Section Seven: John II de Warenne (1286–1347), Seventh Earl of Surrey

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Sewing the Seeds of the Elland Feud

By the early fourteenth century, the Warenne family, Earls of Surrey and Lords of the Manor of Wakefield, stood at the height of their territorial power, yet perilously close to collapse. For nearly three centuries they had been among the greatest landholders in England. Under John II de Warenne, Seventh Earl of Surrey, that dominance faltered and its failure would have disastrous consequences for the Warenne dynasty and sewed the seeds of a dispute known as the Elland Feud, which will be the final chapter of this story .

An Inheritance Burdened by Expectation

When John de Warenne, the sixth earl, died in 1304, his only son William had previously died in a tournament, so the earldom passed to William’s only son, John II. Aged 18, he was still considered a minor, so the vast Warenne estates were, once again, placed in royal custody until he came of age at 21.

On reaching his majority, John II de Warenne would inherit responsibility for one of the largest noble estates in England. In Yorkshire alone, his lordship encompassed the Manor of Wakefield, Sandal Castle and Conisborough Castle, plus there were the castles and lands in the south of England that required firm administration to maintain order and to protect the Warenne family interests. It was here that John’s limitations as a lord became immediately apparent. He was simply not cut out for it.

Even before he assumed direct control, it was also clear that the very future of the Warenne family rested on this young heir. He knew he must marry and raise sons…and the more the better…as he had no brothers or uncles who bore the Warenne name. Only he could prevent the extinction of his family’s male line…if he had four or five sons, he would secure the future of the dynasty for generations.

Marriage, Scandal, and Dynastic Failure

On 25th May 1306, the now 20 year old John was married to Joan of Bar (Jeanne de Bar-de-Luc), a noble girl and closely related in blood…in fact a second cousin once removed. She was approximately 11 years old, not yet ready to bear children.

It was a marriage arranged by King Edward II, to secure royal ties and one that Warenne didn’t want. Soon it became a public failure…the marriage was notoriously unhappy from the beginning…they just didn’t like each other. By 1311, John had mostly abandoned his 16 year-old wife in favour of his mistress, Maud de Nerford, with whom he openly lived.

Although John fathered several children by Maud, none were allowed to be his legitimate heirs. Warenne needed a divorce so that he could marry Maud and legitimised their children.

From 1313, John began multiple attempts to divorce/annul the marriage on grounds of consanguinity. Joan of Bar was left to live under royal protection at Conisborough Castle, at the heart of Warenne Yorkshire, almost totally abandoned. John’s prolonged attempt to have the marriage annulled, while maintaining another household, would bring ecclesiastical censure and damage his reputation with other noble families. But without an heir, the extinction of the Warenne male line became inevitable, so he became increasingly desperate to divorce.

Feud with Lancaster and the Collapse of the Northern Lordship

The political instability of Edward II’s reign exposed John II de Warenne’s weaknesses further. Initially hostile to Piers Gaveston, the favourite and supposed lover of King Edward II, Warenne ultimately changed his mind and aligned himself with the Crown. Baronial opposition was led by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, whose power base lay at Pontefract, only a short distance from Warenne’s land at Sandal. With five earldoms, Lancaster was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in England, a grandson of Plantagenet King Henry III and cousin to King Edward II.

Lancaster initially sought to banish Piers Gaveston, whom Edward II had made Earl of Cornwall. Warenne was involved in Gaveston’s capture, but opposed his eventual execution. Gaveston was ultimately seized by rebels led by Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and condemned to death by a group of magnates including Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. He was executed on 19th June 1312.

Lancaster also helped to block Warenne’s divorce applications. He was treading on thin ice there, as Lancaster was known to have had many mistresses himself, so his motive is not clear, unless it was to deliberately and spitefully prevent Warenne from re-marrying to a wife who could give him an heir. Then, in 1316, Lancaster persuaded the Bishop of Chichester to prosecute Warenne for adultery, which resulted in Warenne’s excommunication. This punishment barred the excommunicated person from the sacraments of the church and Christian burial and was intended to bring him to repentance. It was a feared punishment in the 14th Century, as it condemned the sinner to the devil and eternal damnation.

Lancaster was married to Alice De Lacy, the heiress of the Honour and Castle of Pontefract. She was the daughter of the Earl of Lincoln and had been betrothed to Thomas when she was about twelve years old. Their marriage was also not a happy one and was also without children. Just like Warenne, Lancaster fathered illegitimate sons elsewhere, while his wife Alice spent much of her time away from him at Pickering Castle in North Yorkshire. (Pot calling the kettle black then?)

Escalation

In 1317 Warenne had Alice De Lacy kidnapped, presumably in order to humiliate Lancaster. It seems that the lady was compliant – after all she didn’t get on with her husband. But any liaison between Alice De Lacy and John De Warenne came to nothing, except to confirm her husband as Warenne’s sworn enemy. (Lancaster was to divorce Alice the next year and she later married Eubolo Lestrange, with whom she had a daughter).

Now the quarrel escalated. In retaliation for his wife’s abduction, Lancaster raised the stakes again and, with his private army, he seized two of Warenne’s castles, at Sandal and Conisborough…in a “your two castles for my wife” move! The Chronicles of St Werburgh noted the scale of the conflict, reporting

“At this time all the lands of Warenne north of the River Trent were laid waste.”

On 3rd November 1318, King Edward II had to issue a writ ordering Lancaster to stop attacking Warenne’s Yorkshire lands.

For several years, royal authority in the north weakened dramatically. Estates changed hands by force, legal oversight declined, and loyalties fractured along baronial lines. By 1321, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster was leading the Barons’ growing opposition to King Edward II.

Death of Lancaster

Lancaster’s army was defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge, near York, in March 1322 and warrants for his arrest were issued. John De Warenne was one of the nobles who condemned him to death and perhaps Warenne’s impartiality could be questioned, as Lancaster was not allowed to speak in his own defence, nor was he allowed to have anyone to speak for him. Although, in his defence, Warenne had lost two whole castles to his rival and hadn’t got them back yet.

Lancaster was found guilty of treason and beheaded near Pontefract Castle.

Without legitimate heirs, the Earldom of Lancaster passed first to Thomas Plantagenet’s younger brother Henry and eventually to John of Gaunt, King Edward III’s fourth son (and father of King Henry IV). His legacy passed down to the Monarchs of England.

Death of Warenne and the End of a Dynasty

In 1326, Warenne’s castles at Sandal and Conisborough were at last returned to him but the damage to local governance was lasting. By this stage, Warenne had withdrawn from northern affairs, leaving rivalries between local magnates to escalate the feud unchecked.

John de Warenne never succeeded in divorcing his wife. Joan of Bar lived at the Warenne family estates, sharing her time between Conisborough Castle and Sandal Castle for 41 years, abandoned by her husband, and she remained Countess of Surrey until his death.

Warenne died in 1347 at Conisborough Castle, the stronghold that had symbolised both his inheritance and his failures. He left no legitimate heirs and, with his death, the male line of one of England’s oldest and most powerful Norman families came suddenly to an end.

The Warenne lands passed to other families, yet the consequences of the Warenne decline lingered in West Yorkshire. The Elland Feud will be the final chapter – retold in local tradition and documented in historical sources – it stands as a stark reminder that when great lords failed in their responsibilities, it was local communities who bore the cost in blood.