Weis' "Ancestral Roots. . ." (126:29), (149:26). According to the "Dictionary of National Biography" William succeeded his father to the Earldom in 1196. He was a favourite of King JOHN, accompanying him to Runnymeade in 1215 and becoming one of the sureties for his faithful observance of the Magna Carta. Because of JOHN's intransigence, a powerful group of barons offered the English crown to the son of King LOUIS VII of France. On JOHN's abandonment of Winchester to LOUIS in 1216, William went over to the winning side. In 1217, after the royalist victory at Lincoln in 1218, he switched sides again. Shortly after, he acted as justiciar. In 1218 he set sail for the East, took part in the siege of Damietta in 1219, and died in Italy on his way home in 1221.