General Notes

EARLDOM OF CHESTER (VI, 3)

Hugh, styled "OF KEVELIOC," EARL OF CHESTER, also VICOMTE D'AVRANCHES,&c., in Normandy, son and heir born at Kevelioc [?Machynlleth], co.Merioneth. He joined in the rebellion against King Henry II, set on footby Henry, the son of that King, and was taken prisoner at Alnwick, 13July 1174. He was deprived of his Earldom, and was again in rebellionboth in England and Normandy, but, in January 1177, was restored. Hemarried, in 1169, Bertrade, then aged 14 (the King giving her away inmarriage "because she was his own cousin "), daughter of Simon deMontfort, Count D'EVREUX by his 1st wife, Maud. He died at Leek, co.Stafford, 30 June 1181, aged about 34 and was buried at St. Werburg's,Chester. His widow died 1227, aged about 7I. [Complete Peerage III:167,XIV:170, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

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This nobleman, Hugh (Keveliok), 3rd Earl of Chester, joined in the rebellion of the Earl of Lancaster and the King of Scots against King Henry II, and in support of that monarch's son, Prince Henry's pretensions to the crown. In which proceeding he was taken prisoner withthe Earl of Leicester at Alnwick, but obtained his freedom soona fterwards upon the king's reconciliation with the young prince. Again,however, hoisting the standard of revolt both in England and Normandy,with as little success, he was again seized and then detained a prisonerfor some years. He eventmaclly, however, obtained his liberty andrestoration of his lands when public tranquility became completelyreestablished some time about the 23rd year of the king's reign. Hislordship m. Bertred, dau. of Simon, Earl of Evereux, in Normandy, and hadissue, I. Ranulph, his successor; I. Maud, m. to David, Earl ofHuntingdon, brother of William, King of Scotland, and had one son andfour daus., viz., 1. John, surnamed le Scot, who s. to the Earldom ofChester, d. s. p. 7 June, 1237; 1. Margaret, m. to Alan de Galloway, andhad a dau., Devorguilla, m. to John de Baliol, and was mother of John deBaliol, declared King of Scotland in the reign of Edward I; 2. Isabel, m.to Robert de Brus, and was mother of Robert de Brus, who contended forthe crown of Scotland, temp. Edward I; 3. Maud, d. unm.; Ada, m. to Henryde Hastings, one of the competitors for the Scottish crown, temp. EdwardI; II. Mabill, m. to William de Albini, Earl of Arundel; III. Agnes, m.to William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby; IV. Hawise, m. to Robert, son ofSayer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester.

The earl had another dau., whose legitimacy is questionable, namely,Amicia,* m. to Ralph de Mesnilwarin, justice of Chester, "a person," saysDugdale, "of very ancient family," from which union the Mainwarings, ofOver Peover, in the co. Chester, derive. Dugdale considers Amicia to be adau. of the earl by a former wife. But Sir Peter Leicester, in hisAntiquities of Chester, totally denies her legitimacy. "I cannot butmislike," says he, "the boldness and ignorance of that herald who gave toMainwaring (late of Peover), the elder, the quartering of the Earl ofChester's arms; for if he ought of right to quarter that coat, then musthe be descended from a co-heir to the Earl of Chester; but he was not;for the co-heirs of Earl Hugh married four of the greatest peers in thekingdom."

The earl d. at Leeke, in Staffordshire, in 1181, and was s. by his onlyson, Ranulph, surnamed Blundevil (or rather Blandevil) from the place ofhis birth, the town of Album Monasterium, modern Oswestry, in Powys), as4th Earl of Chester.

* Upon the question of this lady's legitimacy there was a long paper warbetween Sir Peter Leicester and Sir Thomas Mainwaring---and eventmacllythe matter was referred to the judges, of whose decision Wood says, "atan assize held at Chester, 1675, the controversy was decided by thejustices itinerant, who, as I have heard, adjudged the right of thematter to Mainwaring." [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages,Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, pp. 365-6, Meschines, Earls ofChester]

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Hugh (d 1181), called Hugh of Cyveiliog, palatine Earl of Chester, wasthe son of Ranulf II, earl of Chester, and of his wife Matilda, daughterof Earl Robert of Gloucester, the illegitamate son of Henry I.  He issometime called Hugh of Cyveiliog, because, according to a late writer,he was born in that district of Wales.  His father died on 16 Dec 1153,whereupon, being probably still under age, he succeeded to hispossessions on both sides of the Channel.  These included the hereditaryviscountics of Avranches and Bayeux.  Hugh was present at the council ofClarendon in January 1164 which drew up the assize of Clarendon.  In 1171he was in Normandy.

Hugh joined the great feudal revolt against Henry II in 1173.  Aided byRalph of Fougeres, he utilised his great influence on the north-easternmarches of Brittany to exicte the Bretons to revolt.  Henry II despatchedan army of Brabant mercenaries against them.  The rebels were defeated ina battle, and on 20 Aug were shut up in the castle of Dol, which they hadcaptured by fraud not long before.  On 23 Aug Henry II arrived to conductthe siege in person.  Hugh and his comrades nad no provisions.  They weretherefore forced to surrender on 26 Aug on a promise that their lives andlimbs would be saved.  Fourscore knights surrendered with them.  Hugh wastreated very leniently by Henry, and was confined at Falaise, whither theEarl and Countess of Leicester were also soon brought as prsioners.  WhenHenry II returned to England, he took the two earls with him.  They wereconveyed from Barfleur to Southampton on 8 July 1174.  Hugh was probablyafterwars imprisoned at Devizes.  On 8 Aug, however, he was taken backfrom Portsmouth to Bafleur, when Henry II went back to Normandy.  He wasno imprisoned at Caen, whence he was removed to Falaise.  He was admittedto terms with Henry before the general peace, and witnessed the peace ofFalaise on 11 Oct.

Hugh seems to have remained some time longer without completerestoration.  At last, at the council of Northampton on 13 Jan 1177, hereceived grant of the lands on both sides of the sea which he had heldfifteen days before the war broke out.  In March he witnessed the Spanishaward.  In May, at the council at Windsor, Henry II restored him hiscastles, and required him to go to Ireland, alson wiht WilliamFitzAldhelm and others, to prepare the way for the king's son John.  Butno great grants of Irish land were conferred on him, and he took noprominent part in the Irish campaigns.  He died at Leek in Staffordshireon 30 June 1181.  He was buried next his father on the south side of thechapter-house of St Werburgh;s, Chester, now the cathedral.

Hugh's liberality to the church was not so great as that of hispredecessors.  He granted some lands in Wirral to St Werburgh's and fourcharters to his, to Stanlaw, St Mary's, Coventry, the nuns of Bullingtonand Greenfield, are printed by Ormerod.  he also confirmed his mother'sgrants to her foundation of Austin Canons at Calke, Derbyshire, and thoseof his father to his convent of the Benedictine nuns of St Mary'sChester.  In 1171 he had confirmed the grants of Ranulf to the abbey ofSt Stephen's in the diocese of Bayeux.  More substantial were his grantsof Bettesford Church to Trentham Priory, and of Combe in Gloucestershireto the abbey of Bordesley, Warwickshire.

Hugh married before 1171 Bertrada, the daughter of Simon III, surnamedthe Bald, count of Evreux and Montfort.  He was therefore brother-in-lawto Simon of Montfort, the conqueror of the Albigenses, and uncle of theEarl of Leicester.  His only legitimate son, Ranulf III, succeeded him asEarl of Cester.  He also left four daughters by his wife, who became, ontheir brother's death, coheiresses of the Chester earldom.  They were:(1) Maud, who married David, earl of Huntingdon, and became the mother ofJohn the Scot, earl of Chester from 1232 to 1237, on whose death the lineof Hugh of Avranches became extinct; (2) Mabel, who married William ofAlbini, earl of Arundel (d. 1221); (3) Agnes, the wife of William, earlFerrers Derby; and (4) Hawise, who married Robert de Quincy, son of Saerde Quincy, earl of Winchester.  Hugh was also father of several bastards,including Pagan, lord of Milton; Roger; Amice, who married RalphMainwaring, justice of Chester; and another daughter who married R.Bacon, the founder of Roucester.  A great controversy was carried onbetween Sir Peter Leycester and Sir Thomas Mainwaring, Amice's reputeddescendent, as to whether that lady was legitimate or not. Fifteenpamphlets and small treatises on the subject, published between 1673 and1679, were reprinted in the publications of the Chetham Society, vols.Ixxiii, Ixxix, and Ixxx.  Mainwaring was the champion of her legitimacy,which Leycester had denied in his 'Historical Antiquities.' Dugdalebelieved that Amice was the daughter of a former wife of Hugh, of whoseexistence, however, there is no record.  A fine seal of Earl Hugh's isengraved in Ormerod's 'Cheshire,' i 32. [Dictionary of National BiographyX:164-5]