Sir William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, called "The Protector", was a great historical figure, and one I'd be proud to claim as an ancestor. And maybe someday I'll find such a link, but it will be through his five daughters, and not any of his five sons (all five of them died without issue). I have an entry for Sir William Marshall in my file at WorldConnect http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=wtm2&op=GET&id=I90093 along with a bibliography of sources and info on his descendants. (The descendency list on WorldConnect takes 102 pages for him, to 10 gen) It seems Edward III was descended from all five of his daughters, so if you have a descent from him you get Sir William too. Bill Marshall [email protected] -----original message----- From: "William J. Marshall" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 10:41:08 -0500 To: [email protected] Subject: [MARSHALL] William Marshal Dear List, At the time of the death of Henry 1 in 1135 one John Fitz Gilbert was the marshal of his court. John had a son known as William Marshal that was a hero of tournaments and acquired much authority during the reign of Henry's sons, especially Richard. Marshal lost favor with King John during much of his reign, but King John finally realized his value and requested him to be the regent for his nine year old son, Henry 111. Marshal served as regent for Henry 111 from the death of King John until because of poor health he resigned in April of 1219 which was shortly before his death. As a practical matter he was the King of England during that period and did a good job of cleaning up the mess King John had left. Marshall left sons named William, Richard,Gilbert, Walter and Anselm in addition to five daughters. The four oldest daughters were well married. Jeanne was the only one not married at the time of his death. As surnames were just getting started about this time I suspect that many of the Marshalls now living are descendants of William Marshal or one of his brothers (he had a nephew John that was mentioned often as helping him and was present at the time of his death). My question to the list is whether any of you have traced your ancestry to this William Marshal or if you know of any list of his descendants. If any of you are interested in reading more about William Marshal there is a book by Sidney Painter called "William Marshal, Knight-Errant, Baron, & Regent of England" published by Barnes & Noble by arrangement with Johns Hopkins University Press. Very truly yours, William J. Marshall