Waleran II, Count of Meulan and Worcester, 1104-1166

Abstract

Waleran was born in 1104 as the elder of the twin sons of Count Robert I of Meulan and Leicester (died 1118) and his wife Isabel of Vermandois (died c. 1139). On his father’s death Waleran and his younger twin, Robert, were each alloted a share of their paternal inheritance by his testament, a division which came into effect on their sixteenth birthday in 1120. Waleran took the county of Meulan in the Vexin Français and the Norman lands (with some Dorset estates to give him an English base and revenue). Waleran was given the marriage of the infant Matilda, daughter of King Stephen of England in 1136, though she died within a couple of years of their betrothal. He married at the end of 1141 Agnes, daughter of Amaury I de Montfort, count of Evreux, and around 1145 secured the lordship of Gournay-sur-Marne in the Parisis as her marriage-portion. In 1138 Waleran was made earl of Worcester in England by King Stephen, a grant which was eventually rescinded by King Henry II. Waleran died on 9/10 April 1166 and was buried in the chapter house of the family abbey of St Peter of Préaux in Normandy. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Count Robert II of Meulan