Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester (1094 – 25 November 1120) was the son of Hugh, 1st Earl of Chester and Ermentrude of Clermont.

Early life

He was seven years old when his father, known as Hugh the Fat, died. Due to his age, a stewardship would have ruled until he was old enough. He probably became Earl of Chester in 1107. He married Lucia-Mahaut

Lucia-Mahaut

Lucia-Mahaut of Blois , known as Matilda or Maud, was daughter to Stephen, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy. She was married to Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both she and her husband joined William Adelin, heir to King Henry I of England aboard the White Ship...

, daughter of Stephen, Count of Blois.

Military career

At the age of twenty, in 1114, Richard was on military campaign and was styled the Earl of Chester. Together with King Alexander of Scotland

Alexander I of Scotland

Alexander I , also called Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim and nicknamed "The Fierce", was King of the Scots from 1107 to his death.-Life:...

, he led an Anglo-Norman army into Gwynedd

Kingdom of Gwynedd

Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...

 as part of a three-pronged campaign organised by Henry I of England

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

 against Gwynedd, and Gruffydd ap Cynan

Gruffydd ap Cynan

Gruffydd ap Cynan was a King of Gwynedd. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembered as King of all Wales...

. Gruffydd, rather than risk battle, satisfied the King with an oath of homage

Homage

Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....

 and a suitable fine. The campaign soon fizzled out, and Richard returned to Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

.

White Ship

The line of the d'Avranches as Earls of Chester failed when Richard, with his illegitimate half-brother Ottuel, joined the young William Adelin

William Adelin

William , surnamed Adelin , was the son of Henry I of England by his wife Matilda of Scotland, and was thus heir-apparent to the throne. His early death without issue caused a succession crisis.William was born in Winchester...

, heir to the English King Henry aboard the doomed White Ship

White Ship

The White Ship was a vessel that sank in the English Channel near the Normandy coast off Barfleur, on 25 November 1120. Only one of those aboard survived. Those who drowned included William Adelin, the only surviving legitimate son and heir of King Henry I of England...

. The ship went down, drowning all but one boy, in the year 1120. Richard died aged twenty-six, leaving no issue.

The earldom then passed through his father Hugh's sister Maud to Richard's first cousin Ranulph I, in 1121.