Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester

Ranulf de Blondeville
Born1170
Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales
Died26 October 1232
Wallingford, Berkshire, England
Resting placeChester Abbey, Chester
TitleEarl of Chester
Term1181–1232
PredecessorHugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester
SuccessorMatilda of Chester, Countess of Salisbury (suo jure)
Spouse(s)Constance of Brittany (annulled 1199)
Clemence de Fougères
SIGILLUM RANULFI COMITIS CESTRIE ET LINCOLNIE ("Seal of Ranulf Count of Chester and of Lincoln"). His arms of a "garb of wheat" are visible on his shield and on his horse's caparison, and became common as "arms of patronage" borne by the later Cheshire gentry (see e.g. Scrope v Grosvenor).

Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester and 1st Earl of Lincoln[1] (1170 – 26 October 1232), known in some references as the 4th Earl of Chester (in the second lineage of the title after the original family line was broken after the 2nd Earl), was one of the "old school" of Anglo-Norman barons whose loyalty to the Angevin dynasty was consistent but contingent on the receipt of lucrative favours. He has been described as "almost the last relic of the great feudal aristocracy of the Conquest".[2]

  1. ^ Eales 2008
  2. ^ Stubbs 1874, p. 47.