Ela became the Countess of Salisbury when she was orphaned by the death of her father, the
2nd Earl of Salisbury. Not
only did she become a ward of King Richard I
('the Lionheart'). Her principal property was the extensive manor of
Canford Magna in
Dorset.
The young Ela was in Normandy and three years elapsed before a knight found here there and brought her to England
to ask the king for her hand in marriage when she came of age. Richard the first had other plans for Ela and decreed
that she should wed his own half-brother and son of Henry II, William Longsword. By all accounts, the couple's
marriage was a happy one and they had four sons and four daughters.
By the marriage, Longsword became the 3rd Earl of Salisbury, Sherriff of Wiltshire,
and took over Ela's duties and property. He served served three monarchs; Richard I, King John and Henry III,
his duties frequently keeping him away from
Canford Magna.
Richard I died the year after arranging the marriage. In King John's reign, the earl was one of the nobles who
advised the monarch to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 and put his own hand to it as a
witness.
|
The five foundations stones were laid in 1220 when Salisbury Cathedral was being built;
the bishop laid the first
stone for the Pope, another for Stephen Langton and a third for himself. The earl and countess laid the other two.
| |
The Earl lead an exciting life in the service of three monarchs but 1224 proved to be the most trying time for him.
he spent two years warring in France and it was known that he was setting sail for England and home when all news
of the Earl ceased. Only Ela, his devoted wife, never abandoned hope of seeing the Earl again as suitors gathered
around what they assumed was the rich widow. Hubert the burgh even proposed her marriage to his nephew.
Suffering from the hardships of shipwreck, the Earl of Salisbury did return to England just before the first
service of dedication was to take place at the cathedral whose foundation stones he had laid with his countess. The
King and Hubert de Burgh were to attend the service and the Earl went as well. Hubert de Burgh and the Earl
quarrelled but reconcilliation soon followed and de Burgh invited the Earl to a banquet.
It was shortly after the banquet that William, 3rd Erl of Salisbury died. The gossip of
the time suggested De Burgh's complicity in the earl's death but appears to be unfounded; it is likely that the earl
died from weakness after his exposure and the excitement of his homecomming. The earl of salisbury was the first
person to be buried in the new cathedral at salisbury.
|
The first photograph was taken at Lacock -
through one of its windows.
|
Lady Ela
stayed at Canford Magna until her eldest
son came of age when she retired to a convent. She established a priory in
Hinton Charterhouse,
Somerset, and founded Lacock Abbey
in Wiltshire six years after the earl's death.
She became its first Abbess, lived, died and was buried there in 1261 - 35 years after the death of her husband.
