Bernard Hamilton Essay Prize: A Paragon of Support? Ela of Salisbury, Martyrdom, and the Ideals of Sponsoring Crusade

I owe a great debt to Emma Trivett, Tamsin Prideaux and Anna Brow for reading early drafts of this article and offering invaluable advice. Additional thanks are due to the staff of Wiltshire and Swindon Archives and Dorset History Centre for assisting in finding numerous original charters. I am also grateful to the reviewers for their comments and insights. Any mistakes that remain are my own.

Abstract

This article explores women’s support for crusaders as a contemporary feminine ideal within medieval holy war. Divided into two parts, it discusses the thirteenth-century noblewoman Ela of Salisbury as a case study. The first section examines Ela’s portrayal within Matthew Paris’ chronicles and her supposed belief in her own salvation following the martyrdom of her son William II Longespée during the Seventh Crusade. The second section investigates the interactions between the historical Ela and her son within the context of his crusades, as well as contemporary expectations of women’s sponsorship of the movement. It becomes apparent that Ela consistently worked to enable William II’s pilgrimages and was eager to display herself as a model patron of crusade.

Notes

I owe a great debt to Emma Trivett, Tamsin Prideaux and Anna Brow for reading early drafts of this article and offering invaluable advice. Additional thanks are due to the staff of Wiltshire and Swindon Archives and Dorset History Centre for assisting in finding numerous original charters. I am also grateful to the reviewers for their comments and insights. Any mistakes that remain are my own.