Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 34.djvu/124

Longespée  bishop of Salisbury (d. 1297), and four daughters, Isabella married to William de Vesey, Petronilla died unmarried, Ela, married first Thomas, earl of Warwick (d. 1242), and secondly Philip Basset, and Ida married first Walter FitzRobert, and secondly William de Beauchamp. 

LONGESPÉE, LUNGESPÉE, LUNGESPEYE, LUNGESPERE, WILLIAM, called (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;, 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 ]. 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 ]. 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 ].

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 (, 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 ], 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