year addressed to Remigius de Fécamp bishop of Lincoln in favour of the Abbey of Préaux. and one more in the same period, 1079 x 1082, to the Abbey of St Stephen of Caen. His name is attached to a memorandum in 1085, and on 24 April 1089 he witnessed a confirmation of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy and Count of Maine to St Mary of Bayeaux, where he appears below his son in the witness list.
He probably died sometime after this. His son Ranulf le Meschin became ruler of Cumberland and later Earl of Chester. The Durham Liber Vitae, c. 1098 x 1120, shows that his eldest son was one Richard, who died in youth, and that he had another son named William. He also had a daughter called Agnes, who later married Robert de Grandmesnil (died 1136).
Person ID I1421 Bosdet Genealogy Last Modified 16 May 2013
Father Ranulph de Gernon, Vicomte de Bessin, b. Abt 1017, Bayeux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France Relationship Natural Mother Aliz de Normandie, b. Normandy, France Relationship Natural Family ID F602 Group Sheet
Family Margaret d'Avranches, b. Abt 1054, Avranches, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France Married Abt 1069 Avranches, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France [2] Children 1. Ranulph le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester, b. Abt 1070, Briquessart, Livry, France , d. 17 Jan 1128/29, Chester, Cheshire, England (Age ~ 59 years) Family ID F1021 Group Sheet
- He gained the title of Vicomte de Bayeux [Normandy] in 1089, or 'de la Bessin', of which Bayeux is the capital.
-
Sources - [S179] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed, G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, (Name: Alan Sutton Publishing; Location: Gloucester, U.K.; Date: 2000;).
- [S160] Richard Glanville-Brown, (Location: 2, Milton, Ontario, Canada;).
- [S179] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed, G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, (Name: Alan Sutton Publishing; Location: Gloucester, U.K.; Date: 2000;).