1st earl of Surrey
William was present at the Battle of Hastings.
Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Death: 24 June 1088.
Place of Death: Lewes.
The date and place are given by Lewis (ODNB) and by the Complete Peerage (12/1:493).
Place of Burial: Lewes Priory.
Relationships
(probable) Father: Radulf (II) de Warenne.
This relationship is given by Keats-Rohan (p. 776), who gives Radulf's parents as Ralph I de Warenne and Beatrice de Vascoeuil. Lewis (ODNB), van Houts (XII:228), and the Complete Peerage (12/1:493) give Ralph I and Beatrice as the parents of William. Stewart gives reasons for preferring Keats-Rohan's version.
(probable) Mother: Emma.
This relationship is given by Keats-Rohan (p. 776). The Complete Peerage (12/1:493) states that she was “almost certainly” Beatrice, the daughter of a sister of Gunnor, 2nd wife of Richard I, duke of Normandy. Lewis (ODNB) states that “the most likely interpretation of the fragmentary evidence” is that Beatrice, the daughter of Gunnor’s sister, was either William’s mother or paternal grandmother. Stewart outlines reasons for preferring Keats-Rohan's version.
Spouse: Gundrada (died 1085). Married about 1066.
This relationship is given by Lewis (ODNB) and by the Complete Peerage (12/1:494).
Spouse: a sister of Richard Gouet, a landowner in the Perche region.
This relationship is given by Lewis (ODNB) and by the Complete Peerage (12/1:494).
Children (by Gundrada):
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
William (II) de Warenne (died 1138), earl of Surrey. Married Isabel de Vermandois in 1118 or 1119.
Rainald de Warenne.
Edith married (1) Gerard de Gournay, lord of Gournay-en-Bray; married (2) Drew de Monchy.
References
Cokayne, George Edward, and Vicary Gibbs; et al. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant [2nd ed.]. (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910-59) Volume 12/1.
Hollister, C. Warren. “Warenne, William (II) de, second earl of Surrey (d. 1138)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Keats-Rohan, Katharine S. B. Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1106 - 1166. (Woodbridge: 2002).
Lewis, C.P. “Warenne, Gundrada de (d. 1085)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2007.
Lewis, C.P. “Warenne, William (I) de, first earl of Surrey (d. 1088)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004.
Stewart, Peter. Post to soc.genealogy.medieval dated 6 March 2016.
Van Houts, Elisabeth. “Robert of Torigni as Genealogist” in History and Family Traditions in England and the Continent: 1000-1200 (Ashgate, 1999).