Ralph II of the Vexin explained

Ralph II (died 943) was a French Count of the Vexin, Amiens and Valois from 926 to 943.

He was the son of Ralph I de Gouy, Count of Ostrevent, Vexin, Amiens and Valois. He married a woman named Liutgarde but died without issue.^[1]

He built the fortress of Crépy-en-Valois. In 941, Eudes de Vermandois, Count of Vienne, captured Amiens. Ralph attacked him to retake the city, but he was killed during a battle. According to other sources, he tried to take advantage of the death of Count Herbert II of Vermandois to seize Saint-Quentin, but was killed by Herbert's son Adalbert, Castellan of Ribemont.^[2]

His widow remarried to Galéran I, Viscount of Meulan. In 944, Eudes was chased from Amiens by royal troops. A few years later, Walter, Ralph's brother, reunited the three counties.^[3]

Ralph inspired the Chanson de Geste hero Raoul de Cambrai.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Philip Grierson: "L'origine des Comtes d'Amiens, Valois et Vexin", in Le Moyen Âge, Vol. 49, 1939, pp. 81–123
2. Pierre Bauduin: La première Normandie (Xe–XIe siècles): sur les frontières de la haute Normandie: identité et construction d’une principauté, Caen, Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2004,, p. 474
3. Édouard de Sainte Phalle, "Les comtes de Gâtinais aux Xe et Xle siècle" in Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval, Oxford Linacre College, Unit for Prosopographical Research, series Prosopographia et Genealogica / 3, 2000, pp. 230–246
4. Paul Tuffrau: Raoul de Cambrai. Chanson de geste du XIIe siècle. Ségurier, Paris, 2000