William was born about 1207, the son of William Longespee, 3rd earl of Salisbury, and Ela FitzPatrick, countess of Salisbury. His death became of significant importance to the English psyche, as he died due to the purported mistakes and arrogance of the French at the Battle of Mansurah, near Al-Mansurah in Egypt.
About April 1216 William married Idonea de Camville, daughter of Richard de Camville and Eustachia Basset. They had two sons and two daughters: Ida de Longespee, who first married Ralph de Somery, and then William Beauchamp; Ela, who married James of Alditheley; William III de Longespee; and Richard Longespee. Only Richard did not have progeny.
William made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1240, and again in 1247. The second time, he proceeded to Rome and made a plea to Pope Innocent IV for support:
'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 names 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.'
Having succeeded in gaining the favour of the pope, William raised a company of 200 English horse to join with Louis IX on the Seventh Crusade.
During the crusade, William commanded the English forces. He became widely known for his feats of chivalry and his subsequent martyrdom. The circumstances of his death served to fuel growing English animosity towards the French; it is reported that the French comte d'Artois lured William into attacking the Mameluks before the forces of King Louis IX arrived in support. Robert d'Artois, William and his men, along with 280 Knights Templar, were killed on 7 February 1250.
It is said that his mother, Abbess Ela Longespee, had a vision of the martyr being received into heaven by angels just one day prior to his death.
In 1252, the sultan delivered William's remains to a messenger who conveyed them to Acre (Akko) for burial at the church of St. Cross. However, his effigy is found among family members at Salisbury Cathedral, in England.5
William was born about 1176, an illegitimate son of Henry II of England. His mother was unknown for many years, until the discovery of a charter of William mentioning 'Comitessa Ida, mater mea'. This Ida was further identified as Ida de Tosny, the wife of Roger Bigod, 2nd earl of Norfolk. His father acknowledged him, and gave him the honour of Appleby, Lincolnshire in 1188. Ten years later his half-brother King Richard I married him to a great heiress, Ela FitzPatrick, countess of Salisbury in her own right, the only child of William FitzPatrick, 2nd earl of Salisbury, earl of Wiltshire, by an unnamed first wife. William and Ela had eight children of whom two sons and a daughter would have progeny.
During the reign of King John, William was at court on several important ceremonial occasions, and held various offices: sheriff of Wiltshire, lieutenant of Gascony, constable of Dover and warden of the Cinque Ports, and later warden of the Welsh Marches. He was a commander in the king's Welsh and Irish expeditions of 1210-1212. The king also granted him the honour of Eye.
In 1213 William led a large fleet to Flanders, where he seized or destroyed a large part of a French invasion fleet anchored near Damme. This ended the invasion threat, but not the conflicts between England and France. So in 1214 William was sent to help the Holy Roman Emperor Otto, an English ally, who was invading France. William commanded the right wing of the army at their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bouvines on 27 July 1214, where he was captured.
By the time he returned to England, revolt was brewing among the barons. William was one of the few who remained loyal to John. In the civil war that followed in the year after the signing of the Magna Carta, he was one of the leaders of the king's army in the south. But after the French prince Louis (later Louis VIII) landed as an ally of the rebels, William went over to his side. Presumably he thought John's cause was lost and hopeless.
After John's death and the departure of Louis, William, along with many other barons, joined the cause of John's young son, now Henry III of England. He then took an influential place in the government during the king's minority. Most notably, he fought in Gascony to help secure the remaining part of the English continental possessions. William's ship was nearly lost in a storm while returning to England in 1225, and he spent some months in refuge at a monastery on the French island of Ré. He died on 7 March 1226, not long after his return to England. Roger of Wendover alleged that he was poisoned by Hubert de Burgh, 1st earl of Kent. He was buried at Salisbury Cathedral.
William de Longespee's tomb was opened in 1791, and bizarrely, the well-preserved corpse of a rat was found inside his skull. The rat is now on display in a case at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England.
Profile from The Baronial Order of Magna Charta (BOMC):
Roger le Bigod, Knt.
4th Earl of Norfolk
Hereditary Steward of the Household and Privy Councillor
Keeper of Hertford Castle
Judge in the King’s Court 1195, 1196, 1199, 1202 and Chief Judge in 1197
Warden of Romford Forest, 1200
Born before 1140
Died before 2 August 1221
Married Ida de Tony (Toeni), former mistress of King Henry II and mother of William Longespee, 3rd Earl of Salisbury
One of the envoys sent to summon William the Lion, King of Scotland, to do homage to King John in 1200
Ambassador to King Philip of France to arrange for King Richard’s crusade.5