Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick (c. 1284 – bef. 8 January 1325) was a wealthy English heiress and the second wife of

Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick (c. 127212 August 1315) was an English magnate, and one of the principal opponents of King Edward II and his favourite, Piers Gaveston. Guy was the son of William de Beauchamp, the first Beauchamp earl ...

, an English nobleman in the reign of kings

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

and

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to ...

. He was one of the principal opponents of

Piers Gaveston Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall (c. 1284 – 19 June 1312) was an English nobleman of Gascon origin, and the favourite of Edward II of England. At a young age, Gaveston made a good impression on King Edward I, who assigned him to the househ ...

, a

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...

of Edward II. Alice married three times; Guy was her second husband.

Family and lineage

Alice de Toeni (or de Tosny) was born c. 1284 in Flamsted,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

, the only daughter of Ralph VII de Toeni, Lord Toeni of Flamsted (1255–1295) and his Scottish-born wife, Mary. Alice's paternal grandparents were Roger V de Toeni, Lord Flamsted and Alice de Bohun. The latter was a daughter of

Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford {{Infobox noble , name = Humphrey de Bohun , title = Earl of Hereford Earl of Essex , image =Arms of the House of de Bohun.svg , caption =Arms of de Bohun: ''Azure, a bend argent cotised or betw ...

and Maud de Lusignan. Alice had an older brother, Robert de Toeni, Lord Toeni of Flamsted (4 April 1276 – 1309), who married Maud, the daughter of Malise III, Earl of Strathearn, but died childless in 1309. Upon his death, Alice became his heir. Her inheritance included manors in

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

and the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...

Marriages and issue

In 1300, when Alice was sixteen, she married her first husband, Sir Thomas Leybourne (died May 1307), son of Sir William Leybourne, by whom she had one daughter: #Juliana de Leybourne (1303/4 – 30 October/2 November 1367), married firstly, John, Lord Hastings, by whom she had issue, secondly Thomas le Blount, and thirdly, William Clinton.
On 28 February 1309, less than two years after the death of her first husband, Alice married secondly

, the only son of

William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick (c. 1238 – 1298) was the eldest of eight children of William de Beauchamp of Elmley and his wife Isabel de Mauduit. He was an English nobleman and soldier, described as a “vigorous and innovative mili ...

and

Maud FitzJohn Maud FitzJohn, Countess of Warwick (c. 1238 – 16/18 April 1301) was an English noblewoman and the eldest daughter of John FitzGeoffrey, Lord of Shere. Her second husband was William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick, a celebrated soldier. ...

. He had been previously married to Isabel de Clare, the daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and Alice de Lusignan of Angoulême, but the marriage, which had produced no children, was annulled. Guy had already distinguished himself in the

Wars of Scottish Independence The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of ...

and was one of the Ordainers, who sought to restrict the powers of the King. Guy de Beauchamp was one of the chief adversaries of Piers Gaveston, King Edward's favourite, who often referred to Guy as ''The Mad Hound'', due to the Earl's habit of foaming at the mouth when angry. In 1312, Guy de Beauchamp captured Gaveston and took him to his principal residence Warwick Castle where Gaveston was held prisoner and afterwards murdered. Alice and Guy had two sons and two daughters: #Maud de Beauchamp (died 1366); she married Geoffrey de Say, 2nd Lord Say, by whom she had issue. #

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, KG (c. 14 February 131313 November 1369), sometimes styled as Lord Warwick, was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. His reputation as a military leader was so fo ...

(14 February 1314 – 13 November 1369), married

Katherine Mortimer Katherine Mortimer, Countess of Warwick (1314 – 4 August 1369) was the wife of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick KG, an English peer, and military commander during the Hundred Years War. She was a daughter and co-heiress of Roger Mor ...

, by whom he had fifteen children. # John de Beauchamp, Lord Beauchamp KG (1315 – 2 December 1360); carried the royal standard at the

Battle of Crécy The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 in northern France between a French army commanded by King PhilipVI and an English army led by King EdwardIII. The French attacked the English while they were traversing northern France du ...

. #Elizabeth de Beauchamp (1316—1359); she married in 1328 Thomas Astley, 3rd Lord Astley, by whom she had two sons, William Astley, 4th Lord Astley and Sir Thomas Astley, ancestor of the Astleys of Patshull and of Everley. Following the sudden death of Guy de Beauchamp at Warwick Castle on 12 August 1315, which was rumoured to have been caused by poisoning, Alice married thirdly on 26 October 1316, William la Zouche, 1st Lord Zouche de Mortimer (see

Baron Zouche Baron Zouche is a title which has been created three times, all in the Peerage of England. Genealogy The la Zouche family descended from Alan la Zouche (d. 1190), lord of the manor of North Molton in North Devon, England, originally called ...

), by whom she had a son and a daughter: #Alan la Zouche (bef. 15 November 1317 – 12 November 1346), 2nd Lord Zouche de Mortimer. #Joyce la Zouche (c. 1318/20–1372); she married John Botetourt, 2nd Baron Botetourt.

Death

Alice de Toeni died on 1 January 1324 or 1325.Charles Cawley in ''Medieval Lands'' confirms that Alice died before 8 January 1325; most genealogists specify 1 January 1324/1325 The de Toeni lands and manors passed to her eldest son Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick. Her widower, Lord Zouche, later abducted and married Eleanor de Clare, widow of Hugh le Despenser, the Younger. Lord Zouche had been one of le Despenser's captors and had led the siege of Caerphilly Castle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warwick, Alice de Toeni, Countess of 1284 births 1320s deaths 13th-century English people 14th-century English people 13th-century English women 14th-century English women

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

English countesses English people of Scottish descent People from Flamstead