Gundred married before 1070[9]William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey (d. 20 June 1088),[1] who rebuilt Lewes Castle, making it his chief residence. Sometime between 1078 and 1082,[10] Gundred and her husband set out for Rome, visiting monasteries along the way. In Burgundy they were unable to go any farther due to a war between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. They visited Cluny Abbey and were impressed with the monks and their dedication. William and Gundred decided to found a Cluniac priory on their own lands in England. They sent to Hugh, the abbot of Cluny, for monks to come to England at their monastery. Hugh was reluctant yet eventually sent several monks, including Lazlo, who became the first abbot. The house they founded was Lewes Priory, dedicated to St Pancras.[11][12] Gundred died in childbirth on 27 May 1085 at Castle Acre, Norfolk, one of her husband's estates, and was buried at the chapter house of Lewes Priory.[1][12] He was later buried beside her.[13]
Two leaden cists containing the remains of Gundred and her husband; chalk lithograph by F. W. Woledge after a drawing by R. H. Nibbs, 1845
In the course of the centuries which followed, both tombstones disappeared from the priory. In 1774 Edward Clarke discovered Gundred's in Isfield Church (seven miles from Lewes), over the remains of Edward Shirley, Esq., who died in 1550. William Burrell had it removed on 2 October 1775 to St John's Church, Southover, where it was placed on display.[14][15]
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 and were deposited temporarily beneath Gundred's tombstone.[14] In 1847 a Norman Revival chapel was erected by public subscription, adjoining the present vestry and chancel. Before the remains were reinterred 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 Tournai marble.[16]
The children of William de Warenne and Gundred were:
Reginald de Warenne, an adherent of Robert of Normandy.[2][13]
Edith de Warenne, married first Gerard de Gournay, Lord of Gournay-en-Bray[18] and second Drew de Monchy.[2][13]
Claims based in part on the non-contemporary Lewes Priory cartulary[lower-alpha 1] suggested Gundred was a daughter of William the Conqueror by his spouse Matilda of Flanders,[19] but this is not accepted by most modern historians.[20][21] The early-19th-century writer Thomas Stapleton had argued she was a daughter of Matilda born prior to her marriage to Duke William.[22] This theory sparked a debate consisting of a series of published papers. It culminated with those of Edmond Chester Waters and Edward Augustus Freeman, who argued the theories could not be supported.[23][24][lower-alpha 2] Nonetheless, this purported relationship between Gundred and the Conqueror continues to appear,[25][26] despite being dismissed by modern scholars.
The Lewes priory cartulary was compiled centuries after the time of the purported foundation documents copied within, and these documents are thought to have been altered or forged to provide desirable royal parentage for the priory's patron family. For more information on these charters see: English Historical Documents 1042-1189, ed. David C. Douglas, George W. Greenaway, Vol. II (Oxford University Press, New York, 1953), p. 605; L.C. Loyd, 'The Origin of the Family of Warenne' ‘’Yorks Archaeol. Journal’’, vol. xxxi, pp. 97-113; and C. T. Clay, ‘'Early Yorkshire Charters’’, vol. VIII (1949), pp. 59.-62.
For an extensive discussion regarding the participants in this nineteenth-century debate see: Victoria Chandler, 'Gundrada de Warenne and the Victorian Gentlemen-Scholars', Southern History, Vol. 12 (1990), pp. 68-81
Early Yorkshire Charters, ed: William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Volume VIII - The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949), pp. 40-46
Elisabeth van Houts, 'Epitaph of Gundrada of Warenne', Nova de Veteribus, Mitel-und neulateinische Studien fur Paul Gerhard Schmidt (K.G. Saur, Munchen Leipzig, 2004), p. 372
Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, Translated by Thomas Forester, Vol. ii, (Henry G. Bohn, London, MDCCCLIV (1854), p. 49
Hyde Abbey, Liber Monasterii de Hyda: Comprising a Chronicle of the affairs of England, (Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, London, 1866), Introduction, p. xcvii. Note: the anonymous Hyde chronicler identified two of Gundred's brothers, Gerbod, Earl of Chester and Frederick.
Elisabeth van Houts, 'The Warenne View of the Past 1066-1203)', Anglo-Norman Studies XXIV, Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2003, Vol. 26 (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2004), p. 104 & n. 8
Early Yorkshire Charters, ed: William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Volume VIII - The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949), p. 4
B. Golding, 'The Coming of the Cluniacs', Anglo-Norman Studies III; Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1980, Vol. iii (Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1981), pp. 65, 67
Early Yorkshire Charters, ed: William Farrer, Charles Travis Clay, Volume VIII - The Honour of Warenne (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949), pp. 50-55
Elisabeth van Houts, 'Epitaph of Gundrada of Warenne', Nova de Veteribus, Mitel-und neulateinische Studien fur Paul Gerhard Schmidt (K.G. Saur, Munchen Leipzig, 2004), p. 367
Elisabeth van Houts, 'Epitaph of Gundrada of Warenne', Nova de Veteribus, Mitel-und neulateinische Studien fur Paul Gerhard Schmidt (K.G. Saur, Munchen Leipzig, 2004), pp. 366,368-9
George Floyd Duckett, 'Observations on the Parentage of Gundreda, Countess of Warenne', The Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, Vol. ix, Part xxxiii, 1885, pp. 421-437 Note: Sir George Duckett, Bart., was the leading proponent of the theory that Gundred was the daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda
Stapleton, Thomas, 'Observations in disproof of the pretended marriage of William de Warren, Earl of Surrey, with a daughter begotten of Matildis, daughter of Baldwin, Comte of Flanders, by William the Conqueror, and illustrative of the origin and early history of the family in Normandy', The Archaeological Journal 3 (1846):1-26 Note: despite the confusing title Stapleton's theory was that Gundred was a daughter of Matilda of Flanders by an earlier marriage.
Weis, Frederick Lewis, The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215, ed: Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., William R. Beall, 5th Edition (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1999), Line 158-1