William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey
Encyclopedia
William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey (died 1138) was the son of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066...

 and his first wife Gundred
Gundred
Gundred or Gundreda was probably born in Flanders, sister of Gerbod the Fleming, 1st Earl of Chester...

. He is more often referred to as Earl Warenne or Earl of Warenne than as Earl of Surrey.

In January 1091, William assisted Hugh of Grantmesnil (d.1094) in his defense of Courcy against the forces of Robert de Belleme and Duke Robert.

Sometime around 1093 he tried to marry Matilda (or Edith)
Edith of Scotland
Matilda of Scotland , born Edith, was the first wife and Queen consort of Henry I of England.-Early life:Matilda was born around 1080 in Dunfermline, the daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland and Saint Margaret. She was christened Edith, and Robert Curthose stood as godfather at the ceremony...

, daughter of king Malcolm III of Scotland
Malcolm III of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...

. She instead married Henry I of England
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

, and this may be the cause of William's great dislike of Henry I, which was to be his apparent motivator in the following years.

He accompanied Robert Curthose (Duke Robert) in his 1101 invasion of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and afterwards lost his English lands and titles and was exiled to Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

. There he complained to Curthose that he expended great effort on the duke's behalf and had in return lost most of his possessions. Curthose's return to England in 1103 was apparently made to convince his brother to restore William's earldom. This was successful, though Curthose had to give up all he had received after the 1101 invasion, and subsequently William was loyal to Henry.

To further insure William's loyalty Henry considered marrying him to one of his many illegitimate daughters. He was however dissuaded by Archbishop Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...

 of Canterbury, for any of the daughters would have been within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity
Consanguinity
Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...

. The precise nature of the consanguineous relationship Anselm had in mind has been much debated, but it is most likely he was referring to common descent from the father of duchess Gunnor
Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy
Gunnora was the wife and consort of Richard I of Normandy. Her parentage is unknown, earliest sources reporting solely that she was of Danish ancestry and naming siblings including brother Herfast de Crepon who is sometimes erroneously given as her father.She was living with her sister Seinfreda,...

.

William was one of the commanders on Henry's side (against Robert Curthose) at the Battle of Tinchebray
Battle of Tinchebray
The Battle of Tinchebray was fought 28 September 1106, in the town of Tinchebray , Normandy, between an invading force led by Henry I of England, and his older brother Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy...

 in 1106. Afterwards, with his loyalty thus proven, he became more prominent in Henry's court.

In 1110, Curthose's son William Clito
William Clito
William Clito was the son of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, by his marriage with Sibylla of Conversano...

 escaped along with Helias of Saint-Saens
Helias of Saint-Saens
Helias of Saint Saens, Count of Arques was a Norman nobleman of the eleventh and twelfth century, who came into conflict with Henry I of England....

, and afterwards Warenne received the forfeited Saint-Saens lands, which were very near his own in upper Normandy. By this maneuver king Henry further assured his loyalty, for the successful return of Clito would mean at the very least Warenne's loss of this new territory.

He fought at the Battle of Bremule
Battle of Bremule
The Battle of Brémule was fought in 1119 between Henry I of England and Louis VI the Fat of France. Henry I had to defend his holdings in Normandy several times and defeated a French invasion at the Battle of Brémule in 1119....

 in 1119, and was at Henry's deathbed in 1135.

William's death is recorded as 11-May-1138 in the register of Lewes priory and he was buried with his father at the chapter-house there.

Family

In 1118 William acquired the royal-blooded bride he desired when married Elizabeth de Vermandois. She was a daughter of count Hugh of Vermandois
Hugh of Vermandois
Hugh I , called Magnus or the Great, was a younger son of Henry I of France and Anne of Kiev and younger brother of Philip I. He was in his own right Count of Vermandois, but an ineffectual leader and soldier, great only in his boasting...

, a son of Henry I of France
Henry I of France
Henry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...

, and was the widow of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, Count of Meulan was a powerful English and French nobleman, revered as one of the wisest men of his age...

.

By Elizabeth he had three sons and two daughters:
  • William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey
    William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey
    William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey was the eldest son of the William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth de Vermandois.He was generally loyal to king Stephen...

    ;
  • Reginald de Warenne, who inherited his father's property in upper Normandy, including the castles of Bellencombre and Mortemer He married Adeline, daughter of William, lord of Wormgay in Norfolk, by whom he had a son William (founder of the priory of Wormegay), whose daughter and sole heir Beatrice married first Dodo, lord Bardolf, and secondly Hubert de Burgh; Reginald was one of the persecutors of Archbishop Thomas in 1170.
  • Ralph de Warenne
    Ralph de Warenne
    Ralph de Warenne, probable 1st Lord of Whitechurch, Shropshire. Formerly know as Weston."William de Warren, better known as William fitz Ranulf. His relation to the elder line has never been ascertained nor, as far as I know, surmised. My notion on the subject is quite conjectural...

  • Gundred de Warenne, who married first Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick
    Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick
    Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick was the elder son of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick and Marguerite, daughter of Geoffrey II of Perche and Beatrix of Montdidier...

    , and second William, lord of Kendal, and is most remembered for expelling king Stephen
    Stephen of England
    Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...

    's garrison from Warwick Castle
    Warwick Castle
    Warwick Castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon burh of Warwick. It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century,...

    ;
  • Ada de Warenne
    Ada de Warenne
    Ada de Warenne was the Anglo-Norman wife of Henry of Scotland, Earl of Northumbria and Earl of Huntingdon. She was the daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey by Elizabeth of Vermandois, and a great-granddaughter of Henry I of France...

    , who married Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
    Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
    Henry of Scotland was a Prince of Scotland, heir-apparent to the Kingdom of Alba. He was also the 3rd Earl of Northumberland and the 3rd Earl of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton....

    who made many grants to the priory of Lewes.

Sources

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