Alice de Tony
1284-1324
Born: Flamstead, Hertfordshire, England
Died: Flamsted, Hertfordshire, England
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1284-1324
Born: Flamstead, Hertfordshire, England
Died: Flamsted, Hertfordshire, England
<p><em><strong>Alice de Toeni</strong></em>, Countess of Warwick (26 April 1284 – 1 January 1324/25)</p> <p> </p> <p>was a wealthy English heiress and the second wife of <em><strong>Guy de Beauchamp</strong></em>, 10th Earl of Warwick (1272 – 12 August 1315), an English nobleman in the reign of Kings Edward I and Edward II. He was one of the principal opponents of Piers Gaveston, a favourite of Edward II. Alice married three times; Guy was her second husband.</p> <p> </p> <p>Family and lineage</p> <p> </p> <p>Alice de Toeni was born on 26 April 1284[citation needed] in Flamsted, Hertfordshire, the only daughter of <em><strong>Ralph VII de Toeni</strong></em>, Lord Toeni of Flamsted (1255–1295) and his wife, <em><strong>Mary</strong></em>, about whom nothing is known except that she was born in Scotland. Alice's paternal grandparents were <em><strong>Roger V de Toeni</strong></em>, Lord Flamsted and <em><strong>Alice de Bohun</strong></em>. The latter was a daughter of <em><strong>Humphrey de Bohun</strong></em>, 2nd Earl of Hereford and <em><strong>Maud de Lusignan</strong></em>. Alice had an older brother Robert de Toeni, Lord Toeni of Flamsted (4 April 1276–1309), who married Maud, the daughter of Malise, 6th Earl of Strathearn, but died childless in 1309. Upon his death, Alice became his heir. Her inheritance included manors in Essex, Worcestershire, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and the Welsh Marches.</p> <p> </p> <p>Marriages and issue</p> <p> </p> <p>In 1300, when Alice was sixteen, she married her first husband, Sir Thomas Leybourne (died May 1307), son of Sir William Leybourne, by whom she had one daughter: Juliana de Leybourne (1303/1304–1367), married firstly, John, Lord Hastings, by whom she had issue, secondly Thomas le Blount, and thirdly, William Clinton.</p> <p> </p> <p>On 28 February 1310, less than three years after the death of her first husband, Alice married secondly <em><strong>Guy de Beauchamp</strong></em>, 10th Earl of Warwick, the only son of <em><strong>William de Beauchamp</strong></em>, 9th Earl of Warwick and <em><strong>Maud FitzJohn</strong></em>. He had been previously married to Isabel de Clare, the daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and Alice de Lusignan of Angoulême, but the marriage, which had produced no children, was annulled. Guy had already distinguished himself in the Scottish Wars and was one of the Ordainers, who sought to restrict the powers of the King. Guy de Beauchamp was one of the chief adversaries of Piers Gaveston, King Edward's favourite, who often referred to Guy as The Mad Hound, due to the Earl's habit of foaming at the mouth when angry.[1] In 1312, Guy de Beauchamp captured Gaveston and took him to his principal residence Warwick Castle where Gaveston was held prisoner and afterwards murdered.</p> <p> </p> <p>Alice and Guy had two sons and five daughters:</p> <p> </p> <p>Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick (14 February 1313/1314 – 13 November 1369), married Katherine Mortimer, by whom he had fifteen children.</p> <p>John de Beauchamp, Lord Beauchamp KG (1315 – 2 December 1360), carried the royal standard at the Battle of Crecy</p> <p><em><strong>Elizabeth de Beauchamp</strong></em> (c. 1316–1359), married in 1328, <em><strong>Thomas Astley</strong></em>, 3rd Lord Astley, by whom she had a son William Astley, 4th Lord Astley.</p> <p>Maud de Beauchamp (died 1366), married Geoffrey de Say, 2nd Lord Say, by whom she had issue.</p> <p>Isabella de Beauchamp, married John Clinton.</p> <p>Emma de Beauchamp, married Rowland Odingsells.</p> <p>Lucia de Beauchamp, married Robert de Napton.</p> <p> </p> <p>Following the sudden death of Guy de Beauchamp at Warwick Castle on 28 July 1315, which was rumoured to have been caused by poisoning, Alice married thirdly on 26 October 1316, <em><strong>William la Zouche de Mortimer</strong></em>, 1st Lord Zouche de Mortimer (see Baron Zouche), by whom she had a son and daughter:[2]</p> <p> </p> <p>Alan la Zouche de Mortimer. (born 15 September 1317), participated in the Battle of Crécy, and died shortly afterwards.</p> <p><em><strong>Joyce la Zouche de Mortimer</strong></em> (born 1318)</p> <p> </p> <p>Death</p> <p> </p> <p>Alice de Toeni died on 1 January 1324/25.[3] The de Toeni lands and manors passed to her eldest son Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick.</p> <p>Her widower, Lord Zouche, later abducted and married Eleanor de Clare, widow of Hugh Le Despenser, the Younger. Lord Zouche had been one of Le Despenser's captors and had led the siege of Caerphilly Castle.</p> <p> </p> <p>References</p> <p> </p> <p>^ Thomas B. Costain,The Three Edwards, p. 141</p> <p>^ Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerages, London, 1883, pg 599</p> <p>^ Charles Cawley in Medieval Lands confirms that Alice died before 8 January 1325; most genealogists specify the date of 1 January </p>
<ul style="list-style-type: none;"> <li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 7.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px georgia; color: #333333;">Alice de Toeni</li> <li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #333333; min-height: 15.0px;"></li> <li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #333333;"><span style="font: 9.0px 'helvetica neue';">Alice Toeni and her husbands and children</span><span style="font: 13.0px 'lucida grande';"><br> </span><span style="font: 11.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #666666;"><em> </em></span><span style="font: 11.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #566c11;"><em> sonya6862</em></span><span style="font: 11.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #666666;"><em>added this on 12 Jan 2009</em></span><span style="font: 11.0px 'lucida grande'; color: #666666;"><br> </span><span style="font: 11.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #666666;"><em> </em></span><span style="font: 11.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #566c11;"><em> annherlin</em></span><span style="font: 11.0px 'helvetica neue'; color: #666666;"><em>originally submitted this to McAllister/Roper on 30 Sep 2008</em></span><span style="font: 11.0px 'lucida grande'; color: #666666;"><br> <br> </span><span style="font: 13.0px 'lucida grande';"><br> </span>Alice de Toeni (or Tony or Tosny or Tosni) was born in 1283 or 1284, so was the same age as Edward II. Her father Ralph, or Raoul (1255-1295) was Lord of Flamstead in Hertfordshire; her mother Mary's parentage is unknown, but her paternal grandmother Alice was the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford (great-grandfather of the earl of Hereford of Edward II's reign). The de Toeni family came over to England with William the Conqueror.Alice's brother Robert, Lord de Toeni, was born on 4 April 1276, married the daughter of Malise, earl of Strathearn, but died childless in 1309, so Alice was her father's ultimate heir. The de Toeni lands included manors in Essex, Worcestershire, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and the Welsh Marches, and were worth around £500 a year.Alice's first marriage, to Thomas de Leyburne (or Leyburn or Leybourne), took place sometime around 1300. The marriage produced one child, Juliana, born in 1303 or 1304. Thomas was the son of William, first Lord Leyburn, who outlived his son and died in 1310. Thomas himself - about whom I know practically nothing, sadly - was dead before 30 May 1307, so Juliana was the sole heiress of her grandfather William. Her inheritance comprised extensive estates in Kent and Sussex.The widowed Alice made an excellent second marriage in early 1309: to Guy Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, arguably Edward II's most implacable enemy. Guy was probably born in 1272, succeeded his father William Beauchamp as earl of Warwick in 1298, and was the younger brother of Isabel, wife of Hugh Despenser the Elder. He was thirty-six or thirty-seven at the time of his marriage to Alice; it's odd that he was still unmarried and childless at such an advanced age. It's possible that he was married to Isabella de Clare, elder daughter of Gilbert 'the Red', earl of Gloucester, by his first marriage; she and her sister were disinherited in favour of Gilbert's children by Edward I's daughter Joan of Acre. However, Isabella was at least eight or nine years Guy's senior, which would make it a very odd match, and if the marriage did take place, it had ended in divorce by the early 1300s. In 1306 Guy, concerned by his lack of heirs, made the decision to entail all his estates to his nephew Philip Despenser (younger son of Hugh the Elder), but his issue by Alice, and the fact that Philip died young in 1313, meant that this plan never came to fruition.Guy was famously well-educated and cultured, possessing an extensive library, yet was the greatest opponent of Piers Gaveston and played a leading role in his murder; he was a 'cultivated, aristocratic ruffian' [T. F. Tout], the only earl whose opposition to Edward II was unrelenting. His name appears in contemporary documents as Guy de Bello Campo; this is comparable to Roger Mortimer, who was often called 'Roger de Mortuo Mari', and the name Beaumont is often seen as 'de Bello Monte'.Guy and Alice's marriage was extremely fruitful. They had two sons and five daughters, in about six and a half years of marriage. Guy's heir, Thomas, later earl of Warwick, was born in February 1314 and (presumably) named after Guy's friend and ally, Thomas, earl of Lancaster. There was a younger son, John, who played a large role in the Hundred Years War, carrying the royal standard at Crecy in 1346, and daughters Maud, Emma, Isabel, Elizabeth and Lucia. All the children lived long enough to marry. (Either Alice was perpetually pregnant, or some of her children were multiple births).Guy died at the age of forty-three in August 1315; rumour had it that he was poisoned by Edward II for his role in Gaveston's death, but modern historians give the story little credence. He left Alice some of his plate, a crystal cup, half his bedding and all the vestments and books of his chapel. The extreme youth of their son - about eighteen months old - was a huge problem. Thomas wouldn't receive seisin of the Beauchamp lands until he was twenty-one; in the meantime, they would come into the possession of the Crown, and the king had the right to give or sell custody of them to anyone he wished. In this situation, neglect of lands, and a subsequent drop in their value, was common. Not long before he died, Guy managed to wrest from Edward II a valuable concession - amazingly enough, considering their mutual enmity - that the executors of his will would have full custody of the lands until Thomas came of age. Unfortunately - and probably predictably - Edward II didn't keep the promise, and within two years, Hugh Despenser the Elder had gained possession of his brother-in-law's lands. [This was one of the articles of complaint against the Despensers in 1321, which I'll look at in my next post.] After 1327, possession passed to Roger Mortimer.On or shortly after 26 October 1316, Alice married, as her third husband, William la Zouche de Mortimer, Lord of Ashby in Leicestershire, a distant cousin of Roger Mortimer. William was a younger son and had been a retainer of Guy Beauchamp; he is assumed to have been born about 1280, and there's no evidence I know of that he had a wife before Alice. Their son Alan, William's heir, was born on 15 September 1317, and they also had a daughter, Joyce, born about 1318 or 1320. Altogether, Alice bore ten children to her three husbands.Alice de Toeni de Leyburne de Beauchamp la Zouche (!!), countess of Warwick, died on 1 January 1324, three years before the end of Edward II's reign, aged forty or just under. Her eldest child, Juliana, was about twenty, her youngest, Joyce, perhaps only about four. Five years after her death, her widower William la Zouche abducted Eleanor de Clare from Hanley Castle, and married her. Eleanor of course was the widow of Hugh Despenser the younger, Alice's nephew by marriage (son of Guy Beauchamp's sister).William was, amusingly enough, one of the men who captured Despenser in Wales in late 1326, and besieged his son Hugh at Caerphilly.<span style="font: 13.0px 'lucida grande';"><br> </span>Additional information about this storyDescriptionInfo taken from: edwardthesecond.blogspot.com <span style="font: 13.0px 'lucida grande';"><br> <br> <br> </span><span style="font: 11.0px 'lucida grande'; color: #666666;"><br> </span></li> </ul>