ABSTRACT
William was born around 1147 into the middle of a war: the civilwar between the supporters of Stephen and Mathilda that plagued England between 1139 and 1153. In a way, it was in warfare that he was conceived. John Marshal, his father, and Sybil of Salisbury, his mother, were married to seal a pact between Sybil’s brother Patrick, Earl of Salisbury, who was John’s rival for power in Wiltshire. 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.
