he built and endowed a hospital for the sick and poor at Tenby (cf. Cal. Papal Letters, 1198–1304, p. 503).
Valence was equally grasping in other directions than in Wales. William de Munchensi, who had soon got back his lands, died in 1289, whereupon Valence and his wife contested the legitimacy of Dionysia, his daughter and heiress, and obtained a papal bull to set aside her rights. The bishop of Worcester, however, pronounced her legitimate, and Edward was irritated at his uncle's unblushing attempt to make the pope's authority override not only the episcopal but also the royal jurisdiction. William and Joan got nothing by their action (Rot. Parl. i. 16, 38); but William received numerous grants, including, on 11 Nov. 1275, the custody of the heirs of Roger de Somery, on the condition of paying some of the king's debts (Deputy Keeper of Publ. Rec. 44th Rep. p. 277, 45th Rep. p. 345).
William was one of Edward I's council, and repeatedly took an important part in carrying out his policy in Aquitaine. When Edward intervened in 1273 in favour of the commune of Limoges in its war against its viscountess, William on 3 Sept. went to Limoges and received the citizens' fealty to his uncle (Langlois, Philippe le Hardi, p. 75). Returning to England, he again visited Aquitaine in 1274, receiving protection for that purpose on 15 May (Deputy Keeper of Publ. Rec. 43rd Rep. p. 551). He reached Limoges on 7 July (Langlois, p. 88), and on 14 July besieged the viscountess's castle of Aixe (‘Majus Chron. Lemoviciense’ in Bouquet, xxi. 781, 784). He was also ready to fight a duel on behalf of Edward against Gaston of Béarn (ib. p. 784). On 11 Jan. 1275 he again received letters of protection as ‘about to go beyond sea on the king's business’ (Deputy Keeper of Publ. Rec. 44th Rep. p. 277). When the treaty of Amiens of 1279 ceded the Agenais with certain rights over the Quercy, and the Limousin to Edward, William was appointed his nephew's agent to take over the ceded districts (Fœdera, i. 574). The Agenais was actually transferred to him on 7 Aug. (Langlois, p. 434). He acted as seneschal of that district for some time. His work in this capacity is commemorated by the new bastide of Valence d'Agen, which probably owes its foundation and certainly its name to him (Curie Sembres, Essai sur les Bastides, p. 238; Edward issued statutes for it in 1283, Fœdera, i. 635). The Aquitanian castle of Limousin, a few miles north of Agen, is another memorial of the family (Audrieu, Histoire de l'Agenais, i. 103–4).
In the latter part of 1279 William was sent ambassador to Alfonso of Castile to persuade that king to join in the peace with France (Fœdera, i. 576). William's later protections on going abroad are dated 10 Oct. 1283, 21 April 1286 (when he accompanied Edward), 21 Nov. (on going to Gascony with the king), 20 Sept. 1287 (protection renewed on staying beyond seas), and 29 Jan. 1289 (then on his way to join the king) (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1281–92, pp. 82, 233, 251, 252, 261, 277, 311).
From September to November 1289 William was one of the negotiators of the treaty of Salisbury with the Scots (Hist. Doc. Scotl. i. 107). In 1291 and 1292 he was on the border busied with the great suit as to the Scottish succession (Fœdera, i. 766–7; Rishanger, pp. 253, 255, 260). In 1294 he was sent to South Wales with Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, to assist in putting down the Welsh revolt (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1292–1301, p. 126). His last parliamentary summons was on 27 Nov. 1295 (Parl. Writs, i. 879).
On 26 Dec. 1295 William and a large number of his followers received letters of protection for a year on going beyond sea (ib. pp. 177–9). He was despatched once more to Gascony, where Edward's affairs had now become desperate. He died at Bayonne on 13 June. His remains were transported to England and buried in Westminster Abbey between the south ambulatory and the chapel of St. Edmund, where his monument still remains. It is an altar tomb under a canopy, bearing a recumbent wooden effigy, covered with copper gilt, with arms and ornaments in Limoges enamel. The head is figured in Doyle (iii. 8). The inscription, given in Gough's ‘Sepulchral Monuments’ (i. 75), attributes to him virtues hardly suggested by his career.
His widow, Joan of Pembroke, died in 1307. She held until her death Pembroke and its dependencies, Goderich and Wexford (Cal. Inq. post mortem, i. 228–9). Their sons were: 1. John, who died in 1277, and was buried at Westminster (Flores Hist. iii. 49). 2. William, who was slain on 17 July 1282 by the Welsh near Llandeilovawr. 3. Aymer (d. 1324) [q. v.], who succeeded them. Their daughters were: 1. Margaret, who died in 1276, and was buried at Westminster. 2. Agnes, who married (a) Maurice Fitzgerald (d. 1268) [see under Fitzgerald, Maurice, 1194?–1257]; (b) Hugh de Baliol; (c) John of Avesnes; she died about 1310. 3. Isabel, who married John de Hastings (1262–1313), through which marriage the Hastings family ultimately acquired the
