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THE NORMAN EARLS OF CHESTER

Under the Norman's Chester increased considerably in importance, and after the Conquest, the Earldom of Chester (county) was conferred on Georbodus, a nobleman of Flanders, who, however, never took possession of his territory, and returning to the Continent, died soon after, upon which the dignity was bestowed by the Conqueror, in 1070. upon his half-sister's son, Hugh de Abrincis (or Avranches), surnamed Lupus. who had his residence and held his courts and parliaments here, to which he summoned the barons and landowners of the shire; this powerful and wealthy noble eventually died as a monk in the abbey of St. Werburgh, at Chester, 27 July, 1101:

and on the death in Dec. 1119, of his son Richard, 2nd earl, the male line then becoming extinct, the earldom passed to his 1st cousin, Ranulph de Meschines, son of Ralph de Meschines, who had married Maud de Abrincis, sister of Earl Hugh Lupus: Ranulph or Ralph de Meschines, 4th earl of Chester of this family, and surnamed Blundevil, died at Wallingford, 26 Oct. 1232, and the earldom then devolved upon his nephew, John le Scot, as Earl Palatine, at whose decease, by poison, in 1244, the male line again failed,and in 1246 the Earldom of Chester was for ever annexed to the Crown by Henry III, and the title has since that time,excepting the short period 1264-5, when possession thereof was obtained by the rebellious Simon de Montfort, been borne only by the heir apparent of the sovereign: by the Act 21 Rich. II, c. 9 (1398), the earldom of Chester was erected into a Principality, and although this Act was annulled by the Act 1 Hen. IV, c. 3, the earldom of Chester has ever since been granted in conjunction with the Principality of Wales.

THE NORMAN EARLS OF CHESTER

On the accession William the Conqueror, created his nephew Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, at the same time investing him with supreme authority throughout the county and city, so that he held as absolute a regal sway within those limits as the king himself had in his dominions. For one hundred and sixty years did Hugh Lupus and his successors, the seven Norman Earls of Chester, exercise their petty sovereignty over the city and county, until the death of Earl John Scot, in 1237, when Henry III. took the earldom , with all the powers annexed to it, into his own hands ; and from that period to the present it has been held by the English Crown The title of Earl of Chester was conferred by Henry upon his eldest son, afterwards Edward I.
It has ever since been vested in the reigning monarch's eldest son, and is now enjoyed by his Royal highness, Albert, Prince of Wales, the hopeful heir of our beloved Queen.

The Earls and Their Earldom ( Introduction ) by A.T. Thacker

The city and county of Chester, provided the earl with his title but did not constitute his most valuable possession nor indeed always his principal theatre of operations. In fact, from the beginning, under Earl Hugh I , two-thirds of the earls' wealth came from outside Cheshire. Their possessions were scattered through twenty counties, and they had especially extensive holdings in the Midlands and the North. Despite this, there has been a tendency to regard the earls primarily as Cheshire magnates.
The traditional emphasis on Cheshire is most appropriate for the period of the honor's creation, under Earl Hugh I ( c. 1070-1101 ) it was initially envisaged primarily as a strategic entity, to support the earl in defending the realm and ultimately in taking the offensive against the men of north Wales. That is apparent from the common pattern of the holdings of the earl and his principal followers: each had a compact caput in Cheshire augmented by substantial estates elsewhere in the prosperous English heart lands of the honor. The pattern is particularly well demonstrated by the holdings of Robert of Rhuddlan and William fitz Nigel , the two magnates who were successively Earl Hugh's principal lieutenants and probably his earliest constables.' In addition to his caput at Rhuddlan and his considerable estates straddling (and hence controlling) the vital Dee estuary, Robert also had a great estate at Mentmore (Bucks.) and substantial holdings in Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire. Similarly, William's caput at Halton, to the south of the Mersey, was augmented by holdings to the north of the river, giving control over the strategically important Runcorn Gap, and by major estates in Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire. These instances could be multiplied."

It is thus apparent that the initial impetus behind the creation of the great honor of Chester was to enlarge the resources of a comparatively poor but strategically vital marcher fiefdom. Initially this policy was highly successful. The Normans quickly overran and consolidated their hold on the territory between the rivers Dee and Clwyd , the whole of what the Welsh were soon to call the cantref of Tegeingl . The area included the great stronghold of Rhuddlan, where King Grufludd ap Llywelyn had kept court until 1063, when his defeat at the hands of Harold and subsequent death paved the way for the Norman successes. From this important base Earl Hugh and his lieutenants made inroads into the far west. Spurred on by the grant in chief of north Wales beyond the Clwyd, the earl's cousin, Robert of Rhuddlan, was a tireless campaigner in the region until his death in l093, with the result that in 1092 a Norman bishop was established at Bangor and estates on Anglesey were granted to Earl Hugh's newly founded abbey in Chester.

Already, however ,there were signs that the Normans were overreaching themselves. In 1098 Earl Hugh's ill-fated expedition to Anglesey ended with the death of his fellow commander, Earl Hugh of Shrewsbury." The deaths of Robert of Rhuddlan and then in 1101 of Earl Hugh himself, their replacement by Earl Richard, a minor, and the fall in 1102 of the neighboring house of Montgomery entailed a great loss of momentum.' This was compounded by the fact that Henry I, having obtained recognition of his suzerainty from the Welsh princes, was not disposed to seek their destruction at the hands of great marcher lords like the earl of Chester. Gwynedd indeed became a favoured client state under Gruffudd ap Cynan."

These developments were confirmed by a decisive reorientation of the earls' interests within England at the accession of Earl Ranulf I in 1121. The new earl's wife, Lucy of Bolingbroke, was the heir to great estates in Lincolnshire, which when combined with the extensive lands the honor of Chester already held there offered their possessor a base from which to pursue the domination of that prosperous and well-populated county. Henry I, wishing to avoid such a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of an already mighty magnate, forced Ranulf to surrender most of the Bolingbroke lands, but after the earl's death in 1129 his son Ranulf II and his stepson William of Roumare regained control of their mother's inheritance

It is clear, that Ranulf's interests lay principally in the great triangle of land whose northern baseline extended from Chester in the west to Lincoln in the east, and whose apex lay to the south at Coventry. The new role of the Welsh is indicated by the fact that Cadwaladr, younger brother of the ruler of Gwynedd, and Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys, supported Ranulf II on his attack on Lincoln in 1141, and that Cadwaladr was again to be found among Ranulfs entourage in the late 1140s That the cessation of Norman military activity on the Welsh border had been accompanied by a resurgence in the power of Gwynedd is apparent from Ranulf II's request in 1146 that Stephen lead an expedition into north Wales, a scheme which the king's friends interpreted as founded on bad faith and which resulted in the earl's arrest at Lincoln. In fact, the English position had sharply deteriorated. With Ranulf imprisoned, Owain Gwynedd's forces wasted Cheshire, and when the earl died in 1153 the Welsh prince's influence was increasing throughout Tegeingl

The situation led to fresh enterprises against the Welsh. In 1157/8, while Hugh II was still a minor, King Henry himself led a successful expedition against Owain Gwynedd and once again placed Tegeingl under English control. But a further expedition in 1165 was not a success, and thereafter the Welsh regained the initiative. In 1166 and 1167 Basingwerk , Rhuddlan and Prestatyn were recaptured by the prince of Gwynedd, whose power in consequence extended to the Dee estuary. Soon afterwards, Henry was to reach accommodation with the Welsh princes and it was young Marcher lords like Hugh II who found themselves in revolt. Hugh himself was captured while attacking Henry in Normandy, and his honor was forfeit from 1174 to 1l77. In the few years remaining to him after his release he was quiescent, occupied with campaigns on the Welsh border. His weakness was reflected in Henry's retention of the castle of Chester and in the royal grant of the Cheshire barony of Nantwich (which included important lands in Dorset) to Richard de Redvers, later earl of Devon." Though during this period he continued to issue charters in the city of Chester, Hugh seems increasingly to have favoured his manor of Leek, where he died in 1181

The earldom's administration continued to evolve under Hugh II. Its North Western bias is reflected in the growth in importance of the stewards of Mold, who had administered the earldom during Hugh's minority. That despite his difficulties Hugh aspired to cut a dash is evident from the large number of chaplains and clerks maintained in his entourage. Hugh's death, while still in his early thirties, left the earldom once again in the hands of a minor, probably no more than eleven years old. Ranulf III took control from the royal custodians only in 1187 Details of his early life are difficult to determine, but it was probably then more than later that he was resident in the earldom . Almost certainly he was brought up in the North-West; his nurse belonged to a family with possessions in the city of Chester. although his marriage in 1189 to Constance of Brittany inevitably meant that he spent time upon her great possessions in both England and France, before c. 1200 he is known to have issued a considerable number of charters (at least 18) in Cheshire. especially in Chester itself. Significantly Cheshire was by far the most favoured location; only four charters were recorded from Coventry and a mere two from Lincolnshire. The import of this is further enhanced by the fact that these documents presumably mostly dated from before the earl's departure to Normandy with the king in 1194 In this early period, as under Hugh II. Cheshire remained the main focus of the honor

By the time that Ranulf III returned to England after King Richard's death in 1199, he had inherited the great estates of his Roumare kinsmen in Lincolnshire. Once again the territorial interests of the earl of Chester were pulled towards the Midlands. Ranulf III went a long way towards achieving the aims of his grandfather Ranulf II in particular, he eventually obtained the coveted title of earl of Lincoln in 1217, and greatly extended his holdings in the eastern Midlands with his acquisition in 1215 of half of the great honor of Leicester in wardship for his cousin Simon de Montfort. Nevertheless, Ranulf III seems never to have focused upon the Midlands in the same way as Ranulf II. Although undoubtedly he exploited his financial opportunities in Lincolnshire to the full, especially in the reclamation of the Fens there is little evidence that he resided there to the same extent as his grandfather. The few charters dating from after 1199 in which attestations were located were given predominantly in Chester and the North-West. Moreover, towards the end of his tenure of the earldom Ranulf III came to see his Cheshire base as of primary importance. The scale of his building activities at Beeston castle, begun in 1225 probably according to Ranulf's own designs, was obviously intended to enhance his standing as earl of Chester. Magnificently located on a great rock rising above the Cheshire lowlands, the castle was of huge size and virtually impregnable. Though little of the fabric remains today, the design, with its wall-towers and its powerful gatehouses, was very advanced for its day. The castle was clearly intended to impress, and its construction was viewed as a major local event noted in both the Annales Cestrienses and the annals of Dieulacres."

Another major enterprise, begun earlier but similarly based in the North-West, was the refoundation of the Cistercian monastery originally established at Poulton (Ches.) by Robert the Butler in the mid 12th century. The community appears to have been high in Ranulf's affections from an early date, and he was reported to have received the sacraments there during the Interdict. Resited in 1214 at Dieulacres , a mile north of Leek, it became the earl's favourite religious house. He bestowed upon it substantial privileges and endowments, including the church and manor of Leek. and it was there in 1232 that his heart was buried at his own wish

It has been argued that Ranulf III's acquisitiveness in his later years was prompted by a desire to preserve his Chester earldom from dismemberment. By 1215 he had been married fifteen years to his second wife, Clemence of Fougeres, and had still produced no children. That he had abandoned any expectations in this matter is perhaps indicated by the fact that in 1220 he had taken custody of his nephew John the Scot , whose father David , earl of Huntingdon, had died in the previous year. As the offspring of Ranulf's eldest sister, John was the earl's senior coheir. There were, however, three other sisters whose own rights, or whose descendants' rights, required a fourfold division of Ranulf's possessions. In such circumstances Ranulf seems to have felt the need to acquire as much land as possible in order to provide adequately for his coheirs and transmit his senior earldom intact.

It was, however, the development of a highly unusual judicial administration based exclusively upon the county of Cheshire that provided the most substantial expression of the earl's special status. Within that county the earl maintained or established notable privileges; his court was exempt from royal supervision. and writs ran in his name rather than the king's. In addition his position was enhanced by the development of exceptional local procedures. including the keeping of comital registers of deeds, pleas and correspondence. and probably of original writs The emergence of a body of peculiar local custom is evidenced by Ranulf's grant of the 'Magna Carta of Cheshire' in 1215, presumably necessary because Magna Carla itself did not run within the county franchise.

Ranulf's increasing confidence in his standing as a Cheshire-based princeps is reflected in his dealings with the Welsh. From his early years until the death of King John he followed royal policy. Thus when in 1210 the king determined to curtail the growing power of Llywelyn, by then ruler of the whole of native Wales, the earl advanced his claim to the lost cantrefi in the north, and established castles in Holywell and Degannwy By 1218, however, Ranulf was prepared to treat with Llywelyn on terms of equality, as one princeps with another. The mutually beneficial alliance thus initiated was subsequently strengthened. In 1220 Llywelyn went to greet his neighbour on his return to Chester from the crusade, and in 1222 the earl married his nephew and heir. John the Scot, to the prince's daughter Helen.

Visible evidence of a reorientation of the earldom's role is provided by the location of Ranull's new castle: Beeston guarded the approach to Chester not from Wales but from England. Ranulf's attitude in the 1220s is best illustrated by his letter to the young king on behalf of the fugitive Falkes de Bréauté, at that time seeking refuge with him and the prince of Wales. The earl announced that he had spoken with Llywelyn and urged him to conclude a truce of one month, but warned Henry that the prince and his magnates were indignant because they had received no reparation for the great harms which they alleged that they had suffered. The lofty tone of the letter is striking. Ranulf wrote almost as if the fate of Falkes was a matter to be resolved between three sovereign powers. Though he courteously reminded Henry that he had always been at pains to help and serve him, he distinguished between the king's lands and his own, and firmly rejected the charges against the fugitive.

It seems, then, that increasingly in his later years Ranulf came to regard himself as possessed of semi-autonomous princely status. Though undoubtedly he sought independence from royal control in all his major holdings - for example, in Richmondshire, and in the shrievalties of Shropshire, Staffordshire and Lancashire, which he held between 1216 and 1223 - the firmest base for such pretensions was the privileged county of Chester. Administered by an important local official (the justice), and with a growing body of peculiar customs and privileges, the shire was seen as the caput of the earldom and the source of Ranulf's independence as princeps.

That this division was the product of skillful planning and was by no means uncontroversial is indicated by the law-suit in which John the Scot was subsequently embroiled and which was terminated only by his death in 1237. The other coheirs, led by d'Aubigny and de Ferrers, felt themselves to have been unfairly treated and demanded a share in John the Scot's county of Chester. Ultimately Ranulf's strategy was a failure, because of John the Scot's early death without issue. Though the senior of the coheirs, William de Forz, tried to maintain the county's indivisibility, on the grounds of its palatine status, the Crown was determined to retain possession of so important a prize. The coheirs were bought out and de Forz was denied the title on the ground that his relatively small share of the divided inheritance (one half of one third) was insufficient to sustain the dignity of an earl. The earldom passed to the Crown, to be revived in 1254, its special status intact, as an appanage for the king's eldest son.
An Anglo-Norman honor, like any great medieval corporation possessed its own continuity and collective memory. The honor of Chester was bound together by the comital family itself, by the greater tenants with their widely dispersed holdings, and above all by its administration whose strongly hereditary character sharpened its sense of corporate identity. The network of links is well illustrated by the upper echelons of Ranulf III's administration in the early thirteenth century. The constable from 1211. John de Lacy, had important holdings in both Cheshire and Lincolnshire. and through his marriage to the earl's niece was eventually to receive the earldom of Lincoln.. The justiciar. whose main duties were by then firmly located within the county of Chester, was from c. 1208 to 1229 Philip of Orby. scion of a Lincolnshire family; by contrast, the principal clerk or chancellor, Peter the Clerk, whose duties extended throughout the honor, was a leading citizen and resident of Chester . The earls' immediate entourage included men from all over their domains, such as Richard. clerk of Frodsham in Cheshire, and Stephen. clerk of Repton in Derbyshire, both of whom attest charters of Ranulf II, or Richard. vicar of Kegworth in Leicestershire. Thomas the Chamberlain (founder of a Chester family) and Robert of Pontefract (a tenant in Lincolnshire). all of whom became chamberlains of Ranulf III.Even the process by which charters were written , with its reliance upon the earldom's chief ecclesiastical communities , must have contributed to the drawing together 0f disparate institutions within the honor