Cartmel Priory: William Marshal's Foundation Commemorating Henry the Young King
Recently I have been trying to gather as much information as possible about William Marshal's foundation at Cartmel, Cumbria. I mentioned it several times in my previous posts (because of its connection with the Young King), but today I would like to elaborate.
In 1537 when the Dessolution of Monasteries began, the monks of Cartmel Priory were expelled. The king's men removed all the assets and stripped the roof lead. However, the villagers petitioned the king, protesting that the priory was in fact their parish church. It was saved thanks to their determination but also thanks to the connection with its founder.
Before William Marshal brought Augustinian monks here to settle in 1189, the land was bequeathed to St Cuthbert in 674 by King Efgrith of Northumbria with the first church established and dedicated to St. Michael. Augustinian monks arrived here from Bradenstoke Priory, the burial place of the Earls of Salisbury (Marshal's maternal family) and their kin, including Marshal's parents, John FitzGilbert and his wife Sybilla (the younger sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury, Marshal's famous uncle killed in the king's service). Despite the fact, Marshal stated that the new house at Cartmel was to be completely independent of Bradenstoke. It was to remain a priory, never be promoted to an abbey. He, as a patron, had a formal right of choosing the prior.
Marshal was granted the land between Lake Windermere and Morecambe Bay in 1187. Together came the wardship of one of the king's wards, Heloise of Lancaster, the heiress of the barony of Kendal in Westmorland, which neighboured Cartmel to the east. It was not founded on his wife's lands and thus was his alone. When Cartmel was concerned he owed nothing to his wife's inheritance.
The foundation charter was attested by Robert of Berkley. The king himself was not present, but represented by his younger brother, John, who issued a confirmation as Lord of Lancaster. Others present were: Geoffrey fitz Peter; Marshal's cousin, the earl of Salisbury; Marshal's elder brother John, 'the king's marshal'; Philip of Prendergast, his wife's brother-in-law. Also nine of Marshal's knights, including John of Earley, and four of his clerks.Upon founding the priory Marshal was granted an altar in one of its chapels.
Marshal founded Cartmel 'for the widening of the field of the Holy Religion' and 'for the soul of the lord King Henry II, and for the soul of the Young King Henry my lord, and for the soul of King Richard; for my soul and the soul of my wife Isabel, and those of my ancestors and successors and our heirs'.
It is both noteworthy and moving whom Marshal called ''his lord''. In 1189 the Young King was six years dead, and since June 1183 Marshal served Henry II and Richard I respectively, still he wanted to commemorate the man by whose side his own career began. The Young King's ill-fated last campaign and his untimely death must have had a profound effect upon him and he took Jersualem road with the king's last words ringing in his ears:
'Marshal, Marshal, you have always been loyal to me, whole-hearted in your faithfullness. So I bequeath my cross to you, that you may bear it to the Holy Sepulchre on my behalf, to fulfill my vow to God.'
The History of William Marshal does not say much about Marshal's stay in the Outremner, but he undertook that long and perilous journey specifically to fulfill his lord's deathbed wish and he completed his mission by taking Henry's crusader's cloak to Jerusalem, to the Holy Sepulchre, where he left it. Prior to his departure he was given a hundred Angevin pounds by Henry II and was assured of the place in the royal household awaiting him upon his return.
His exact whereabouts in the Holy Land remain unknown. The author of The History tells about them in very general terms:
...And so it was that the Marshal left and was gone for two years. In Syria he peformed more feats of prowess, more acts of daring and largesse, more fine deeds than anyone else had achieved in seven! Their renown endures, and they'll continue to be recounted far and wide, in many a noble household. I refer to them only briefly becuse I wasn't there to witness them and have never found anyone who could tell me even the half of it - it's a big subject!
When he left the Holy Land he went to take his leave of King Guy and all the king's men and the Templars and the Hospitallers, all of whom loved him dearly for the great qualities they have found in him. They were very upset to see him go.
Upon his return he was welcomed back into King Henry's household (as promised) and given the afore-mentioned wardship. The further detail about his journey can be found in the last chapter of The History. In the long and moving description of the Marshal's fatal illness and death there is a mention about two lengths of silk he gave to one Stephen, most probably Stephen of Evreux for the safekeeping. In his own words he had these sheets for thirty years:
When I returned from Outremer I had them brought back with me to fulfill the purpose they're about to serve : I've kept them to be draped over me when I'm buried. That's their promised role.
Then further explanation follows, with Marshal reminiscing about the Holy Land again:
While I was in the Holy Land I committed my body, wherever I might be when I came to die, to burial in the Temple. That's my wish and that's where I lie; and I'll give the Temple my fine manor of Upleadon in perpetuity.
By the Temple he meant the Temple Church, London, the English headquarters of the Knights Templar. Upleadon (north-west of Gloucester) had been aquired by Marshal's father John in the 1150s. No further information has been provided about his connections with the Holy Land where he found himself on behalf of his late lord, Henry the Young King.
As for Cartmel, in 1199 he transfered to the priory a church and village in Leinster, but apart from this few contacts between him and the house have been recorded, which is understandable considering how remote it was from his centres of interest.
Katarzyna Ogrodnik-Fujcik
For further reading:
The History of William Marshal; David Crouch, William Marshal: Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire 1147-1219; Matthew Strickland, Henry the Young King 1155-1183; Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225
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