[citation needed] She was the wife of Sir Roger La Zouche, Lord of Ashby.
Ela was born in 1244 at Salisbury, Wiltshire and was the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Stephen Longespée, Justiciar of Ireland, Seneschal of Gascony, and son of William Longespee, the illegitimate son of Henry II.
Her paternal grandmother was Ela, Countess of Salisbury, who had founded Lacock Abbey, and after whom she was named.
Ela had a younger sister, Emmeline, who became the second wife of Maurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of Offaly in 1273.
[1] Juliana had been granted in frankmarriage to Thomas de Clare, and Maurice had given Inchiquin and Youghal, both in co. Cork, to the newly-wed couple.