to represent the king. He went to the pope about Christmas, and a satisfactory settlement was arranged. While with the pope he successfully pleaded the cause of Anselm's friend William, archbishop of Rouen, who had incurred suspension by some irregularities. His mission took a long time, for Paschal was at Benevento in the spring of 1106. He carried back letters, in one of which the pope commended his conduct, to Anselm at Bec, and from Bec went with Anselm to Rouen, where he read the pope's letters before a synod, and then returned to England.
Matters having thus been settled between Henry and Anselm, the king at once sent William back to the archbishop to invite him to return. He found Anselm ill, which much grieved him, for he had at that time the liberty of the church at heart, and did all in his power to promote the archbishop's restoration. In 1107 Henry, at the pope's request, sent William to the council that Paschal was about to hold at Troyes. On 11 Aug. he was consecrated to the see of Exeter by Anselm at Canterbury. In 1108, when about to sail for Normandy, Henry sent him to Anselm to desire that he would at once consecrate Richard de Belmeis (d. 1128) [q. v.] to the see of London, and William assisted in the consecration. At the court held at Whitsuntide 1109 he joined in the decision of the bishops present to uphold the demand of Anselm, then lately dead, that Thomas (d. 1114) [q. v.], archbishop-elect of York, should make profession to Canterbury. In February 1113 he was with the king in Normandy (Orderic, p. 709). He was employed as an envoy between the king and Calixtus II in 1119, and assured the king that he might safely allow Thurstan [q. v.], archbishop-elect of York, to attend the pope's council, as he knew that the pope would not consecrate him. He attended the council of Reims in October, and was much annoyed at finding that just before his arrival the pope had consecrated Thurstan (Historians of York, ii. 161, 166). In the spring of 1120 Henry sent him to Calixtus, who was then at Valence on the Canterbury and York dispute; he is said to have then been blind, though his blindness can scarcely have been total; vigorous, crafty, and well versed in the ways of the curia, he distributed bribes, but failed of the purpose of his mission (ib. pp. 177–8). He was present at the council held at Northampton on 8 Sept. 1131 [see under Matilda, 1102–1167] (Sarum Charters, p. 7, Rolls Ser.)
William died, after having assumed the habit of an Augustinian canon, at Plympton priory, Devonshire, on 27 Sept. 1137, and was buried there on 1 Oct. He had been blind for a long time before his death, and some believed that his blindness was a judgment on him, for it was said that he had declared that if his blind predecessor Osbern would not resign his see, he ought to be deprived (Gesta Pontificum, p. 111 n.); the story suggests that the see had been promised to him by the king before Osbern's death. He began the rebuilding of the cathedral of Exeter in the Norman style, the two present transeptal towers being his work (Freeman, Exeter, p. 50). From grants made him by Rufus he endowed the canons with the manor of Brampton, founded the priory of Plympton, and refounded the priory of Launceston in Cornwall, and also refounded Bodmin priory in that county—all three for Augustinian canons. Though by obeying the commands of Rufus he became a partaker in the king's persecution of Anselm, he was by no means a bad man. It may be that Anselm's influence did him good, or perhaps when he served Henry, a better master, the better side of his character came out; he became one of Anselm's friends, a faithful servant of the church, and a munificent prelate. While he had no learning (Historians of York, ii. 177), he had plenty of ability, and was an excellent ambassador, bold, crafty, ready, and eloquent. Robert of Warelwast, dean of Salisbury and bishop of Exeter 1155–60, was his nephew.
[Eadmer's Hist. Nov. and Vita S. Anselmi; Hugh the Chantor ap. Hist. of York, Will. of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontiff. (all Rolls Ser.); Freeman's Will. Rufus; Rigg's St. Anselm; Rule's St. Anselm; Oliver's Lives of the Bishops of Exeter and Monasticon Dio. Exon.]
WARENNE, Earls of. [See Fizalan, Richard II, 1307?–1376.]
WARENNE, Gundrada de, Countess of Surrey (d. 1085). [See Gundrada.]
WARENNE, HAMELIN de, Earl of Warenne or Surrey (d. 1202), was an illegitimate son of Geoffrey ‘Plantagenet,’ count of Anjou (d. 1151), and was therefore half-brother of Henry II. The name of his mother is unknown. His importance dates from the rich marriage which he was enabled to make by the goodwill of his half-brother the king. In 1163 or 1164 he married Isabella de Warenne [see under Warenne, William de, third Earl of Surrey]. Robert of Torigny (Chron. Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, iv. 221) dates the marriage in 1164; but there is a ‘Comes de Warenne’ mentioned in the Pipe Roll of 9 Henry II (1162–3), who can only be Hamelin, and
