| Notes |
- William de Warren I, Earl of Warenne, came from Normandy, a near kinsman of William the Conqueror. He received large grants of land in recognition of the distinguished part he took at the battle of Hastings. He had large grants of land in several counties among which were the barony of Lewes, in Sussex, and the manors of Carletune and Benington, in Lincolnshire. So extensive indeed were those grants that his possessions resembled more the dominions of a sovereign prince than the estates of a subject. He enjoyed, too, in the highest degree, the confidence of the king, and was appointed joint Justice-General, with Richard de Benefactis, for administering justice throughout the whole realm. While in that office, some great disturbers of the public peace having refused to appear before him and his colleague, in obedience to citation, the Earl took up arms, and defeated the rebels in a battle at Fagadune, when he is said, for the purpose of striking terror, to have cut off the right foot of each of his prisoners. Of these rebels, Ralph Wahir or Gauder, Earl of Norfolk, and Roger, Earl of Hereford, were the ringleaders. He was likewise highly esteemed by King William Rufus, and was created by that monarch the first Earl of Surrey. He married Gundred, daughter of William the Conqueror and Lady Matilda.
The following account is from Crispin and Macary in "Falaise Rolls":
"The family derived its name from the fiefdom of Vareene in St.-Aubin-le-Cauf, arrondissement of Dieppe. William, Count of Warren (Varenne) in Normandy, was descended from Gautier de St.-Martin and a niece of the duchess Gonnor, who had issue: 1. Raoul de Warren, a benefactor to the abbey of Trinite du Mont in the middle of the 11th century, was the father of William de Warren I and of Roger de Mortemer, father of Raoul de Mortemer, who was present at Hastings; 2. sire de St.-Martin, possibly named Gautier, ancestor of the family of this name in Normandy and England. Orderic Vital styles William the cousin or kinsman of Roger de Mortemer; however, this is an error. Norman People published this pedigree: Gautier de St.-Martin, and a niece of the aforesaid duchess had a son, William de St.-Martin, whose issue were: 1. Roger de Mortemer, father of Raoul de Mortemer, a warrior at Hastings; 2. Raoul de Warren; and 3. sire de St.-Martin, but this makes too many generations for the known facts.
William de Warren is first mentioned in history in connection with the battle of Mortemer in 1054 by Oderic Vital, and again as having attended the council at Lillebonne, where it was determined to invade England. He later was one of the powerful seigniors who attended Duke William to the Conquest, and Wace records "De Garenes i vint Willeme," but nothing of importance is chronicled concerning him at Hastings. In 1067 he was one of the nobles entrusted with the government of England during the king's absence in Normandy under the jurisdiction of Bishop Odo and William Fitz Osberne. In 1074 he was associated with Richard de Bienfaite in the suppression of the rebellion of the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk and as joint-Justice-General with him for administering justice throughout the whole realm. His reward was princely, since he held the great baronies of Castle Acre in Norfolk, Lewes in Sussex, where he usually resided, and Coningsburg in Yorkshire, with twenty-eight towns and hamlets in its soke. In all he possessed 300 manors and was created the first Earl of Surrey by King William Rufus. The reason for this enormous reward was probably because he married Gundreda, who is believed to have been the daughter of Queen Matilda (and William the Conqueror?); she died in 1085. This theory is supported by a charter of William de Warren to Lewes priory, in which he states that his donations, among others, were for Queen Matilda, the mother of his wife. It is conjectured that Grundreda and Gherbold the Fleming, created Earl of Chester, her brother, were the children of Queen Matilda by a former marriage, probably clandestine, and therefore not reported by the historians of the day. William de Warren I. was succeeded by his son, William de Warren II., Earl of Warren and Surrey, who married Elizabeth, daughter of the great Earl of Vermandois, the widowed countess of Meulent, by whom he had, among other children, William de Warren III., the last earl of his line, who succeeded him and died in the Holy Land, leaving an only child, Isabel Warren, who inherited his vast domain and through whom the family descended. In addition to Wace, William de Warren is reported in Hastings by William de Poitiers, Oderic Vital and Benoit de St.-More."
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