Who is Alan Rufus (1040 - 1089)?

Alan Rufus, second of at least seven legitimate sons of Count Eudo, regent of Brittany from 1040 to 1047 and Agnes alias Orguen his Angevin wife.

Alan the Red (Rufus) one of the companions of the Conqueror was the greatest magnate in the north England and a son founder of the monastery of St Mary’s York, a man good reputation.

His title was, Alan Rufus, Earl of Brittany and Richmond. The Earl of Brittany and Richmond was the first subject in the kingdom of England and next rank to the royal family.

In 1086, Alan Rufus had aided his cousin William the Conqueror to claim his birth right as King of Normandy, England and Scotland. For his services, Alan was given lands, which became the headquarters for Richmond Castle on the River Swale.

Alan Rufus seized a huge swath of northern England at an estimated cost of some 150,000 lives and then left an estate worth £11,000 which computes to £81.3 billion in today’s money.

Alan Rufus, dying without issue in 1089, his immense possessions became vested in his brother Alan Niger, who died 1093, and afterwards in his brother Stephen. Stephen as a great benefactor to Swineshead Abbey and died 1137-8.
Who is Alan Rufus (1040 - 1089)?

William the conqueror (1028 – 9 September 1087)

William was not only a duke but also the head of the Normans, descendents of Vikings who had conquered a part of French and established what was basically an independent state, though the kings of France technically remained overloads over Normandy. He was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert the Devil and succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy 1035.

Once William was old enough nineteen to twenty, he had to secure his own grip on power. William became the duke of Normandy in 1035.

By 1066, William had crushed all resistance within the duchy, increased ducal power, held his neighbor at bay and dominated the neighboring region of Maine.

On 5 January 1066 Edward the Confessor died childless and the question of the English succession which had for so long loomed over northern Europe immediately entered on its final phase. Since William was the cousin of the Edward, William thought he should become king of England.

Sometime after dawn in September 28, William’s fleet arrived at the south coast of England and entered a sheltered bay at Pevensey.

14 October 1066 undoubtedly was the date the Norman victory at Battle of Hastings. William then advanced to London, the capital.

In the English Kingdom, the Norman Conquest not only initiated the rule of a line of Norman kings, but also entailed the replacement of most of the previous English aristocracy by men whose origins were in Normandy and other parts of northern France.

William became King of England from 1066. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1068.

He completed the establishment of feudalism in England and placed Normans in all key administrative position.

He put down rebellions brutally taking, English land and giving to his Norman nobles for them to rules the local areas.

William the Conqueror was succeeded by two of his sons, William II ruled from 1087 – 1100, Henry from 1100 -1135.
William the conqueror (1028 – 9 September 1087)