Alan the Black ( la, Alanus Niger, french: Alain le Noir; died 1098) was the second lord of the

Honour of Richmond The Honour of Richmond (or English feudal barony of Richmond) in north-west Yorkshire, England was granted to Count Alan Rufus (also known as Alain le Roux) by King William the Conqueror sometime during 1069 to 1071, although the date is uncertai ...

from 1093 until his death. He was a younger son of

Odo, Count of Penthièvre Odo of Rennes (Medieval Breton: ''Eudon Pentevr'', Modern Breton: ''Eozen Penteur'', Latin: ''Eudo'', French: ''Eudes/Éon de Penthièvre'') (c. 999–1079), Count of Penthièvre, was the youngest of the three sons of Duke Geoffrey I of Britta ...

. He succeeded his elder brother,

Alan Rufus Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz (Breton), Alain le Roux ( French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, was a Breton nobleman, kinsman and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II of No ...

("Alan the Red"), at Richmond. There is no record of him being in England prior to 1093.K. S. B. Keats-Rohan
"Alan Rufus (d. 1093)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), retrieved 28 February 2016. Alan either had an affair with, or was married to, the nun Gunnhild of

Wilton Abbey Wilton Abbey was a Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England, three miles from Salisbury, probably on the site now occupied by Wilton House. It was active from the early tenth century until 1539. History Foundation Wilton Abbey is first reco ...

, a daughter of King

Harold II Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings, fighting the Normans, Norman invaders led by Willi ...

. Gunnhild had earlier eloped with his elder brother. There is contemporary documentation that after the death of Alan Rufus in 1093, Gunnhild lived with Alan the Black. Before this, there is no record of Alan having any wife; there is no record of children. He was succeeded at Richmond by another brother,

Stephen, Count of Tréguier Stephen of Penthièvre, Count of Tréguier, 3rd Lord of Richmond (1058/62 – 21 April 1136) was a Breton noble and a younger son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre and Agnes of Cornouaille, sister of Hoël II, Duke of Brittany. In 1093, he succeeded t ...

Notes

{{reflist 1098 deaths 11th-century English nobility 11th-century Breton people