Surnamed "William with the strong hand," from the following circumstance, as related by William Dugdale: "It happened that the Queen of France [ADELAIDE OF SAVOY], being then a widow, and a very beautiful woman, became much in love with a knight from another country, who was a homely person, and in the flower of his youth; and because she thought that no man excelled him in valor, she caused a tournament to be proclaimed throughout her dominions, promising to reward those who should exercise themselves therein, according to their respective abilities; and concluded that if the person whom she so well affected should act his part better than others in those military exercises, she might marry him without any dishonor to herself. Whereupon divers gallant men, from foreign parts hasting to Paris, amongst others came this our William de Albini, bravely accoutered, and in the tournament excelled all others, overcoming many, and wounding
one mortally with his lance, which being observed by the queen, she became exceedingly enamored of him, and forthwith invited him to a costly banquet, and afterwards bestowing certain jewels upon him, offered him marriage; but, having plighted his troth to the Queen of England, a widow, he refused her, whereat she grew so discontented that she consulted with her maids how she might take away his life; and in pursuance of that design, enticed him into a garden - which she descended by divers steps, under color of showing him the beast; and when she told him of its fierceness, he answered, that it was a womanish and not a manly quality to be afraid thereof. But having him there, by the advantage of a folding door, thrust him to the lion; being therefore in this danger, he rolled his mantle about his arm, and putting his hand into the mouth of the beast, pulled out his tongue by the root; which done, he followed the queen to her palace, and gave it to one of her maids to present her.
Returning thereupon to England, with the fame of this glorious exploit, he was forthwith advanced to the Earldom of Arundel, and for his arms the Lion given him." He subsequently married Adeliza of Lorraine, Queen of England, widow of King Henry I, and the daughter of Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine. Adeliza had the castle of Arundel in dowry from her deceased husband, the monarch, and thus her new lord became its feudal earl, 1st Earl of Arundel in this family.
The earl was one of those who solicited the Empress Maud to come to England, and received her and her brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, at the port of Arundel, in August 1139, and in three years afterwards (1142), in the report made of King Stephen's taking William de Mandeville at St. Albans, it is stated "that before he could be laid hold on, he underwent a sharp skirmish with the king's party, wherein the Earl of Arundel, though a stout and expert soldier, was unhorsed in the midst of the water by Walceline de Oxeai, and almost drowned."
In 1150, he wrote himself Earl of Chichester, but we find him styled again Earl of Arundel, upon a very memorable occasion, namely, the reconciliation of Henry, Duke of Normandy, afterwards King Henry II, and King Stephen at the siege of Wallingford Castle in 1152. "It was scarce possible," says Rapin, "for the armies to part without fighting. Accordingly the two leaders were preparing for battle with equal ardor, when, by the prudent advice of the Earl of Arundel, who was on the king's side, they were prevented from coming to blows."
A truce and peace followed this interference of the earl's, which led to the subsequent accession of Henry after Stephen's decease, in whose favor the earl stood so high that he not only obtained for himself and his heirs the castle and honor of Arundel, but a confirmation of the Earldom of Sussex, of which county he was really earl, by a grant of the Tertium Denarium of the pleas of the shire.
In 1164, we find the Earl of Arundel deputed with Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, to remonstrate with Louis VII, King of France, upon according an asylum to Thomas a Becket within his dominions, and on the failure of that mission, dispatched with the archbishop of York, the Bishops of Winchester, London, Chichester, and Exeter, Wido Rufus, Richard de Invecestre, John de Oxford (priests), Hugh de Gundevile, Bernard de St. Valery, and Henry Fitzgerald, to lay the whole affair of Becket at the foot of the pontifical throne. Upon levying the aid for the marriage of the king's daughter, in the 12th year of Henry II., the knight's fees of the honor of Arundel were certified to be ninety-seven, and those in Norfolk, belonging to the earl, forty-two.
In 1173, we find the Earl of Arundel commanding, in conjunction with William, Earl of Mandeville, the king's army in Normandy, and compelling the French monarch to abandon Verneuil after a long siege, and in the next year, with Richard de Lucy, Justice of England, defeating Robert, Earl of Leicester, then in rebellion at St. Edmundbury. This potent nobleman, after founding and endowing several religious houses, died at Waverley, in Surrey, on October 3, 1176, and was buried in the Abbey of Wymondham. Buried in Wymondham Priory, NOR, ENG; Earl of Arundel, Earl of Lincoln. With his marriage to Adela, widow of Henry I, acquired Arundel Castle as part of her dowry. His possession of the castle and honor of Arundel was confirmed by Henry II in 1154."

William "Stronghand" received Arundel Castle from King Stephen (nephew of Henry I and grandson of William the Conqueror) as part of Adeliza's dowry in 1138, and his possession of these lands and the honour of the title Earl. Yet William was probably known as the Earl of Sussex or of Chichester, not as the Earl of Arundel. That title had originally been bestowed upon Roger de Montgomeri, who fought at Hastings, in 1067. De Montgomeri was succeeded by his two sons, but the third earl was exiled and attainted in 1102, and his titles were forfeited to the crown. The lands at Arundel and the title of earl remained dormant until they were bestowed upon William d'Aubigny.