General Notes

William de Longespee,eldest son of William, Earl of Salisbury, "commonly called," says Sir William Dugdale, "by Matthew Paris, and most of our other historians, Earl of Salisbury, but erroneous, for all records wherein mention is made of his do not give him that title, but called him barely William Longespee. Nay, there is an old chronicle who saith expressly, that, in anno 12233 (17th Henry III), he was girt with the sword of knighthood, but not made Earl of Salisbury." This William made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1240, and again in 1247, having assumed the cross for a second pilgrimage, proceeded to Rome, and thus preferred a suit to the sovereign pontiff. "Sir, you see that I am signed with the cross and am on my journey with the King of France to fight in this pilgrimage. My name is great and of note, viz., William Longespee, but my estate is slender, for the king of England, my kinsman and liege lord, hath bereft me of the title of earl and of that estate, but this he did judiciously, and not in displeasure, and by the impulse of his will; therefore I do not blame him for it. Howbeit, I am necessitated to have recourse to your holiness for favour, desiring your assistance in this distress. We see here (quoth he) that Earl Richard (of Cornwall) who, though he is not signed with the cross, yet, through the especial grace of your holiness, he hath got very much money from those who are signed, and therefore, I, who am signed and in want, do intreat the like favour." The pope taking into consideration the elegance of his manner, the efficacy of his reasoning, and the comeliness of his person, conceded in part what he desire; whereupon he received above 1,000 marks from those who had been so signed. In about two years after this, anno 1249, having received the blessing of his noble mother, Ela, then abbess of Lacock, he commenced his journey at the head of a company of 200 English horse and, being received with great respect by the king of France, joined that monarch's army. In Palestine he became subsequently pre-eminently distinguished and fell, in 1250, in a great conflict with the Saracens, near Damieta, having previously kill above 100 of the enemy with his own hand. It was reported that, the bight before the battle, his mother Ela, the abbess, saw in a vision the heavens open and her son armed at all parts (whose shield she well knew), received with joy by the angels. Remembering the occurrence when the news of his death reached her in six months after, she held up her hands, and, with a cheerful countenance, said, "I, thy handmaid, give thanks to thee, O Lord, that out of my sinful flesh thou hast caused such a champion against thine enemies to be born." It was also said that, in 1252, when messengers were sent to the Soldan of Babylon for redemption of those who had been taken prisoner, he thus addressed them -- "I marvel at you, Christians, who reverence the bones of the dead, why you inquire not for those of the renowned and right noble William Longespee, because there be many things reported of them (whether fabulous or not I cannot say), viz., that, in the dark of the night there have been appearances at his tomb, and that to some, who called upon his God, many things were bestowed from Heaven. For which cause, and in regard of his great worth and nobility of birth, we have caused his body to be here intombed." Whereupon the messenger desiring it, the remains were delivered to them by the Soldan, and thence conveyed to Acre where they were buried in the church of St. Cross. This eminent and heroic personage m. Idonea, dau. and heir of Richard de Camville, and had issue, William de Longespee, his son and heir. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 168, d'Evereux, Earls of Salisbury]