Hugh Lupus d'Avranches

     The Barony of Malpas has an interesting and troubled history. There are a substantial number of records involving the Barony, those that were seized of it, their spouses and the descendents of the Barons . Unfortunately, the records are disjointed and leave much of the history with large questions as to what transpired. There are many genealogies in existence with possible lineages which would explain the known facts. The lineage given here is another attempt to do so. We have found evidence that we have not seen in other works which has made some significant differences in the genealogy.
What is accepted as fact and with substantial documentation is that Hugh Lupus of the d’Avranches family of France, was created the Earl of Chester in the Palatine county of Chestershire. With the exceptional powers granted to him by King William, Hugh himself created a parliament of powerful knights and granted baronies to these men. The purpose of the palatine county and the powers granted to Hugh was to create a defensive wall on the Welch border. One of the baronies created by Hugh was the Barony of Malpas granted to Hugh’s illegitimate son Robert fitz-Hugh. The Barony went from Hugh to at least one daughter. As stated before, our best interpretation of the lineage of the families involved is given below which includes information we have not seen documented before.

Hugh Lupus was born circa 1047 in Avranches, Normandy, France. In 1071, he was Earl of Chester. Hugh married Ermentrude de Clermont, daughter of Hugh de Creil, Count of Clermont and Margaret de Rouci, circa 1093. Hugh departed this life on Saturday, 27 July 1101 in Chestershire, England. He was buried at the cemetery at St. Werburg, the abbey he founded in Chester, but his body was later removed to the Chapter House by Ranulph le Mechines.