William Marshal A Great Knight Battle of Nottingham Castle 1194 Battle of Lincoln Castle 1217 William Marshal William was a tall, dark-eyed handsome man with well and straightly- made limbs, as good a height as any gentleman could have, and holding a code of honour as genuine as those of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Born in England in 1145 he spent most of his early life in Normandy though he always considered himself English. His grand- father served as a marshal at the court of Henry I, hence his name - a marshal is a subordinate of the constable who controls the lord's stables and horses. The office was hereditary but since William was the fourth son he succeeded to nothing and had to pay his own way in life by joining the tournament circuit. When only a boy, his father gave him to King Stephen as a hostage during Stephen's war with Empress Matilda and when the King threat- ened to hang the boy, William's father merely replied: 'The boy's life matters little to me for I possess the hammer and forge to produce another such - even finer.' When William wanted to play with the javelin of the knight escorting him to the gallows, swing on the very catapult by which they were going to project his dead body over the walls and asked what game the two armies were playing, King Stephen's heart melted and he treated William as if he was his own son. With peace restored, William was sent to his uncle in Normandy who held a powerful castle mustering nearly a hundred knights, and it was here, in this world of hunting, horses, cavalcades and manly sports, where he learned the art of fighting on horseback. He became a squire and some eight years later his uncle dubbed him a knight by striking his shoulders with a sword. The sword was William's only possession and with his apprenticeship over he now had to feed himself, so he set out to fight in the tournaments. Hero of the Tournaments Endowed with enthusiasm and an extraordinary skill at arms, he made himself the Hero of the Tournaments becoming the greatest soldier of his age - with the sole exception of King Richard. In his first tourney, William captured four and a half prisoners - he shared the fifth with a companion - and began to astonish everyone with his horsemanship and skill with weaponry. He was joined by Young Henry, eldest son of King Henry 11, and after two years had raised the English team to the front rank. In the next five years he captured hun- dreds of knights in tourneys. After one tournament, the ladies decided to present him with a large pike because he was the knight who had fought most worthily and after much searching they found him kneeling in the blacksmith's shop with his head on the anvil. William had received so many blows to his helmet, twisting it and bending it, that the blacksmith was trying to knock it back into shape. William learned that no knight could survive on his own; what he needed was the patronage of a wealthy household so he returned to England to join the household of his mother's brother, Patrick of Salis- bury. When King Henry II selected Patrick to escort Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine to Poitiers there began William's long allegiance to the An- gevin royal family. On their way to Poitiers, Queen Eleanor's party ran into trouble. Traveling through Normandy, the Lusignans struck from ambush, one of them stabbing Patrick of Salisbury in the back. An enraged William Marshal charged forward like a lion, attacking a dozen of the ambushers at once until a lance pierced his thigh and he fell wounded from his horse while Queen Eleanor was escorted to safety. The Lusignans then carried him off as a ransom prize, not bothering to dress his wounds. When Queen Eleanor learned of William's plight, she ransomed him back, fed him, and gave him money and arms, and from then on his allegiance to Queen Eleanor never wavered. When William's enemies accused him of sleeping with Young Henry's wife, daughter of King Louis of France and an admirer of William, he claimed trial by combat to prove his innocence. He offered to confront the three most valorous champions, one after the other; or alternatively, cut off any finger of his right hand and fight any one of his accusers. When King Henry refused his offer, William set off on a pilgrimage to Cologne to visit the relics of the Three Wise Men in the hope of being washed clean of all suspicion. Unfortunately Young Henry died of dysentery and on his deathbed bequeathed the cross he had taken as a crusader to William. 'Carry it to the Holy Sepulchre and pay my debt to God,' Henry pleaded, and so William did. Crusader After two years fighting in Syria with Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusa- lem, William returned home to join King Henry, who was fighting his two remaining sons Richard and John and it was during a skirmish in Normandy that William had his famous encounter with Richard. Hard on the heels of William's rearguard, Richard was suddenly confronted by William, who had turned and charged with lance leveled. Neither wore armour, since neither expected a fight, and Richard was at William's mercy. 'By God's legs, do not kill me, Marshal, for I am unarmed,' Richard pleaded. 'No, let the devil kill you, for I won't,' William answered and ran his lance through Richard's horse. When King Henry 11 died, William helped carry his body to the nearby Abbey of Fontevraud and at the funeral, the new King Richard told William: 'You are pardoned; I bear you no malice.' As the new King of England, Richard sent William back to England to free his mother Queen Eleanor from imprisonment; and since William was still a poor bachelor, he was also granted the hand of Isabel of Clare, heiress to the lordship of Leinster - a quarter of Ireland. When King Richard set sail for the Holy Land to wage war against Saladin in the Third Crusade, William Marshal did not join him as he had already made the journey to the Holy Lord to seek God's mercy - Richard probably wanted him to stay home as he trusted him alongside his mother Queen Eleanor though not his brother John. William helped to oversee King Richard's preparations for the crusade before beginning a new life as Lord of Striguil - a powerful baron on the Welsh March. It included the stone castles of Usk and Striguil, and Striguil itself became his main residence. His new wife Isabel gave birth to their first child named 'Young William' and both William and Isabel became patrons of Tintern Abbey of the Cistercian order. Battle of Nottingham Castle King Richard failed to take Jerusalem and came to an agreement with Saladin, but on his journey home he was imprisoned in Durnstein Castle and held to ransom for 150,000 marks by the Holy Roman Emperor King Henry. When the ransom was delivered by his mother Queen Mother Eleanor, King Richard was finally released. But his brother John had tried to convince everyone that King Richard was dead and had installed his troops in the castles of Wallingford, Windsor, Tickhill and Notting- ham. Whilst the castles of Wallingford and Windsor were handed over to Queen Eleanor, John retained Tickhill and Nottingham, their garrisons believing that King Richard was dead. Hugh, Bishop of Durham, was besieging Tickhill Castle but when the garrison sent out two knights to check and were told that King Richard had returned from imprisonment, and were also assured of their safety in life and limb - they surrendered. Nottingham Castle continued to stubbornly resist where the Earl of Huntingdon, brother of the King of Scotland, led the besiegers, stone throwers, siege machines, chains, shields, arrows, bolts and Greek fire that had all been brought up outside the castle for support. Castle Attack To attack Nottingham Castle, or any castle, was an awesome task. Since the south and west cliffs were 130 feet high, the defenders only had to defend the north and east and a close look at the Castle's fortifications would have shown that on these two sides the walls were very strong. Watch towers were regularly spaced ahead of the Castle wall putting any assailant well within range of the defenders' deadly arrows and missiles. This outer wall was 40 feet high and 15 feet thick at the bottom, stretching 100 yards either side of the Castle gate with surmounted battlements that were reinforced with six bastions at regular intervals. It would need a big siege engine to break through these walls. Alternatively, you could storm the Castle gate but you would need to first cross the outer stone bridge over the ravine and overcome the drawbridge, not forgetting that the Castle gate is flanked by two drum towers with slit windows for firing arrows as you attack. Forcing your way through the Castle gate is only the first step. At the top of the hill you would have to cross another bridge, followed by a moat with a drawbridge that has another gate for you to fight through before you reach the main stronghold. If by some miracle you have breached this gate you will face the impregnable keep. Built of squared stone 15 feet thick and cemented with mortar that sets like stone, the rectangular keep is four stories high with a tower at each corner and pilaster buttresses and there are no windows, only loop-holes through which defenders fire arrows at you.