General Notes

EARLDOM OF SURREY

II. 2. WILLIAM (DE WARENNE) II, EARL OF SURREY, 1st son and heir by 1st wife, usually styled EARL DE WARENNE. In 1090 he fought in Normandy against Robert de Belléme (afterwards 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury), who was supported by Duke Robert. Shortly after 1093 he sought unsuccessfully to marry Maud, daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scotland. He was with Henry I at Windsor on 3 September 1101, but later in that autumn he went with Duke Robert to Normandy and supported him against the King, who confiscated his inheritance in England; however, in 1103 the Duke induced Henry to restore his English Earldom. In 1106 he commanded a division of the royal army at the battle of Tinchebrai. In 1109 he was at a Great Council at Nottingharn; and in 1110 he was a surety for the performance of the treaty with the Count of Flanders. In 1111 he was one of the nobles sitting in judgement in Normandy. He commanded a division of the royal army at the battle of Brémule in 1119 (l). In 1131 he attended the Council at Northampton. He was present at the death of Henry I on 1 December 1135 at Lyons-la-Foret; after which the councillors put him in charge of the district of Rouen and the pays de Caux. Later he went to England, and he was at Westminster with Stephen at Easter 1136. He was probably still living in June 1137. He was a benefactor, or confirmed previous benefactions, to the abbeys of St. Evroul and St. Amand (Rouen), and the priories of Lewes, Castle Acre, Wymondham, Longueville and Bellencombre. Henry I had proposed to marry William to one of his illegitimate daughters, but on Archbishop Anselm's objection this match was abandoned on the ground of affinity. William eventually married Isabel (or Elizabeth), widow of Robert (DE BEAUMONT), COUNT OF MEULAN and 1st EARL OF LEICESTER (died 5 June 1118) (c), daughter of Hugh DE CRÉPI (styled "the Great"), COUNT OF VERMANDOIS (younger son of HENRY I, KING OF FRANCE), by Adelaide, daughter and heir of Herbert, COUNT OF VERMANDOIS and VALOIS. He died probably 11 May 1138 and was buried at his father's feet in the chapter-house at Lewes. Isabel survived him and with the consent of her son the 3rd Earl gave the church of Dorking to Lewes priory (g). She died probably before July 1147 (h). [Complete Peerage XII/1:495-6, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

Note: According to Ancestral Roots, Isabel preceeded William in death in 13 Feb 1130/31--not July 1147.

(l) He had encouraged Henry to fight when William (de Tancarville) the Chamberlain urged him to retreat.  His alleged speech to the King before the battle is given in "Chron. Men de Hida", pp. 316-7.

(c) According to Henry of Huntingdon [their daughter Ada's husband], the death of Isabel's 1st husband was hastened by an (unnamed) Earl carrying her off, by force or fraud.  The truth of this is open to question.

(g) He left 3 sons: William - 3rd Earl, Ralph, and Rainald, ancestor of the Warennes of Wormegay; and 2 daughters: (1) Gundred, who m. 1st Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick; 2ndly, (as his 2nd wife), William de Lancaster; (2) Ada, who m. Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, s. of David I, King of Scotland, by whom she was mother of Malcolm IV and William the Lion, Kings of Scotland.

(h) Before her son William, 3rd Earl, went on crusade in June 1147.

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This nobleman, William de Warrenne (Earl of Warrenne), 2nd Earl of Surrey, joined Robert de Belesmé, Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury, in favour of Robert Curthose against Henry I, and in consequence forfeited his English earldom and estates, but those were subsequently restored to him and he was ever afterwards a good and faithful subject to King Henry. His lordship m. Isabel, dau. of Hugh the Great, Earl of Vermandois, and widow of Robert, Earl of Mellent, by whom he had issue, William, Reginald, Ralph, Gundred, and Adeline. The earl d. 11 May, 1138, and was s. by his eldest son, William de Warrenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 569, Warren, Earls of Surrey]

Name Suffix:<NSFX> [EARL OF SURREY]
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 8PTS-0L

!2nd Earl of Surrey.  2nd husband of Isabel de Vermandois; father of Ada de Warenne. [Ped. of Charlemagne, Vol. III, p. 310]

NEWLIN, WAITE, FOSTER LINE

Succeeded his father, William de Warren I, as Earl of Warren and Surrey; m. Elizabeth de Vermandois, widowed Countess of Meulent, by whom he had William III among others. [Falaise Roll, p. 52]

b. 1065 [Judy Martin]

Earl of Warenne & Surry; b. 1071, m.c. 1118 Isabel de Vermandois; d. 1138; father of Gundred. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 2936b]

b. 1071, son of William I de Warrene, Seigneur de Varennes, Earl of Surrey, and Gundrada; m. Isabel de Vermandois; father of Adeline of Warrenne & Surrey. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 2916]

!Chart by Archibald F. Bennet

2nd Earl of Surrey; son of William de Warenne and Gundred; 2nd husband of Isabel de Vermandois. [Ancestral Roots, p. 52]

Son of William, Earl of Surrey & Warren, and Princess Gundreda; succeeded his father as Earl; d. 1135; build Lewes Castle; m. Isabel, dau. of Hugh the Great, and had several children, one of whom was Reginald de Warrenne, and another was his heir, namely, William 3rd Earl of Warren & Surrey. [The Irish and Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry, p. 185]

Earl from 1088-1138. William gave the living and the income from the church at Conisbrough to his father's priory at Lewes. This gift and the gift of other churches besides, was confirmed by the 3rd earl, another William, who succeeded in 1138. [Conisbrough, p. 20]

2nd Earl of Warenne & Surrey; b.c. 1071, d. 1138; fought at Tenchebrai in 1106; son of William I de Warenne and Gundred of Chester; m. Isabel de Vermandois; father of William III de Warenne. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 2958]

2nd Earl of Surrey; son of William de Warrenne, 1st Earl of Surrey and Gundred; m. Isabel of Vermandois; father of:
1. Wiliam, 3rd Earl of Surrey/4th Earl of Warrenne
2. Reginald who m. Alice de Wirmgay
3. Ralph, dsp
4. Gundred who m.1 Roger de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick and m.2 William de Lancaster, Baron of Kendal
5. Adeline who m. Henry, Prince of Scotland
[Gen. of The Abbott and Warren Families]

William became one of Henry I's most loyal supporters, serving the king in a number of administrative and military capacities on both sides of the Channel, as well as being a great benefactor to the Church.
   William de Warrene II confirmed his father's foundation on his succession, but added a further grant of land, consisting of 'two orchards and all the cultivated ground from the orchards to my castle'. The grant makes it plain that a new church was already being built on this land, indicating that the earliest part of the priory church was started before 1090. He also provided an endowment in Methwold specifically to fund the building of the church, and a serf, Ulmar the stone mason of Acre, to work on the project. Herbert de Losinga, Bishop of Thetford and later Norwich, recorded the fact that the church was in the process of being built during his episcopate (1091-1121), and it was sufficiently complete to be consecrated by Bishop William of Norwich between 1146-48.
   The second William de Warrene gave half of the tythes of his estates at Grimston, 15 acres of land and 2000 ploughlands and rents in Methwold.  [Castle Acre Castle and Priory, p. 11, 42-43]

After the downfall of Odo, Bishop of Bayeaux, Allington Castle was given to William de Warenne, who was probably the builder of a normal type 'mont and bailey' castle here. The position at the time must have been a strong one and of great importance being close to the river Medway, of which it commanded the passage and fords and overawe the town of Maidstone, which is about 2 miles distance. This castle was slighted in 21 Henry II (1175), when an entry in the pipe roll records a payment of 60 shillings to the Sheriff of Kent 'in prosternendo castelli de Alintone' which can only refer to the overthrowing of the great mound of William de Warenne's castle. [from Hasted's History of Kent, Vol. IV, p. 448 as quoted on <homepage.ntlworld.com/wyatt/allington.htm, 8/7/03]