WILLIAM MARSHAL – his youth
This month we will take a more detailed look
at William Marshal’s early life from his birth
in Wiltshire in about 1147 up to 1168.
Wiltshire remained a favourite area for him
throughout his life. It is not quite a rags to
riches story, for he was a son of a baron and
his family was well connected. But his father,
the Marshal of the King’s Horse, was well
down the aristocratic ladder. William was his
fourth son and it was not planned that he
would get any inheritance from the small
family estate. So William knew from an early
age that he would have to make his own way
in life. His remarkable success in rising to
become a major power in the land, was based
on his personality, his loyalty to his masters,
his military skills and his political ability to
take advantage of events, plus no doubt a
reasonable helping of luck. His physique will
have helped – he was six foot tall, massive for
the time, and had wide hips, useful to stay on a
horse.
He will have learnt a lot from his father, John
Marshal, an experienced soldier and a political
intriguer who from all accounts was a hard
man. To help settle a dispute with his
neighbour, the Earl of Salisbury, John in 1141
“set aside” his first wife and married the Earl’s
sister, Sibyl, who became William’s mother.
And, astonishingly to our minds, when King
Stephen in 1152 was besieging John’s castle at
Newbury and supplies were running low, John
arranged a truce to talk peace terms giving
William, at the tender age of four or five, as
hostage to Stephen as a surety that he, John,
would not replenish supplies in the castle
while the talks were proceeding. John, clearly,
had no intention of honouring his word and
reinforced the castle. The biography of
William tells us that he was given a mock
execution from a gallows within sight of the
castle walls and then suspended in a siege
catapult sling aimed at the castle, but his father
was unmoved, saying that he had got hammer
and anvil to produce more sons like William!!
Fortunately for William, King Stephen
relented, keeping William in his Court for a
few years,. and is reported to have enjoyed
playing games with him – early signs of
William’s likeable charms.
But there was no room in the long run for
William at home and in about 1160 he was
sent as an adolescent to a cousin of his
mother’s in Normandy, William de
Tancarville, Chamberlain of Normandy, to be
schooled as a knight. There he received a first
rate military training. He also acquired the
ability, by means of a self deprecatory good
humour, to handle his peer group, which was
jealous of his success and family connection,.
This held him in good stead for similar
situations in the future. He must have passed
on the story that he was nicknamed “scoff
food” for his love of eating.
He learnt a lot from his first military action
when still part of the de Tancarville retinue,
soon after he was knighted in 1167. He
distinguished himself, despite having lost his
horse, but, all importantly, had not taken the
opportunity to take booty or prisoners for
ransom. Since he was by now meant to be self
supporting he came in for vigorous banter and
had to sell the cloak in which he was knighted
to buy a new horse. Luckily, though, he soon
made three captures on the tournament field
which gave him some financial independence.
William returned to England in 1168, having
been away for well over five years. His father
had recently died, somewhat out of favour with
the King. As expected there was nothing for
William in the will. Though he wanted to see
his mother and sisters (he had never been on
that good terms with his three elder brothers
two of whom had already died), he particularly
wanted to find out whether his uncle, the Earl
of Salisbury, would take him into his retinue as
a young knight. He was in luck as King Henry
II had just commissioned Salisbury to support
his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in subduing a
rebellious vassal in Poitou. En route the royal
party was ambushed and Salisbury was killed
– not the done thing in those days as barons
were worth a ransom when taken alive.
Eleanor escaped but William was wounded
and captured in the rearguard action fighting
against the odds. For the only time in his
career William was a prisoner. Somewhat
unexpectedly Queen Eleanor paid his ransom,
no doubt attracted by his charm and physical
prowess besides being grateful for his
assistance in her escape. He had certainly
come to the favourable attention of royalty.
So William joined her retinue. At the age of 21
he had made the most of the opportunities that
had presented themselves to him. For the next
18 years he was in direct Royal service. Next
month we will take his career up to his
marriage to the heiress, Isabel de Clare, when
Long Crendon at last comes into the picture.
John Hooper