The greatest knight : the remarkable life of William Marshal, the power behind five English thrones

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Title:

The greatest knight : the remarkable life of William Marshal, the power behind five English thrones

Author:

Asbridge, Thomas S., author.

ISBN:

9780062262059

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

xx, 444 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 24 cm

Contents:

Childhood & youth: becoming a knight -- Adulthood: a knight in service -- Middle age: a lord of the realm -- Old age: England's great magnate -- Epilogue.

Personal Subject:

Pembroke, William Marshal, Earl of, 1144?-1219.

Subject Term:

Knights and knighthood -- Great Britain -- Biography.

Regents -- Great Britain -- Biography.

Geographic Term:

Great Britain -- History -- Angevin period, 1154-1216.

Summary:

The story of the largely forgotten William Marshal Pembroke of the English medieval period, who, "as a five-year-old boy ... was sentenced to execution and led to the gallows, yet this landless younger son survived his brush with death, and went on to train as a medieval knight. Against all odds, [he] rose through the ranks--serving at the right hand of five English monarchs--to become a celebrated tournament champion, a baron and politician and, ultimately, regent of the realm"--Amazon.com.

As a five-year-old boy, William was sentenced to execution and led to the gallows, yet against all odds rose through the ranks-- serving at the right hand of five English monarchs-- to become a celebrated tournament champion, a baron and politician and, ultimately, regent of the realm. Marshal befriended the great figures of his day, from Richard the Lionheart and Eleanor of Aquitaine to the infamous King John, and helped to negotiate the terms of Magna Carta. By the age of seventy he was the most powerful man in England, yet he was forced to fight in the frontline of one final battle, striving to save the kingdom from French invasion in 1217.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	942.03 ASB	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A renowned scholar brings to life medieval England's most celebrated knight, William Marshal--providing an unprecedented and intimate view of this age and the legendary warrior class that shaped it.

Caught on the wrong side of an English civil war and condemned by his father to the gallows at age five, William Marshal defied all odds to become one of England's most celebrated knights. Thomas Asbridge's rousing narrative chronicles William's rise, using his life as a prism to view the origins, experiences, and influence of the knight in British history.

In William's day, the brutish realities of war and politics collided with romanticized myths about an Arthurian "golden age," giving rise to a new chivalric ideal. Asbridge details the training rituals, weaponry, and battle tactics of knighthood, and explores the codes of chivalry and courtliness that shaped their daily lives. These skills were essential to survive one of the most turbulent periods in English history--an era of striking transformation, as the West emerged from the Dark Ages.

A leading retainer of five English kings, Marshal served the great figures of this age, from Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard the Lionheart and his infamous brother John, and was involved in some of the most critical phases of medieval history, from the Magna Carta to the survival of the Angevin/Plantagenet dynasty. Asbridge introduces this storied knight to modern readers and places him firmly in the context of the majesty, passion, and bloody intrigue of the Middle Ages.

The Greatest Knight features 16 pages of black-and-white and color illustrations.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Respected medievalist Asbridge (The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land) investigates the life of William Marshal (1147-1219), thought by many to have been the model for the perfect chivalrous knight. Most of William's life comes from a highly colored biography commissioned by his family shortly after his death; Asbridge uses contemporary sources to flesh out the story and correct the panegyric. The strength of this work is the depiction of the early formation of the concept of knighthood and the unromantic life of a professional warrior. Asbridge also explains the political context of the time in a clear narrative. William, the younger son of a minor lord, grew wealthy and powerful through his military skill, but even more through his loyalty to the members of the family of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine-a rare feat, considering the Plantagenets' internecine battles. The story of William's maturation from a freelance fighter to a statesman who managed his property and became the guardian for the young Henry III includes daily life, as well as politics. It is not always clear, however, which anecdotes are drawn from the biography and which are better substantiated; the maddening absence of footnotes spoils an otherwise excellent book. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

Biography of William Marshal (1146-1219), Earl of Pembroke, the epitome of medieval chivalry, who battled for great kings (Henry II, Richard the Lionheart) and the not-so-great (Henry III).Marshal's reputation stems from a fulsome epic poem commissioned after his death ("In its pages William almost became the living embodiment of the mythical Arthurian knight, Lancelot"), which thrilled scholars when it turned up in 1861. Acknowledging its value as well as its biasit presented its hero "as the perfect knight"Asbridge (Medieval History/Univ. of London; The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land, 2010) delivers an intensively researched but lucid portrait of a knight who triumphed in an age much nastier than that of Arthur's mythical kingdom. Son of a minor noble, Marshal matured in a time when England still ruled much of France. After training in the household of a great Norman magnate, he distinguished himself in tournaments, which were exceedingly popular during the day. These were not the formal jousts that proliferated in later centuries but rather brutal battles between groups of knights whose winners ransomed surviving losers. After serving Eleanor of Aquitaine, Marshal joined the court of her estranged husband, Henry II, where he prospered, fought for but occasionally betrayed Henry and his successors, and ended life as England's most powerful royal retainer ("guardian of the realm"). Henry II passed much of his reign fighting the French, when he wasn't fighting one of three ambitious sons anxious to unseat him. Matters did not improve after Henry's death, so Marshal's career comes across as a relentless series of intrigues, battles, atrocities, truces quickly broken, internal revolts and treason that often included Marshal for reasons the author must guess because historical evidence is lacking. A valuable biography of an important figure in a distant, violent, barely comprehensible era. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

New York Review of Books Review

Medieval monarchs were a ruthless lot, but one exception seems to have been King Stephen, who ruled England during the civil wars of the 12 th century and spared the life of a young hostage whose father had organized an uprising. "Anyone who could ever allow him to die in such agony would certainly have a very cruel heart," Stephen remarked, and released the boy. Had he not done so, England would have been deprived of the life of William Marshal, who grew up to be what Chaucer would have called "a verray parfit, gentil knyght." Despite being a "landless younger son," he became an adviser and confidant to Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, as well as to their sons Henry, John and Richard. In his youth, Marshal was a champion jouster, a pilgrim to the Holy Land (where he fought against Saladin) and an honest broker between King John and his barons during the signing of Magna Carta. Marriage, in his 40s, to a 16-year-old heiress shored up his finances and those of his heirs. By anyone's standards, it was a successful life. By medieval standards, it was an ideal one. "In many respects, William Marshal was the archetypal medieval knight," observes Asbridge, reader of medieval history at Queen Mary University of London and the author of "The Crusades." "His qualities epitomized, perhaps even defined, those valued in late-12th- and early-13th-century Western European aristocratic culture." ROGER BOYLAN is the author of the novels "Killoyle," "The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad" and "The Adorations."

Library Journal Review

Starred Review. William Marshal (1147-1219), the subject of this title, will be unknown to most readers. However, the men he served are familiar: Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, and King John. The primary source material for this work is a 13th-century biography commissioned by Marshal's son; however, Asbridge (The Crusades) does not rely solely on this biased document and instead weaves a rich and elaborate tapestry from several contemporary accounts. It helps that Marshal knew and served no fewer than five anointed kings and that his movements can be traced through royal chronicles and official documents, including the Magna Carta. On one level, this is the story of how a second son with few prospects rose to the pinnacle of chivalry, later becoming the most powerful man in England. It is also a story about how medieval knighthood worked; the interlocking web of obligation and fealty, friendship and loyalty that created the fairy-tale world of Arthur and Lancelot. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of early tournaments and the origins of chivalry will be pleased. VERDICT This modern biography of Marshal will appeal to history buffs as well as fans of fiction set in the medieval period. [See Prepub Alert, 6/8/14.] Cate Hirschbiel, Iwasaki Lib., Emerson Coll., Boston (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Map of Medieval England	p. ix
Map of Medieval France	p. x
Map of Upper Normandy and Borders	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Part I Childhood & Youth: Becoming a Knight
1 A Time of Wolves	p. 3
2 The Path to Knighthood	p. 31
Part II Adulthood: A Knight in Service
3 A Warrior's Life	p. 61
4 The Man Who Would Be King	p. 85
5 Tournament Champions	p. 115
6 The Question of Loyalty	p. 140
Part III Middle Age: A Lord of the Realm
7 A King's Warrior	p. 175
8 Defender of the Realm	p. 205
9 Serving the Lionheart	p. 230
Part IV Old Age: England's Great Magnate
10 An Enemy of Nature	p. 259
11 A Lord in the West	p. 280
12 The Faltering Crown	p. 305
13 A Royal Reckoning	p. 336
14 The Guardian of the Realm	p. 343
Epilogue	p. 365
Chronology	p. 384
Cast of Characters	p. 386
Marshal Family Tree	p. 389
Anglo-Norman and Angevin Royal Houses	p. 390
End Notes	p. 393
Picture Credits	p. 424
Acknowledgements	p. 425
Index	p. 427

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Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

New York Review of Books Review

Library Journal Review

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