Ela of Salisbury

Ela of Salisbury (actually Ela, suo jure Countess of Salisbury ) (* around 1190, † August 24, 1261 in Lacock Abbey ) was an English noblewoman and abbess.

origin

Ela was the daughter of William, 2nd Earl of Salisbury and his wife Eleanor de Vitré . When her father died in 1196, she inherited his possessions and the title of Earl of Salisbury . King Richard the Lionheart married the child in the same year to his half-brother William (I) Longespée , who thereby became Earl of Salisbury.

Wife of William Longespée

Little is known about her life as the wife of William Longespée. According to the tradition of William the Breton , King John Ohneland is said to have seduced them when Salisbury was in French captivity from 1214 to 1215. However, this story is unlikely. In 1220 she and her husband laid the fourth and fifth corner stones for Salisbury Cathedral . When her husband allegedly drowned on the return journey from France in 1225, a nephew of the Justiciar Hubert de Burgh urged her to marry, which she refused. In fact, her husband returned to Salisbury sick in January 1226 and died there on March 7, 1226. As Ela's eldest son was still a minor, she paid homage to King Henry III twelve days later . , however, had to hand Salisbury Castle over to the king. She served as sheriff of Wiltshire from 1227 to 1228 and from 1231 to 1237 , an office previously held by her grandfather, father and husband. She then claimed the inheritance of this office, but this was rejected by the royal court.

Later life and religious foundations

Ela was already considered pious and charitable as a wife. Her husband founded a Charterhouse in Hatherop in Gloucestershire in 1222 . However, the monks considered the place and the foundations inadequate and turned to Ela, who moved the monastery to Hinton , Somerset and expanded the foundations. She herself founded an Augustinian priory in Lacock in Wiltshire in 1230 . In 1237 she entered this monastery herself. In 1239 the priory was elevated to an abbey and Ela became the first abbess. She resigned from this office twenty years later. She was buried in Lacock Abbey.

progeny

With William Longespée, Ela had four sons and four daughters:

• William (II) Longespée (around 1209–1250)
• Richard, canon at Salisbury
• Stephen Longespée (1216–1260), Seneschal of Gascony and Justiciar of Ireland
• Nicholas Longespée († 1297), Bishop of Salisbury
• Isabel ∞ William de Vesci
• Petronilla
• Ela († 1298)

1. ∞ Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick
2. ∞ Philip Basset

• Ida

1. ∞ Walter Fitzrobert
2. ∞ William de Beauchamp, Lord of Bedford

Ela survived her eldest son and her eldest grandson. When she died, her great-granddaughter Margaret Longespée inherited her possessions and the title. Margaret was married in 1257 to Henry de Lacy , heir to the Earl of Lincoln.

Web links

• Jennifer C. Ward: Ela, suo jure countess of Salisbury (b. In or after 1190, d. 1261). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthew Strickland: Longespée, William (I), third earl of Salisbury (b. In or before 1167, d. 1226). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
William of Salisbury	Countess of Salisbury (suo jure) 1196-1261	Margaret Longespée