Richard of Lincoln (before 1101 – 25 November 1120) was the illegitimate son of

Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

, born to Henry and a woman named Ansfride, widow of Aanskill (origins unknown). She is often referred to as Henry’s third mistress. Richard was brought up and educated by

Robert Bloet Robert Bloet (sometimes Robert Bloett;Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 132 died 1123) was Bishop of Lincoln 1093–1123 and Chancellor of England. Born into a noble Norman family, he became a royal clerk under King William I. Under William I's s ...

, the

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

. Bloet had also educated Richard’s half-brother

Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester (c. 1090 – 31 October 1147 David Crouch, 'Robert, first earl of Gloucester (b. c. 1090, d. 1147)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200Retrieved ...

. Richard is sometimes confused with

Richard de Lincoln Richard de Lincoln was a medieval Anglo-Norman prelate. Although of English origin, he was a royal clerk in the administration of King William of Scotland. With royal support, he was elected Bishop of Moray on 1 March 1187 and was consecrated at ...

, an Anglo-Norman prelate who died in 1203. Richard supported his father in his war with

Louis VI of France Louis VI (late 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat (french: link=no, le Gros) or the Fighter (french: link=no, le Batailleur), was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Chronicles called him "King of Saint-Denis". Louis was the first member ...

, although it is unclear at what point he joined the fight with the English forces. According to

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis ( la, Ordericus Vitalis; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historia ...

, he avoided capture by French forces at

Les Andelys Les Andelys (; Norman: ''Les Aundelys'') is a commune in the northern French department of Eure, in Normandy. Geography It lies on the Seine, about northeast of Évreux. The commune is divided into two parts, Grand-Andely (located about from ...

in 1119 through the help of

Ralph the Red of Pont-Echanfray Ralph the Red (Ralph le Roux, Raoul II Rufus) of Pont-Echnfrey (1070 – 25 November 1120), son of either Guillaume de Pont-Echanfrey or his brother Raoul I. Ralph was a knight who first served Robert Guiscard and then participated both in the Fir ...

. Richard continued to fight at his father’s side during the siege of the castle of

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

being held by Henry’s most detested enemy,

Amaury III de Montfort Amaury III de Montfort ( † April 18 or 19, 1137) was a French nobleman, the seigneur de Montfort-l'Amaury, Épernon, and Houdan in the Île-de-France (1101–) and Count of Évreux in Normandy (1118–). Life Amaury was the son of Simon I, seign ...

. His last known military adventure was at the

Battle of Brémule The Battle of Brémule was fought on 20 August 1119 between Henry I of England and Louis VI the Fat of France. Henry I had to defend his holdings in Normandy several times and his victory at this battle repelled a French invasion. The French de ...

on 20 August 1119, for which the decisive win by the English led to Louis’ accepting Richard’s half-brother

William Adelin William Ætheling (, ; 5 August 1103 – 25 November 1120), commonly called Adelin (sometimes ''Adelinus'', ''Adelingus'', ''A(u)delin'' or other Latinised Norman-French variants of '' Ætheling'') was the son of Henry I of England by his wife M ...

Duke of Normandy In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western Kingdom of France, France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple, Charles III in ...

. In 1120, Richard became betrothed to Amice, the daughter of the defender of Brémule, Raoul II de Gael, seigneur of Gael and Montfort, son of

Ralph de Gael Ralph de Gaël (otherwise Ralph de Guader, Ralph Wader or Radulf Waders or Ralf Waiet or Rodulfo de Waiet; before 1042c. 1100) was the Earl of East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk) and Lord of Gaël and Montfort (''Seigneur de Gaël et Montfort'') ...

, Earl of East Anglia. The marriage never took place as Richard died in the wreck of the ''

White Ship The ''White Ship'' (french: la Blanche-Nef; Medieval Latin: ''Candida navis'') was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the Channel during a trip from France to England near the Normandy ...

'' on 25 November 1120. Amice did not accompany him and lived until 1168, marrying the king's ward

Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1104 – 5 April 1168) was Justiciar of England 1155–1168. The surname "de Beaumont" was given to him by genealogists. The only known contemporary surname applied to him is "Robert son of Count Robe ...

, and one of many descendants included

Ida de Tosny Ida de Tosny, Countess of Norfolk (died after 1181), was a Norman royal mistress. Named after her grandmother Ida de Hainaut, she was the daughter of Ralph IV de Tosny (died 1162) and his wife Margaret (born 1125 and living in 1185), a daughter ...

, a mistress of

Henry II Curtmantle Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

, King of England.

References

Sources

*Thompson, Kathleen, ''Affairs of State: the Illegitimate Children of Henry I'', in Journal of Medieval History 29 (2), 2003, pg. 129–151 *

Chibnall, Marjorie Marjorie McCallum Chibnall (27 September 1915 – 23 June 2012) was an English historian, medievalist and Latin translator. She edited the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' by Orderic Vitalis, with whom she shared the same birthplace of Atcham in Shr ...

(translator), ''The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis'', 6 volumes (Oxford Medieval Texts), Oxford, 1968–1980
Medieval Lands Project, Children of Henry I
* Hollister, C. Warren, Frost, Amanda C., ''Henry I'', Yale University Press, New Haven, 2003 *'' The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles'', Translated by Anne Savage, Dorset Press, 1983 *Farrer, W., ''An Outline Itinerary of King Henry the First, Part II'', The English Historical Review, Mandell Creighton, et al., Longman, 1919 (available o
Google Books
{{authority control 1120 deaths 12th-century English people Deaths on the White Ship Illegitimate children of Henry I of England Sons of kings