Note 2 — Chapter XXIII

RAOL DE GAEL, lord of Gael or Guader, and Montfort in Brittany, 'Ranols de Gader, le proz,' in Benoit. It does not appear that Raol commanded all the Bretons, if that be what Wace meant here to say. He is known in English history as Ralf earl of Norfolk, whose estates were forfeited for his treason in 1075. From Domesday it would seem that both he and a former Ralf his father were earls under the Confessor; the father being repeatedly referred to in Norfolk as 'vetus comes,' the predecessor of 'comes Ralf Alius ejus,' and both holding lands in succession during Edward's reign. In one place we find 'Rex Edwardus dedit Radulfo comiti.' Was Ralf 'vetus comes' the same person as Ralf Stalra; can he have held the earldom of Norfolk when the Godwins were in disgrace; and may not his son at his death have failed in succeeding to that earldom, and have then repaired to the continent, and joined William in order to recover his own English property? Ralf the elder no doubt married a Breton heiress; from whom her estates passed to the son; an Englishman of Norfolk on the father's side, as described by the old historians, though also of Breton descent and estate. See Introd. Domesday, i. 471; and Blomfield's Norfolk repeatedly, as to the possessions of the two Ralfs.