William de Warenne Earl de Warren & Surrey

  Noted events in his life were:

• Dates & Events. ¹⁴¹ William de Warrene was a Magna Carta Sureties Baron. These barons had to ensure its observance. They were also excommunicated by the pope.

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
William de Warenne, earl of Surrey, son and heir of Hamelin Plantagenêt and Isabella de Warenne. On 12 May 1202 the King advised his father's tenants that he had taken his homage. On 19 Apr 1205 he had a grant of Grantham and Stamford, Lincolnshire, to compensate him for the loss of his lands in Normandy. In 1206 he owed 100 marks for an advance made to him in Poitou, and 100 marks for robes provided for him there. On 30 Nov 1206 he was directed to escort the King of Scots to York. On 20 Aug 1212 the custody of the castles of Bamburgh and Newcastle-on-Tyne was committed to him and two others.

In May 1213 William was with the King at Dover, and was a party to John's submission to the Pope and resignation of his crown. In January 1214/5 he was among those who came to London with the Archbishop to discuss grievances, but on 10 May 1215 he was security for the King in his promise of concessions to the barons. On 24 May 1215 he took part with the barons in the seizure of London; and on 15 June at Runnymede was one of those who advised the King to grant Magna Charta; and he afterwards swore to observe the mandates of the 25 barons. On 16 May 1216 he was appointed Warden of the Cinque Ports; but soon afterwards he joined Louis of France. On 22 June 1217, however, he had renewed his fealty to the King and on 24 August took part in the naval battle in which Eustace the Monk was defeated and slain.

In 1217 William was made the sheriff of Surrey. In February 1217/8, there was a dispute pending between the Earl and Engelard de Cigoigny as to the county of Surrey. In 1220 he was appointed to meet the King of Scots at Berwick after Whitsun, and in 1221 was granted the scutage of Biham. In February 1222/3 he was on pilgrimage to Santiago in Spain, in October 1223 was in North Wales, and in November on pilgrimage to St. John. In August 1224 he was with the King at Bedford. On 5 Apr 1225 he had ceased to hold the castle of Hastings. On 30 June he was warned that he must observe the King's liberties. In 1227 he joined the Earl of Cornwall at Stamford in his revolt against the King; but at Christmas he was with the King at York. In 1229 he was about to make a voyage on the King's service. In June 1230 he was taking an assize of arms in Sussex, and in July was warden of the ports and seacoast of Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk; and in the same year he was appointed a justiciar of England.

In August 1231 William was in Wales. In February 1231/2 he was called to the Council to treat on matters concerning Llewelin, prince of Aberfraw; and in the same year was one of the four Earls appointed to keep Hubert de Burgh in custody at Devizes Castle. In June 1234 he, with another, was granted the castles of Bramber and Knapp. At the Coronation of Queen Eleanor at Westminster, 20 January 1235/6, he acted as Butler in place of his son-in-law, the Earl of Arundel; and he claimed unsuccessfully to carry one of the Swords. In 1237 he joined the King's council, and in 1238 was sent to Oxford to compose the quarrel between the scholars and the Romans who had accompanied the Legate. He was reprimanded by Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, for having had mass celebrated in his hall at Grantham though it was unconsecrated.

William married, as his first wife, Maud. Maud died 6 Feb. of an unknown year, and was buried in the chapter-house of Lewes Priory. It is alleged that she was a daughter of an Earl of Arundel. William married a second time, before 13 October 1225, to Maud, widow of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, daughter and (after the death s.p. of her 5 brothers) coheir of William Marshal, fourth earl of Pembroke, by Isabel, daughter and (after her brother's death in childhood) heir of Richard Fitz Gilbert, second earl of Pembroke. William died on 27 May 1240 in London and was buried before the high altar in Lewes Priory. Maud died between 1 and 7 April 1248.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Surry), Vol. XIIA pp. 500-503

William married Maud Marshall, daughter of Sir Willam Marshall Knight, Third Earl of Pembroke and Isabella de Clare Countess of Pembroke, before 13 Oct 1225 ¹⁴¹.^,160 (Maud Marshall was born about 1190 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales and died 7 Aprr 1248 in England or Wales ¹⁴¹.)