William Marshal (1st Earl of Pembroke)

William Marshal (c. 1146–1219), 1st Earl of Pembroke, was hailed by the Archbishop of Canterbury at his funeral as 'the greatest knight that ever lived'. Beginning life as a landless younger son who was nearly hanged as a child hostage during the Anarchy, he rose to universal fame on the European tournament circuit, remaining undefeated in hundreds of jousts.

Marshal served five successive English monarchs: Henry II, the Young King Henry, Richard the Lionheart, King John, and Henry III. A paragon of knightly loyalty, he unhorsed Richard the Lionheart in battle yet spared his life, served as chief mediator between King John and the barons to seal the Magna Carta in 1215, and at age seventy served as Regent of England, personally leading the cavalry charge at the Battle of Lincoln (1217) to defeat French invaders.