William Marshal: The Greatest Knight Who Ever Lived?

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 nobleman with little prospect of land or wealth, but his life prospects seemed even more grim when he turned five. His early life contained the kind of detail that would not be out of place in a children's adventure story...

Aged five he was handed to King Stephen as a hostage during a siege at Newbury Castle. His father then broke his word and held the castle, and Stephen threatened to kill the boy. His father reportedly replied that he still had the hammer and anvil to make better sons. Stephen spared him. It is true that William's father did not win many awards for his parenting style.

William grew up, trained as a knight in Normandy and turned out to be very good at it. Around 1166, he entered the brutal yet lucrative world of medieval tournaments, essentially staged, full-scale battles fought for ransom and glory.

The Tournament Years

Medieval tournaments weren’t polite jousting contests. They were sprawling mock battles fought across open country, where knights tried to capture opponents and claim their horses, armour and ransoms. According to his biography, William captured around 500 knights over his career, and in one ten-month stretch he and a partner took 103 between them.

That’s 500 knights captured, not 500 tournaments won, but for a younger son with no inheritance it was an absolute fortune. It was also said that he never lost in single combat. If ever a knight could be described as formidable it was William Marshal.

Five Kings

He served Henry II, Henry’s eldest son the Young King Henry (crowned in his father’s lifetime but never ruling alone), Richard the Lionheart, King John and finally the boy Henry III. It wasn’t smooth. There were rebellions, family feuds and a spell out of favour at court.

Here's one of the incredible moments in history, where Marshal spared the life of a young Richard the Lionheart before he became king. During a skirmish in northern France near Le Mans, William unhorsed Richard in single combat (who at the time was leading a rebellion against his dad, King Henry II). Now instead of running Richard through with his sword, William struck and killed Richard’s horse beneath him to make a point that he had the prince completely at his mercy.

Saving England at seventy

His greatest test came late. When King John died in October 1216, he left a nine-year-old heir and a kingdom in civil war. Rebel barons had invited Prince Louis of France to take the throne, and Louis held London and much of the south-east.

Marshal, then about seventy, was chosen as regent and protector of the realm. According to his biography he hesitated, pleading his age, before accepting. He reissued Magna Carta in the young king’s name to win the barons back, and in May 1217 he led the royal army at the Battle of Lincoln,

and personally led a decisive and aggressive cavalry charge into the narrow, fortified streets of Lincoln to defeat the French and rebel army and secured the throne for Henry III.

The Knights Templar

Marshal died in May 1219, aged about seventy-two from a stomach ulcer. He had joined the Knights Templar on his deathbed and was buried in the Temple Church in London, where his effigy can still be seen today. It is really worth a trip.

Was he really the greatest?

It’s impossible to say. He was ambitious, shrewd with money and not always gentle, and much of what we know comes from a biography commissioned by his own son, so it was never going to be unfriendly.

But the career is real. Historians appear to collectively agree that all of the tournament victory claims were all real. William Marshal's story is something truly remarkable. A younger son with nothing became Earl of Pembroke, served five kings and, close to seventy, was the man the kingdom turned to when it was close to collapse.

What stands out to me is how he behaved when people depended on him. Perhaps Langton had a point. I for one am going to back William Marshal's claim for being the greatest knight, after all, it’s choosing what’s right that sets a good knight apart!

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