Blanche de Brienne, Baroness Tingry

Blanche de Brienne, Baroness Tingry (c.1252- c.1302) was the wife of William II de Fiennes, Baron of Tingry (c. 1250- 11 July 1302). She was also known as Dame de La Loupeland, and Blanche of Acre.

Family

Blanche was born around the year 1252 in France. She was the only child and heiress of Jean de Brienne, Grand Butler of France, and his first wife, Jeanne, Dame de Chateaudun (born c.1227- died after 1252), widow of Jean I de Montfort. Her paternal grandparents were John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem, Emperor of Constantinople, and Berenguela of Leon. Her maternal grandparents were Geoffrey VI, Viscount de Chateaudun and Clemence des Roches. Blanche had a uterine half-sister Beatrice de Montfort, Countess of Montfort-l'Amaury ( born c. 1248/49- died 9 March 1312) from her mother's first marriage to Jean I de Montfort (died 1249 in Cyprus). In 1260, Beatrice married Robert IV of Dreux, Count of Dreux (1241- 1282), by whom she had six children.

Blanche was co-heiress to her mother, by which she inherited Loupeland in Maine. [Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham, and David Faris "Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families", Royal Ancestry series, p. 155, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore. Md. 2004.]

Marriage and children

In the year 1269, Blanche married William II de Fiennes, Baron of Tingry and Fiennes, son of Enguerrand II de Fiennes and Isabelle de Conde. His other titles included Lord of Wendover, Buckinghamshire, of Lambourne, Essex, of Chokes and Gayton, Northamptonshire, of Martock, Somerset, of Carshalton and Clapham, Surrey, and custodian of the county of Ponthieu. The settlement for the marriage had been made in February 1266/67. [Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families] William and Blanche had at least one son and two daughters:
# Jean de Fiennes, seigneur of Fiennes and Tingry (born before 1281 in France- died 1340), in 1307 married Isabelle de Dampierre, daughter of Guy de Dampierre, Count of Flanders and Isabelle of Luxembourg. They had a son Robert who was Constable of France, and two daughters Jeanne de Fiennes who married Jean de Chatillon, Count of St. Pol, and Mahaut de Fiennes who married Jean de Bournonville. [Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families]
# Joan de Fiennes (died before 26 October 1309), in 1291 married John Wake, Baron Wake of Liddell. Had issue, including Margaret of Wake, mother of Joan of Kent
# Margaret de Fiennes (born after 1269- died 7 February 1333), in September 1285, married Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Wigmore. They had three children, including Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March.

In 1285, Blanche received the gift of 12 leafless oak stumps from Selwood Forest from King Edward I for her fuel. [Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families]

Blanche de Brienne died on an unknown date around the year 1302. Her husband William was killed on 11 July 1302 at the Battle of Courtrai.

Through her son Jean's daughter Jeanne de Fiennes who married Jean de Chatillon, Count of St. Pol, Blanche was the ancestress of Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville.

References