General Notes

REFN: 8488AN
REFN: P4823
Since William the younger was the first-born and was born in Norma ndy, it
is possible that he was born during the winter of 1190/91 when his fa ther
was serving Richard in Normandy prior to Richard’s leaving on crusade. I t
is also possible that William and Isabel were in Normandy to take
possess ion of Isabel’s half of the Giffard barony lands in Orbec and
Longueville.
D uring King John’s reign, William was a hostage for his father’s behavior
in K ing John’s court from 1203-1212. William was in Roger fitz Roger’s
custody fo r some of this time, and in John De Erley’s custody some of the
time.
Willia m married Alice De Bethune, daughter of his father’s friend and
companion, Ba ldwin De Bethune, in September 1214. The marriage apparently
did not last ver y long for reasons unknown; Alice may have died ante 1215
.
In the baronial reb ellion of 1215, the younger William was a member of
those rebelling, and he w as one of the sureties who signed the Magna
Carta for the baronial siDe while his father was a signatory for the
royal side. King John, hoping that Marsha l could persuaDe his son to join
the royalist side, provided a safe conduct f or the young William to meet
his father on April 9, 1216, under the protectio n of Aimery St. Maur,
master of the Templars. The meeting did not result in y oung William
changing sides, and he was one of the first barons to do homage to Louis
of France when Louis arrived in England in May 1216. The young Willi am
was an active supporter of Louis, but when he took Worcester castle in
J uly 1216, his father had apparently reached the limit of his own
patience. Wi lliam senior managed to warn his son to withdraw from
Worcester, which he did just before Ranulf earl of Chester retook the
castle for the royalist side.
Sidney Painter, in his biography of William Marshal, has suggested the
proba bility that Marshal not only tolerated his son’s rebellion, but also
may have abetted it as a logical part of his own political strategy.
Marshal was know n and respected by both King Phillip of France and his
son Louis, and Marshal would have been well aware of the possibilities of
Louis taking England with the support of the English barons rebelling
against King John. In feudal tim es, a man would protect his lands and his
family to the best of his ability, and Marshal could do this without
breaking the bonds of his own fealty and ho mage to King John. William the
younger might have taken Worcester for Louis k nowing that his father
would not tolerate such a seizure.
In the autumn of 1 216 the young William abandoned Louis’ cause and
withdrew to Wales, not fight ing for any side. In October 1216 King John
died at Newark, and he was brough t to and buried at St Wulstan in
Worcester. It was at Gloucester that the you ng Henry was knighted by
Marshal and anointed and crowned King Henry III by P eter des Roches,
bishop of Winchester. William Marshal senior was elected reg ent for King
Henry III at Winchester by the papal legate Gualo and the leadin g
magnates of England. On November 12, 1216, at a great council in Bristol,
Gualo, eleven bishops, Marshal, Ranulf of Chester, William De Ferrers,
Willi am of Aumale, and eighteen other leading barons re-issued the Great
Charter u nder the seals of Gualo, as papal legate, and Marshal, as rector
Regis et reg ni Angliae.
In March 1217, William the younger and William I Longspee, natural son of
Henry II and earl of Salisbury in right of his wife Ela, granddaughte r of
Patrick earl of Salisbury, met William Marshal senior of the road from
Shoreham-by-Sea. In the next few days a series of letters were issued
that g ave the two men absolution from excommunication and defined the
terms by whic h they returned to the siDe of Henry III.
William the younger was with his fat her at the battle of Lincoln, May 20,
1217, which effectively signaled the en d of Louis’ aspirations in
England. From th