William Marshall

WILLIAM MARSHALL – 1st EARL OF PEMBROKE

This article written by Linda Tyman is about William Marshall and his connection to Mountsorrel.
Standing in Castle Gardens in Mountsorrel can be seen a statue of a medieval knight.
He is William Marshall, the 1st Earl of Pembroke – a key figure in England in the Middle Ages who served four English kings.
William Marshall was born in 1147, the son of a minor nobleman. Being a younger son, William had no prospects of inheriting lands or wealth, so knew at an early age that he would have to make his own way in life. At the age of about 12 he was sent to the household of his mother’s cousin, William de Tancarville in Normandy, to begin training as a knight.
Marshall was knighted during a campaign in Upper Normandy in 1166 but in the following year his uncle, de Tancarville took him to a tournament and he realised that this was where his ambition lay. At that time, tournaments were not the mere jousting contests that we think of today but were staged battles where deaths were not uncommon. The rewards, however, could be great, with huge sums in prize-money and possessions to be gained. Marshall made a good living at these tournaments and claimed in later life to have beaten 500 knights during his career.
By 1185 William had returned to England to serve at the court of Henry 11 and, for his loyal services, he was given the large estate of Cartmel in Cumbria. His military prowess made him a valuable asset in any campaign and, on Henry’s death, he was welcomed at the court of his son, Richard I (the Lionheart).
In 1189, aged 43, he married the 17 year old wealthy heiress, Isabel de Clare. This marriage transformed the famous warrior into one of the richest men in the country. The couple had five sons and five daughters and William greatly improved his wife’s estates, particularly in the extensive alterations to Pembroke and Chepstow castles.
When Richard left England to go on the third crusade, he appointed William as a member of the regency council set up to run the country in his absence, demonstrating Marshall’s importance at Richard’s court. On the king’s return, William fought on his behalf in wars in Normandy against Philip II of France. On Richard’s death-bed he proclaimed William as custodian of the French town of Rouen and also of the royal treasure.
Richard’s brother, John, became king in 1199 and William supported him in the campaign in Normandy between 1200 and 1203. Eventually John abandoned Normandy in 1203 and sent William and the Earl of Leicester to negotiate a truce with Philip of France in 1204. William took the opportunity to arrange the continued possession of his Norman lands, paying homage to Philip in the process. This angered John and relations between William and the king cooled dramatically. Despite this, William remained loyal to John during his wars with rebel barons in England, which led up to the signing of Magna Carta in 1215.
When John was dying he entrusted William with the task of ensuring that his son, 9 year old Henry would become king. When John died in 1216 William was named by the king’s council as protector of the young Henry III and regent of the kingdom – an extremely important position in England.
Despite being by now 70 years of age, William fought against Prince Louis of France who had sided with the rebel barons against the boy king Henry III, having been promised the crown if the barons were successful. It is at this time, in 1217, that William’s association with Mountsorrel occurs, when he and the Earl of Chester besieged Mountsorrel castle, which was being held by supporters of the rebel barons. Prince Louis’ army, led by Baron Robert Fitzwalter marched to relieve the castle and they went on from there to Lincoln where Marshall himself led the army of king’s loyalists successfully against the rebels. This battle marked the end of Louis’ alliance with the rebel barons and he eventually returned to France. When the king heard that the garrison had fled Mountsorrel castle, he ordered that it be razed to the ground.
At the end of this war of succession in 1217 William worked hard to establish a peaceful, stable country for the young king. He re-issued Magna Carta which helped to establish a more democratic rule in England and through Marshall’s diplomatic efforts, the young Henry’s future as king was assured. What set William apart from other successful warriors and courtiers of the day was his absolute trustworthiness and fair-mindedness.
He finally succumbed to ill-health in 1219 and on his deathbed he was invested into the order of the Knights Templar. After his death, on 14th May 1219, he was buried in the Temple Church in London, where his tomb can still be seen today.
So it was that the son of a minor knight rose to become one of the most formidable warriors and powerful statesmen of the medieval world.