Name: Richard MARSHAL , 6th Earl of Pembroke 1
ALIA: 06th Earl of /Pembroke/, Richard Marshal
Birth: AFT 1190 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales 1
Death: 16 APR 1234 in Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny, Ireland (dsp) 1
Burial: 16 APR 1234 Church of Franciscans, Kilkenny, Ireland
EARLDOM OF PEMBROKE (VI) 1231
RICHARD (MARSHAL), EARL OF PEMBROKE, and hereditary Master Marshal, brother and heir, born after 1190. His father gave him as a hostage to the King in February 1206/7, but he was released in 1212. In 1214 John took the boy with him to Poitou, where Richard fell ill and nearly died. He was at the French Court when his fafher died in 1219; and in June 1220 his elder brother ceded all his Norman lands to Richard, whereby he became Lord of Longueville and Orbec. In 1222 he became by marriage Lord of Dinan in Brittany, and in May 1225 he was present at a meeting of the Breton nobles in Nantes. He is said to have been in 1231 Marshal of the army of the King of Francc. In July 1231 he came to England and claimed his inheritance as heir to his elder brother; and eventually he obtained investiture from the King. In October 1231 he opposed the King's proposed marriage to a sister of the King of Scots. A year later he was one of the 4 Earls who became sureties for Hubert de Bu rgh. Early in 1233 he Ied the Barons in appealing to the King to dismiss his foreign advisers. The Poitevins now took steps to drive the Marshal into rebellion; and in August he was proclaimed a traitor and the office of Marshal was declared to be forfeited (g). Richard then made an alliance with Llewelyn, and for some months carried on warfare successfully against the royal forces. Meanwhile his Irish lands were being ravaged by the Lacy faction, and in February 1233/4 Richard proceeded to Ireland, where he took Limerick and recovered some of his castles. An abortive conference with the rebels at the Curragh of Kildare on 1 April was followed by a battle, in which his small forces were outnumbered and he was defeated, wounded, and captured (i). When recovering from his wounds he was practically murdered by a treacherous surgeon (a). He was a benefactor to the abbeys of Dunbrothy, St. Aubin des Bois, and Savigny; and he confirmed the possessions of Beaulieu Abbey.
He married, in 1222, Gervalse, widow of (i) Juhel DE MAYENNE, LORD OF MAYENNE, and (ii) Geoffrey, VICOMTE of ROHAN, and daughter and heir of Alan DE DINAN, LORD OF DINAN, by his 1st wife, whose name and parentage are unknown. He died as aforesaid, s.p., in Kilkenny Castle, 16, and was buried 17 April 1234, in the Church of the Franciscans at Kilkenny. Gervalse, who was a benefactor to the priory of Lehon, survived her 3rd husband and founded a chantry in the abbey of St. Aubin des Bois after 21 December 1236. [Complete Peerage X:368-71, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]
(g) Piers de Roches induced the King to seize the lands of two of Richard's leading supporters, Gilbert Basset and Richard Seward, and put them in charge of his son, Piers des Rievaux. On 18 July Henry sent orders to the Bailiffs of 10 ports to look out for the Marshal's messengers from overseas and to have them searched. On his way to attend a conference convened for 1 Aug, Richard was warned by his sister Isabel that treachery was intended, and turned back to Wales.
(i) It is said that he was deserted by Geoffrey de Marsh and most of his own men; Annals of Ireland, where the battle is dated "primo idus Aprilis", where Richard is said to have been killed in battle. Orpen argues that the alleged treachery of Geoffrey de Marsh and of Richard's own men is fiction, and that the battle was a fair fight.
(a) After he had recovered sufficiently to play dice, he had a relapse on being shown the King's letters ordering him to be taken dead or alive. The surgeon cauterised or probed his woulds with a hot instrument so roughly that it brought on acute fever.
Father: William MARSHAL , 4th Earl of Pembroke b: 1146 in Rockley, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
Mother: Isabel de CLARE , Countess of Pembroke b: ABT 1172 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales
- Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000