| History |
Elisabeth was born about 1081, the third daughter of Hugues I Magnus, a younger brother of King Philippe I of France, and Adelaide, comtesse de Vermandois et de Valois. Through her parentage she represented both the Capetian line of her paternal grandfather Henri I, king of France, and the Carolingian ancestry of her maternal grandfather Heribert IV, comte de Vermandois et de Valois.
In 1096, while under age, Elisabeth was married to Robert I de Beaumont, 1st earl of Leicester, comte de Meulan, son of Roger \'Barbatus\' de Beaumont, sire de Beaumont et de Pont-Audemer, and Adeline de Meulan. Robert was over 35 years her senior, which was an unusual age difference even for this time period. He was a nobleman of some significance in France, having inherited lands from his maternal uncle Henri, comte de Meulan, and he had fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 under the command of his distant kinsman William the Conqueror. For this service he was awarded English lands in addition to those in Meulan and Normandy he had inherited. However, at the time of the marriage he held no earldom in England while his younger brother was already styled Henry de Beaumont, 1st earl of Warwick. Robert was a respected advisor to William II Rufus of England, Robert II Curthose of Normandy and Philippe I of France.
According to Middle Ages custom, brides were often betrothed young - 8 being the legal age for betrothal and 12 for marriage (for women). The young betrothed wife would often go to her husband\'s castle to be raised by his parents or other relatives and to learn the customs and ways of her husband\'s family. The actual wedding would not take place until much later. Some genealogists speculate that the usual age at which a noble bride could expect the marriage to be consummated would be 14.
The marriage produced six daughters and three sons including twin sons (born in 1104) who both became important noblemen and both had progeny. These men, known to historians of this period as the Beaumont twins, were Galeran IV and his younger twin Robert II \'Le Bossu\' (the Humpback). Of the daughters, Elisabeth or Isabel became one of the youngest mistresses of Henry I of England and later the mother (by her first marriage) of Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, 2nd earl of Pembroke \'Strongbow\'.
William II Rufus of England died suddenly in a purported hunting accident, and was hastily succeeded not by the expected heir but by the youngest brother Henry. This seizure of the throne led to an abortive invasion by his older brother Robert II Curthose, duke of Normandy, followed by an uneasy truce between the brothers. The reprieve was only temporary, and there was unrest in both England and Normandy for some time (stirred up by Duke Robert, and by an exiled nobleman Robert de Bellême, 3rd earl of Shropshire and of Shrewsbury). Finally, Henry invaded Normandy, and in the Battle of Tinchebray on 28 September 1106 he destroyed organised opposition to his takeover of Normandy and imprisoned his ineffectual older brother for his lifetime. Robert de Beaumont and his brother Henry, earl of Warwick, were apparently supporters of King Henry during the entire period, and Robert was rewarded with the earldom of Leicester in 1103. By 1107 Robert was in possession of substantial lands in three domains. In 1111 he was able to take revenge for the attack on his seat Meulan by Louis VI of France by harrying Paris.
Elisabeth apparently tired of her aging husband at some point during the marriage. James Robinson Planché (1796-1880), the English dramatist, antiquary and authority on heraldry, wrote that Elisabeth was seduced by or fell in love with the younger William de Warenne, himself the thwarted suitor of Matilda/Edith of Scotland, dowager queen of Henry I of England. Warenne was said to want a royal bride, and Elisabeth fitted his requirements, even though she was also another man\'s wife.
In 1115 Elisabeth was apparently carried off or abducted by Warenne, which abduction apparently concealed a long-standing affaire. There was some kind of separation or divorce between Robert and his wife, which however did not permit her to marry her lover. The elderly Robert died, supposedly of chagrin and mortification in being thus publicly humiliated, in the abbey of Preaux, Normandy on 5 June 1118, leaving his properties to his two elder sons whom he had carefully educated.
Sometime after the death of her first husband, Elisabeth married William de Warenne. He was 2nd earl of Surrey, 2nd earl of Warenne, son of William de Warenne, 1st earl of Surrey, 1st earl of Warenne, and his wife Gundred. By him, it is alleged, she had several children (all born during her marriage to Robert). She also had at least one daughter born while she was living out of wedlock with Warenne (1115-1118). It is unclear whether this daughter was Ada, who would marry Henry, earl of Huntingdon, earl of Northumberland, or Gundred who would marry Robert de Beaumont, 2nd earl of Warwick (her half-brother\'s first cousin). The siblings Ada, Gundred, Reginald and William would all have progeny.
The later life of Elisabeth is not known. Her sons by her first husband appear to have had a good relationship with their half-brother William de Warenne, 3rd earl of Surrey, although on opposing sides for much of the wars between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. Her eldest son Galeran IV, comte de Meulan-sur-Seine, 1st earl of Worcester, was active in supporting the disinherited heir William Clito of Normandy, count of Flanders, son of Robert II Curthose, until Galeran was captured by King Henry. He was not released until Clito\'s death without issue in 1128. Her second son Robert inherited his father\'s English estates and the earldom of Leicester and married the heiress of the Fitzosbern counts of Breteuil. Her daughter Isabel however became king\'s concubine or mistress at a young age; it is unclear whether her mother\'s own life or her eldest brother\'s political and personal travails in this period played any part in this decision. Before her mother died, Isabel had become wife of Gilbert de Clare, later (1147) earl of Pembroke, so had adopted a more conventional life like her mother. [1] |
| History |
Family[edit]
By her first husband, Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, (d 5 June 1118), Elizabeth had three sons (including twin elder sons) and five or six daughters:[14]
Lady Emma de Beaumont (born 1102),[10] 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.[15]
Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (born 1104), married and left issue.[14]
Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester (born 1104), married and left issue.[14]
Hugh de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Bedford (born c. 1106), lost his earldom, left issue.[14]
Lady Adeline de Beaumont (b ca 1107), married firstly, Hugh IV, 4th Lord of Montfort-sur-Risle, and secondly, Richard de Granville of Bideford (d. 1147).[14]
Lady Aubree (or Alberee) de Beaumont (b ca 1109), married Hugh II of Châteauneuf-en-Thimerais.[14]
Lady Maud de Beaumont (b ca 1111), married William Lovel.[14]
Lady Isabel de Beaumont (b Aft. 1102), a mistress of King Henry I of England.[16] She first married Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke,[14] and later married Hervé de Montmorency, Constable of Ireland.[17]
By her second husband, William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, Elizabeth had three sons and two daughters:[18]
William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey[18]
Ralph de Warenne[18]
Reginald de Warenne, who inherited his father\'s property in upper Normandy, including the castles of Bellencombre and Mortemer.[19] He married Alice de Wormegay, daughter of William de Wormegay, Lord of Wormegay in Norfolk, by whom he had a son, William de Warenne (founder of the priory of Wormegay).[19]
Lady Gundred (Gundrada) de Warenne, who married fristly, Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick and had issue, and secondly, William de Lancaster and had issue.[18]
Lady Ada de Warenne (d. ca. 1178), who married Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, younger son of King David I of Scotland, and had issue.[20] She is known as the \"Queen mother of Scotland\" for her two sons, Malcolm IV, King of Scotland and William I \'the Lion\', King of Scotland, as well as being the ancestor of numerous Scottish kings.[21] [2] |
Ellie Wood Keith Genealogy
1081 - Abt 1131 (~ 50 years)
(Age 44 years) 
