General Notes

EARLDOM OF PEMBROKE (V)

WILLIAM (MARSHAL), EARL OF PEMBROKE, hereditary Master Marshal, 1st son and heir, born circa 1190, in Normandy. In 1205 his father gave him to King John as a hostage for his loyalty, but he was released in 1212. He joined the baronial opposition, and in February 1214/5 he was present at the meeting of the Barons at Stamford. In June he was elected one of the 25 Barons to ensure the execution of the provisions of Magna Carta, and he was excommunicated by the Pope on 11 December. On 9 April 1216 he had letters of safe conduct to go to his father; but in May he was one of the Barons who joined Louis of France and did homage to him. When Louis made Adam de Beaumont the Marshal of the army, William claimed the office as his by hereditary right and obtained it. In July he seized Worcester for Louis, but retreated when the Earl of Chester approached. In the autumn he deserted Louis and retired to Wales. In March 1216/7 he joined the Earl of Salisbury in a revolt at Rye against Louis, who was only saved by the arrival of a French fleet. William and Salisbury retreated and joined the Marshal. With Salisbury he besieged and took the castles of Winchester and Southampton, after which William besieged and captured Marlborough Castle. On 20 May 1217 he fought at Lincoln. On 21 February 1217/8 he was granted the profits from the money exchanges in 6 cities for 500 marks per annum. In May 1219 he succeeded his father in the Earldom and estates; but on 20 May 1220 he ceded the Norman lands to his brother Richard. In 1223 he sailed from Ireland with a large force to fight the Welsh, recaptured his castles, defeated Llewelyn and compelled him to come to terms. On 7 November 1223 he was appointed constable of the castles of Carmarthen and Cardigan. From 2 May 1224 to 22 June 1226 he was Justiciar of Ireland. In 1230 he accompanied the King to Brittany, and when Henry returned to England he was left to carry on the war. He founded the house of Friars Preachers at Kilkenny, and was a benefactor to the abbeys of Tintern and Mottisfont, the priory of Inistioge, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the hospital of St. Mary Rounceval; and he confirmed his father's gifts to St. Thomas of Dublin.

He married, 1stly, in 1214, Alice, daughter of Baldwin DE BETHUNE, COUNT OF AUMALE, by Hawise, daughter and probably heir of William, COUNT OF AUMALE, and widow of [I] William (DE MANDEVILLE), EARL OF ESSEX, [II] William DE FORZ, both COUNTS OF AUMALE jure uxoris (see AUMALE); which Alice died before 1221, probably circa 1216, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He married, 2ndly, 23 April 1224, Eleanor, younger daughter of JOHN, King of England, by Isabel, daughter and heir of Aymer, COUNT OF ANGOUL ME (which Isabel married, 2ndly, Hugh DE LUSIGNAN, COUNT OF LA MARCHE). William died s.p., 6 April, and was buried 15 April 1231, in the Temple Church London. His widow took the veil but eventually married, 2ndly, Simon (DE MONTFORT), EARL OF LEICESTER.  [Complete Peerage X:365-8, XIV:521, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

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William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, who, in the time of his father, was as strenuous a supporter of the baronial cause as that nobleman was of the royal interests, and was constituted one of the twenty-five barons appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Carta, being then styled "Comes Mareschal, Jun." After the decease of King John, however, he made his peace and, becoming loyally attached to the new monarch, obtained grants of the forfeited lands of his former companions, Sayer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, and David, Earl of Huntingdon. His lordship was subsequently engaged against the Welsh and defeated their Prince, Llewelyn, with great slaughter; and in the 14th Henry III [1230], he was captain-general of the king's forces in Brittany. He m. 1st, Alice, dau. of Baldwin de Betun, Earl of Albemarle; and 2ndly, the Lady Alianore Plantagenet, dau. of King John, and sister of Henry III, but had issue by neither. He d. in 1231, and was s. by his next brother, Richard Marshal. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 358, Marshal, Earls of Pembroke]