William Marshall

William Marshall was an English nobleman who became the riches men of his day by royal patronage and by marriage.

Marshall was the son of a prosperous minor baron. He never learned to read or write and started out life as the manager of a team of tournament fighters. He manage to won the patronage of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England (1154-1189) her young son Henry I and later that of Henry II. In return for his loyalty to the royal family, each of his royal patrons gave him land but it was the hand of Isobel, the heiress to Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, that brought the most wealth with it. By this marriage Marshall acquired large estates and claims in England, Wales, Normandy and Ireland.

Huge acreage on the Welsh borders, in Wales itself and in Ireland. Marshall became a baron by their marriage and his lands were confirmed to him in 1189 by Richard the Lion Heart, who had been unhorsed by Marshall in a tournament only the previous year.

By the time of his death in 1219, Marshall’s lands were worth about £15,000 when net national income was £1.3m. In 2010 his fortune would be around £12.7bn.