Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
Richard Marshal | |
|---|---|
| 3rd Earl of Pembroke | |
 Arms of Marshal by Matthew Paris | |
| Born | c. 1191 Normandy |
| Died | 27 June 1241 Kilkenny Castle |
| Noble family | Marshal of Hamstead |
| Spouse(s) | Gervasia de Dinan (died 1236) |
| Father | William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke |
| Mother | Isabel, countess of Pembroke |
Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1191 – 16 April 1234), was the son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and brother of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, whom he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke and Lord Marshal of England upon his brother's death on 6 April 1231.
Early Life
Richard was the son of William Marshal and his wife Countess Isabel. His father's biography calls Richard his 'second born child' after his elder brother William Marshal the younger, who was born in 1190. Like all of Marshal's sons he was educated to a high standard in the liberal arts.[1] During his father's troubles in 1207 or 1208 with King John Richard was demanded by the king as a hostage for his father.[2] Though later liberated, he was required again by the king in 1212. He was knighted soon after by King John himself, and remained a knight in the king's household, accompanying the king on his expedition to Poitou in 1214, during which he had a serious bout of illness. Following the end of the Barons' War in 2016 he appears to have crossed over to France and when news of his father's death reached the court of King Philip II Augustus of France in 1219 Richard was in the household of the French king. His placement there was no doubt because his parents had already determined he was to succeed to his mother's Norman lands, as was provided for in his father's last testament.[3]
Capetian Baron
Richard Marshal held lands in Longueville, Normandy; in Wales; and also in Ireland.
He came to the fore as the leader of the baronial party, and the chief antagonist of the foreign friends of King Henry III of England,[4] a notable Poitevin, Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester and Peter de Rivaux.[5] Fearing their treachery, he refused to visit King Henry III at Gloucester in August 1233, and he was declared a traitor.[4] According to the chronicler Roger of Wendover in his Flores Historiarum (Flowers of History), Marshal and his knights then came to Monmouth to reconnoitre the town before besieging it. However, they were seen coming towards the castle walls by Baldwin III, Count of Guînes. He was a nobleman of Flanders who, with his mixed force of Flemings and Poitevins, had been entrusted by King Henry with defending the town. The local lord, John of Monmouth, was absent from the battle.[6] Baldwin wrongly thought that Marshal had only a few followers with him, and rode out with his forces to pursue him, but Marshal turned the tables. It was said of Marshal that he put up a gallant defense against Baldwin's men in this skirmish and his army defeated Baldwin's forces at the Battle of Monmouth (1233) on 25 November.[7] In March 1234, a truce was reached between the king and Marshal, the condition of which was the removal of Peter de Rivaux from court.[8] In the meanwhile, however, conflict had broken out in Ireland between Marshal's brothers and some of the king's supporters.
Hostilities followed, and Richard made an alliance with the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great. Pembroke crossed from Wales to Ireland, where Peter des Roches had allegedly instigated his enemies to attack.[4] In April 1234 he was overpowered and wounded at the Battle of the Curragh by forces led by Maurice FitzGerald, Justiciar of Ireland and died of his wounds on 16 April 1234 while being held prisoner.[9] Marshal's popularity also meant that his death was mourned in England, while the Poitevins—who were rumoured to have instigated the Irish war—fell further into disregard.[10]
He had married Gervaise de Dinan, daughter of Alan de Dinan, Baron de Dinan, and did not produce any offspring. He was buried at Kilkenny and was succeeded by his brother Gilbert.
Notes
- ^ Acts and Letters of the Marshal Family 1156-1248: Earls of Pembroke and Marshals of England, ed. David Crouch, Camden Society 5th series, 47 (Cambridge: CUP, 2015), p. 22.
- ^ David Crouch, William Marshal (3rd edn, Routledge: London, 2016), p. 120 and n.
- ^ Acts and Letters, pp. 22-3.
- ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pembroke, Earls of s.v. Richard Marshal". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 78.
- ^ Powicke (1962), pp. 53–5.
- ^ Kissack, Keith (1974). Mediaeval Monmouth. The Monmouth Historical and Educational Trust. p. 25.
- ^ Roger of Wendover, Flowers of History: the history of England from the descent of the Saxons to A.D. 1235. vol.2, pp.575-576.
- ^ Power (2004).
- ^ Frame, p.367.
- ^ Powicke (1962), pp.57–9.
References
- Frame, Robin (2007). Oxford Companion to Irish History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-923483-7.
- Power, D. J. (2004). "Marshal, Richard, sixth earl of Pembroke (d. 1234)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18124.
- Powicke, F. M. (1962) [1953]. The Thirteenth Century: 1216-1307 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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