Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey (c. 113712 July 1203) was an English peer. She was the only surviving heir of

William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey (11196 January 1148) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, member of the House of Warenne, who fought in England during the Anarchy and generally remained loyal to King Stephen. Elisabeth van Houts, 'The Warenne ...

, and his wife, Adela, the daughter of

William III of Ponthieu William III of Ponthieu ( – 1172) also called William (II; III) Talvas.Orderic Vitalis and Robert de Torigny both mentioned his nickname 'Talvas' but he is not known to have used it when granting or attesting his own charters, . E. Cokayne, ''T ...

.G. E. Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage'', Vol. XII/1 (London" The St. Catherine Press, 1953), p. 498.Elisabeth van Houts, "The Warenne View of the Past 1066–1203", ''Anglo-Norman Studies XXVI, Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2003'', ed. John Gillingham (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2004), p. 103.

Life

She was the great-granddaughter of the first Norman earl,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, and his Flemish wife

Gundred Gundred or Gundreda (Latin: Gundrada) (died 27 May 1085)G. E. Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage'', vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), p. 494 was the Flemish-born wife of an early Norman baron, William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surr ...

. When her father died in the Holy Land about 1148 she inherited the

earldom of Surrey Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror. It is currently held as a subsidiary title by the Dukes of Norfol ...

and was married in around 1153 to William of Blois, the younger son of King Stephen, who became earl in her right. 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 younger brother,

William FitzEmpress William FitzEmpress (22 July 1136 – 30 January 1164) or William Longespee was the youngest of the three sons of Empress Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. His brothers were Henry II of England and Geoffrey, Count of Nantes. Early ...

, sought her hand in 1162 or 1163, but

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

refused a dispensation from

affinity Affinity may refer to: Commerce, finance and law * Affinity (law), kinship by marriage * Affinity analysis, a market research and business management technique * Affinity Credit Union, a Saskatchewan-based credit union * Affinity Equity Par ...

on the grounds of

consanguinity Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin '' consanguinitas'') is the characteristic of having a kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor). Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are related by blood fr ...

. 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 the age of 66.

Family

She and William of Blois had no children. Isabelle and her second husband Hamelin had four surviving children: * William, later 5th Earl of Surrey (1166–1240) *Ela (born c. 1170, date of death unknown), married first Robert of Naburn and secondly William FitzWilliam of Sprotborough.Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage'', Vol. XII/1 (1953) p. 500, n. (g). *Isabel, married first

Robert de Lacy The honour of Pontefract, also known as the feudal barony of Pontefract, was an English feudal barony. Its origins lie in the grant of a large, compact set of landholdings in Yorkshire, made between the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and the co ...

and secondly Gilbert de l'Aigle, Lord of Pevensey. *Matilda, married first Henry, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings and secondly Henry de Stuteville.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surrey, Isabel de Warenne, Countess of 12th-century births 1203 deaths Hereditary women peers Burials at Lewes Priory

104 104 may refer to: *104 (number), a natural number *AD 104, a year in the 2nd century AD * 104 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 104 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route * Hundred and Four (or Council of 104), a Carthagin ...

Countesses of Boulogne

Isabel Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...

13th-century English people 13th-century English women 12th-century English people 12th-century English women 12th-century English landowners Women landowners