William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: Williame li Mareschal, French: Guillaume le Maréchal), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman during High Medieval England who served five English kings—Henry II and his son and co-ruler Young Henry, Richard I, John, and Henry III—as a royal adviser and agent and as a warrior of outstanding prowess.

Knighted in 1166, William spent his younger years as a successful competitor in military tournaments; 13th century chronicler Stephen Langton eulogises him as the "best knight that ever lived." In 1189, he became earl of Pembroke through his marriage to Isabel de Clare, whose parents were Aoife MacMurrough and Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. The title of earl was not officially granted until 1199 and is considered to be the second creation of the Pembroke earldom. In 1216 upon the death of King John, William was appointed protector for John's nine-year-old Henry III and rector regis et regni (Latin for "governor of the king and of the kingdom"). Just before his death, William fulfilled a promise he said he made in his youth while on crusade by taking vows as a Knight Templar, and was buried in the Temple Church in London.

Before William, his father's family held a hereditary title of Marshal to the King, which by his father's time had become recognised as a chief or master marshalcy, involving management over other marshals and functionaries. William became known as "the Marshal", although by his time much of the function was delegated to more specialised representatives (as happened with other functions in the king's household). Because he was an earl, and also known as the marshal, the term "earl marshal" was commonly used, and this later became an established hereditary title in the English peerage.

William's father, John Marshal, supported King Stephen when Stephen took the throne in 1135, but in about 1139 John changed sides to support the rival claimant Empress Matilda in her war of succession against Stephen, which led to the collapse of England into a 15-year civil war known as "the Anarchy". When Stephen besieged Newbury Castle in 1152, according to William's biographer, he used the young William as a hostage to ensure that John kept his promise to surrender the castle. John, however, used the time allotted to reinforce the castle and to alert Matilda's forces. When Stephen ordered John to surrender, threatening that William would be hanged, John replied that he should go ahead, saying, "I still have the hammer and the anvil with which to forge still more and better sons!"

Subsequently, a pretence was made to launch William from a pierrière (a type of trebuchet) towards the castle, but Stephen could not bring himself to harm young William. William remained a crown hostage for many months and was released following the peace resulting from the terms agreed at Winchester on 6 November 1153, by which the civil war was ended.

As a younger son of a minor nobleman, William had no lands or fortune to inherit and had to make his own way in life. Around age 12, when his father's career was faltering, he was sent to the Château de Tancarville in Normandy to be brought up in the household of William de Tancarville, a great magnate and cousin of William's mother. Here he began his training as a knight. This would have included biblical stories, Latin prayers, and exposure to French romance literature to confer precepts of chivalry upon the future knight. In Tancarville's household he is also likely to have learned practical lessons in the politics of courtly life. According to his 13th-century biography, L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal, Marshal had enemies at Tancarville's court who plotted against him—presumably men threatened by his close relationship with the magnate.

In 1166, William was knighted on campaign in Upper Normandy, which was invaded from Flanders. His first experience in battle received mixed reviews. According to L'Histoire, everyone who witnessed William in combat agreed that he had acquitted himself well. However, as medieval historian David Crouch remarks, "War in the twelfth century was not fought wholly for honour. Profit was there to be made..." In this regard William was not so successful, as he was unable to translate his combat victories into profit from either ransom or seized booty. L'Histoire relates that the earl of Essex, expecting the customary tribute from his valorous knight after the battle, jokingly remarked: "Oh? But Marshal, what are you saying? You had forty or sixty of them—yet you refuse me so small a thing!"

In 1167, William was sponsored by William de Tancarville in his first tournament, where he found his true calling and began to develop skills that later made him a tournament champion.