Richard le Goz, Viscount of Avranches
Richard le Goz (d. 1082 or after), son of Thorstein le Goz, Viscount of Avranches. Viscount of Avranches. Richard’s grandfather was Ansfred the Dane.
William the Conqueror, as Duke of Normandy, bestowed on him the title of Viscount of Avranches sometime before 1046. Richard may also have been Lord of Creully and entrusted with the castle of Saint-James-de-Beuvron, built by William in 1067 shortly after the war against the Bretons of 1064-66.
Richard provided 60 ships to support William's 1066 invasion of England but is not among those known to have been present at the Battle of Hastings. Between 1070 and 1079, Richard was involved in a ruling between Raoul Tesson and the Abbey of Fontenay. Around 1076 he was one of the judges who pronounced an award against Robert Bertram.
Richard married Emma, who is believed to have been the daughter of Herluin de Conteville and Herleva (mistress of Robert I of Normandy and mother of William the Conqueror), and hence a sister of Robert, Count of Mortain (Companion of William) and Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. Richard and Emma had five known children and probably more:
- Hugh d’Avranches, Earl of Chester and Viscount of Avranches
- Helisende, married to William II, Count of Eu
- Gilbert d'Avranches, Lord of Marcey
- Margaret, married to Ranulf, Viscount du Bessin. Their son was Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester
- Judith, married to Richer de l'Aigle (died in the Battle of Saint-Suzanne).
Ranulf became Earl of Chester after his cousin Richard d’Avranches died in the White Ship disaster of 1120. Also, Judith and Richer lost two of their grandsons in this tragedy, sons of Gilbert (d. abt 1118) (Godefroi (Godfrey) and Engenulf (Engenouf) de l'Aigle).
Richard le Goz died in 1082 and was succeeded by his son Hugh as Viscount of Avranches.
Sources
Keats-Rohan, K, Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066-1166, Vol I. Boydell Press, Suffolk, 1999
Lewis, C. P., Avranches, Hugh d', first earl of Chester (d. 1101), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Douglas, David C., William the Conqueror, University of California Press, 1992