He attested to charters in both England and Normandy,[2] which indicates that Martel regularly accompanied the king on both sides of the English Channel.
[11] Between 1141 and 1143, Martel was Stephen's regional military governor in north Dorset and Wiltshire, exercising authority on the king's behalf from Sherborne.
[16][note 2] At the Battle of Wilton on 1 July 1143,[17] when Stephen's forces were dispersed by those of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, William Martel led a determined rearguard action that allowed the king to escape.
[18] Martel was eventually surrounded and captured,[19] and to secure his release Stephen surrendered Sherborne Castle to Robert of Gloucester.
[22] In 1150,[23] a joint meeting of the county courts of Norfolk and Suffolk, at Norwich, was presided over by William Martel as king's justice.