Warenne

The de Warennes took their name from Varenne in Normandy and came to England with the Conquest. William de Warenne, a kinsman of William the Conqueror, fought at Hastings in 1066 and was created Earl of Surrey in 1088. When the direct male line failed in the twelfth century, its heiress Isabel married Hamelin, an illegitimate half-brother of Henry II, whose children took the Warenne name.

John de Warenne, the sixth earl, was a commander in the Scottish wars, and his daughter Isabel married King John Balliol of Scotland. The seventh and last earl, John, helped capture Piers Gaveston and campaigned in Scotland as guardian of Edward Balliol, who named him Earl of Strathearn in name only.

He died without legitimate issue in 1347. The Warenne inheritance passed through his sister Alice to her son Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel.