William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: Williame li Mareschal, French: Guillaume le Maréchal), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman during High Medieval England who served five English kings—Henry II and his son and co-ruler Young Henry, Richard I, John, and Henry III—as a royal adviser and agent, and as a warrior of outstanding prowess.
Knighted in 1166, William spent his younger years as a successful competitor in military tournaments; 13th-century chronicler Stephen Langton eulogises him as the "best knight that ever lived." In 1189, he became earl of Pembroke through his marriage to Isabel de Clare, whose parents were Aoife MacMurrough and Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. The title of earl was not officially granted until 1199 and is considered to be the second creation of the Pembroke earldom. In 1216 upon the death of King John, William was appointed protector for John's nine-year-old son Henry III and rector regis et regni (Latin for "governor of the king and of the kingdom"). Just before his death, William fulfilled a promise he said he made in his youth while on crusade by taking vows as a Knight Templar, and was buried in the Temple Church in London.
Before William, his father's family held a hereditary title of Marshal to the King, which by his father's time had become recognised as a chief or master marshalcy, involving management over other marshals and functionaries. William became known as "the Marshal", although by his time much of the function was delegated to more specialised representatives (as happened with other functions in the king's household). Because he was an earl, and also known as the marshal, the term "earl marshal" was commonly used, and this later became an established hereditary title in the English peerage.
William was born in 1146 or 1147, the second son of Anglo-Norman nobleman John Marshal.
John had supported King Stephen when Stephen took the throne in 1135, but in about 1139 had changed sides to support the rival claimant Empress Matilda in her war of succession against Stephen, which led to the collapse of England into a 15-year civil war known as "the Anarchy". When Stephen besieged Newbury Castle in 1152, according to William's biographer, he used the young William as a hostage to ensure that John kept his promise to surrender the castle. John, however, used the time allotted to reinforce the castle and to alert Matilda's forces. When Stephen ordered John to surrender, threatening that William would be hanged, John replied that he should go ahead, saying, "I still have the hammer and the anvil with which to forge still more and better sons!"
Subsequently, a pretence was made to launch William from a pierrière (a type of trebuchet) towards the castle, but Stephen could not bring himself to harm young William. William remained a crown hostage for many months and was released following the peace resulting from the terms agreed at Winchester on 6 November 1153, by which the civil war was ended.
As a younger son of a minor nobleman, William had no lands or fortune to inherit and had to make his own way in life. Around age 12, when his father's career was faltering, he was sent to the Château de Tancarville in Normandy to be brought up in the household of William de Tancarville, a great magnate and cousin of William's mother. Here he began his training as a knight. This would have included horsemanship, rigorous practice in the use of sword and lance, biblical stories, Latin prayers, and exposure to French romance literature to confer precepts of chivalry upon the future knight. In Tancarville's household he is also likely to have learned practical lessons in the politics of courtly life. According to his 13th-century biography, L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal, Marshal had enemies at Tancarville's court who plotted against him—presumably men threatened by his close relationship with the magnate.
In 1166, William was knighted on campaign in Upper Normandy, which was invaded from Flanders. His first experience in battle received mixed reviews. According to L'Histoire, everyone who witnessed William in combat agreed that he had acquitted himself well. However, as medieval historian David Crouch remarks, "War in the twelfth century was not fought wholly for honour. Profit was there to be made..." In this regard William was not so successful, as he was unable to translate his combat victories into profit from either ransom or seized booty. L'Histoire relates that the earl of Essex, expecting the customary tribute from his valorous knight after the battle, jokingly remarked: "Oh? But Marshal, what are you saying? You had forty or sixty of them—yet you refuse me so small a thing!"
In 1167, William was sponsored by William de Tancarville in his first tournament, where he found his true calling and began to develop skills that later made him a tournament champion.
In 1168 William served in the household of his mother's brother, Patrick, Earl of Salisbury. Later that year Patrick was escorting Queen Eleanor on a journey near the boundary of her province of Aquitaine and Marshal was part of the escort. They were ambushed by Guy de Lusignan who was trying to capture Eleanor. Although Eleanor escaped unharmed, Patrick was killed; William was wounded in the thigh and was taken prisoner and conveyed to a Lusignan castle to be held for ransom. Someone at the castle took pity on William because it is told that he received a loaf of bread in which were concealed several lengths of clean linen bandages with which to dress his wounds. This act of kindness by an unknown person perhaps saved William's life as infection of the wound could have killed him. After a period of time, he was ransomed by Eleanor, who was apparently impressed by tales of his bravery. He remained a member of Eleanor's household for the next two years, taking part in tournaments and increasing his reputation as a chivalrous knight.
In 1170, Henry II appointed William as tutor-in-arms to his son, Henry the Young King. During the Revolt of 1173–1174 led by the Young King, little is known of William's specific activities besides his loyalty to Young Henry. After the failed rebellion, Young Henry and his retinue, including William, travelled with Henry II for 18 months before receiving permission to travel to Europe to participate in knightly tournaments. William followed the Young King, and from 1176 to 1182 both men gained prestige from winning tournaments. Tournaments were dangerous, often deadly, staged battles in which money and valuable prizes were to be won by capturing and ransoming opponents, their horses and armour. William became a legendary tournament champion: on his deathbed, he recalled besting 500 knights during his tournament career.
In late 1182 William was accused of having an affair with Young Henry's wife, Margaret of France. Historian Thomas Asbridge states that while the affair very strongly appears to have been fabricated by William's political enemies within the Young King's service, it cannot be proven either way. David Crouch suggests that the charge against William was actually one of lèse-majesté, brought on by William's own arrogance and greed, with the charge of adultery only introduced in Life of William Marshal as a distraction from the real charges, of which he was most probably guilty. Regardless of the truth of the accusations, by early 1183 William had been removed from the Young King's service.
Young Henry declared war against his brother Richard in January 1183, with Henry II siding with Richard. By May, William had been cleared of all charges against the Young King and returned to his service. However, the Young King became sick and died on 11 June 1183. On his deathbed, the Young King asked William to fulfil the vow the Young King had made in 1182 to take up the cross and undertake a crusade to the Holy Land, and after receiving Henry II's blessing William left for Jerusalem in late 1183. Nothing is known of his activities during the two years he was gone, except that he fulfilled Young Henry's vow and secretly committed to joining the Knights Templar on his deathbed. Historians disagree about why his time on crusade received no coverage in the otherwise-detailed History of William Marshal. Georges Duby believes it was at William's own discretion, perhaps relating to his having joined the Templars. Thomas Asbridge examined the complex circumstances in the Latin East at the time of William's journey, and concludes that even if he had taken part in military engagements, like the relief of Kerak in 1184 or King Guy of Lusignan's attack on the Bedouin in Sinai the same year, these battles might not have been worth recounting. Nicholas Paul has suggested that stories surrounding William's crusade by the time of the composition of the History of William Marshal may, on the contrary, have been considered too outlandish by the author.