Alan Niger was an active partisan of King Stephen in his contest with the Empress Maud. In 1142, he took the castle of Lincoln, with considerable treasure, from Ranulph, Earl of Chester, by scaling the walls at night. He also garrisoned the castle of Hotun, in Yorkshire, then part of the bishop of Durham's possessions, and made great spoil at Ripon upon the demesnes and tenants of thearchbishop of York. This Alan Niger, who is described as a most deceitful, wicked person, wrote himself Earl of Brittany, Cornwall, and Richmond; but notwithstanding that character, he appears, like his progenitors, to have been a munificent benefactor to the church.
His lordship m. Bertha, dau. and heir of Conan le Gros, the 3rd Duke of Bretagne (and by this marriage acquired the title of Duke of Brittany) and had issue, Conan le Petit, his successor, Brian, Guy, and Reginald. He d. in 1165 and was s. by his eldest son.
[Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 162, de Dreux, Earls of Richmond]

• Married:

1. Conan ?le Petit? IV of Brittany
2. Brian Fitzalan b: ABT 1145
3. Constance de Bretagne
4. Constance de Bretagne