Edward Balliol – History… the interesting bits!

Elizabeth Mure, Robert II and a Question of Legitimacy

13/12/202512/12/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

Books by Sharon Bennett Connolly — *Tomb of Marjorie Bruce, Paisley Abbey*

Robert II, King of Scots, had been born on 2 March 1316, as the grandson and heir of Robert the Bruce. His mother. Marjorie Bruce, had died at the time of his birth, or shortly after. He had been supplanted as his grandfather’s heir when Bruce’s queen, Elizabeth de Burgh, gave birth to a son, David Bruce, in 1324. David was crowned as King David II on his father’s death in 1329. Although only 5-years-old, David was already a married ‘man’, having wed Edward III’s 7-year-old sister, Joan of the Tower, in July 1328.

Edward III saw an opportunity in Scotland having a child-king and, notwithstanding the headache he was causing his own sister, he decided to support the claims, to the Scottish crown, of Edward Balliol, son of the deposed king, John Balliol, and his wife, Isabella de Warenne. Edward III invaded Scotland. King David and his young wife were sent to France for their safety, while the Scots fought for the kingdom. One of those leading the fight was Robert Stewart, David’s nephew – Robert the Bruce’s grandson. He had become High Steward of Scotland on his father’s death in 1327. He was made guardian of Scotland whilst still in his late teens and fought in the defeat of the Scots at Halidon Hill in July 1333, when he was still only 17.

Robert was David II’s heir – until the latter produced a son and heir of his own, at least. Uncle and nephew had a fractious relationship, even after David returned from French exile. David may have resented the reputation Robert had gained in fighting for Scottish independence, and he was certainly wary of Robert’s powerful position, as High Steward, guardian and – of course – as heir presumptive to the crown.

Robert’s strength, however, lay not only in his proximity to the throne, but also in the fact he had managed to do what David had not, produce an heir. Six, in fact. Robert’s rather unusual marital situation, and perhaps the growing awareness, as the years went on, that there was less and less likelihood of David producing an heir, saw him apply for a papal dispensation to marry Elizabeth Mure, which was supported by King David, King Philip VI of France, the seven Scottish bishops and parliament. It was granted on 22 November 1347, at least ten years after the start of their relationship. The dispensation allowed for the retrospective legitimisation of their children:

This Robert took to his bed one of the daughters of Adam More, knight; and of her he begat sons and daughters, out of wedlock. But he afterwards – in the year 1349, to wit – bespoke and got the dispensation of the Apostolic See, and espoused her regularly, according to the forms of the Church.¹

An earlier dispensation, issued in 1345, had annulled Elizabeth’s betrothal to Hugh Giffard. Elizabeth was the daughter of Adam Mure of Rowallon, Ayrshire. Though whether her mother was his first wife, Joan Cunnigham, or his second wife, Janet, is undetermined. The unusual nature of their relationship and marital situation has given rise to questions over the legitimacy of their children. According to John Riddell, the facts of the relationship are that:

Robert II, when related to Elizabeth Mure, in the third and fourth forbidden degrees of affinity, and the fourth forbidden degree of consanguinity, lived for a long space in concubinage with her, during which ‘prolis utriusque sexus multitudinem procrearunf’ – during that unhallowed, and in law, incestuous connection; till at last, resolving to marry, but discovering the double relationship between them, which was a bar to their marriage at common (Ecclesiastical) law, they then obtained a dispensation from Clement VI, in 1347, for the purpose, in ordinary form. After which it is in proof, that they did marry under authority of the dispensation, – Robert founding in 1364, in compliance with an injunction there, a Chaplainry, in expiation of his former offence, which was, by received doctrine at the time, deemed an aggravated one.²

It has been argued that the children of Robert and Elizabeth were not only born outside of marriage, but also that their parents were related within the limited degrees, and therefore the relationship was incestuous without a papal dispensation. This, however, ignores the possibility that Robert and Elizabeth did go through a form of marriage in the 1330s, when Scotland was deeply involved in its war with England and, with David II sent to France for his safety and Robert was the senior representative of the Bruce family in Scotland. Moreover, it may have been thought prudent that Robert should marry sooner, rather than later, for dynastic considerations. With Edward Balliol unmarried and with no heir, the fact that the king’s heir was married with children was significant, a sign that the Bruce–Stewart dynasty was secure, at least.

That the marriage was not regularised until the war was over could be excused by the fact there were more urgent matters to attend to and the financial and legal obligations of obtaining a dispensation could wait. This would certainly explain the papacy’s willingness to regulate the marriage by issuing a retroactive dispensation. Alternatively, they may have only recently discovered a familial relationship within the prohibited degrees, and therefore applied for a dispensation. Elizabeth and Robert then underwent a second, formal, marriage ceremony in 1349.

Their first child, John, had been born in about 1337 and was created Earl of Carrick in 1369, the title held by his great-grandfather, Robert the Bruce, before he became king. He would ascend the throne as Robert III on his father’s death in 1390. Although the birth order could be slightly different, it seems likely that John was followed by a sister, Margaret, who was married to John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, as his second wife, for which a papal dispensation was issued on 14 June 1350. The couple were granted the island of Colowsay by Margaret’s father in a charter dated to July 1376. Three more sons followed, Walter, Robert and Alexander. Walter was married to Isabel, Countess of Fife, in April 1360 or 1361. He died sometime after 14 August 1362 but before the end of the year, as his widow married again, to Thomas Bisset of Upsetlington on 10 January 1363. She resigned the earldom of Fife to Walter’s brother, Robert Stewart, Earl of Menteith, on 30 March 1371.

Robert Stewart is identified as the ‘second born of the king’ in the Liber Pluscardensis. Robert was Earl of Menteith by right of his wife, Margaret Graham, a title she herself had inherited from her mother, Mary. Margaret had been married three times before; her first husband, Sir John Moray, was the son of Christian Bruce, King Robert I’s sister, by her last husband, Sir Andrew Murray. Robert was later created Duke of Albany and acted as regent during his brother’s reign.

The third son, Alexander, has a significant reputation as a cruel and rapacious character, earning him the nickname, the Wolf of Badenoch. He married Euphemia, Countess of Ross and was Earl of Ross in her name. Euphemia resigned her share of Buchan to the king, who regranted it to Alexander and Euphemia, in July 1382, so that they were Earl and Countess of Ross and Buchan. The marriage had its difficulties and Alexander left his wife, for ‘Mariota’s daughter Athyn’ but was ordered to return to her, in a charter dated 2 November 1389, by the Bishop of Moray and Ross. Apparently, the breach was irretrievable, as Pope Clement VII ‘issued a commission to dissolve her marriage’ on 9 June 1392, and in December 1392 Euphemia was granted a divorce ‘from bed and board’.³ Although Alexander had seven illegitimate children, he and Euphemia had remained childless.

Robert II and Elizabeth Mure also had four more daughters, although their order of birth is unknown. Marjory married John Dunbar, the son of Patrick Dunbar and Isabel Randolph of Moray. He was created Earl of Moray by his father-in-law in March 1372. Marjory’s second husband was Alexander Keith of Grandown.

Jean, or Joan, Stewart was married three times, firstly to John Keith, son of William de Keith, the Marischal, in January 1374. John died just fourteen months later. A year after that, in either June or October 1376, Jean married Sir John Lyon of Glamis. On 4 October 1376, King Robert II granted land, the thanedom of Tannadyce in Forfar, possibly a wedding gift, ‘to his dearest son John Lyon and Johanna his wife, the King’s beloved daughter’.⁴ The marriage was initially kept secret and only publicly acknowledged on 10 May 1378 when the king, with the consent of his surviving sons, ‘granted to the spouses letters of acknowledgement and remission for any clandestine marriage formerly contracted by them, in regard a marriage had been solemnly celebrated between them in face of the Church, in presence of the King and his sons and other friends and relatives.’⁵ Further grants followed, but Sir John was killed, apparently murdered by Sir James Lindsay on 4 November 1382. According to the Liber Pluscardensis, the deed was done at night when the ‘victim was in bed and unsuspecting’.⁶ Their only child was John’s son and successor, also called John Lyon. On 20 November 1384, Jean married for a third and final time, to Sir James Sandilands of Calder. Ahead of the marriage, Sir James was granted the baronies of Dalzell, Motherwell and Wiston, to be held by Sir James and Jean, the king’s daughter, ‘whom God willing he is about to take to wife’.⁷ The princess is last mentioned in 1404, as ‘Lady Johanna of Glammys’. She was buried beside her second husband, Sir John Lyon, at Scone Abbey.

Another daughter, Elizabeth Stewart, married Thomas Hay, Baron of Erroll and Constable of Scotland. A charter issued by King Robert II granted an annuity to ‘Thomas Hay and Elizabeth the king’s daughter, and the children born and to be born of them’ dated 7 September 1372, the day of their marriage.⁸

Isabel Stewart was married twice, firstly to James Douglas, son of William Douglas, Earl of Douglas, and his wife, Margaret, Countess of Mar. A papal dispensation was issued for the marriage in September 1371 and James succeeded his father as Earl Douglas in 1384. Sir James died in 1388 and sometime in the next two years, Isabel married John Edmonstone of Duntreath. Isabel most likely died before 22 July 1410, when accounts record payments to ‘John Edmonstone … for the reason that he was once married to the Countess of Douglas’.⁹

Through the marriages of his sons and daughters, Robert Stewart created a familial network that extended his influence over the greater part of central, western and north-eastern Scotland. He formed unions with eight of the country’s fifteen existing earldoms as well as gaining other lordships, royal castles and offices north of the Forth-Clyde line. However, the unusual nature of the marriage of Robert and Elizabeth would always leave a question mark hanging over the legitimacy of their children, an uncertainty that the children of Robert’s second marriage would highlight and try to exploit.

But it was Elizabeth’s eldest son, John, Earl of Carrick, who would succeed his father as King Robert III. Elizabeth herself, though married to David II’s heir, was never to become queen. She died sometime before 1355, possibly in childbirth as she would have been no more than in her late 30s, or perhaps from complications arising from having borne at least nine children, and possibly as many as thirteen. We have so little information about her that her place of burial is also unknown, though Paisley Abbey or Scone Abbey are possibilities. We only know that poor Elizabeth was dead by 1355 because 2 May of that year is the date of the papal dispensation for Robert Stewart’s second marriage, to Euphemia Ross.

Whatever the nature of their marriage, and the reason for the dispensation, it was not an arranged marriage for dynastic purposes. Robert and Elizabeth appear to have chosen each other. The number of children born, even during times of war, suggests that Robert and Elizabeth had a close and loving relationship. This did not, however, preclude Robert from marrying again, possibly only a short time after Elizabeth’s death. Walter Bower suggests that, although Robert’s relationship with Elizabeth Mure was earlier, the marriage only occurred after Queen Euphemia’s death:

It is noteworthy that the said King Robert fathered three sons by the Lady Elizabeth daughter of Sir Adam More, namely John who was later king, and Robert duke of Albany, and the said Alexander earl of Buchan, who was commonly called ‘The Wolf of Badenoch’. Later he married the Lady Euphemia daughter of Hugh earl of Ross, by whom he fathered Walter earl of Athol and lord of Brechin, and David earl of Strathearn. But on the death of Queen Euphemia he married the said Lady Elizabeth, and so by virtue of subsequent marriage, a second marriage ceremony, the said brothers John, Robert and Alexander were legitimated, for according to canon law a subsequent marriage legitimates sons born before the marriage.¹⁰

This timeline, of course, does not work, as the papal dispensation, legitimising the children, was issued in 1347 and there is every indication that Elizabeth was dead before 1355.

King Robert II died at Dundonald Castle on 19 April 1390 and was buried at Scone Abbey. He had spent almost his entire life as heir presumptive to the Scottish throne, always waiting on the sidelines. It is a sad fact of history that we have very little insight into the personalities and appearances of Robert’s wives. We do not know, for instance, what either wife thought of his various mistresses, nor his illegitimate children. They cannot have been happy about his philandering but may have accepted it, reluctantly. It was certainly not an unusual trait in the men of the family, as both Robert the Bruce and David II had had a string of mistresses.

Robert’s first wife, Elizabeth Mure, never got to wear the crown, though her influence, through her children, would set the tone for the Scottish royal house of Stewart into the next century.

We shall leave the story Robert’s second wife, Queen Euphemia, for another day.

Images: courtesy of Wikipedia

Notes:

1. John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation; 2. John Riddell, Stewartiana, containing the case of Robert II and Elizabeth Mure; 3. Sir James Balfour Paul, editor, The Scots Peerage, Vol. VII; 4. ibid, Vol VIII; 5. ibid; 6. ibid; 7. ibid; 8. Burnett (1880) Exchequer Rolls, Vol. IV; 9. ibid; 10. Bower, Scotichronicon, V 7.

Sources:

John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, edited by W. F. Skene; Walter Bower, Scotichronicon; John Riddell, Stewartiana, containing the case of Robert II and Elizabeth Mure; Sir James Balfour Paul, editor, The Scots Peerage; fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; Susan Abernethy, The Two Wives of Robert II, King of Scots – Elizabeth Mure and Euphemia Ross; G. Barrow, G. (1978), The Aftermath of War: Scotland and England in the late Thirteenth and early Fourteenth Centuries; Rosalind K. Marshall, Scottish Queens 1034–1714; Nigel Tranter, The Story of Scotland; Richard Oram, editor, The Kings and Queens of Scotland; David Ross, Scotland, History of a Nation; Liber pluscardensis, edited by Felix James Henry Skene.

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Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.

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Daughters of kings were often used to seal treaty alliances and forge peace with England’s enemies. Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Conquest explores the lives of these young women, how they followed the stereotype, and how they sometimes managed to escape it. It will look at the world they lived in, and how their lives and marriages were affected by political necessity and the events of the time. Princesses of the Early Middle Ages will also examine how these girls, who were often political pawns, were able to control their own lives and fates. Whilst they were expected to obey their parents in their marriage choices, several princesses were able to exert their own influence on these choices, with some outright refusing the husbands offered to them.

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Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org. Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken. It is now available in paperback and hardback from Pen & Sword, Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066. Available now from Amazon, Amberley Publishing, and Bookshop.org.

Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.

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The Early Years of the Last Earl Warenne

30/06/202130/06/2025Sharon Bennett Connolly6 Comments

John de Warenne, 7th and last Earl of Warenne and Surrey (Earl Warenne), was the only son of William de Warenne, who in turn was the only son of the colourful and rather legendary John de Warenne, 6th Earl Warenne. The 6th earl had been married in 1247 to Alice de Lusignan, half-sister of King Henry III as the second eldest daughter of Isabelle d’Angoulême, Queen of England as the wife of King John, and her second husband, Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche and Lord of Lusignan and Valence.

Born in around 1224, Alice was seven years older than her 16-year-old husband. The marriage had formed part of King Henry’s much-despised policy of patronising his Lusignan siblings and thus was condemned by Matthew Paris. Rather harshly, Paris claimed that the marriage was ‘beyond the bride’s station.’¹ Given that Alice was half-sister of the king of England, this assessment seems a tad unfair. For John’s son and grandson, it would provide them with powerful royal relations in the future; William de Warenne was a first cousin of Edward I and the younger John de Warenne was a second cousin to Edward II.

Alice de Lusignan, Countess of Warenne and Surrey, died on 9 February 1256, just hours or days after William’s birth. She was ‘placed in the earth before the great altar [Lewes priory] in the presence of her brother Adelmar [Aymer], [bishop] elect of Winchester.’² Despite being one of the wealthiest and most powerful earls in the country, and with only one legitimate son to succeed him, John de Warenne would never remarry, perhaps an indication of the deep affection that he held for his semi-royal wife.

In his late twenties, William de Warenne was married to Joan, daughter of Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford, sometime in 1284: ‘Also William de Warenne married the daughter of the Earl of Oxford.’³ Through his mother, William was the nephew of Henry III and first cousin to Edward I. Through his father, William was descended from, among others, William Marshal, Geoffrey of Anjou and six Warenne earls of Surrey. However, William was destined never to succeed to the expansive earldom of Surrey. He was killed in a tournament at Croydon in December 1286, just six months after the birth of his only son and heir, John. The Annals of Lewes Priory recorded the events of 1286:

This year, on June 30, was born the first-begotten son of Sir William de Warenn, by his wife, daughter of the Earl of Oxford, whom he had married, as appears above. He was baptised and called by the name of John, on the 7th of November, with immense rejoicing; but alas! As the prophet testifies, ‘our joys are extinguished, but lamentation possesses us;’ for in the same year, on the first Sunday before the feast of Thomas the Apostle, which was on December 15, the father of the aforesaid youth [Sir William, killed in a tournament at Croydon], concerning whom our gladness had been, expired, and, oh sadness! He in whom flourished entire nobility, generosity and honesty, and the beginning of the glory of all knighthood, now lies buried and covered with stones. But there was present at the entombment of this so noble a man, the lord of Canterbury, who buried him before the high altar, on the left side, near his mother, with the greatest devotion of respect, as was fitting, many nobles of the land being present. The earl marshal [Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk], the Earl of Oxford and several barons … were anxiously afflicted.⁴

Some sources suggest that John was the posthumous son of William, stating that William was killed in January 1286; however, this entry in the Annals of Lewes Priory makes it clear that John was born almost six months before his father was killed. John’s sister, Alice, on the other hand, may well have been born the year after her father’s death, in June 1287; hence John being referred to as the ‘first-begotten son’ despite being the only son. Joan was pregnant with Alice and no one yet knew if the child would be a boy or a girl.

Given the chronicle was written by a monk at Lewes, a priory patronised by the Warenne family, the laments and praise of William may be slightly exaggerated. However, that the archbishop of Canterbury conducted the funeral rites, and the presence of many senior nobles, suggests that William was, indeed, well thought of. This fact may give the lie to the rumours of murder that inevitably accompany a medieval death from unnatural causes. Rumours that William’s enemies had taken the opportunity of the tournament to despatch the young lord appear to be without foundation.

Young John suffered a further bereavement on 1293, when his mother, Joan died. Aged only 7, it seems arrangements had already been made should John still be a minor when his parents died. It had been agreed that the custody of John and his lands should go to Joan’s parents, Robert de Vere and his wife, Alice de Sanford. However, Earl Robert died in 1296 and it is not known where 10-year-old John spent the remainder of his childhood. It seems likely that John was raised by his Warenne grandfather, until the 6th Earl’s death in 1304.

At the age of 18, John succeeded to the earldom of his grandfather as the 7th earl of Warenne, Surrey and Sussex. His vast holdings comprised of lands and manors in numerous counties, including Sussex, Surrey, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Norfolk. John, Earl Warenne, was still a minor and would be for another three years; as a consequence, he was made a royal ward, his lands taken into the custody of the Crown. Although he and his lands were in royal custody, and managed by custodians, John lived on his own estates and in 1305 the king commanded John to provide him with forty dried and salted barrels of deer.⁵ In the same year, he was sent to attend a tournament at Guildford, part of John’s estates, by Edward I, who provided the young lord with considerable funds for his maintenance.⁶

On 7 April 1306, in spite of the fact he had not yet performed homage to the king, still only 19 years old, Edward granted John his grandfather’s lands. It may well have been at this time that Edward Balliol was placed in John’s custody. The son of John’s aunt, Isabella, and King John Balliol of Scotland, the younger Balliol had been in the custody of his grandfather, the sixth Earl Warenne, from 1299 until the old earl’s death in 1304.

Given that it is likely his mother was no longer living when John Balliol became king in 1292, and that the couple had been married sometime before 7th February 1281, it seems probable that Edward was born sometime in the 1280s, making him of a similar age to his cousin, John de Warenne. Indeed, the two young men may well have spent their teenage years together in their grandfather’s household, training for knighthood. John was Balliol’s guardian for about 4 years, until it was ordered that he be delivered into royal custody in 1310, by Edward II. Edward Balliol had a strong claim to the Scottish throne, one that he would later be encouraged to pursue by Edward III in the 1330s. In May 1306, John de Warenne attended his first parliament at Westminster, an event which marked his coming of age, although he was not yet 21; in fact, he was still a month shy of his twentieth birthday.

John’s early coming of age appears to have been a part of larger scheme by King Edward, as during the parliamentary session, John was brought before the king and offered Edward’s granddaughter in marriage; the young earl readily agreed to the marriage, even though his bride was only 10 years old. The proposed bride was Joan, or Jeanne of Bar, Edward’s granddaughter by his eldest daughter, Eleanor and her husband Henry, Count of Bar. In the week following the betrothal of John and Joan, and in anticipation of a new expedition against Scotland, on 22 May 1306, Edward I held a magnificent ceremony for the knighting of his eldest son, Edward; the king knighted the prince, who then went on to knight the other candidates, in the glorious setting of Westminster Abbey.

In anticipation of the prince’s knighting, and in order to gather a body of knights who would be loyal to his son, the king proclaimed that all young men of sufficient age and income should travel to Westminster, to be knighted at royal expense alongside their future king, Prince Edward. The ceremony was also to bestow knighthoods on almost 300 men, John de Warenne included: ‘The yong Erle of Warenne with grete nobley was thare / A wif thei him bikenne, the erles douhter of Bare.’⁷

There were so many young men to be knighted, that it was impossible to find accommodation for all, and apple trees had to be chopped down in the gardens of the New Temple to make room. The prince and his closest companions kept their vigil, the night before the ceremony, watching their arms, in the abbey church at Westminster. Matthew of Westminster records that:

there was such a noise of trumpets and pipes, and such a clamour of voices, that one side of the choir could not hear the other. The others kept their vigil at the New Temple. The King provided them the necessary scarlet cloths, fine linen and belts for their use from his own wardrobe. ⁸

The following morning, the king knighted his son in the palace of Westminster, investing him with his knight’s belt and spurs. The prince then crossed to Westminster Abbey, to invest the others; ‘The crowd was enormous, so great indeed, that two knights were killed. Each candidate was attended by three knights, who saw and assisted him through the ceremony.’⁹ The prince knighted sixty of the candidates himself, with other knights assisting with the rest. A lavish banquet – which later became known as the Feast of the Swans – followed the proceedings:

when two swans were brought in ornamented with gold network, emblematical of constancy and truth. When they were placed upon the table the King rose and made a vow to God and to the swans, that he would set out for Scotland and avenge the death of Comyn, and punish the treachery of the Scots … It was under these exceptionally interesting circumstances that Warenne received his knighthood.¹⁰

The murder of John Comyn, at the hands of Robert the Bruce in the church of the Greyfriars in Dumfries, on 10 February 1306, following an argument, had sent shockwaves through Christendom. Bruce had then raced to Scone where he was crowned King Robert I of Scots. As the celebrations continued a number of weddings also took place, involving several barons and nobles. John’s sister, Alice, married Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel. Edmund had been a ward of John’s grandfather. The two young men were very close in age and were political allies and friends.

John de Warenne and Joan of Bar were married on 25 May, ‘before an altar spread with glittering cloths-of-gold.’¹¹ Barely 10 years old, Joan was escorted to the palace at Westminster with great pomp and she and John were married in the presence of the ageing king. The Wardrobe Accounts bear witness to the extravagance of the ceremony and celebrations:

‘1306. May 25. In money lent and dispersed in the presence of the King, at the nuptials celebrated in the King’s chapel at Westminster, between John, Earl de Warenne, and the Lady Joanna, daughter of the Count de Barr, xls [40s].’ Other money was paid out ‘for diverse minstrels’, and ‘for letting fly the king’s gyrfalcon.’ More extravagance was expended to Thomas the coachbuilder, ‘advanced on making a chariot for the Earl de Warenne, June 28, lxs [60s],’ and to Walter de Bardeney, ‘advanced on harness being made for the said Earl, on the same day, cs [100s].’ While Walter de Bedewynde was commissioned ‘for a new carriage for the use of the Countess de Warenne, by order of the Treasurer.’¹²

The marriage would prove to be a disaster, with John spending most of his adult life trying to obtain a divorce from Joan in order to marry his mistress, Maud de Nerford, and thus legitimise his children by her. Although the relationship with Maud eventually broke down, possibly due to the considerable pressure they couple must have been under with the almost-constant court cases, John was still trying to obtain a divorce from Joan to his dying day. In his latter years, in a last desperate attempt to produce a legitimate heir, he hoped to marry his mistress at that time, Isabella Holland, who his described as ‘ma compaigne’ in his will.¹³

John de Warenne, seventh and last Earl of Warenne, Surrey, Sussex and Strathearn died at Conisbrough Castle between 28 and 30 June 1347, possibly even on his sixty-first birthday (30 June). He asked to be buried at St Pancras Priory, Lewes, in an arch near the high altar. His will, dated 24 June 1347, left various gifts to his illegitimate children and to Isabella, to whom he left plate, jewels, cows, horses and other beasts, ‘and after that my debts and devises be made, I give to my said “compaigne” all the residue of all my goods and chattels, and whatsoever things they find.’¹⁴ To Joan, his wife of forty years, he left nothing.

Footnotes:

1. Scott L. Waugh, ‘Warenne, John de, seventh earl of Surrey earl of Surrey and Sussex, Earl Warenne’, ODNB; 2. ‘Annals written by a certain monk of Lewes, from the birth of Christ to the year 1312’ quoted in Blaauw, On the Early History of Lewes Priory; 3. ibid; 4. ibid; 5. Scott L. Waugh, ‘Warenne, John de, seventh earl of Surrey earl of Surrey and Sussex, Earl Warenne’, ODNB; 6. ibid; 7. F. Royston Fairbank, ‘The Last Earl of Warenne and Surrey, and the Distribution of his Possessions’, The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. XIX; 8. ibid; 9. ibid; 10. ibid; 11. Kelcey Wilson-Lee, Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of Edward I; 12. Wardrobe Accounts quoted in F. Royston Fairbank, ‘The Last Earl of Warenne and Surrey, and the Distribution of his Possessions’, The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. XIX; 13. Katheryn Warner, Philippa of Hainault: Mother of the English Nation; 14. Calendar of Papal Registers, Papal Letters quoted in F. Royston Fairbank, ‘The Last Earl of Warenne and Surrey, and the Distribution of his Possessions’, The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. XIX

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