Alain de Bretagne, 1st Earl of Richmond

Alain de Bretagne or Alain le Noir , occasionally Alain de Penthièvre or Alain III. called le Noir (* before 1100 - September 15, 1146 ), perhaps Lord of Guingamp , was the first to officially bear the title of Earl of Richmond ( England ) after his ancestors were already Lords of Richmond. He was also Earl of Cornwall from 1140 to 1141.

He was a younger son of Stephan I. Count von Penthièvre ( Brittany ) and Havoise de Guingamp. He married Bertha von Bretagne, the heir to Conan III. , Duke of Brittany , and Mathilde of Normandy.

In 1138 the English King Stephen gave him the title of Earl of Richmond and in 1140 that of Earl of Cornwall. In 1141 he took part in the First Battle of Lincoln with his Breton mercenaries on Stephen's side . When he was captured by Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester after the battle, he had to cede the Earldom of Cornwall to him as a ransom.

Family and offspring

Alain was married to Bertha von Bretagne, with whom they had several children:

• Conan IV the Little (le Petit) , Duke of Brittany
• Constance de Bretagne († 1195) ∞ Alain III. de Rohan , Viscount de Rohan
• Enoguen de Penthièvre († 1187), 1171 3rd abbess of the Abbey of Saint-Sulpice in Rennes.

In 1148 his widow married the vice count Odo von Porhoet .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Powicke & Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology. Second Edition, London, 1961, p. 445
2. ^ Powicke & Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology. Second Edition, London, 1961, p. 422

Web links

• Alain at fmg.ac (English)
• Alain II de Treguier, Earl of Richmond on thepeerage.com , accessed August 20, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Richmond 1138-1146	Conan
New title created	Earl of Cornwall 1140-1141	Title waiver