This Knight Got Rich by Kidnapping Other Knights

William Marshal, the medieval knight who rose from penniless younger son to regent of England, got rich by capturing other knights for ransom. A kitchen clerk's tally, quoted in his biography, credits him and a partner with 103 prisoners in about ten months, in tournaments that could ruin a man in a day and sometimes killed him. On his deathbed he claimed 500, and said he could not give them back. Chapters 0:00 The score sheet 0:49 Hammer and anvil 2:08 Twenty-two shillings 3:20 The deal 3:54 The catch 4:47 The clerk's tally 5:50 The anvil 6:30 Let the Devil kill you 7:40 Lincoln, 1217 9:05 Five hundred Main sources L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal, ed. Paul Meyer (1891-1901), vol. 2: https://archive.org/details/lhistoire... and vol. 3: https://archive.org/details/lhistoire... History of William the Marshal, trans. Stewart Gregory, excerpts: https://deremilitari.org/?p=1397 Roger of Wendover on the Battle of Lincoln, trans. J. A. Giles: https://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCE... Third Lateran Council (1179), canon 20: https://www.papalencyclicals.net/coun... David Carpenter on William Marshal's ransom agreement with Nicholas de Stuteville: https://finerollshenry3.org.uk/conten... Thomas Asbridge, The Greatest Knight (2015) William Marshal, Dictionary of National Biography (1893): https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictio...) Pictures and film Drawings by Matthew Paris and his circle; the Morgan (Maciejowski) Bible; the Codex Manesse; the Eadwine Psalter; the Westminster Psalter; the Berlin Eneas; Peraldus; Chronicle of England; John Sell Cotman's Tancarville. Wikimedia Commons, public domain, except these photos and films. CC BY: effigy head, Temple Church, by JvL (2.0); Pembroke aerial by JKMMX (4.0). CC BY-SA: Temple Church effigies and Round, and Chepstow Marshal's Tower, by Rob Farrow (2.0); Temple Church by John Salmon (2.0); Magna Carta 1217 and King John's effigy by Philip Halling (2.0); helm and Lincoln Castle by Richard Croft (2.0); Lincoln Cathedral by Colin Smith (2.0); short cross penny, National Museums Liverpool, by Frances McIntosh (2.0); Peter des Roches by Ealdgyth (3.0); Fontevraud effigies by Adam Bishop (3.0); Chepstow by Nilfanion (4.0); Henry II by Fab5669 (4.0); Young King's effigy by Katherine Weikert (4.0). Film: Magna Carta and Lincoln Cathedral, The British Library (CC BY-SA 4.0); Pembroke Castle by James Meek (CC BY-SA 4.0). Some illustrations and the narration were made with the help of AI tools. All the manuscript pictures, effigies, photographs and film clips are real. #history #medievalhistory #knights #williammarshal #tournaments