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Little is known about the writer of "L' Historie" except that his first name was
Jean, that he personally witnessed some of the events in Marshal's later life,
and that he had access to Marshal's squire John D'Erley. The point of view is
that of the secular knightly class and not of the ecclesiastical class. The
events recorded in "L' Historie" can be verified in most instances by the
official records in the Pipe Rolls, Charter Rolls, Close Rolls, Patent Rolls,
Oblatis Rolls, and chronicles of the times.

as a younger son, becoming a knight was his natural choice of a path to success
and survival. Marshal was sent to his father's cousin William of Tancarville,
hereditary Chamberlain of Normandy, to be trained as a knight in c1159. He was
knighted, probably by his uncle, in 1167.