Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Longespée, William de (1212?-1250)
LONGESPÉE, LUNGESPÉE, LUNGESPEYE, LUNGESPERE, WILLIAM de, called Earl of Salisbury (1212?–1250), eldest son of William de Longespée (d. 1226) [q. v.], third earl of Salisbury, and his countess Ela, was probably born about 1212, for in June 1233 he received knighthood from Henry III in person at Gloucester, but did not receive his father's earldom either then or at any later time, though he is often described as Earl of Salisbury. The reason of this is unknown, except that he himself declared that the king withheld the title and its emoluments from him in consequence of some legal difficulty, and not from any displeasure, and that he received from the king a grant of sixty marks from the exchequer until such time as his claim should be decided (Annals of Tewkesbury, ap. Annales Monastici, i. 90; Matthew Paris, iv. 630; Third Report of the Lords on the Dignity of the Peerage, p. 139). In the autumn of 1233 he marched with the king against the Welsh and other allies of the earl-marshal, and lost all his baggage in the rout at Grosmont [see under Henry III]. He was chief commissioner of assize at Norwich in 1234. On 28 Jan. 1236 he was one of the witnesses to the confirmation of the Great Charter, and in the following June took the cross with the king's brother, Richard, earl of Cornwall. He was with the king at the council held at York in September 1237, and his name comes next after the English and Scottish earls who witnessed the agreement made there between Henry and Alexander II of Scotland (Fœdera, i. 234). In 1240 he accompanied Earl Richard of Cornwall on the crusade, staying some time in France and embarking at Marseilles in September [see under Richard, Earl of Cornwall]. They reached Acre on 8 Oct. and re-embarked there on 3 May 1241, arriving at Trepani on 1 July. After a long stay in Italy with the earl, William returned to England early in March 1242. He accompanied the king to Gascony, distinguished himself at the skirmish at Saintes in July, and remained with the king at Bordeaux, being put to great expense and incurring debt through the long residence of Henry in that city [see under Henry III].
Stirred by the example of Louis IX of France, William again took the cross in May 1247, and, being desirous of raising money from those who had taken the cross in England, obtained an interview with the pope (Innocent IV then residing at Lyons), at which he said that though his name was great and famous his substance was small, that the king had taken away his earldom (see above), and requested that he might raise money as Richard of Cornwall had done. Pleased with his eloquence and handsome figure, the pope granted his request in part (Matthew Paris, iv. 630), and he collected a thousand marks and more (ib. p. 636). He was the leader of the English crusaders, and in 1249, having received license from the king, and obtained the blessing of his mother, Ela, then abbess of Lacock [see under Longespée, William de, Earl of Salisbury], he set out in July at the head of a fine force of two hundred knights, having Robert de Vere as his standard-bearer. Louis, who was then at Damietta, received him graciously, but the French generally were hostile to him, and the king in vain urged on them the necessity of union. By good luck rather than valour he took a tower full of Saracen ladies and treasure. This caused his name to be much spoken of, and added to the jealousy with which the French regarded him. Again acting on his own account, he surprised and took with small loss a caravan of merchandise on its road to Alexandria, gaining a rich spoil of camels, mules, asses, spices, unguents, gold, and silver. The French crusaders, with the king's brother, Robert, count of Artois, at their head, seized his spoils, declaring that he had broken the rules of the expedition by making a foray on his own account, nor would they listen to his proposal to share the spoils with the whole army. On his complaining to the king Louis said that he was grieved but was unable to help him, and Robert of Artois insisted that he had broken the rules. Louis prayed him to put up with his loss rather than make a division in the army, but William declared that Louis was no king since he could not do right to his followers, and that he would serve him no more. So he marched off with his men and went to Acre, where he published his grievances and proposed to the Templars and Hospitallers to join him in making war without the French and with troops that he would send for from England. His wrath was further excited by hearing that when he marched away Robert of Artois said that the magnificent French army was the better for being cleansed of the men with tails, meaning the English.
While he was at Acre he received a letter from Louis urging him to return, and speaking of certain rumours of an impending success in which the king was desirous that he should share. He went back with his force, heard the king's hopes, and was reconciled to his enemies. When in February 1250 the crusading army crossed the Aschmun branch of the arm of the Nile that flows out by Damietta, by a ford near Mansourah, William, the Count of Artois, and the Templars, as soon as they had effected the passage, pressed forward and attacked the infidels without waiting for orders. They pushed the Saracens back, and rode through Mansourah after them, though they were almost overwhelmed by the stones cast at them in the town. Robert of Artois wished to press on, quarrelled with the masters of the Temple and the Hospital who urged a return to the main army, and when William interposed, recommending that the advice of the master of the Temple should be followed, grossly insulted him, saying that the English were cowards, and that the army would be well quit of tails and those who bore them. William answered that he would be that day (19 Feb.) where the count would not dare to touch his horse's tail. So they rode forward. The Saracens having been reinforced by the Baharites, or Mamelouks, surrounded them, and the count cried out to William to flee. To which William replied: ‘Please God, my father's son will not flee for any Saracen. I would rather die well than live ill.’ After bearing the brunt of the battle William was slain with many others. His mother is said as she sat in her stall at Lacock to have seen him enter heaven in full armour, and in England he was reckoned a martyr. Struck with his valour, the sultan had him buried, and afterwards reproached the Christians for leaving his tomb uncared for, though they asserted that a miraculous light shone above it. They obtained leave to remove his bones and reverently buried them in the church of the Holy Cross at Acre (Matthew Paris, v. 147–51, 166, 173, 342). A fine tomb on the north side of the nave of Salisbury Cathedral is attributed to him. William married Idonea, daughter and heiress of Richard de Camoille, and left a son named William who never bore the title of earl. This William was wounded at the tournament of Blyth, Nottinghamshire, on 4 June 1256, and died of his wounds the next year. He married Matilda, daughter of Walter de Clifford [see under ((sc|Walter de Clifford}}, d. 1190].
[Annales Monast., Tewkesbury, i. 90, 103, Worc. iv. 425; R. Wendover, iv. 279; M. Paris, iii. 253, 369, iv. 44, 140, 213, 630, 636, v. 76, 130 sqq., 142 and for death, &c. as above, for William his son ib. 557, 609, 612. Paris's account of the battle near Mansourah should be compared with those in Joinville's Hist. de S. Louis, the Lettre de J. P. Sarrasins, and the Extraits des Historiens Arabes in Collect. des Mémoires, i. 121, 122, 372, 373, 410, ed. Michaud, with L'Estoire de Eracles, xxxiv. c. 1, ap. Recueil des Hist. des Croisades, iv.; Hist. Occident. ii. 438, and with the Poème sur la Bataille de Mansourah, in Michel's Joinville, p. 327; Fœdera, i. 249, 253, 270 (Record ed.); Third Report on the Dignity of the Peerage, p. 139; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 176; Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 501–3; Doyle's Official Baronage, iii. 236.]