By Jack the Good Knight Who was the greatest knight who ever lived? According to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, it was William Marshal (1147-1219). His biography has Langton saying so at the funeral in 1219, and as the most senior churchman in England he wasn’t given to idle flattery. Over eight hundred years later and you'd be hard pressed to find a contender as strong as William Marshal. A Hostage at Five! William was born around 1147, the younger son of a minor

The Magna Carta explained - why it mattered and how a medieval document meant that no King could be above the law.