Gundrada was born in the mid-eleventh century, and her family history has been a topic of much historical debate. In the nineteenth century, it was claimed that she was the daughter of William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda of Flanders. It was also posited that she could be a daughter of Matilda from a previous marriage. It has since been established that these were myths based on a misunderstanding of the evidence, and that she was actually from a Flemish noble family, the daughter of Gerbod, the hereditary advocate of the monastery of St Bertin - a member of the nobility who looked after the secular interests of the abbey.
Though she was not the daughter of William and Matilda, Gundrada and the queen did apparently have a close relationship, with Matilda granting her the manor of Carlton in Cambridgeshire, perhaps as a wedding gift. It has been suggested that Gundrada could have been a lady in waiting to Matilda, and she may have spent time at her family’s court in Flanders and was possibly even her kinswoman.
Around the time that William the Conqueror defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when she was around seventeen years old, Gundrada married the Norman baron William de Warenne. William benefitted from the Norman Conquest, receiving royal estates in Sussex from the new king. However, according to the Domesday book, Gundrada and her brother Frederic already held estates in Sussex before the Norman Conquest. It is not known how the children of a Flemish noble came to own land in England, but there were certainly political ties between England and Flanders before the conquest: the court of Flanders is where Queen Emma of Normandy, mother of Edward the Confessor, fled after the death of King Cnut. Frederic was murdered in 1070 during the rebellion of Hereward the Wake, an English noble who rebelled against the Normans. Frederic’s estates, worth over £100 per year, were inherited by Gundrada.
With the estates confiscated from Harold Godwinson and given to William de Warenne, as well as the land inherited from Frederic, Gundrada and William now owned large parts of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and south Cambridgeshire. He remained in favour with William the Conqueror and continued to be given estates, and ended up with land in eleven English counties. The couple soon rebuilt a pre-conquest castle at Lewes in Sussex, making it their main residence, and they also had a stone manor house built at the centre of their estates in Castle Acre. The masons for this building may have been brought from the continent, since stone buildings were not common in England at this time. In 1077 the noble couple founded a Cluniac monastery at Lewes, on the land granted to Gundrada by Queen Matilda. The foundation charter of this abbey was co-signed by King William, Queen Matilda, William de Warenne and Gundrada. They went on to construct a sister-house at Castle Acre.
Gundrada’s decision to build Cluniac monasteries was due to her older brother, Gerbod. Gerbod accidentally killed his liege lord, Arnulf III, in battle in Flanders. He fled to Rome and then to Cluny, where he became a monk. Gundrada and William travelled to Cluny and apparently made an agreement with the Abbot that in repayment for her brother’s misdeed, the noble couple would establish religious houses.
Gundrada and William had at least two sons, including William II de Warenne (d. 1138). Gundrada died during childbirth at Castle Acre on the 27th May 1085, and was buried in the chapter house of Lewes Priory. Having inherited his wife’s lands, William was the fourth richest tenant-in-chief in England. After remarrying for a short time, he died in 1088 and was buried with his first wife at Lewes.
Tochter des Vogts Gerbod v.St.Bertin. Kann nach Freeman keine Tochter Williams und Mathildes gewesen sein, weil der Bischof von Canterbury vor einer Ehe einer Tochter Henry's I. mit dem Sohn William II. de Gundred, a lady with disputed parentage since many scholars disbelieve she was the daughter of the Conqueror. Some contend she was the Duke's daughter as proven by her tombstone at St. John's Church, Southover, Lewes: "Within this Pew stands the tombstone of Gundrad, daughter of William the Conqueror, and wife of William, the First Earl of Warren, which having been deposited over her remains in the Chapter-House of Lewes Priory and lately discovered in Iffield Church, was removed to this place at the expense of William Burrell Esq. in 1775 A.D, she was a sister of Gerbod the Fleming, Earl of Chester
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1 november 2023
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https://ngv-stambomen.nl/gdp/index.php/pers/get/5-5616
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