William Warelwast - Early Life

Early Life

Little is known of Warelwast's background or family before 1087. Later in life he was involved in founding Augustinian houses of canons, which – according to historian D. W. Blake – implies that he was an Augustinian canon or spent some of his early years in a house of such canons. Several medieval chroniclers hostile to Warelwast, including Eadmer, claim that he was illiterate, but his career suggests otherwise, as it involved the extensive use of written documents. He must also have been an accomplished speaker, given the number of times he was used as a diplomat. He was possibly educated at Laon, where later in life he sent his nephew, Robert Warelwast, to school. Another nephew, William, became the bishop's steward.

Warelwast may have been a clerk for King William I of England, as a confirmation charter from the time of King Stephen (reigned 1135–1154) records that a grant of churches in Exeter was given to Warelwast by "Willelmus, avus meus", or "William, my grandfather/ancestor"; Stephen was a grandson of William I, who reigned 1066–1087. But this charter may be a forgery, or the Willelmus referred to may have been William II rather than William I. The charter itself is insufficient evidence to confidently assert that Warelwast served William I, even though most such grants were made as a reward for royal service. It may have been that Warelwast was awarded land by William I not because he was a royal servant but because he was a relative; certainly the late-medieval writer William Worcester claimed that Warelwast was related to the king.