When his father died, Richard was only 10 years old (he was born in 933). King Louis IV of France decided to take charge of Normandy himself. The king placed the young duke in the custody of the count of Ponthieu. Then the king gave the lands in lower Normandy to Hugh the Great. Louis kept Richard a prisoner at Lâon. Fearing the king was going to harm the boy Osmond de Centville, Bernard de Senlis (who had been a companion of Richard's grandfather Rollo), Ivo de Bellèsme, and Bernard the Dane freed Richard.