William "Long Sword" Longespée 3rd Earl of Salisbury

  General Notes:

~Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, 30:26, 122:28, natural son of Henry II, King of England. ¹⁶⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁷⁴⁸
William de Longespée was the illegitimate son of Henry II. He was born shortly before 1176 and received a grant of Appleby, Linconshire in 1188 from his Royal father. He obtained in marriage in 1198, Ela of Salisbury, from his brother, who was her ward. He was Sheriff of Wilts in 1200-1208 and again in 1213-1226. He was Lieut. of Gascony in 1202, Warden of the Cinque Port, 1204-1209, Warden of the Welsh Marches in 1208-1213 and P.C. in 1208-1211. He was also present as a witness for King John to the Magna Carta Charter on 15 May 1213.

He was able to keep King Phillip from invading England, but was taken prisoner by the French at the Battle of Bouvines in Flanders, Jan or Feb 1214/1215. In 1220, he founded the grand cathedral church at Salisbury. In 1225, he accompanied the Earl of Cornwall on a successful expedition into Gascony, and died shortly after on the 6th or 7th Mar 1226 at his castle at Old Sarum and was buried under a magnificent Monument in the new Cathedral there. His will was dated Lent 1225, and his widow survived him for 35 years.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 1896. Vol. VII, pg. 31-32

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Ela de Salisbury was the only daughter and heir of her father, William, Earl of Salisbury. she was born about 1191, and was given by Richard I, along with the Earldom of Salisbury, to his bastard brother, William Longespée. William was with his brother Richard in Normandy in 1196-1198, and was present for his other brother, John's Coronation on 27 May 1199. He was Sheriff of Wiltshire from midsummer 1199 to 1207 and agin in 1213 until his death. He was the keeper of the castle of Avranches. He was with Earl Marshal in 1204, escorted Llewelyn to the King at Worcester. He was keeper of the castle and honor of Eye in 1205, and in the same year he led a small band of knights to Rochelle. He was the escort of William the Lion, King of the Scots to meet John at York, Nov 1206.

William Longespée was an Ambassador many times for the Crown, often going over seas on behalf of his brother, John, King of England. He held various offices and was keeper the March of Wales, and the Dover castle, as well as for the Archbishopric of Canterbury. On the side of King John, he was among those witnesses at Runnymede in June, when King John signed the Magna Charta. He remained Loyal to the crown throughout his life, and was often rewarded for his loyality. He was often in the King's service in battle.

He died 7 Mar 1225/6 in Salisbury Castle and was buried int eh Cathedral which he and Ela founded at New Sarum. He was succeeded by his eldest son, also named William. The other sons of William and Ela were Richard, described in the founder's History of Lacock as canon of Srum; Stepehn, the third son, sometime Seneschal of Gascony and Justiciary of Ireland, married Emmeline, widow of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Ulster and daughter of Walter de Rydeleford; and Nicholas, who was Bishop of Salisbury, 1291 to 1297, and directed that he be buried in the cathedral at the foot of his father's tomb. The daughters of William and Ela were Isabel who married William de Vescy; Ela, whose first husband was Thomas, Earl of Warwick, and her second was Sir Phillip Basset, Justiciar; Ida, said to have married first, Walter Fitz Robert and second, William de Beauchamp of Bedord; and the last daughter was Pernelle.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Salisbury), Vol. VXII, pp. 379-382

William married Ela de Salisbury, daughter of William de Salisbury Earl of Salisbury and Aliénor de Vitré Countess of Salisbury, in 1198 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England,.⁷²⁶ (Ela de Salisbury was born about 1191 in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England and died in 1261 in Lacock, Wiltshire, England ⁷²⁶.)