Ralph de Gael (otherwise Ralph de Guader, Radulf Waders or Ralph Wader) (before 1042 – c. 1096) was the Earl of East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk) and Lord of Gaël and Montfort (Seigneur de Gaël et Montfort). He was the leading figure in the Revolt of the Earls, the last serious revolt against William the Conqueror.
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Ralph was born before 1042, most probably about 1040 in Hereford, as not later than 1060 he attested, in company with other Bretons, a notification at Angers as son of Ralph the Staller.
He inherited the great Breton barony of Gaël, which comprised more than forty parishes. In England, whether by inheritance or by grant from the Crown, he held large estates in Norfolk, as well as property in Suffolk, Essex, Hertford, and possibly other counties. In some of these estates he certainly succeeded his father, but it is not known whether he obtained the Earldom immediately on his father’s death.
Ralph built a church in Norwich, in the new town, and give it to his chaplains; but there is no record of religious benefactions by him in Brittany.
He married, in or before 1075, Emma, daughter of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford and Alice or Adelise (or Adelissa), daughter of Roger I of Tosny. Their offspring were:
In 1075 the king's refusal to sanction this marriage caused a revolt in his absence by Ralph, his new brother-in-law Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford and Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northumberland. The revolt was plagued by disaster. Waltheof lost heart and confessed the conspiracy to Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who urged Earl Roger to return to his allegiance, and finally excommunicated him and his adherents- Waltheof was later executed by William. Ralph encountered a much superior force under the warrior bishops Odo of Bayeux and Geoffrey de Montbray (the latter ordered that all rebels should have their right foot cut off) near Cambridge and retreated hurriedly to Norwich, hotly pursued by the royal army. Leaving his wife to defend Norwich Castle, he sailed for Denmark in search of help, and eventually returned to England with a fleet of 200 ships under Cnut and Hakon, which failed to do anything effective.
Meanwhile the Countess held out in Norwich until she obtained terms for herself and her followers, who were deprived of their lands, but allowed forty days to leave the realm. Thereupon the Countess retired to her estate in Brittany, where she was rejoined by her husband. Ralph was deprived of all his lands and of his Earldom.
At the time of his revolt, he was a land-holder in Whaddon, Cambridgeshire. This is according to the Domesday Book, which uses the name of Radulf[us] Waders.
For the rest of his life he remained a great baron of Brittany, with no interests in England. In 1076, having plotted against Hoel II, Duke of Brittany, he was besieged at Dol, and the Conqueror came to Hoel's aid; but Ralph finally made his peace.
In 1089 he attested the judgment in a dispute between the monks of Redon Abbey and the chaplains of the Duke of Brittany. He also attested a charter of Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, in favour of St.Georges at Rennes (1084-1096). The Conqueror being dead, Ralph appears in Normandy c.1093 as a witness in the record of a suit between the abbots of Lonlay and St.Florent. There is, however, no record of religious benefactions by him in Brittany.
In 1096, accompanied by his wife and under Robert Curthose, he went on Crusade. He was one of the Breton leaders who took part in the siege of Nicaea, after which he joined Bohemund I of Antioch’s division of the army.
Both Ralph and his wife Emma died on the road to Palestine in the course of the Crusade.