| Notes |
William De Warenne personal prowess no special anecdote has been preser v e d , a n d it is as the husband of the mysterious Gundred, or Gundrada , t h a t h i s n ame has descended to the present day with any special interest a t t a c h ed to it. Whether the hand of this lady was bestowed upon him prev i o u s l y to his services at Senlac, or as a part of his reward for them, d o e s n o t a ppear, and our ignorance of the date of their marriage has bee n t h e p r i ncipal obstacle in the way of those who have so hotly disputed h e r r e l a tionship to William the Conqueror, for could we even arrive at a n a p p r oximate date it might enable us to calculate her probable age at t h a t p e r iod, and whether she was born before or after 1053, on which fac t d e p e n ds the whole question. That they were married before 1078 is cer ta i n , a s i n that year they founded the Priory of Lewes in Sussex, and w e h a v e t h e charters of King William, which he granted to that establish me n t f o r t he health of the souls of his lord and ancestor, King Edward, o f h i s f a t her Count Robert, of his own soul and that of his wife, Queen M a t i l d a,and of all their children and successors, and for the souls of W i l l i a m de Warren and his wife Gundrada, his (William's) daughter and th e i r h e i rs. The words "my daughter" would be decisive of her being the a c k n o w ledged child of the King; but independently of their being scarcel y l e g i b le, it is contended that they are in a different and later hand; a n d t h e r e is this to be observed, which I do not remember having seen no t i c e d , that the King has just previously used the expression "our child r e n a n d s uccessors" (filiorum atquesuccesso rum nostror um"), so that h i s p a r t icula rising Gundrada as "mydaughter " would imply that she was n o t b y h i s w ife Matilda. Exactly in opposition to this is the declaratio n o f W i l l iam de Warren himself, in whose charter to the priory, granted a f t e r t h e death of Gundred in childbirth (6 kalends of June, 1085), he s t a t e s h is donations to be for the salvation of the souls, amongst other s , o f h i s l ady Queen Matilda, mother of his wife excluding in turn King W i l l i a m from any share in her parentage.
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Abt 1063 - 1085 (22 years)