ABSTRACT
William was born around 1147 into the middle of a war: the civil war between the supporters of Stephen and Matilda that plagued England between 1139 and 1153. Even William's name may have been a political stratagem. It recalled his mother's eldest brother, William of Salisbury. He had died three or four years before William Marshal was born. William never saw his father after his childhood, and would have not seen too much of him then, as his father toured his estates, discharged his office of marshal at Winchester and Westminster and frequented the courts of greater men. The Salisbury family, who were later to be so important in the life of William Marshal, were richer and more powerful than John, holding Salisbury Castle as hereditary castellans and sheriffs. The king's advisers wanted William hanged in front of the castle. It is difficult to know when William was reunited with his family.
