 Hawise became "suo jure" Countess of Chester in April 1231 when her brother resigned the title in her favour.Her paternal grandfather, Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester was one of the 25 sureties of the Magna Carta; as a result he was excommunicated by the Church in December 1215.Two years later her father died after having been accidentally poisoned through medicine prepared by a Cistercian monk.