Name Elizabeth Vermandois, | Died February 13, 1131 | |
Father Hugh I, Count of Vermandois Mother Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois Children Ada de Warenne, Reginald de Warenne, William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey Parents Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois, Hugh, Count of Vermandois Grandchildren Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey Similar People William de Warenne - 2nd Earl, Adelaide - Countess of Verma, William de Warenne - 1st Earl of, Henry I of France, Robert II of France | ||
Elizabeth of Vermandois, or Elisabeth or Isabel de Vermandois (c. 1085 – 1131), was the third daughter of Hugh Magnus and Adelaide of Vermandois, and as such represented both the Capetian line of her paternal grandfather Henry I of France, and the Carolingian ancestry of her maternal grandfather Herbert IV of Vermandois. As the wife of two Anglo-Norman magnates, Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, she is the ancestress of hundreds of well-known families down to the present time.
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Countess of Leicester
In 1096, Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan reputed to be "the wisest man in his time between London and Jerusalem" insisted, in defiance of the laws of the church, on marrying a very young Elizabeth, he being over fifty at the time. In early 1096 Bishop Ivo, on hearing of the proposed marriage, wrote a letter banning the marriage and preventing its celebration on the grounds the two were related within prohibited degrees. In April of that year Elizabeth's father count Hugh left on Crusade, his last act being to see his daughter married to count Robert. The crusader was able to convince Pope Urban to issue a dispensation for the marriage which then went forward.
Her husband was a nobleman of some significance in France, having inherited lands from his maternal uncle Henry, Count of Meulan, and is known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings as a companion of William the Conqueror. He was rewarded with ninety manors in the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Wiltshire. The count of Meulan was one of Henry I's "four wise counsellors and was one of the king's commanders at the Battle of Tinchebray 28 September 1106. In 1107 Robert became Earl of Leicester.
Countess of Surrey
Elizabeth, Countess of Meulan is reputed to have had an affair and left her husband when he was near death. The historian James Planché claimed (1874) that the Countess was seduced by or fell in love with a younger nobleman, William de Warenne There is no evidence that her second husband, William II de Warenne, second earl of Surrey, was that lover and only later rumors that she had a lover at all during her first marriage. William had sought a royal bride in 1093, but failed in his attempt to wed Matilda of Scotland also known as Edith, who later married Henry I,. He obtained a bride of royal blood when he married Elizabeth in 1118, very soon after the death of Earl Robert. Elizabeth survived her second husband William to later die 1131.
Family
By her first husband, Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, (d 5 June 1118), Elizabeth had three sons (including twin elder sons) and five or six daughters:
By her second husband, William de Warenne, Elizabeth had three sons and two daughters: