Gerbod OF OOSTERZELE-SCHELDEWINDEKE , 1st Earl of Chester

  General Notes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerbod_the_Fleming,_1st_Earl_of_Chester
Gerbod of Oosterzele was the son of another Gerbod, hereditary advocate of the abbey of Saint-Bertin. Among the fourteen tenants-in-chief from Flanders, Gerbod the Fleming was one of the most prominent. His family held the lordships of Oosterzele and Scheldewindeke, the overlordship of Arques and territorial rights in Saint-Omer. In 1066 he was in the service of William the Conqueror, most probably at the battle of Hastings, and between 1067 and 1070 was created Earl of Chester, holding a large portion of that county along with the city of Chester forming the county palatine of Chester. His brother Frederic was a tenant-in-chief in East Anglia and his sister Gundred married William I de Warenne, later 1st Earl of Surrey, whose caput was Castle Acre in Norfolk.

Gerbod was mentioned as being a part of the reduction of Cheshire in 1070 by the Conqueror, at which time Gerbod was given the Earldom of Chester. Orderic Vitalis reports that Gerbod was harassed by both English and Welsh in his new position and he may have been glad to return to Flanders later that same year. This may also have been due to concerns having to do with the death of the Count of Flanders, Baldwin VI, and the subsequent civil war.