In 1196, very soon after her father died and while she was still a young child, Richard I gave her in marriage to his half-brother William Longespée.[1][2][3][4] They had the following children:
William, who died before his mother and therefore never legally assumed the title of Earl of Salisbury.[4][5][6] He married Idoine de Camville [6]
Mary, who married an unknown husband in about September 1227. [12]
Isabel, who married Sir William de Vescy.[4][13] She was buried at Alnwick Abbey, Northumberland, England.[13]
Ela, who had two husbands - Thomas Warwick, 6th Earl of Warwick, and second, Philip Basset.[4][14]
Another Ida, who married Sir Walter Fitz Robert[4], son and heir of Magna Charta Surety Sir Robert Fitz Walter[6]
Widowhood
Ela's husband William Longespée died in March 1226, and she was required to surrender Salisbury Castle.[1] She was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1227-1228 and 1231-1235.[15][16]
In 1229 she founded Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, becoming a nun herself in 1238, and was Abbess from 1240 to 1257[1] when she resigned.[1][3]
Death and burial
Ela died on 24 August 1261 and was buried at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.[1] Her tomb was originally in the choir of the Abbey church, but the church has since been demolished and it is now in the cloister walk. The memorial inscription can be translated: "Below lie buried the bones of the venerable Ela, who gave this sacred house as a home for the nuns. She also lived here as holy abbess and Countess of Salisbury, full of good works."[17][18]
Research Notes
Birth Date
The sources cited above suggest a likely birth date of around 1190 or 1191. Wikipedia gives a date of 1187, with no source.[17] Marriage at age 6 would not have been that unusual for an heiress of this rank whose father had died.
Children
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that William Longespée and Ela, Countess of Salisbury had only four daughters, giving only one Ida, whose husbands are stated to be Walter FitzRobert and William de Beauchamp.[3][4]
Ela's entry in Wikipedia[17] (as accessed on 29 June 2019) gives two daughters, Petronilla and Pernel, but they are almost certainly one and the same person. Petronella is a Latin form of Pernel, and the Wikipedia entry for her husband just lists Pernel.[19] Wikipedia also states that some genealogists think the second daughter Ida (wife of Walter FitzRobert) was a granddaughter.[17][20]
Some trees on the internet give a further daughter, Lora, said to have been a nun at Lacock Abbey.[21] This suggestion appears in T C Banks's The Dormant and Extinct Baronage of England (1809).[22] The book Annals and Antiquities of Lacock Abbey suggests that Lora was a granddaughter.[23]
Sources
↑ 1.01.11.21.31.41.51.61.7 G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, new edition, volume XI, St Catherine Press 1949, pp. 379-82 SALISBURY III
↑ 2.02.12.22.32.4 Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013, Vol. III pp. 599-610. See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry
↑ 3.03.13.23.33.43.53.63.7Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - 'Ela, suo jure countess of Salisbury', print and online 2004
↑ 4.04.14.24.34.44.54.64.74.84.9Oxford Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: 'Longespée [Lungespée], William, third earl of Salisbury', 2004, revised online 2010
↑ G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, new edition, volume XI, St Catherine Press 1949, p. 384
↑ 6.06.16.2 Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013. See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, page 610 #6
↑ T C Banks. The Dormant and Extinct Baronage of England, Vol. III, London, 1809, p. 646, Google Books
↑ William Lisle Bowles and John Gough Nichols. Annals and Antiquities of Lacock Abbey, pub. John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London, 1835, p. 160, footnote 1, Internet Archive
Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013, Vol. III pp. 599-610. See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry
Cokayne, G E. Complete Peerage, new edition, volume XI, St Catherine Press 1949, pp. 379-82 SALISBURY III
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - 'Ela, suo jure countess of Salisbury', print and online 2004, available online via some libraries
List of sheriffs for England and Wales,from the earliest times to A.D. 1831,compiled from documents in the Public Record Office. New York,Kraus Reprint Corp.; Great Britain. Public Record Office, 1963 Publisher, New York, Kraus Reprint Corp. Page 152.[1]
Ela is listed as sheriff of Wiltshire for the years 1227, 1231, and 1236.
FITZ WILLIAM ELA Wife of William I de Longespee, daughter of William fitzPatrick earl of Salisbury
[CFR HIII] No date [October] 1229. Ela, countess of Salisbury, has made fine with the king, for herself and her son, for 200 marks so that she is to be quit of her service at this passage of the king, and for having her scutage from the knight’s fee she holds of the king in chief.
[CFR HIII] No date [April] 1231 Ela, countess of Salisbury , has made fine with the king by 200 marks for having custody of the county of Wiltshire and the castle of Salisbury for life, as is more fully contained in the Patent Roll, of which she is to render 100 marks to the king at the Exchequer at St. John the Baptist in the fifteenth year, 50 m. at Michaelmas in the same year, and 50 marks at Easter next following in the sixteenth year.
[CFR HIII] 18 August 1233 Worcester. Order to the sheriff of Oxfordshire to cause the executors of the testament of Eleanor, countess of Salisbury, to have the chattels and stock that she had in the manor of Wootton, which has been taken into the king’s hand, for the execution of the testament, saving to the king alone the corn.
Marriage at about 6 would not have been that unusual for an heiress of this rank whose father had died, and most sources agree that she was probably born in about 1190 or 1191. I have amended the birth date. The main exception is Wikipedia which does not give a source for its suggested birth date of 1187. More generally, I have done a major rewrite of the profile, adding information, a list of children, research notes, and sources.
Bob, Thank you for posting "A Song for Ela." I appreciate all the work you have done to research and add to our family tree, not just names, but information. I am proud to have such a strong and honorable woman as part of my heritage. Thank you for your diligence and determined effort.
A life so young left suddenly alone
you were swept away to a castle in Normandy
your suitors awaiting your passage from childhood
to acquire the wealth and heritage passed to thee
One knight on a quest from the King
disguised as a minstrel in search of a maiden
sang from castle to castle until his song
touched the heart of the young Countess still hidden
In the still of the night you were spirited away
brought home to Englands green land
one brave knight, his journey behind
presented the Countess of Salisbury to the King with his hand
You were betrothed by King Richard to William
while you awaited your coming of age.
with the love of one, and the help of many
you look to the future your passion will engage
William was a soldier who fought for his King
away on campaigns defending honor and home
you remained always faithful waiting his return
repelling suitors that sought your wealth, thou left alone
You built an abbey as a home for the nuns
secured by your heritage and your passion for life
you spent your last days there as Holy Abbess
full of good works free from worry and strife
The abbey still stands, the cloisters magnificent
sheep still graze on pastures still whole
the Countess of Salisbury still lives in our hearts
especially in those that carry a piece of your soul
[CFR HIII] No date [October] 1229. Ela, countess of Salisbury, has made fine with the king, for herself and her son, for 200 marks so that she is to be quit of her service at this passage of the king, and for having her scutage from the knight’s fee she holds of the king in chief.
[CFR HIII] No date [April] 1231 Ela, countess of Salisbury , has made fine with the king by 200 marks for having custody of the county of Wiltshire and the castle of Salisbury for life, as is more fully contained in the Patent Roll, of which she is to render 100 marks to the king at the Exchequer at St. John the Baptist in the fifteenth year, 50 m. at Michaelmas in the same year, and 50 marks at Easter next following in the sixteenth year.
[CFR HIII] 18 August 1233 Worcester. Order to the sheriff of Oxfordshire to cause the executors of the testament of Eleanor, countess of Salisbury, to have the chattels and stock that she had in the manor of Wootton, which has been taken into the king’s hand, for the execution of the testament, saving to the king alone the corn.
A life so young left suddenly alone you were swept away to a castle in Normandy your suitors awaiting your passage from childhood to acquire the wealth and heritage passed to thee
One knight on a quest from the King disguised as a minstrel in search of a maiden sang from castle to castle until his song touched the heart of the young Countess still hidden
In the still of the night you were spirited away brought home to Englands green land one brave knight, his journey behind presented the Countess of Salisbury to the King with his hand
You were betrothed by King Richard to William while you awaited your coming of age. with the love of one, and the help of many you look to the future your passion will engage
William was a soldier who fought for his King away on campaigns defending honor and home you remained always faithful waiting his return repelling suitors that sought your wealth, thou left alone
You built an abbey as a home for the nuns secured by your heritage and your passion for life you spent your last days there as Holy Abbess full of good works free from worry and strife
The abbey still stands, the cloisters magnificent sheep still graze on pastures still whole the Countess of Salisbury still lives in our hearts especially in those that carry a piece of your soul
Robert Warren Jones