Another C.P. Addition: Death of Alice de Lusignan, wife of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey

[Douglas Richardson]

Dear Newsgroup ~

Complete Peerage, 12(1) (1953): 503-507 (sub Surrey) has a lengthy
account of Sir John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey (died 1304).
Regarding his marriage to Alice de Lusignan, half-sister of King Henry
III of England, the following information is provided:

"He married, in August 1247, Alice, uterine sister of the King, being
daughter of Hugh (le Brun), Count of La Marche and Lord of Lusignan
and Valence, by Isabel, widow of John, King of England, daughter of
Ademar, Count of Angouleme. She died 9 Feb. 1255/6."

The source cited for Countess Alice's death is Matthew Paris, Chron.
Majora, vol. v., pg. 551 (1256).

There is, however, another record of Countess Alice's death found in
the annals kept by a monk of Lewes Priory. This record reads as
follows:

sub A.D. 1255:

"... post ea in octavis Purificationis Beate Marie [i.e., 10 February
1255/6] obiit Comitissa Alicia et posita est in terra ante magnum
altare in presencia fratris sui Adelmari electi
Wyntoniensis." [Reference: Sussex Arch. Colls. 2 (1849): 26].

An English translation of this text is:

"Afterwards, in the octaves of the Purification of the Blessed Mary
[10 February] Countess Alice died and was placed in the earth before
the great altar in the presence of her brother, Aymer, [bishop] elect
of Winchester."

Thus, it would appear that Countess Alice de Lusignan died either 9 or
10 February 1255/6.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

[Peter Stewart]

Your struggle to learn the basics of medieval liturgical dating is evidently
not getting any easier: the octave of the feast of the Purification (2nd
Febrary) fell on the 9th February, not the 10th (St Scholastica's day), as
the CP author knew perfectly well. (Matthew Paris does not give a date in
any case, just the year, so he was not the source for 9th February in CP.)

In the same way, the 1st of January is the octave of Christmas, the feast of
the Circumcision. Perhaps your year starts on 2nd January, but if so the
rest of us and the world at large are always a day (plus a light year) ahead
of you.

Try counting on your fingers and/or aloud next time. The feast day itself
counts as the first, then the ordinals result in the eighth day (dies
octava) falling seven calendar days later. It is exactly the same principle
applied in music, where an octave is a note seven diatonic intervals from
its counterparts.

Peter Stewart

Post by Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Complete Peerage, 12(1) (1953): 503-507 (sub Surrey) has a lengthy
account of Sir John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey (died 1304).
Regarding his marriage to Alice de Lusignan, half-sister of King Henry
"He married, in August 1247, Alice, uterine sister of the King, being
daughter of Hugh (le Brun), Count of La Marche and Lord of Lusignan
and Valence, by Isabel, widow of John, King of England, daughter of
Ademar, Count of Angouleme. She died 9 Feb. 1255/6."
The source cited for Countess Alice's death is Matthew Paris, Chron.
Majora, vol. v., pg. 551 (1256).
There is, however, another record of Countess Alice's death found in
the annals kept by a monk of Lewes Priory. This record reads as
"... post ea in octavis Purificationis Beate Marie [i.e., 10 February
1255/6] obiit Comitissa Alicia et posita est in terra ante magnum
altare in presencia fratris sui Adelmari electi
Wyntoniensis." [Reference: Sussex Arch. Colls. 2 (1849): 26].
"Afterwards, in the octaves of the Purification of the Blessed Mary
[10 February] Countess Alice died and was placed in the earth before
the great altar in the presence of her brother, Aymer, [bishop] elect
of Winchester."
Thus, it would appear that Countess Alice de Lusignan died either 9 or
10 February 1255/6.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah