William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke

William de Valence, 1st Earl of Wexford and 1st Earl of Pembroke, born Guillaume de Lusignan or de Valence (1225-1230 – May 16 or 18, 1296) was a French nobleman and Knight, who became important in English politics due to his relationship to Henry III. He was heavily involved in the Second Barons' War, supporting the King and Prince Edward against the rebels led by Simon de Montfort. He took the name de Valence ("of Valence"). He was the fourth s... more

William de Valence, 1st Earl of Wexford and 1st Earl of Pembroke, born Guillaume de Lusignan or de Valence (1225-1230 – May 16 or 18, 1296) was a French nobleman and Knight, who became important in English politics due to his relationship to Henry III. He was heavily involved in the Second Barons' War, supporting the King and Prince Edward against the rebels led by Simon de Montfort. He took the name de Valence ("of Valence"). He was the fourth son of Isabella of Angoulême, widow of king John of England, and her second husband, Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, and was thus a half-brother to Henry III of England, and uncle to Edward I. William was born at Valence, near Lusignan, sometime in the mid-to-late 1220s (his elder sister, Alice was born 1224, and two elder brothers followed her). The French conquest of Poitou in 1246 created great difficulties for William's family, and so he and his brothers, Guy de Lusignan and Aymer, accepted Henry III's invitation to come to England... less