The House of Warren is an Anglo-Norman

Anglo-Norman

The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...

 comital

Count

A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...

 house that held extensive lands in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. The name is derived from the town and river of Varenne, Calais

Calais

Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....

 (Pays de Caux

Pays de Caux

The Pays de Caux is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French département of Seine Maritime in Haute-Normandie. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs on the English Channel coast - its coastline is known as the Côte d'Albâtre...

), a few miles from Dieppe

Dieppe, Seine-Maritime

Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...

 in Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

.

The ancient family seat in Normandy was Castle Bellencombre of the banks of the Varenne, to which Duke William of Normandy added Castle Mortimer as a reward for the loyal military service of William de Warren, the principal founder of the House.

Lineage

William de Warrene

William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey

William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066...

, created 1st Earl of Warren and Surrey by King William II

William II of England

William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...

, was the maternal second cousin

Cousin

In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...

 once removed of William I

William I

-Kings:* William I of Bimbia * William I of England , known as William the Conqueror* William I, German Emperor * William I of Scotland , known as William the Lion* William I of Sicily...

, and received about three hundred lordships

Lord

Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...

 in England in recompense for his service at the Battle of Hastings

Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...

, including lands in Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...

, Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, and Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

. William de Warren was appointed as co-Chief Justice of England when William I was abroad in France. His principal English seats were Lewes Castle

Lewes Castle

Lewes Castle stands at the highest point of Lewes, East Sussex, England on an artificial mound constructed with chalk blocks. It was originally called Bray Castle.-History:...

 in Sussex, Castle Acre

Castle Acre Castle

Castle Acre Castle is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle, with extensive earthworks, at Castle Acre, in the English county of Norfolk . It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and a Grade I listed building....

 in Norfolk, and Conisbrough Castle

Conisbrough Castle

Conisbrough Castle is a 12th-century castle in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, England, whose remains are dominated by the 97-foot high circular keep, which is supported by six buttresses. In the mid-1990s, the keep was restored, with a wooden roof and two floors being rebuilt...

 in Yorkshire.

William married Gundreda, according to some sources a daughter of William I (her parentage is disputed), and had William de Warren, 2nd Earl of Warren and Surrey

William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey

William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey was the son of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey and his first wife Gundred. He is more often referred to as Earl Warenne or Earl of Warenne than as Earl of Surrey....

. The 2nd Earl married Isabel de Vermandois, the niece of King Philip of France

Philip I of France

Philip I , called the Amorous, was King of France from 1060 to his death. His reign, like that of most of the early Direct Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time...

. The 2nd Earl's daughter Ada

Ada de Warenne

Ada de Warenne was the Anglo-Norman wife of Henry of Scotland, Earl of Northumbria and Earl of Huntingdon. She was the daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey by Elizabeth of Vermandois, and a great-granddaughter of Henry I of France...

 married Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, eldest son of David, King of Scotland

David I of Scotland

David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...

, and had Malcolm

Malcolm IV of Scotland

Malcolm IV , nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" , King of Scots, was the eldest son of Earl Henry and Ada de Warenne...

 and William, both Kings of Scotland.

William de Warren, 3rd Earl of Warren and Surrey

William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey

William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey was the eldest son of the William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth de Vermandois.He was generally loyal to king Stephen...

 fought in the cause of Stephen de Blois before switching sides to support Count Geoffrey d'Anjou and the Empress Maud. In 1147 he went on crusade with Louis, King of France, and was slain in a Saracen attack at Laodicea. It is said that his heart was brought back to England, and was buried at Lewes Priory. Here ends the paternal line of the 1st House of Warren.

The 3rd Earl's daughter and heiress Isabel de Warren married William the Conqueror's male line descendant William de Blois, the son of King Stephen, the Earl of Mortain and Boulogne who became jure uxoris the 4th Earl of Warren and Surrey.

After the death of William de Blois his widow the 4th Countess of Warren and Surrey married in 1163 Hameline Plantagenet, the Viscount of Touraine and King Henry II's natural half-brother. Hameline Plantagenet assumed the name, arms, and lands of de Warren jure uxoris, becoming the 5th Earl of Warren and Surrey. Hereby the de Warren inheritance passed into a cadet branch of the royal House of Anjou or Plantagenet.

Hameline and Isabel's son William Plantagenet de Warren, assumed before his father's death, the name William de Warren and dropped the Plantagenet moniker. He accompanied his brother, King Henry II on the conquest of Ireland in 1169 where his signature appears on a number of charters. He assisted as sword-bearer in the coronations of his nephews Richard the Lion-Hearted and John Lackland. Hameline was a member of the Privy Council where he is recorded as "Hameline, Earl of Warren, King Henry's brother". He was one one the justices of the King's court, a baron of Exchequer, and Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey in 1206. He was one of those who advised his cousin King John to put his seal to Magna Charta at Runneymede and was called "cognatus regis" because of his kinship to the royal family. The 6th Earl married first Maud, daughter of William de Albini, Earl of Arundel, and secondly Maud, daughter of William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke (widow of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk). By his second wife, the Marshaless of England and Countess of Norfolk and Warren he had John de Warren who succeeded him as the 7th Earl. The Countess of Norfolk and Warren was buried at Tinturn Abbey in Wales but her heart was deposited before the high alter at Lewes Priory.

John de Warren was five years old at his father's death, and was placed under the guardianship of Peter of Savoy, the Queen's brother. In 1247 at about the age of twelve, he was married to the daughter of Hugh de Lusignan, Earl of March and Angoulême and Isabelle d'Angoulême, the widow of King John and the mother of King Henry III. The 7th Earl of Warren and Surrey was, accordingly, maternal half-brother to King Henry III of England, half-brother of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, half-brother of Joan, wife of King Alexander II of Scotland, and half-brother of Isabella, wife of Emperor Frederick II, and half-brother of William Marshall, 2nd Earl of Pembroke whose lands in Ireland his offspring would one day inherit.