Henry II "Plantagenet" ENGLAND, KING

                   Name Suffix: 3rd Earl Of Salisbury
Ancestral File Number: 9FTR-5S
See also extensive notes concerning William from The Complete Peerage, filed under wife Ela.

William Longespee became Earl of Salisbury in right of his wife. In the beginning of King John's reign this nobleman was sheriff of Wiltshire, he was afterwards warden of the marches of Wales, and then sheriff of the counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon. About this period (14th John ) [1213], the baronial contest commencing, William Longespee at once espoused the royal cause and maintained it so stoutly that he was included by the barons amongst the evil councillors of the crown. The next year he was again constituted sheriff of Wilts and he held the office from that time during the remainder of his life. Hehad also a grant of the honour of Eye, in Suffolk, and was the same year a witness to the agreement made between King John and the barons as guarantee for the former. He was likewise a witness to the charter whereby John resigned his kingdom to the Pope. After this we find him a principal leader in the royal army until the very close of John's reign, when he swerved in his loyalty and joined, for a short period, the ranks of Lewis of France. Upon the accession, however, of Henry III [1216], he did homage to that monarch, particularly for the county of Somerset, which the king then gave him; and joining with William Marshall. governor of the king and kingdom, raised the siege of Lincoln when he was constituted sheriff of Lincolnshire and governor of Lincoln Castle, being investedat the same time with sheriff of the co. of Somerset, and governorship of the castle of Shirburne. His lordship soon afterwards accompanied the Earl of Chester to the Holy Land, and was at the battle of Damieta, in which the crescent triumphed. He served subsequently in the Gascon wars, whence returning to England, Dugdale relates, "there arose so great a tempest at sea that, despairing of life, he threw his money and rich apparel overboard. But when all hopes were passed, they discerned a mighty taper of wax burning bright at the prow of the ship and a beautiful woman standing by it who preserved it from wind and rain so that it gave a clear and bright lustre. Upon sight of which heavenly vision bothhimself and the mariners concluded of their future security, but everyone there being ignorant what this vision might portend except the earl, he, however, attributed it to the benignity of the blessed virgin by reason that, upon the day when he was honoured with the girdle of knighthood, he brought a taper to heraltar to be lighted ever day at mass when the canonical hours used to be sung,and to the intent that, for this terrestrial light, he might enjoy that which is eternal." A rumour, however, reached England of the earls having been lost, and Hubert de Burgh, with the concurrence of the king, provided a suitor for his supposed widow, but the lady, in the interim, having received letters from her husband, rejected the suit with indignation. The earl soon after came to the king at Marlborough and, being received with great joy, he preferred a strong complaint against Hubert de Burgh, adding that, unless the king would do him right therein, he should vindicate himself otherwise to the disturbance of the public peace. Hubert, however, appeased his wrath with rich presents, and invited him to his table, where it is asserted that he was poisoned, for he retired to his castle of Salisbury in extreme illness and died almost immediately after, anno 1226. His lordship left issue, four sons and five daus., viz., William, hissuccessor; Richard, a canon of Salisbury; Stephen, Justiciary of Ireland; Nicholas, bishop of Salisbury; Isabel, m. to William de Vesci; Ela, m. 1st, to Thomas, Earl of Warwick, and 2ndly to Philip Basset, of Hedendon; Idonea, m. to William de Beauchamp, Baron of Bedford; Lora, a nun at Lacock; and Ela, jun., m. to William de Odingsells. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dorm