Ralph the Timid

Ralph the Timid, also known as Ralf of Mantes (died 1057), was Earl of Hereford between 1051 and 1055 or 1057. His mother was Godgifu, the daughter of King Æthelred the Unready and his second wife Emma. His father was Drogo of Mantes, Count of Valois and the Vexin, who died on pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1035.

Ralph came to England with his uncle, the future King Edward the Confessor, in 1041. He attested three charters as earl in 1050, and his earldom was probably located in the East Midlands, where the lands of his wife Gytha were located. He was a benefactor of Peterborough Abbey. When King Edward quarrelled with Earl Godwin in 1051, Ralph raised the levies of his earldom to support the king. Godwin and his sons were forced into exile, but they returned the following year, and Ralph and Earl Odda commanded the fleet raised to resist them, but they were unable to prevent their return in triumph. thumb

The Norman poet Gaimar wrote that in 1057, Earl Ralph took the earldom of East Anglia, after the death of Leofric in August 1057. Ralph would have held it only a few months, as he (Earl Ralph) died in his early thirties on 21 December 1057, and was buried at Peterbourgh Abbey.

The Earldom of East Anglia then went to Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia

Ralph's son Harold was one of the royal children brought up by King Edward's wife, Edith. Ralph was on good terms with the Godwins, and his son may have been named after the future king and been his godson. Harold Godwinson may have been given the earldom of Hereford to hold until the Ralph's son came of age. The younger Harold survived the Conquest and later received part of his father's lands, as well as Ewyas Harold, which is named after him. His descendants are the Sudeleys of Toddington, Gloucestershire.