Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester and 1st Earl of Lincoln (1170–26 October 1232), known in some references as the 4th Earl of Chester (in the second lineage of the title after the original family line was broken after the 2nd Earl), was one of the "old school" of Anglo-Norman barons whose loyalty to the Angevin dynasty was consistent but contingent on the receipt of lucrative favours. He has been described as "almost the last relic of the great feudal aristocracy of the Conquest". Early life Ranulf, born in 1170, in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales was the eldest son of Hugh de Kevelioc and Bertrade de Montfort of Evreux. He was said to have been small in physical stature. He succeeded to the earldom of Chester (like his father before him) as a minor (aged eleven) and was knighted in 1188 or 1189, which gave him control of his estates in England and Normandy. Although he used, not inconsistently, the style Duke of Brittany on account of his marriage, he never had the control of the duchy, and is not known to have played an important role there. Lands Ranulf de Blondeville originally inherited the viscounty of Avranches and the County of Chester along with substantial English lands (Chester itself was not considered part of England). He lost the viscounty of Avranches in 1204 with the Capetian conquest of Normandy but he still held substantial estates; at the end of the 12th century he was supposed to be able to muster 80 knights from his Cheshire lands and his English lands were supposed to be able to muster 118 knights which would have meant Ranulf could have mustered 198 knights, in theory. The reality was that when called for campaign he was asked not to bring so many knights (usually he was asked to bring between seven and 20) as it would have been too much of a financial burden. This figure doesn't include his acquisition of the Earldom of Lincoln in 1217. Through his most powerful vassal the de Lacy constable of Chester he was also overlord of the honours of Clitheroe and Pontefract, Halton and the Lordship of Bowland which were large baronies with dozens of fiefs attached to them. Whether or not these lands were included in the 118 knights' fiefs on English lands is not known. Ranulf held several important developing manors and market towns such