William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
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For other people of the same name, see William de Warenne (disambiguation).
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes ( – 1088), Norman from Varenne, Seine Maritime, cant. Bellencombre[1][2][3]. He was a son of Rodulf de Warenne and is derived from the family of duchess Gunnor, wife of duke Richard I[a] [4][5]. He is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066[6][7][8]. At the Domesday Survey he held extensive lands in thirteen counties including the rape of Lewes in Sussex (now East Sussex)[5]. He was created Earl of Surrey under William II 'Rufus'[1][9][10]
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[edit] Life
At the beginning of Duke William’s reign, Rodulf de Warenne was not a major landholder and as a second son, William de Warenne did not stand to inherit the family’s small estates. During the rebellions of 1052-1054 the young William de Warenne proved himself a loyal adherent to the Duke and played a significant part in the Battle of Mortemer for which he was rewarded with lands confiscated from Roger de Mortimer, including the Castle of Mortimer and most of the surrounding lands[11]. At about the same time he acquired lands at Bellencombre including the castle which became the center of William de Warenne’s holdings in Normandy[4]
William was among the Norman barons summoned to a council by Duke William when the decision was made to oppose king Harold's accession to the throne of England[4][12]. He fought at the Battle of Hastings and was well rewarded with numerous holdings. The Domesday book records his lands stretched over thirteen counties and included the important rape of Sussex, several manors in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, the significant manor of Conisborough in Yorkshire and Castle Acre in Norfolk which became his caput (see below)[4][5].
Sometime between 1078 and 1082[13], William and his wife Gundred traveled to Rome visiting monasteries along the way. In Burgundy they were unable to go any further due to a war between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. They visited Cluny Abbey and were impressed with the monks and their dedication. William and Gundred decided to found a Clunic priory on their own lands in England. William restored buildings for an abbey. They sent to Hugh the abbot of Cluny for monks to come to England at their monastery. At first Hugh was reluctant but he finally sent several monks including Lazlo who was to be the first abbot. The house they founded was Lewes Priory dedicated to St. Pancras[14][15], the first Cluniac priory in England[16]
He fought against rebels at the Isle of Ely in 1071 where he showed a special desire to hunt down Hereward the Wake who had killed his brother-in-law Frederick the year before[17][18][19].
William was loyal to William II,[17] and it was probably in early 1088 that he was created Earl of Surrey.[20] He was mortally wounded at the siege of Pevensey Castle and died 24 June 1088 at Lewes, Sussex, and was buried next to his wife Gundred at the Chapterhouse of Lewes Priory[21][22]. See also the rebellion of 1088.
[edit] Family
He married first, before 1070, Gundred (Latin: Gundrada)[23][24], sister of Gerbod the Fleming, 1st Earl of Chester[25] and Frederick of Oosterzele-Scheldewindeke[26]. By her he had:
- William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey (d. 1138) married Elisabeth (Isabelle) de Vermandois, widow of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester[27].
- Edith de Warenne who married 1stly Gerard de Gournay, lord of Gournay-en-Bray, 2ndly and Drew de Monchy[28].
- Reynold de Warenne, who inherited lands from his mother in Flanders[28] and died c.1106-08[29]
- an unnamed daughter who married Ernise de Coulonces [30]
William married secondly a sister of Richard Gouet who survived him[31]. They had no children.
[edit] Landholdings in the Domesday Book
Landholdings in the Domesday Book of William de Warenne
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[edit] References
- ^ a b K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, a Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1999), p. 480
- ^ Lewis C. Loyd, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, ed. Charles Travis Clay and David C. Douglas (Reprint, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1992) pp. 111-12
- ^ G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), p. 491
- ^ a b c d G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), p. 493
- ^ a b c William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume VIII - The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949, p. 3
- ^ The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers, ed & Trans. R.H.C. Davis and Marjorie Chibnall (Oxford University Press, New York, 1998) pp. 134-5
- ^ G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), Appendix L, Companions of the Conqueror pp. 47-8
- ^ A. Duchesne, Historiae Normannorum Scriptores Antiqui (Lutetiae Parisiorum 1619), pp. 202,204 (one of 12 nobles named by William of Poitiers)
- ^ William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume VIII - The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949, pp. 4-5
- ^ C. P. Lewis, The Earldom of Surrey and the Date of the Domesday Book, Historical Research; The Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vo. 63, Issue 152 (Oct. 1990), pp. 335-36
- ^ David C. Doulgas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, 1964), p. 100
- ^ Elisabeth M.C. van Houts, 'The ship List of William the Conqueror',Anglo-Norman Studies X; Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1987, ed. R. Allen Brown (Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1988). pp. 159, 161
- ^ William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume VIII - The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949), p. 4
- ^ Brian Golding, 'The Coming of the Cluniacs', Anglo-Norman Studies III; Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1980, Vol. iii (Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1981), pp. 65, 67
- ^ William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume VIII - The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949), pp. 50-55
- ^ David Knowles, The monastic Order in England, Second Ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1966), pp. 151-2
- ^ a b William Hunt, 'William Warenne, first Earl of Surrey'. Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 59 (1899) pp. 372–373
- ^ van Houts, 'Frederick, Brother-in-Law of William of Warenne,' Anglo-Saxon England, vol. 28 (1999) p. 218
- ^ Appleby, Outlaws in Medieval and Early Modern England (2009), pp. 28-9
- ^ between the very end of 1087 and March 24, 1088 (Lewis p. 335)
- ^ G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), pp. 494-5
- ^ Hyde Abbey, Liber Monasterii de Hyda: Comprising a Chronicle of the affairs of England, ed. Edward Edwards (Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, London, 1866), p. 299
- ^ G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol iv (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1916), p. 670
- ^ David C. Douglas, William The Conqueror (University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1964) pp. 267, 392
- ^ Ordericus Vitalis,The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, Trans. Thomas Forester, Volume II (Henry G. Bohn, London, 1854), p. 47
- ^ Elisabeth van Houts, 'Frederick, Brother-in-Law of William of Warenne', Anglo-Saxon England, Vol. 28 (1999). pp. 218-220
- ^ G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), pp. 495-6
- ^ a b G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), p. 494 note (b)
- ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 4, Das Feudale Frankreich und Sien Einfluss auf des Mittelalters (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1989), Tafel 699
- ^ Domesday Descendants, p. 408.
- ^ G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), pp. 494 & note (l)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The Domesday Book, p. 186
- ^ a b c d e f g The Domesday Book, p. 187
- ^ a b The Domesday Book, p. 47
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The Domesday Book, p. 188
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o The Domesday Book, p. 189
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The Domesday Book, p. 190
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o The Domesday Book, p. 191
- ^ a b c d e f The Domesday Book, p. 48
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o The Domesday Book, p. 192
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The Domesday Book, p. 193
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n The Domesday Book, p. 194
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The Domesday Book, p. 195
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The Domesday Book, p. 196
The Honour of Cyningesburgh in the district of Doncaster (now Conisbrough)
[edit] Additional references
- Douglas, David C. (1964). William the Conqueror. ISBN 0300078846.
- C. P. Lewis, "The Earldom of Surrey and the Date of Domesday Book", Historical Research 63 (1990)
- Notes on the family of Gerbod, Earl of Chester, and of Gundred, wife of William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey
- William Warenne, reprinted from the 1917 Dictionary of National Biography
- Hunt, William (1899). "William Warenne, first Earl of Surrey". Dictionary of National Biography. 59. pp. 372–373.
- Warren Family History Project Ancestral File References
- Loyd, L.C.,'The Origin of the Family of Warenne', Yorkshire Archaeological Journal vol. xxxi (1933) pp. 97–113
- Thomas Hinde, ed. The Domesday Book: England's Heritage Then and Now. ISBN 1858334403.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Chronicler Robert of Torigny reported, in his additions to the Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, that William de Warenne and Anglo-Norman baron Roger de Mortimer were sons of an unnamed niece of Gunnor. Unfortunately, Robert's genealogies are somewhat confused, (elsewhere he gives Roger as son of William, and yet again makes both sons of Walter de Saint Martin), and several of Robert's stemma appear to contain too few generations (K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "Aspects of Torigny's Genealogy Revisited", Nottingham Medieval Studies 37:21-7). Likewise, Orderic Vitalis describes William as Roger's consanguineus, literally 'cousin', more generically a term of close kinship, but not typically used to describe brothers, and Roger de Mortimer appears to have been a generation older than William de Warenne, his purported brother. (Lewis C. Loyd, "The Origins of the Family of Warenne", Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 31: 97-113; Keats-Rohan, "Aspects", op.cit.) Charters report several earlier men associated with Warenne. A Ranulf de Warenne appears in a charter dated between 1027 and 1035, and in one from about 1050 with a wife Beatrice, while in 1059, Ranulf and wife Emma appear along with their sons Ranulf and William. These occurrences have typically been taken to represent successive wives of a single Ranulf, with Beatrice being the mother of William and hence identical to the Gunnorid niece (Thomas Stapleton, "Observations in disproval of a pretended marriage of William de Warren, earl of Surrey with a daughter . . . of William the Conqueror", Archaeological Journal, 3:1-12; G. H. White, "The Sisters and Nieces of Gunnor, Duchess of Normandy", Genealogist, n.s. 37:57-65), in spite of the 1059 charter explicitly naming Emma as his mother.(Keats-Rohan, "Aspects", op.cit.) A reevaluation of the surviving charters led Katherine Keats-Rohan to suggest that, as he appears to have done elsewhere, Robert of Torigny has compressed two generations into one, with a Ranulf (I) and Beatrice being parents of Ranulf (II) de Warenne and of Roger de Mortimer (a Roger son of Ranulf de Warenne appears in a charter dated 1040/1053), and Ranulf (II) and Emma were then parents of Ranulf (III), the heir in Normandy, and William, as attested by the 1059 charter. Associations with Vascœuil led to identification of the Warenne progenitrix with a widow Beatrice, daughter of Tesselin, vicomte of Rouen, appearing there in 1054/60. As Robert of Torigny shows a vicomte of Rouen to have married a niece of Gunnor, this perhaps explains the tradition of a Gunnorid relationship. (K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, "Aspects", op.cit.) On Robert's genealogies, see also Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066, pp. 100-105; Elisabeth M. C. van Houts, "Robert of Torigni as Genealogist", Studies in Medieval History presented to R. Allen Brown, p.215-33, and Kathleen Thompson, "The Norman Aristocracy before 1066: the Example of the Montgomerys", Historical Research 60:251-63.
| Peerage of England | ||
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| New title | Earl of Surrey (1st creation) 1088 |
Succeeded by William de Warenne |
