Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey ( 1130 – 7 May 1202) (alias Hamelin of Anjou and, anachronistically, Hamelin Plantagenet), was an Anglo-Angevin nobleman, being an elder half-brother of the first Plantagenet English monarch King Henry II.
Origins
Hamelin was an illegitimate son of count Geoffrey of Anjou. He was thus a half-brother of King Henry II of England, and an uncle to both King Richard I and King John.
Marriage and children
King Henry II arranged for him to marry Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey, the widow of William of Blois, following which he was recognised as Comte de Warenne (that being the customary designation for what more technically should be Earl of Surrey) and adopted the surname de Warenne, as did his descendants. By his wife he had one son and three daughters, as follows:
- William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey, only son and heir, who married Maud Marshal, daughter of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
- Adela de Warenne, who married firstly Robert de Newburgh and, secondly William FitzWilliam of Sprotborough. King John, and by him was the mother of Richard FitzRoy, feudal baron of Chilham, in Kent.
- Maud de Warenne (alias Matilda), who married, firstly, Henry II, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings, secondly, Henry d'Estouteville, Seigneur de Valmont. During Richard's absence on the Third Crusade, he took the side of the regent William Longchamp. Hamelin was present at the second coronation of King Richard in 1194 and at King John's coronation in 1199.
Death and succession
He died in 1202 and was buried in the chapter house of Lewes Priory in Sussex. He was succeeded by his son William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey.