Background
He was the son of Walter de Gant (a son of the Domesday magnate Gilbert de Gant, Gant being another name for Ghent in Flanders) and Maud of Brittany, a daughter of Stephen, Count of Tréguier.
Lord Chancellor Domesday magnate
He was the son of Walter de Gant (a son of the Domesday magnate Gilbert de Gant, Gant being another name for Ghent in Flanders) and Maud of Brittany, a daughter of Stephen, Count of Tréguier.
Gilbert was thus a nephew of Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond, one of King Stephen"s commanders. While still fairly young, Gilbert fought on the side of King Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, where he was captured along with the king. He and Rohese had only one child, a daughter, Alice de Gant, who married Simon III de Senlis, son of Simon II de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton.
He founded Rufford Abbey c.
1148 in Nottinghamshire, England.