Edith Forne (d. after 1129), was an English noblewoman who was the concubine of King Henry I of England and the foundress of Osney Abbey near Oxford.
She was the daughter of Forn Sigulfson, Lord of Greystoke, Cumberland.
Edith had three children by King Henry:
- Robert FitzEdith, (1093–1172) who married Maud d'Avranches. They had one daughter, Maud, who married Renaud, Sire of Courtenay (son of Miles, Sire of Courtenay and Ermengarde of Nevers).
- William de Tracy (1097–1140).
- Adeliza FitzEdith who appears in charters with her brother, Robert.
In 1120, Henry caused Edith to marry Robert D'Oyly the younger, second son of Nigel D'Oyly.[1] As a marriage portion, she was granted the Manor of Cleydon, Buckinghamshire. Robert and Edith had at least two children: Henry, buried at Osney in 1163,[1] and Gilbert.
In 1129, Edith persuaded her husband to build the Church of St Mary, in the Isle of Osney, near Oxford Castle, for the use of Augustine Canons: this was to become Osney Abbey.[1] She told him that she had dreamt of the chattering of magpies, interpreted by a chaplain as souls in Purgatory who needed a church founding to expiate their sins.
Edith was buried in Osney Abbey, in a religious habit, as John Leland describes upon seeing her tomb as it was on the eve of the Dissolution: ‘Ther lyeth an image of Edith, of stone, in th' abbite of a vowess, holding a hart in her right hand, on the north side of the high altaire’. The legendary dream of magpies was painted near the tomb.
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