Lilliam Marshall was I a younger son of a ' minor English nobleman. He grew up in a period of struggle for the English throne. During a siege, his father offered him as a hostage to King Stephen, as a pledge that he would give up his castle if he could not find reinforcements. When his father reneged on the deal, King Stephen determined to kill William, who was five or six at the time. The king marched him to a tree to hang him, but was so overcome with pity for the boy that he stayed the execution and kept him with him for two months during the siege.
When William was a teenager, his father sent him to Normandy to be a squire and learn the use of weapons. At the age of 21, William, according to his biographer, “seemed so well and straightly made that if one judged honestly, one would be forced to say that he had the best formed body in the world.” He was knighted in a simple ceremony. His lord buckled on his sword and gave him a ceremonial blow on the shoulders. William participated in his first battle soon afterward, but during its course he was pulled from his horse and the animal was killed. In the
Celebrations that followed, the lords told him that fighting was for profit as well as for the cause of the fight. He should have tried to capture an enemy soldier, for whom the lords could have demanded a ransom.
Without a war horse, William could not participate in tournaments. Finally, his lord relented and equipped him with a horse. William became a famous fighter on the tournament circuit and never forgot to make a profit from his victories. But he had his share of defeats as well. During one battle his horse was killed under him, and he
Had to fight with his back to a hedge. An enemy knight came up from behind and wounded him in the leg. He was taken prisoner and thrown on a horse. He had nothing to bind his wound with until his captors made a stop at a castle. There a lady noticed his wound. She gave him a loaf of bread, the center of which she had cut out and stuffed with hnen bandages. Queen Eleanor eventually agreed to pay to set him free.
Between the ages of 25 and 40 WiUiam pursued a career as a knight-errant, earning his living by fighting. It was said that fully armed he could
Scale a siege ladder on the underside, lifting himself up the rungs with his own strength. He became so famous for his chivalry that Henry I! made him the instructor of his heir. By this time William’s brothers had died, and he had inherited the family lands. He married the heiress of an English earl and thereby gained more land, and a title, the Earl of Pembroke. William continued to play a role in both Nomian and English politics. When John I died in 1216, the English barons appointed him regent for John’s son and successor, the young King Henry III.
Many younger sons of nobles, such as William Marshall, earned their livings as knights-errant. For these men the best hope was to find a patron to support them or an heiress to marry them.
World History
