Person Page - 1369

     William (11 April 1184, Winchester – 13 December 1213), called William of Winchester, William Longsword, or William of Lüneburg, was the youngest son of Duke Henry the Lion.

William was born in England during his father's exile; he remained there when Henry returned to Saxony and was raised at Richard Lionheart's court. When Henry died in 1195, William inherited Henry's properties around Lüneburg, near Lauenburg, and in the eastern Harz.

In 1202, William married Helen, daughter of King Valdemar I of Denmark. Their only child was Otto (1204-1252), who inherited his father's property.¹

     Otto I of Brunswick-Lüneburg (about 1204 – 9 June 1252) was the first duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1235 until his death. He is called Otto the Child to distinguish him from his uncle, Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Otto was born around 1204 as the only son of William of Winchester, the youngest son of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony. He inherited his father's properties in Saxony in 1213. The death of the Prince Palatine, in 1214, may be said to have opened to him a more splendid succession than what belonged to the very circumscribed patrimony of his father; but as his uncle Henry hesitated between a desire to aggrandize his own children (daughters) and a sense of what was due to the male representative of his name and family, Otto reaped little advantage from these enlarged prospects.¹

     Valdemar I of Denmark (14 January 1131 – 12 May 1182), also known as Valdemar the Great, was King of Denmark from 1157 until 1182.

He was the son of Canute Lavard, a chivalrous and popular Danish prince, who was the eldest son of Eric I of Denmark. Valdemar's father was murdered days before his birth; his mother, Ingeborg, daughter of Mstislav I of Kiev, named him after her grandfather, Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev.

As an heir to the throne, and with his rivals quickly gaining power, he was raised in the court of Asser Rig of Fjenneslev, together with Asser's sons, Absalon and Esbern Snare, who would become his trusted friends and ministers.

When Valdemar was sixteen years old, King Erik III abdicated and a civil war erupted. The pretenders to the throne were: Sweyn III Grathe, son of Eric II Emune; Canute (Knud V Magnussen), son of Prince Magnus who was the son of King Niels; and Valdemar himself (he was holding Jutland, at least southern Jutland, as his possession). The civil war lasted the better part of ten years.

In 1157 King Sweyn hosted a great banquet for Canute, Absalon and Valdemar during which he planned to dispose of all his rivals. King Canute was killed, but Absalon and Valdemar escaped. Valdemar returned to Jutland. Sweyn quickly launched an invasion, only to be defeated by Valdemar at Grathe Hede. He was killed during flight, supposedly by a group of peasants who stumbled upon him as he was fleeing from the battlefield.

Valdemar, having outlived all his rival pretenders, became the sole King of Denmark.

In 1158 Absalon was elected Bishop of Roskilde, and Valdemar made him his chief friend and advisor. He reorganized and rebuilt war-torn Denmark. At Absalon's instigation he declared war upon the Wends who were raiding the Danish coasts. They inhabited Pomerania and the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. In 1168 the Wendish capital, Arkona, was taken, and the Wends became Christians and subject to Danish suzerainty. Danish influence reached into Pomerania.

Valdemar's reign saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its zenith under his second son Valdemar.

Valdemar married Sofia of Minsk (c. 1141–1198), half-sister of Canute V of Denmark and daughter of Dowager Queen Rikissa of Sweden from her marriage with Volodar of Minsk (Vladimir or Volodar Glebovich of the Rurikids, died 1167), ruling Prince of Principality of Minsk.¹

     Margaret I (Danish: Margrete Valdemarsdatter, Norwegian: Margrete Valdemarsdotter, Swedish: Margareta Valdemarsdotter) (1353 – 28 October 1412) was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (also later Regent of Sweden), and founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century. She was the only queen regnant of Denmark until Margrethe II five and a half centuries later.

She is known in Denmark as "Margrethe I", to distinguish her from the current queen. Denmark did not have a tradition of allowing women to rule and so when her son died she was named "All-powerful Lady and Mistress (Regent) of the Kingdom of Denmark.[1] She only styled herself Queen of Denmark during 1375. Usually Margrethe referred to herself as "Margrethe, by the grace of God, Valdemar the King of Denmark's daughter" and "Denmark's rightful heir" when referring to her position in Denmark. Others simply referred to her as the "Lady Queen" without specifying what she was Queen (or female king) of, but not so Pope Boniface IX, who wrote to her as "Queen of Denmark" or "Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden".

With regards to Norway, she was known as Queen (Queen-consort, then Dowager Queen) and Regent. In Sweden, she was Dowager Queen and Plenipotentiary Ruler. When she married Haakon, in 1363, he was yet co-King of Sweden, making Margaret Queen, and despite being deposed, they never relinquished the title. When the Swedes expelled Albert I in 1389, in theory, Margaret simply resumed her original position.

Margaret was born in Vordingborg Castle, the daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and Helvig of Sønderjylland. She married, at the age of ten, King Haakon VI of Norway, who was the younger and only surviving son to Magnus VII of Norway, Magnus II of Sweden.¹

     Matilda of Brandenburg (c. 1210 - 10 June 1261) was a daughter of Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg, and Matilda of Lusatia. In 1228 she married Duke Otto I of Lüneburg, a son of William of Winchester. She died on 10 June 1261 in Lüneburg. Mathilde and Otto had the following known children:

Elizabeth (died 1266), married William II of Holland
Helen (died 1273), married Albert II, Duke of Saxony and Hermann II, Landgrave of Thuringia
Adelaide (died 1274), married Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse
Matilda (died around 1295), married Henry II, Prince of Anhalt-Aschersleben
Agnes, married Wizlaw II, Duke of Rügen
Albert (died 1279)
John (died 1277)
Otto, Bishop of Hildesheim (died 1279)
Conrad, Bishop of Verden (died 1300).¹

     Liudolf of Brunswick (about 1003 – 23 April 1038) was margrave of Frisia, count of Brunswick, count in the Derlingau and the Gudingau. He was a member of the Brunonen family.

Liudolf was a descendant of the Saxon family of the Brunonen. He was a son of Bruno I, Count of Brunswick, and Gisela of Swabia. The later Roman Emperor Henry III was his half brother. He married Gertrude and had four children. The Friesian counties Oostergo, Zuidergo and Westergo were controlled by him. Until the end of his life he administered the Frisian areas, and for two more generations the Brunonen family line inherited the title. How the Brunonen came to their position in the counties is not known. There is a theory that Liudolf took advantage of the reign of violence between Friesland Vlie and Lauwers of the counts of Holland. Not much is known about his life. He died in 1038 and was succeeded by his son, Bruno II. His daughter Matilda married Henry I of France, the widower of her aunt. One popular theory of the origins of Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile makes her another daughter.

Liudolf and his wife Gertrud had the following children:

Brun II (around 1024 – 26 June 1057)
Egbert (died 1068)
Matilda (died 1044), married King Henry I of France
Ida of Elsdorf.¹

     Matilda of Frisia (died 1044) was the second wife and first Queen of Henry I, King of the Franks.[1] She was the daughter of Liudulf, Margrave of Frisia and Gertrude. Her date of birth is unknown.

Matilda and Henry were married in 1043 after the death of his first wife, also named Matilda, daughter of the Emperor Conrad II. She died the following year during a Caesarean section. Henry married Anne of Kiev after her death.[1]¹

     John de Warenne (30 June 1286 – June 1347), 8th Earl of Surrey or Warenne, was the last Warenne earl of Surrey.

He was the son of William de Warenne, the only son of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey. His mother was Joan, daughter of Robert de Vere, 5th Earl of Oxford.

Warenne was only six months old when his father died, and was 8 years old when his mother died. He succeeded his grandfather as earl when he was 19.

He was one of the great nobles offended by the rise of Edward II's favorite Piers Gaveston, and helped secure Gaveston's 1308 banishment. The two were somewhat reconciled after Gaveston's return the next year, but in 1311 Warenne was one of the nobles who captured Gaveston. He was however unhappy about Gaveston's execution at the behest of the earl of Warwick, which pushed him back into the king's camp.

The baronial opposition was led by the king's cousin Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and he and Warenne became bitter enemies. Private war erupted between the two, and over the new few years Warenne lost a good part of his estates to Lancaster.

Warenne was one of the four earls who captured the two Roger Mortimers, and in 1322 he was one of the nobles who condemned to death the earl of Lancaster.

Warenne and his brother-in-law Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel were the last two earls to remain loyal to Edward II after the rise to power of Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. After Arundel's execution he went over to the queen's side, urging Edward II's abdication in 1327.

He was the guardian of his cousin Edward Balliol, and after Balliol lay claim to the Scottish throne, accompanied him on his campaign in Lothian. Balliol created Warenne earl of Strathern, but this was in name only for the properties of the earldom were held by another claimant.

Warenne died in 1347 and is buried at the monastery of Lewes. He was succeeded as earl by his nephew Richard Fitzalan, who was also earl of Arundel.

On 25 May 1306 Warenne married Joan of Bar, daughter of count Henry III of Bar and Eleanor of England, eldest daughter of king Edward I of England. The two were soon estranged and live apart, and had no children, though the marriage was never dissolved.

Warenne instead took up with Matilda de Nerford, by whom he had several illegitimate children, and later with Isabella Holland, sister of Thomas Holland, later earl of Kent.¹

     John Washington (c. 1631-1677) was an English Virginia planter and politician. He was the immigrant ancestor and great-grandfather of George Washington, first president of the United States of America.

Washington, son of Lawrence and Amphillis Twigden, was born in Purleigh, Essex, England around 1631 and emigrated to the Colony of Virginia in 1656. He had been second officer on a merchant ship that foundered in the Potomac River, but left after the ship was refloated.[1]

He first came to Virginia in 1656 and stayed at the house of Col. Nathaniel Pope, at the age of twenty-five he fell in love with the daughter of his host, Anne Pope. Washington married Anne Pope, daughter of plantation owner Nathaniel Pope, in 1658 and had three children, Laurence Washington, John Washington and Anne Washington. Their wedding gift from Pope consisted of 700 acres (2.8 km2) on Mattox Creek in Westmoreland County of Virginia's Northern Neck.[1]

Washington became a successful planter. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses.[1] During the events leading to Bacon's Rebellion, he was appointed a Colonel in the Virginia militia and led a company of men to back a group of Marylanders during a supposed parley. Six chiefs of various tribes were killed, and retaliations increased.[2] He was criticized for this by William Berkeley, but received popular support.[3]

The local parish of the Anglican Church (the established church in Virginia, and thereby a tax district of the county) was changed to Washington in his honor.[1]

He is buried along with his wife at the George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Colonial Beach, Westmoreland County Virginia. His vault is the largest in the small family burial plot.

Children with Anne Pope:
Lawrence Washington 1659,
John Washington II 1661,
Anne Washington 1662.¹