Biography of Lucia Mahaut Blois Countess Chester -1120

Paternal Family Tree: Blois

Maternal Family Tree: Gerberge Unknown Viscountess Anjou

Lucia Mahaut Blois Countess Chester was born to [her father] Stephen Blois II Count Blois and Chartres and [her mother] Adela Normandy Countess Blois. She a granddaughter of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

In 1080 [her father] Stephen Blois II Count Blois and Chartres [age 35] and [her mother] Adela Normandy Countess Blois [age 13] were married at Chartres [Map]. She by marriage Countess Blois. The difference in their ages was 22 years. She the daughter of [her grandfather] King William "Conqueror" I of England [age 52] and [her grandmother] Matilda Flanders Queen Consort England [age 49]. He the son of Theobald Blois III Count Blois [age 68] and Gersenda Maine Countess Blois. They were third cousins.

In 1104 [her brother] William "Simple" Blois Count Blois Count Chartres [age 19] and [her sister-in-law] Agnes Sully Countess Blois and Chartres [age 19] were married. She by marriage Countess Blois, Countess Chartres. He the son of [her father] Stephen Blois II Count Blois and Chartres [age 59] and [her mother] Adela Normandy Countess Blois [age 37].

In 1107 [her future husband] Richard Avranches 2nd Earl Chester [age 13] succeeded 2nd Earl Chester. Lucia Mahaut Blois Countess Chester by marriage Countess Chester.

In or before 1120 Richard Avranches 2nd Earl Chester [age 25] and Lucia Mahaut Blois Countess Chester were married. She the daughter of Stephen Blois II Count Blois and Chartres [age 74] and Adela Normandy Countess Blois [age 52]. He the son of Hugh of Avranches 1st Earl Chester and Ermentrude Clermont Countess Chester. They were half second cousins. She a granddaughter of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

25th November 1120-Sinking of The White Ship

On 25th November 1120 the White Ship left Barfleur in north-west Normandy, with a party of young Normans. [her uncle] King Henry I "Beauclerc" England [age 52] had left earlier on another ship. A mile out the White Ship foundered on a submerged rock. William Adelin Duke Normandy [age 17], his half-siblings Richard Fitzroy [age 19] and Matilda Fitzroy Countess Perche, William Bigod [age 27], Lucia Mahaut Blois Countess Chester, brothers Geoffrey Aigle and Engenulf Aigle, half-brothers [her husband] Richard Avranches 2nd Earl Chester [age 26] and [her brother-in-law] Ottiwel Avranches, brothers Ivo Grandesmil and William Grandesmil and Geoffrey Ridel were all drowned.

Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. [25th November 1120] Shipwreck of king Henry's children. Henry, king of England, having successfully accomplished all his designs, returned from Normandy to England. His son William [age 17], hastening to follow him, embarked in company with a great number of nobles, knights, women, and boys. Having left the harbour and put out to sea, encouraged by the extraordinary calmness of the weather, shortly afterwards the ship in which they were sailing struck on a rock and was wrecked, and all on board were swallowed up by the waves, except one churl, who, as it is reported, was not worthy of being named, but by the wonderful mercy of God, escaped alive. Of those who perished, those of highest rank were, William, the king's son, [her husband] Richard [age 26], earl of Chester, [her brother-in-law] Othiel, his brother, William Bigod [age 27], Geoffrey Riddel, Walter d'Evereux, Geoffrey, archdeacon of Hereford, the king's daughter, the countess of Perche, the king's niece, the countess of Chester, and many more who are omitted for brevity's sake. This disaster horrified and distressed the mind of the king, who reached England after a safe voyage, and of all who heard of it, and struck them with awe at the mysterious decrees of a just God.

Note 1. Ordericus Vitalis, in his twelfth book, c. xxv., gives a particular account of the shipwreck of the Blanche Nef; which is also mentioned, with more or less detail, by Huntingdon, Malmesbury, and other chroniclers.

History of the Dukes of Normandy by William of Jumieges. The daughter¹ [Lucia] of Adela, daughter of King William of the English, of whom we have spoken above, was married to Richard, Earl of Chester, son of Hugh, Earl of Chester, and this Hugh was the son of Richard, Viscount of the region of Avranches. When Richard and his wife died in the oft-mentioned shipwreck together with William, son of King Henry, Ranulf², Viscount of Bayeux, cousin of Richard, obtained his county. After the death of this Ranulf, his son, also named Ranulf, succeeded him, a man of great prowess in warfare. This same Ranulf's sister [Alice] was married to Richard [de Clare], son of Gilbert, by whom she had three sons. This Richard, as stated above [Chapter 8.37], was slain by the Welsh. The aforesaid Ranulf, Earl of Chester, took to wife Matilda [the manuscript reads Sibyl], daughter of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, by whom he begot two sons, Hugh and Richard.

Filia autem Adelæ filiæ Willelmi regis Anglorum, de qua superius fecimus mentionem, nupsit Richardo comiti Cestrensi, filio Hugonis comitis; qui Hugo fuit filius Richardi vicecomitis Abrincatensis pagi. Cum vero Richardus et uxor ejus in sæpe dicto naufragio cum Willelmo filio regis Henrici mortui fuissent, Ranulfus vicecomes Bajocasini, consobrinus ipsius Richardi, adeptus est comitatum ejus. Mortuo autem eodem Ranulfo, successit ei item Ranulfus filius ejus, vir in rebus bellicis strenuus. Hujus autem Ranulfi sororem duxit Richardus filius Gisleberti, ex qua suscepit tres filios. Ipse denique Richardus peremtus est a Walensibus, ut præfixum est. Prædictus autem Ranulfus comus accepit uxorem Mathildem [ms. Sibyllam] filiam Roberti comitis Glocestria; ex qua genuit duos filios, Hugonem et Richardum.

Note 1. Lucia of Blois, died 1120, daughter of Stephen, Count of Blois and Adela, daughter of King William the Conqueror. Lucia married Richard of Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester, son Hugh of Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, and Ermentrude of Clermont.

Note 2. Following the death of Richard, 2nd Earl of Chester, in the White Ship Disaster in 1120, his first cousin Ranulf, son of Richard's father's sister Margaret, succeeded to the Earldom of Chester.

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