William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, (d. 1088) was one of the Norman aristocrats that fought at the Battle of Hastings and became great landowners in England.
He was a grandnephew of duchess Gunnor, wife of duke Richard I of Normandy. As a young man he helped secure duke William's hold on Normandy, most notably in the campaigns of 1052 through 1054 which culminated in the Battle of Mortemer. After this battle Roger de Mortemer forfeited most of his lands, and the duke gave them to William. The de Warenne surname derives from the castle of that name on the River Varenne, which flows through the territory William acquired in Upper Normandy. William was one of the nobles who advised duke William when the decision to invade England was being considered. He fought at Hastings, and afterwards received the Rape of Lewes in Sussex, and subsequently lands in twelve other shires. In addition to the cluster around Lewes, there were clusters around the castles he built at Castle Acre in Norfolk and Conisbrough in Yorkshire. By the time of the Domesday survey he was one of the wealthiest landholders in England. William was loyal to William II, and it is probably after the rebellion of 1088 that he was created earl of Surrey. He died shortly afterwards of wounds he received while helping suppress the rebellion.
He married twice, first to Gundrada, sister of a Flemish noble Gerbod who was briefly earl of Chester, by her had two sons, William de Warenne (d. 1138) and Rainald or Reginald, who fought on the side of Duke Robert in 1090, was taken prisoner at Dive in 1106, and pardoned by Henry I , and a daughter Edith, whose daughter Gundred married Nigel de Albini, and was mother of Roger de Mowbray I . After the death of Gundrada in 1085, William married a sister of Richard Goet, or Gouet, of Perche Gouet .
By the time of the Domesday survey he was one of the wealthiest landholders in England.
It was at one time thought that Gundrada was a daughter of William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda of Flanders. This was disproved in the 19th Century.