English and Scottish Family Haunts

 

A Closer Look at Salisbury Cathedral and William Longespee

The Cathedral

Building of The Salisbury Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary began in 1220.  Its foundation stones are Jurassic Limestone.⁽³⁾  Its architecture is Early English Gothic. The quire, transepts and nave were finished in 1258 and the ornate west front in 1265. On completion the gallery stretched 135 meters.⁽³⁾  

 

The 55 meter - 6500 ton spire, the tallest in England and second tallest in Europe,begun in 1297, sits above a 68 meter tower.  The spire supported by four 6 foot pillars leans 29.5 inches to the south-west. ^(2,3)

 

"The Chapter House is one of the largest Cloisters in this country, contains the best surviving copy (1215) of the Magna Carta in the world and a unique medieval carved frieze telling the story of Genesis and Exodus - from God creating light to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments." ^(3,5)

 

William Longespee and His Wife Ela

Instrumental in the building of Salisbury Cathedral were our ancestors William Longespee, half brother of King John and his wife the Lady Ela, Countess of Salisbury. William, the illegimate son of Henry II, was the earliest
known instance in English heraldry as bearer of the six lioncels (marks of illegimancy or difference).  ⁽⁶⁾

 

Ela, born in Amesbury in 1188, was married to William at the age of eight.⁽⁷⁾  She was the only child of William le Ewrus. "Her grandfather, Patrick, constable of Salisbury, had large estates in Wiltshire, including Chitterne, and was created Earl of Salisbury in 1149 by Queen Matilda whose steward of the household he was." ⁽⁷⁾  "Ela had the distinction of being the only female Sheriff that Wiltshire has had." ⁽⁹⁾

 

William was the Lord of the Canford Manor estate and was regularly visited by his half brother who came to hunt Red Deer on the Canford estate. In 1202 William was instrumental in the signing of the treaty with the King of Navarre. In 1204 he was charged with escorting Llewelyn of Wales to his brother King John at Worcester. William served as Marshall of the King of England in 1214,  was one of the Barons who led the revolt against King John and present at the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.

 

Longespee died in 1226. His tomb, the first to be placed in the Cathedral, lies in in the South arcade of the Nave of Salisbury Cathedral.⁽¹⁾  There is also a full length effigy of this knight in full chain armour. William's son and wife are also entombed there. Ela and William were the parents of 8 children.

William died in mysterious circumstances on 7^th March 1226 at the age of 57. After three months in France he returned to find that Herbert de Burge had tried to obtain the hand of Ela for his nephew.  William was furious and went to visit King Henry III who made peace between the two men.  After dining with Herbert William fell ill and died.  Later a dead rat, discovered in his tomb, was dissected and found to have died from arsenic poisoning ⁽²⁾

After William's death Lady Ela founded the Lacock abbey three miles south of Chipeham in 1232 as an Augustinian Nunnery, in memory of her husband. "She built the Abbey on Snaylesmede Meadow, part of her Lacock estate. The Abbey was dedicated to St Bernard and the Virgin Mary and built of Haslebury stone from a quarry near Box, a village famous for its railway tunnel and situated six miles west of Lacock. The Abbey was occupied by a Prioress and fifteen nuns. Ela joined in 1238 and became Lacock Abbey's first Abbess." ⁽⁹⁾

 

References and Places for further Research:

1. http://www.welcometopoole.co.uk/history/story2.htm

2. http://hometown.aol.com/stmaryshrewton/Longespee.htm

3. Salisbury Cathedral, Pitkin Guide

4. http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/John_Wilkes/Sarum/research-96-12.html

5. http://www.cathedrals.org.uk/entries/98pa0027.html

6. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/2538/gloss.htm

7. http://www.round-house.demon.co.uk/history/

8. http://www.wiltshire-web.co.uk/history/hindex1.htm

9. http://www.counties.co.uk/regional/west/wiltshire/chippenham/lacock_abbey.html