Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey

Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey (c.1137 – c.1203) was an English peer. She was the only surviving heir of William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey and his wife, Adela, the daughter of William III of Ponthieu.^[1][2]

Life

She was the great-granddaughter of the first Norman earl, William and his Flemish wife Gundred.^[2] When her father died in the Holy Land c.1148 she inherited the earldom of Surrey and was married to William of Blois, the younger son of King Stephen, who became Earl in her right.^[1][2] The marriage occurred at a critical moment in The Anarchy as part of the king's attempt to control the de Warenne lands. The couple did not have any children and after William's death in 1159, King Henry II's brother, William X, Count of Poitou sought her hand in 1162/3, but Thomas Becket refused a dispensation from affinity on the grounds of consanguinity. In April 1164, the countess married Hamelin of Anjou, a natural half-brother of King Henry, who became jure uxoris Earl of Surrey. The countess lived an unusually long life, dying at age 73.^[2]

Family

She and William of Blois had no children.^[1] Isabelle and her second husband Hamelin had four surviving children:

• William, later 5th Earl of Surrey (1166–1240)^[3]
• Ela (born c. 1170, date of death unknown), married firstly Robert of Naburn and secondly William FitzWilliam of Sprotborough.^[4]
• Isabel, married firstly Robert de Lacy and secondly Gilbert de l'Aigle, Lord of Pevensey.^[4]
• Matilda, married firstly Henry, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings^[5] and secondly Henry de Stuteville.^[4]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey

16. Rodulf de Warenne               8. William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey                       17. Beatrix               4. William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey                             18. Gerbod (II) of Oosterzele-Scheldewindeke, Advocate of Saint-Bertin               9. Gundred, Countess of Surrey                       2. William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey                                   20. Henry I of France               10. Hugh I, Count of Vermandois                       21. Anne of Kiev               5. Elizabeth of Vermandois, Countess of Leicester                             22. Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois               11. Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois                       23. Adele of Valois               1. Isabel de Warenne                                         24. Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury               12. Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury                       25. Mabel de Bellême               6. William III, Count of Ponthieu                             26. Guy I, Count of Ponthieu               13. Agnes, Countess of Ponthieu                       27. Ada d'Amiens               3. Adela (or Ela) of Ponthieu                                   28. Henry of Burgundy               14. Odo I, Duke of Burgundy                       29. Sibylle of Barcelona               7. Helie of Burgundy                             30. William I, Count of Burgundy               15. Sibylla of Burgundy, Duchess of Burgundy                       31. Stephanie

References

1. G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol. XII/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953) p. 498
2. Elisabeth van Houts, 'The Warenne View of the Past 1066-1203', Anglo-Norman Studies XXVI, Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2003, ed. John Gillingham (Boydell Press, Woodbridge. 2004), p. 103
3. G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol. XII/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953) pp. 500-503
4. G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol. XII/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953) p. 500 n. (g)
5. The Yorkshire archaeological journal, Vol.9, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, (Bradbury, Agnew and Co., 1886), 300.