Edith Forne (d. after 1129), was an
English noblewoman who was the
concubine of King
Henry I of England
Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...
and the foundress of
Osney Abbey near
Oxford.
She was the daughter of Forn Sigulfson, Lord of
Greystoke, Cumberland.
Edith had three children by King Henry:
#
Robert FitzEdith, (1093–1172) who married Maud d'Avranches. They had one daughter, Maud, who married Renaud, Sire of Courtenay (son of Miles, Sire of Courtenay and Ermengarde of Nevers).
# William de Tracy (1097–1140).
# Adeliza FitzEdith who appears in charters with her brother, Robert.
In 1120, Henry caused Edith to marry
Robert D'Oyly the younger
Robert D'Oyly was a 12th-century English nobleman, son of Nigel D'Oyly, and nephew of Robert D'Oyly, founder of Oxford Castle.
Robert married Edith Forne, daughter of Lord Greystoke, who had been King Henry I of England's concubine, in 1120. Th ...
, second son of
Nigel D'Oyly.
[''Victoria County History of Oxford Volume IV'' by Alan Crossley, 1969] As a marriage portion, she was granted the Manor of
Cleydon,
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
. Robert and Edith had at least two children: Henry, buried at Osney in 1163,
and Gilbert.
In 1129, Edith persuaded her husband to build the Church of
St Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
, in the Isle of
Osney, near
Oxford Castle, for the use of
Augustine Canons: this was to become
Osney Abbey.
She told him that she had dreamt of the chattering of
magpie
Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...
s, interpreted by a chaplain as souls in
Purgatory who needed a church founding to expiate their sins.
Edith was buried in Osney Abbey, in a religious habit, as
John Leland describes upon seeing her tomb as it was on the eve of the
Dissolution: ''‘Ther lyeth an image of Edith, of stone, in th' abbite of a vowess, holding a hart in her right hand, on the north side of the high altaire’''. The legendary dream of magpies was painted near the tomb.
References
11th-century births
Anglo-Normans
People from Oxford
Year of death unknown
Henry I of England
Anglo-Norman women
12th-century English people
11th-century English people
11th-century English women
12th-century English women
People from Greystoke, Cumbria
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