Alice de Lusignan | |
Countess of Surrey | |
Issue: | Eleanor de Warenne Isabella de Warenne William de Warenne |
Noble Family: | Lusignan |
Father: | Hugh X de Lusignan, "le Brun", Seigneur de Lusignan, Count of La Marche |
Mother: | Isabella of Angoulême |
Birth Date: | 1224 |
Birth Place: | Lusignan, France |
Death Date: | 9 February 1256 (aged 32) |
Death Place: | Warren, Sussex, England |
Alice de Lusignan, Countess of Surrey (1224 – 9 February 1256) was a uterine half-sister of King Henry III of England and the wife of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey. Shortly after her arrival in England from France in 1247, her half-brother arranged her marriage to the Earl, which incurred some resentment from the English nobility.[1]
Alice was the second-eldest daughter of Hugh X of Lusignan ("le Brun"), Seigneur de Lusignan and Count of La Marche, and Isabella of Angoulême, queen dowager of England. She was born in Lusignan, Poitou, France in 1224, and was a member of the House of Lusignan.
She had five full brothers and three full sisters, besides her royal half-siblings from her mother's first marriage.
In 1247, a year after her mother's death, Alice accompanied the new papal legate William of Modena, the Cardinal-bishop of Sabina, to England, which she had decided to make her home, and live at the expense of the Crown.[2] In August of that year, her half-brother, King Henry married her to John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey (August 1231 – 29 September 1304). The marriage caused some resentment amongst the English nobility, as they considered the king's Lusignan siblings to be parasites and a liability to the kingdom. Many prestigious honours and titles were granted to the Lusignans.[3] Alice was also said to have been disdainful of all things English.[4]
John was the son of William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey and Maud Marshal. Together they had three children.
Alice died in Warren, Sussex, England, on 9 February 1256 after giving birth to her only son, William. She was about thirty-two years of age.