Gundred

- 1085

• Name	Gundred   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Died	27 May 1085	Castle Acre, Norfolk, England   [2]
  Buried	Southover, Sussex, England   [3]
  Notes	Gundred or Gundreda (Latin: Gundrada) (Normandy?, ca. 1048/1063 - Castle Acre, Norfolk, 27 May 1085) was probably born in Flanders, sister of Gerbod the Fleming, 1st Earl of Chester. She is explicitly so called by Orderic Vitalis, as well as the chronicle of Hyde Abbey. Late Lewes Priory tradition made her daughter of William the Conqueror by his spouse Matilda of Flanders, but this is not accepted by modern historians. The early 19th-century writer Thomas Stapleton argued that she was a daughter of Matilda, born prior to her marriage to William. Edmond Chester Waters and Edward Augustus Freeman showed that this too could not be supported though some genealogical sources continue to make the assertion that she was William's daughter. Gundred married in Normandy before 1070 or in 1077 William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey (d. 20 June 1088), who rebuilt Lewes Castle, making it his chief residence. In 1078 he and Gundred founded a Cluniac Priory at Southover, adjoining Lewes, where both were buried. She died in childbirth at Castle Acre, Norfolk, one of her husband's estates, and was buried beside him at the Chapterhouse of Lewes Priory. In the course of the centuries which followed both tombstones disappeared from the priory but in 1774 William Burrell, Esq., an antiquary, discovered Gundred's in Isfield Church (seven miles from Lewes), over the remains of Edward Shirley, Esq., (d. 1550), whose father John was Clerk of the Kitchen to King Henry VII, and had it removed on October 2, 1775, to St. John's Church, Southover, the nearest place to its original site, and placed inside and at the south-west corner of the church, where, until 1847, it could be seen on the floor between pews with a very fine inscription detailing its origins etc. In 1845, during excavations through the Priory grounds for the Brighton Lewes and Hastings Railway, the lead chests containing the remains of the Earl and his Countess were discovered. They were deposited temporarily beneath Gundred's tombstone. In 1847 a Norman Revival chapel was erected by public subscription, adjoining the present vestry and chancel. Prior to re-interring the remains in this chapel, both chests were opened to ascertain if there were any contents, which was found to be the case. New chests were made and used, and the ancient ones preserved and placed in two recessed arches in the southern wall. The Earl's chest has lost some lead. Gundred's chest remains in a good state of preservation. Across the upper part of the right arch is the name Gvndrada. Her tombstone is of black marble. The children of William de Warenne and Gundred were: William II de Warenne (d. 11 May 1138), buried in Lewes Priory. Reginald de Warenne, an adherent of Robert of Normandy. Edith de Warenne, married, firstly, Gerard, Baron de Gournay
  Person ID	I4089	Bosdet Genealogy
  Last Modified	16 May 2013

  
  

  Family	William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey I,   d. 24 Jun 1088, Lewes, Sussex, England
  Married	Abt 1077	Normandy, France   [3]
  Children	1. Edith de Warenne   2. William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey II,   d. Abt 11 May 1138
  Family ID	F1165	Group Sheet

  
  

• Sources

  [S221] Magna Charta Sureties 1215: The Barons Named in the Magna Charta and Some of Their Descendants. 4th Ed, Weis, Frederick L, (Name: Gen Pub Co; Location: Baltimore; Date: 1991;). [S179] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed, G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, (Name: Alan Sutton Publishing; Location: Gloucester, U.K.; Date: 2000;). [S174] Wikipedia.