Elizabeth of Vermandois (c. 1085 – 1131) (or Isabel), was a French noblewoman, who by her two marriages was the mother of
the 1st
Earl of Worcester, the 2nd
Earl of Leicester, the 3rd
Earl of Surrey, and of Gundred de Warenne, mother of the 4th
Earl of Warwick.
It is believed that she was the source of the famous chequered shield of gold and blue (or and azure) adopted at the dawn of the age of heraldry (in England circa 1200–1215) by her brother and originating before the middle of the 12th century,[1] as did only two other groups of allied English shields, the Mandeville-de Vere "quarterly shields" and the de Clare "chevron shields".[2]
Chequy or and azure, the famous proto-heraldic coat of arms of Elizabeth of Vermandois (possibly first adopted by her brother Ralph, Count of Vermandois, as shown on his seal[2]), which she transmitted in
differenced forms to her offspring
In 1096
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester (d. 1118) reputed to be the "wisest man in his time between
London and
Jerusalem" insisted, in defiance of the laws of the Church, on marrying the very young Elizabeth,[5] he being over fifty at the time.[6] In early 1096 Bishop Ivo, on hearing of the proposed marriage, wrote a letter forbidding the marriage and preventing its celebration on the grounds of
consanguinuity, i.e. that the two were related within prohibited degrees.
In April 1096 Elizabeth's father was able to convince Pope Urban to issue a dispensation for the marriage,[6] and departed on the Crusade preached by that pope, his last act being to see his daughter married to Robert.
Emma de Beaumont (born 1102),[13] betrothed as an infant to Aumari de Montfort, nephew of
William, Count of Évreux, but the marriage never took place. She probably died young, or entered a convent.[14]
Adeline de Beaumont (b c. 1107), who married firstly, Hugh IV, 4th Lord of
Montfort-sur-Risle, and secondly, Richard de Granville (d. 1147),
lord of the
manor of Bideford in Devon.[12]
Elizabeth married
William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey soon after the death of her first husband in 1118.[17]
William had sought a royal bride in 1093, but failed in his attempt to wed
Matilda of Scotland (also known as Edith), who later married King Henry I.[18]
The historian
James Planché claimed in 1874 that she was seduced by or fell in love with William before Robert's death, resulting in an affair.[13] However the evidence for any affair is lacking.
Elizabeth survived her second husband.[3][19]
By William de Warenne she had three sons and two daughters:[20]
^"Si Marie de France était Marie de Meulan", Yolande de Pontfarcy, Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale Année, 38e année (n°152), October-December 1995, 359.
^
abEdmond Chester Waters, 'Gundrada de Warenne', The Archaeological Journal, Vol. xli (London, 1884), p. 308-9
^George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol. XII/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), Appendix L, pp. 47–8, Appendix L, The Battle of Hastings and the Death of Harold (List of those known to be at the Battle of Hastings)
^David C. Doulgas, William the Conqueror (University of California Press, 1964), p. 203
^J. R. Planché, The Conqueror and His Companions, Vol. I (Tinsley Bros., London, 1874) p. 206
^C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2003) pp. 132–3, 199–200
^K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, a Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066–1166 (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1999), p. 371
^
abcdefghGeorge Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol. VII (The St. Catherine Press, Ltd, 1929), p. 540
^
abJ. R. Planché, The Conqueror and His Companions, Vol. I (Tinsley Bros., London, 1874) p. 212
^J. R. Planché, The Conqueror and His Companions, Vol. I (Tinsley Bros., London, 1874) p. 216
^George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol. VII (The St. Catherine Press, Ltd, 1929), p. 526, footnote (c)
^Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History, Bol. II, No. 1, (1854), p. 311
^C. Warren Hollister, 'The Taming of a Turbulent Earl: Henry I and William of Warenne', Historical Reflections, Vol. 3 (1976) p. 90 n. 36
^C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2003)p. 340
^G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, Vol. XII/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953) p. 496
^
abcdWilliam Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume VIII – The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949) p. 10
^
abWilliam Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume VIII – The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949) pp. 27–8
^William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters, Volume VIII – The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949) p. 11
^Victoria Chandler, 'Ada de Warenne, Queen Mother of Scotland (c. 1123–1178)', The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 60, No. 170, Part 2 (October 1981), pp. 119–139