William DE WARENNE ( -1240)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

	Lewes Castle, Warenne's ancestral home, built in 1069		Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, South East England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a strategically important royal castle.

Individual Note

William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (died 1240), was the son of Hamelin de Warenne (Plantagenet) and Isabel,[1] daughter of William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey. His father Hamelin granted him the manor of Appleby, North Lincolnshire.

De Warenne was present at the coronation of King John of England on 27 May 1199. When Normandy was lost to the French in 1204 he lost his Norman holdings, (in 1202 he was lieutenant of Gascony), but John recompensed him with Grantham and Stamford.

His first tenure of office as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports began in 1204, and lasted until 1206. He was also a Warden of the Welsh Marches between 1208 and 1213.

William was one of the few barons who remained loyal to King John (who was his cousin) during the king's difficulties with the barons, when they sought for the French prince to assume the English throne, and is listed as one of those who advised John to accede to the Magna Carta. His allegiance only faltered a few times when the king's cause looked hopeless.

In March 1217 he again demonstrated his loyalty to England by supporting the young King Henry III, he was also responsible for the establishment of Salisbury Cathedral.

Between the years 1200 and 1208, and during 1217–1226 he was to serve as the High Sheriff of Surrey. In 1214 he was again appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Family

He married Maud Marshal (1192 – 27 March 1248), eldest daughter and later co-heiress of William Marshal, and widow of Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk,[2] thus becoming by marriage the Earl of Salisbury, on 13 October 1225. They had a son and a daughter. The son John (1231–1304) succeeded his father as earl, while the daughter, Isabel de Warenne (c. 1228–1282), married Hugh d'Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel.

William may also have had an earlier, childless marriage to another Matilda, daughter of William d'Aubigny, 2nd Earl of Arundel.

NOTES:

1 Sussex archaeological collections, relating to the history and Antiquities of the County, Vol.35, Sussex Archaeological Society, (H. Wolff, 1887), 115.

2 Morris, Marc, The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the thirteenth century, (The Boydell Press, 2005), 31.³

Sources