During the lifetime of William Marshall and his son, and for long before and after, the high road through the Pass of Roncesvalles was much frequented. It was the main line of communication by land between France and Spain on the western frontier, and was used both by peaceful travellers and by the numerous military expeditions passing from one country to the other. These expeditions resulted not only from the constant warfare of the border but were also organized by Crusaders on their way to help the Spaniard against the Moor, frequently with the purpose of travelling farther to the Holy Land. At this time also the relationships formed by Henry II and his sons with the Courts of the new kingdoms in the north of Spain, which were beginning to arise as the tide of Moorish invasion receded, were of the most intimate character. It will be remembered that Richard, when King of England, married Berengaria, daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre, after a very troublesome wooing, and that the younger Sancho took the part of Richard while the latter was on crusade against their common enemies in the South of France. The relationship between the Courts of Aragon and Castile and the Angevin Kings was no less intimate. William Marshall and his eldest son were in the closest association with the Royal House. They both travelled far and wide over France and Northern Spain, so that the Angevin dominions in Aquitaine and the neighbouring kingdom of Navarre must at one time have been as well known to the Marshall family as their home in England. Another reason which brought many travellers along the road through Roncesvalles was the attraction of the Shrine of St. James at Compostella. The pilgrimage to Compostella was undertaken by knights and their squires as the result of vows made on the field of battle, and was famed for its efficacy among all engaged in military affairs. But the pilgrimage even to armed bands was a dangerous one on account of the disturbed state of the frontier. An interesting example of this is presented in the relationships between Richard and his neighbour the Count of Toulouse. The ostensible cause for Richard’s warfare against the Count of Toulouse was the inveterate inclination of the latter to acts of brigandage. When war was declared the Count of Toulouse had actually captured and ill-treated two English knights named Robert le Poer and Ralph Fraser, on their return from a pilgrimage to Compostella. The reputation of the Hospital of St. Mary in the Pass of Roncesvalles and of the Convent which supported the Hospital was known to every traveller—peaceful or warlike—in Western Europe, and would certainly have appealed to the benevolence of such a man as the younger William Marshall. The probability is that both father and son had stronger motives for giving alms to the Community—the result of benefits received from the Convent and Hospital during their journeys between France and Spain.