Ralph de Gael

Ralph de Gaël (otherwise Ralph de Guader, Radulf Waders or Ralph Wader) (before 1042 – c. 1096) was the Earl of East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk) and Lord of Gaël and Montfort (Seigneur de Gaël et Montfort). He was the leading figure in the Revolt of the Earls, the last serious revolt against William the Conqueror.

Ralph was born before 1042, most probably about 1040 in Hereford, as not later than 1060 he attested, in company with other Bretons, a notification at Angers as son of Ralph the Staller.

He inherited the great Breton barony of Gaël, which comprised more than forty parishes. In England, whether by inheritance or by grant from the Crown, he held large estates in Norfolk, as well as property in Suffolk, Essex, Hertford, and possibly other counties. In some of these estates he certainly succeeded his father, but it is not known whether he obtained the Earldom immediately on his father’s death.

Ralph built a church in Norwich, in the new town, and give it to his chaplains; but there is no record of religious benefactions by him in Brittany.

He married, in 1075 at Exning, Cambridgeshire, Emma, only daughter of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford and his first wife Alice or Adelise (or Adelissa), daughter of Roger I of Tosny. Their offspring were:

In 1075 the king's refusal to sanction this marriage between two powerful families caused a revolt in his absence. The leaders were Ralph, his new brother-in-law Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford, and Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The revolt was plagued by disaster. Waltheof lost heart and confessed the conspiracy to Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who urged Earl Roger to return to his allegiance, and finally excommunicated him and his adherents- Waltheof was later executed by William. Ralph encountered a much superior force under the warrior bishops Odo of Bayeux and Geoffrey de Montbray (the latter ordered that all rebels should have their right foot cut off) near Cambridge and retreated hurriedly to Norwich, hotly pursued by the royal army. Leaving his wife to defend Norwich Castle, he sailed for Denmark in search of help, and eventually returned to England with a fleet of 200 ships under Cnut and Hakon, which failed to do anything effective.

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