Name Isabel Warenne, | ||
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Died July 12, 1203, Lewes, United Kingdom Children William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey, Adela de Warenne Parents Ela of Burgundy, William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey Grandchildren John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, Richard FitzRoy Similar People Geoffrey Plantagenet - Count of, Henry II of England, William de Warenne - 2nd Earl, Stephen - King of England, Matilda of Boulogne | ||
Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey (c.1137 – c.1203) was an English peer. She was the only surviving heir of William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey and his wife, Adela, the daughter of William III of Ponthieu.
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Life
She was the great-granddaughter of the first Norman earl, William and his Flemish wife Gundred. When her father died in the Holy Land c.1148 she inherited the earldom of Surrey and was married 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 brother, William X, Count of Poitou sought her hand in 1162/3, but Thomas Becket refused a dispensation from affinity on the grounds of consanguinity. 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 age 73.
Family
She and William of Blois had no children. Isabelle and her second husband Hamelin had four surviving children: