Earl Richard England CORNWALL

   Other names for Richard were ENGLAND Prince, CORNWALL 1st Earl, POITOU Count, GERMANY King and ROMANS King.

   Ancestral File Number: 8XJ6-0N. User ID: 9455716.

   General Notes:

Prince of ENGLAND, 1st Earl of CORNWALL 1225, Count of POITOU 1225, King of GERMANY, King of ROMANS Crowned 17 May 1257/1258.

Not Married Jane De Valletort.

BOOKS
The English A Social History 1066-1945, Christopher Hibbert, 1987, Norton, p50:
"But by the end of the thirteenth century those friars who still adhered to the strict rules of conduct laid down by the founders of their orders were few and far between. With munificent bequests from royal and noble patrons, all the main orders had acquired riches and had been enabled to begin the constuction of buildings of great splendor, often on the sites of much poorer houses where their former indigence and good intentions had once aroused the admiration of laity and clergy alike. Henry III, Edward I and Edward II were particularly generous to the Dominicans whose property in London, where their first community had been found in Chancery Lane in 1221, had spread down to the river and by 1278 included those tow huge Thameside strongholds, Baynards Castle and Montfichet Tower. Henry III's brother, the Earl of Cornwall, as well as Henry IIIhimself, Edward I and John of Gaunt had helped the Carmelites to develop an equally large area upon which a splendid priory appeard. Margaret, second queen of Edward I, Queen Isabella and Queen Philippa were all benefactors of the Franciscanswhose Greyfriars Monastery was to be one of the finest in London with a large library built at the expense of Richard Whittington..."

Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Richard,1st Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, Mar =1 (2) Isabel Daughter of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke, =2 Sanchia Sister of Queen Eleanor, =3 Beatrice Daughter Dirk II Count of Falkenburg, Died 1272."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, 1949, Doubleday & Co, p248:
"...Another son followed who was called Richard and became the richest man in the world and was elected Holy Roman Emperor..."

A History of the English Speaking People, Winston S Churchill, Vol I, The Birth of Britain, Dodd Mead & Co, p271:
"...As if this were not enough, at the Imperial election 1257 the King's brother, Richard of Cornwall, offered himself as Emperor, and Henry spent lavishly to secure his election..."

The Political History of England 1216-1377, Vol III, T F Tout, 1905, AMS Press, p31: "...The powerful Viscounts of Thouars were constantly kept in check by their traditional enemies the Counts of La Marche, whose representative, Hugh of Lusignan, was by far the strongest of local barons. His cousin, and sometime betrothed, Isabella, Countess of Angouleve, the widow of King John, had left England to resume the administration of her dominions. Early in 1220 she married Hugh, justifying herself to her son on the ground that it would be dangerous to his interests if the Count of La Marche should contract an alliance with the French party. Butthis was mere excuse. The union of La Marche and Angouleme largely increased Count Hugh's power, and he showed perfect impartiality in pursuing his own interests by holding a balance between his stepson and the King of France..."
p32: "...After the capture of Bedford, Hubert undertook the recovery of Poitou and the defence of Gascony. Henry's younger brother Richard, a youth of sixteen, was appointed Earl of Cornwall and Count of Poitou, dubbed knight by his brother, and put innominal command of the expedition despatched to Gascony in March 1225..."
p34: "...Within six weeks of Louis VIII's death, Hugh of Lusignan, the viscount of Thouars, Savary de Mauleon, and many other Poitevin barons, concluded treaties with Richard of Cornwall, by which in return for lavish concessions they went back to the English obedience..."
p41: "...William Marshal, the brother-in-law of the king, the gallant and successful soldier, the worthy successor of his great father, came home from Brittany early in 1231. His last act was to marry his sister, Isabella, to Richard of Cornwall. Within ten days of the wedding his body was laid beside his father in the Temple Church at London..."
p61: "...Richard ofCornwall lost his first wife, Isabella, daughter of William Marshal, in 1240, an event which broke almost the last link that bound him to the baronial opposition. He withdrew himself from the troubles of English politics by going on crusade, and wit him went his former enemy, Simon of Leicester. Richard was back in England early in 1242, and on November 23, 1243, his marriage with Sanchia of Provence, the younger sister of the queens of France and England, completed his conversion tothe court party..."
p62: "...At Christmas Hugh openly showed his hand. He renounced his homage to Alfonse, declared his adhesion to his step-son, Richard of Cornwall, the titular count of Poitou, and ostentatiously withdrew from the courtwith his wife. The rest of the winter was taken up with preparations for the forth- coming struggle.
"Untaught by experience, Henry III listened to the appeals of his mother and her husband. Richard of Cornwall, who came back from his crusade in January, 1242, was persuaded that he had another chance of realizing his vain title of Count of Poitou. But the king had neither men nor money and the parliament of February 2 refused to grant him sums adequate for his need..."
p63: "...Henry took ship on May 9 at Portsmouth and landed on May 13 at Royan at the mouth of the Gironde. He was accompanied by Richard of Cornwall, seven earls, and 300 knights...
"...while Peter of Aigueblanche, the Savoyard Bishop of Hereford, went to Provence to negotiate the union between Earl Richard and Sanchia, and, if possible to add Raymond Berengar to the coalition against the husband of his eldest daughter..."
p66: "...[1244] At last a committee of twelve magnateswas appointed to draw up a plan of reform. The unanimity of all orders was shown by the co- operation on this body of prelates such as Boniface of Savoy with patriots of the stamp of Grosseteste and Walter of Cantilupe, while among the secularlords, Richard of Cornwall and Simon of Leicester worked together with baronial leaders like Norfolk and Richard of Montfichet, a survivor of the twenty-five executors of Magna Carta..."
p78: "...Since 1250 Innocent IV had been sounding Richard, Earl of Corn- wall as to his willingness to accept [the crown of] Sicily. The honourable scruple against hostility to his kinsman, which Richard shared with the king, prevented him from setting up his claims against Conrad. But the deaths of both Conrad and of Frederick II's son by Isabella of England weakened the ties between the English royal house and the Hohenstaufen..."
p79: "...While Henry was seeking the Sicilian crown for his son, his brother Richard was electedto the German throne. Since William of Holland's death in January, 1256, the German magnates, divided between the Hohenstaufen and the papalist parties, had hesitated for nearly a year as to the choice of his successor. As neither party was able to secure the election of its own partisan, a compromise was mooted. At last the name of Richard of Cornwall was brought definitely forward. He was of high rank and unblemished reputation; a friend of the pope yet a kinsman of the Hohenstaufen; he was a moderate and conciliatory; he had enough money to bribe the electors handsomely, and he was never likely to be so deeply rooted in Germany as to stand in the way of the princes of the empire...The French party set up as his rival Alfonso X of Castile, who, despite his newly formed English alliance, was quite willing to stand against Richard. At last, in January, 1257, the votes of three electors, Cologne, Mainz, and the Palatine, were cast for Richard, who also obtained the support of Ottocar, King of Bohemia. However, in April, Trier, Saxony, and Brandenburg voted for Alfons. The double election of two foreigners perpetuated the Great Interregnum for some sixteen years...Richard took his appointment seriously.He made his way to Germany, and was crowned King of the Romans on May 17, 1257, at Aachen. He remained in the country nearly eighteen months, and succeeded in establishing his authority in the Rhineland, though beyond that region he never so much as showed his face. The elevation of his brother to the highest dignity in Christendom was some consolation to Henry for the Sicilian failure..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Macropaedia, Vol VI, p434, Edward I of England:
"...Shattered and enfeebled, Henry allowed Edward effective control of government, and his extreme policy of vengeance, especially against the Londoners, revived and prolonged rebel resistance. Finally, the papal legate Ottobuono, Edward's Uncle Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and other moderates persuaded Henry to the milder policy of the Dictum of Kenilworth (31 Oct 1266), and after some delay the rebels surrendered..."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol II, The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Costain, 1951, Doubleday & Co
p14: "Before John had set out on his last campaign he had sent all his children saving Henry, the heir, to Corfe for safekeeping. Richard, the second son, who was seven years old, was there, a lad of such shrewdness that he was destined to grow into the richest prince in Europe and to buy for himself an imperial title..."
p20: "Richard Called Richard of CORNWALL, Born 1209, Died 1272, Elected King of the ROMANS 1258..."
p107: "...The King'sbrother, Richard of Cornwall, had shown a tendency at first to side with the barons. He was a calulating young man, however, and Peter des Roches managed to win him back by flattery and promises..."
p138: "About the time that Henry's porposal of marriage was sent to Joanna of Ponthieu, the nimble mind of the machiavellian Romeo was considering means of attracting his attention to Eleanor La Belle, who was now fourteen and ready for marriage. The scheme he evolved was roundaboutbut sufficiently ingenious to accomplish its purpose. Eleanor had begun already to dabble in versification and had completed a long and romantic poem about one Blandin of Cornwall who had fallen in love with Princess Briende and underwent allmanner of adventures and tests for her sake. Romeo saw to it that a copy was sent to Richard of Cornwall (who might be expected to see a compliment in it to himself), written in Eleanor's own fair hand and with a note from her as well. Richard,who was passing through the South of France on his way back from the Crusades, was as charmed and flattered by this attention as the wily major-domo had conceived he would be. If he had not been married happily to Isabella of Pembroke, he might have sought the hand of the royal poetess himself, having heard glowing reports of her beauty and refinement. He did the next best thing; he sent the poem (it is still in existence and a perfect sample of adolescent fervor) to Henry and hinted that here, perhaps, was the very best consort for him..."
p158: "Henry and Eleanor spent a pleasant winter in Bordeaux. There was much entertaining and feasting and staging of brilliant pageants at which the guisers of Provence sang their love lyrics and twanged on their lutes. The royal couple were chiefly concerned in arranging a marriage between Henry's brother Richard of Cornwall, whose wife Isabella had died recently, and Eleanor's sister Sanchia. The latter was affiancedto Raimund of Toulouse, but the weak part played by the latter in the recent fighting was a good enough excuse for breaking the bond. A new marriage contract was drawn up and signed, Sanchia, occupying a stool, no doubt, during the ceremony ofsignature, for Richard, although the wealthiest man in England and perhaps in Europe, was still only a prince...
"The first business to claim his serious attention was getting Richard and Sanchia married. As usual, he burbled with enthusiasm over the arrangements, declaring it must be made an occasion to remember. Beatrice of Provence, mother of the bride, came to England to see her third daughter wedded, but Raimund Berenger was detained by state difficulties which his wife solved by getting a loan from Henry of four thousand amrks. The cost of the wedding was chiefly defrayed by a levy imposed on the Jews of the country. It was an arbitrary proceeding, each of them receiving notice of the size of the donation required...An idea of the extravagance of the festivities may be gleaned from the fact that thirty thousand dishes were prepared for the wedding dinner alone."
p180: "At all stages of this long reign and in every mention of the home life of theroyal family the figure of the King's brother, Richard of Cornwall, looms up prominently, and so it may be in order to deal with him and his career specifically.
"The first mention in history of Richard is when he was taken at the age of six to Corfe Castle with a priest, two trumpeters, and a washerwoman. He was kept at Corfe for weveral years under the tutelage of Sir Roger d'Acestre, who must have found his royal pupil bright and receptive. It is very evident that Richard demonstrated from his earliest years a degree of shrewdness and a capacity for order in direct contrast to the scrambled confusion of Henry's thinking and living. He was a most likable boy, of an easy temper but always firmly certain of what he wanted to do.
"At first the second son was awarded honors and properties with great caution. He was given nothing outright, in fact, all gifts being `during pleasure.' To be granted seizin of the honor of Eye, for instance, was of little consolation when a legal string was attached by which it could be yanked back at adequately endowed, the young Richard began to wax prosany moment. Inspite of this official unwillingness to see him perous at an early age. He disagreed continuously with Henry over decisions of state (and always seems to have been right), and the reconciliations which followed invariably resulted in some advantage for the younger brother, an honor or two, some manor houses, an additional slice of revenue. It was not until his second marriage, however, that he and Henry came to definite terms. On wedding Sanchia, Richard renounced his rights to lands in Ireland and Gascony in return for an irrevocable endowment of his estates in Cornwall and the honors of Wallingford and Eye.
"From that point onward the acquisitive Richard began to display the Midas touch in everything he did. He soon had enough ready wealth to finance campaigns and to supply deficiencies in the royal coffers. On one occasion he loaned Henry two thousand pounds to pay the expenses of an expedition into Wales. He loaned money to bishops and barons, and always on the most solid security. It is not on record that the farsighted younger brother ever experienced loss as a result of putting money out on loan.
"It has been generally believed that he owed his great wealth (for he became known in due course as the richest man in Europe) to the tin mines of Cornwall, the stannaries, and the labor of slaves who toiled and moiled in getting out the metal. The truth is that his possession of the mines proved profitable to him, but they did not play any very great part in the building of his considerable fortune...
"He was in a position in 1247 to achieve the greatest coup in a career as brightly studded with successful deals as a midsummer sky with stars. There had been no issue of money since the days of Henry II, and it was decided that the minting of a new coinage could no longer be postponed. The King's brother seems to have been the only man in a position to assume such a formidable undertak- ing, and so an agreement was made by which he would `farm' the Mint for four- teen years. Richard set to work in athoroughly businesslike way and succeeded in putting the manufacture of money on a better basis than ever before...
"During the fourteen years that he conducted the minting operations about one million pounds' worth of penniew were made and put into circulation. The task had been carried out with complete success.
"When he left for Germany to engage in an adventure which would put a crown on his brow, his brother, the King, decided that he could now indulge himself in an experiment on which Richard had frowned. Henry had always wanted to have the finest money in the world, gold to wit, and as soon as Richard turned his back he began to lay his plans for the minting of gold pennies. One gold penny was to be worthtwenty silver ones and they would be, decided Henry, the most beautiful coins ever issued from the stamps..."
"While on the subject of Richard of Cornwall, it should be mentioned that he had the habit of marrying beautiful women...
"It will be clear by this time that Richard of Cornwall had all the qualites the King should have possessed. He would have made a good king, much the kind that Henry VII proved to be nearly three hundred years later. Without a doubt he would havekept the country at peace and put the administration of the laws on a sound basis. He had none of the qualities which make bad kings, cruely, pride, stubbornness, lust for power, power, and more power. Paradoxi- cally it was a good thing forEngland that Henry was the one to arrive first in the world and Richard. It need a ruler of the stamp of Henry, treacherous, vacillating, wrong-headed, to drive the baronage into a rebellious mood and so reap the democratic gains which came later."
p203: "The King, his anger mounting to still greater heights, hurried off orders to the commune of London to have the pair lodged in the Tower. As usual, however, Richard of Cornwall was there to prevent his brother from letting his temper carry him too far. Richard saw to it that the order was recinded and then sent word to his sister that it would be wise for her to leave the city at once...
"Richard of Cornwall was organizing a party of English knights to go to theCrusades, and Simon was pledged to take the cross with him. His return to England had been partly for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements. It was a very expensive matter to go crusading..."
p231 "When Frederick of Germany diedin 1250 it was reported about that Innocent IV had offered the imperial succession to Richard of Cornwall, although it was more likely the crown of Sicily. There was, of course, a great deal of excitement and interest, but Richard, cool and closemouthed, neithere confirmed nor denied the story. If an offer had been made, he showed no signs of accepting. Two years later the papal purpose took a definite form, and one Master Albert, a Vatican notary, arrived in England to negotiate with Richard.
"As Conrad, son and successor of the great Frederick, was a friend of Richard's, the answer of the latter was that he would not be a party to a plot for his removal. It is unlikely, however, that this consideration weighed too heavily; Richard was probably actuated instead by a different train of reasoning. His sound judgment would tell him that it was hopeless to conduct a war in distant Sicily against the power of the Holy Roman Empire, and that only disaster and financial ruin would come of it..."
p236: "The immense castle of Wallingford, in the building of which a large part of the town had been demolished, was the favorite residing place of Richard of Cornwall. He was there a great deal, at any rate; and there he was when a party of emissaries from Ottocar of Bohemia arrived to announce that he had been elected King of Germany. It was a cold day in January 1257, and the ambassadors were summoned to a long hall where, in front of a roaring fire, the brother of the English King and his beautiful wife Sanchia were dining in considerable elegance and state.
"Richard rose to hear what the men form Bohemia had to say and at the finish he burst into tears. He would accept thecrown, he said, but it was not through greed or ambition. His sole object was to assist in restoring prosperity to the German states; his honest desire was to rule justly and well. It was clear to the German delegation, and to the throng of adherents and servants who swarmed into the hall to listen, that he was happy over the fulfillment of his great wish. It must have been quite apparent also that the gentle Sanchia was delighted beyond measure. Now she would be a queen as well as her two older and patronizing sisters.
"The news was in no sense a surprise. The death of William of Holland, who had been the leader of the Hohenstaufen interests, had thrown the election open, and Richard's qualifications were such that he had been from the start the leading candidate. He had the support of the Pope, he came from a country which supplied the industrial provinces of Germany with the wool they needed, he was reputed to be the wealthiest man in Europe and could maintain the office with proper splendor. Only one other candidate was actively supported, and this was none other than Alfonso the Wise. The ambition of the Spanish monarch, balked in Gascony, was stirring again, and he would gladly have taken the overlordship of the Empire. Richard had thrown himself into the contest with a right good will, first calling in twenty-five thousand marks which he had out on loan and cutting off much of his wook to raise revenue. He was well aware that itwas a costly business to secure the imperial crown...
"The next step was for Richard to appear at Aachen for his coronation, and he proceeded to make the most elaborate of preparations...
"...The reception accorded at Aachen was allthat could be desired. The coronation took place in that city on May 17, Conrad of Cologne placing on the head of the new monarch the costly crown which he had himself provided.
"With commendable energy Richard then proceeded to visit other parts of his domain, covering all of the Rhineland in less than a year..."

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Antonia Fraser, Alfred A Knopf, 1975, p25: "Richard of Cornwall King of the Romans 1209-72..."

ANCESTRY.COM
World Ancestral Chart No. 125360 Ancestors of Patricia Ann Kieffer.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 8XJ6-0N Richard Prince of ENGLAND Mar 30 Mar 1231 Isabel MARSHAL 8XJ6-6PFawley Buckinghamshire England.

   Marriage Information:

Richard married Countess Isabella Marshal GLOUCESTER, daughter of Earl William Marshall PEMBROKE, Sr and Countess Isabel De Clare PEMBROKE, on 30 Mar 1231 in Fawley, Buckinghamshire, England. (Countess Isabella Marshal GLOUCESTER was born about 1203 in , Pembrokeshire, Wales, died on 16 Jan 1240 in Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, England and was buried in Beaulieu, Southampton, England.)

   Marriage Information:

Richard also married Jane De VALLETORT, daughter of Reginald De VALLETORT. (Jane De VALLETORT was born about 1211-1213 in , , England.)

   Marriage Information:

Richard also married Countess Sanchia Berenger PROVENCE, daughter of Count Raimond Berenger PROVENCE, VI and Countess Beatrice De SAVOY, on 23 Nov 1243 in Abbey, Westminster, London, Middlesex, England. (Countess Sanchia Berenger PROVENCE was born about 1225-1229 in Aix-En-Provence, Bouches-Du-Rhone, France, died on 9 Nov 1261 in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England and was buried in Abbey, Hailes, Gloucestershire, England.)

   Marriage Information:

Richard also married Beatrice Van FALKENBURG, daughter of Count Dirk FALKENBURG, II, on 16 Jun 1267-1269 in Kaiserslautern, , Germany. (Beatrice Van FALKENBURG died in 1277.)