William Marshal, 1st earl of Pembroke, also called William the Marshal, (born c. 1146—died May 14, 1219, Caversham, Berkshire, Eng.), marshal and then regent of England who served four English monarchs as a royal adviser and agent and as a warrior of outstanding prowess.
Marshal’s father, John (FitzGilbert) the Marshal (d. 1165), fought for the empress Matilda(widow of the German emperor Henry V and daughter of Henry I of England) in her unsuccessful struggle to gain the throne of her cousin King Stephen (reigned 1135–54). After proving his bravery in warfare and in tournaments, Marshal became a guardian (1170) to Prince Henry, eldest son of King HenryII (reigned 1154–89). In 1187, four years after the prince’s death, Marshal reentered Henry II’s service and fought beside him in France until the king died in 1189.
Stone of Scone, also called Stone of Destiny, Scottish
Gaelic Lia Fail, stone that for centuries was associated with the crowning of
Scottish kings and then, in 1296, was taken to England and later placed under
the Coronation Chair. The stone, weighing 336 pounds (152 kg), is a rectangular
block of pale yellow sandstone (almost certainly of Scottish origin) measuring
26 inches (66 cm) by 16 inches (41 cm) by 11 inches (28 cm). A Latin cross is
its only decoration.
According to one Celtic legend, the stone was once the
pillow upon which the patriarch Jacob rested at Bethel when he beheld the
visions of angels. From the Holy Land it purportedly traveled to Egypt, Sicily,
and Spain and reached Ireland about 700 BCE to be set upon the hill of Tara,
where the ancient kings of Ireland were crowned. Thence it was taken by the
Celtic Scots who invaded and occupied Scotland. About 840 CE it was taken by
Kenneth MacAlpin to the village of Scone.
At Scone, historically, the stone came to be encased in the
seat of a royal coronation chair. John de Balliol was the last Scottish king
crowned on it, in 1292, before Edward I of England invaded Scotland in 1296 and
moved the stone (and other Scottish regalia) to London. There, at Westminster
Abbey in 1307, he had a special throne, called the Coronation Chair, built so
that the stone fitted under it. This was to be a symbol that kings of England
would be crowned as kings of Scotland also.
Attached to the stone in ancient times was allegedly a piece
of metal with a prophecy that Sir Walter Scott translated as
Unless the fates be
faulty grown
And prophet’s voice be
vain
Where’er is found this
sacred stone
The Scottish race
shall reign.
When Queen Elizabeth I died without issue in 1603, she was
succeeded by King James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England (or Great
Britain). James was crowned on the Stone of Scone, and patriotic Scots said
that the legend had been fulfilled, for a Scotsman then ruled where the Stone
of Scone was.
On Christmas morning 1950 the stone was stolen from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalists who took it back to Scotland. Four months later it was recovered and restored to the abbey. In 1996 the British government returned the stone to Scotland.
Feudalism, also called feudal system construct designating the social, economic, and political conditions in western Europe during the early Middle ages, the long stretch of time between the 5th and 12th centuries. Feudalism and the related term feudal system are labels invented long after the period to which they were applied. They refer to what those who invented them perceived as the most significant and distinctive characteristics of the early and central Middle Ages. The expressions féodalité and feudal system were coined by the beginning of the 17th century, and the English words feudality and feudalism (as well as feudal pyramid) were in use by the end of the 18th century.
Use of the terms associated with feudum to denote the essential characteristics of the early Middle Ages has invested the fief with exaggerated prominence and placed undue emphasis on the importance of a special mode of land tenure to the detriment of other, more significant aspects of social, economic, and political life.
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