Earl Richard Marshal PEMBROKE

   Another name for Richard was PEMBROKE Earl.

   Ancestral File Number: G8BC-ZK.

   General Notes:

Earl of PEMBROKE.

BOOKS
The Political History of England, Vol II, George Burton Adams Longmans Green and Co, 1905, Ch XX, p414:
[1208] "Even the greatest barons were subjected to arbitrary acts of power of the same kind. Onthe slightest occasion of suspicion the king demanded their sons or other relatives, or their vassals, as hostages, a measure which had been in occasional use before, but which John carried to an extreme. The great earl marshal himself, who, ifwe may trust his biographer, was never afraid to do what he thought honour demanded, and was always able to defend himself in the king's presence with such vigorous argument that nothing could be done with him, was obliged to give over to theking's keeping first his eldest and then his second son..."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol II, The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Costain, 1951 Doubleday & Co, p118:
"Richard, the second of the five sons, had been abroad for eleven years, administering the family estates in Normandy. In the expectation that his life would be spent there, he had married Gervase, a daughter of Alan le Dinant. On William's death he returned to England and took over the estates and offices of the family.
"There had been little of his famous father in Richard as a boy. He lacked the towering height and the great strength of the head of the family, being inclined to the sickly side. By sheer determination, however, he had overcome his frailty and had acquired enough soldierly reputation to have been offered the post of marshal of France. He had in full measure the shrewdness and the stanch spirit of the old marshal and in addition a clarity of vision all his own. This young knight, in fact, about whom history has little to say because he died so soon after taking office, was cut to the measure of greatness. Had he lived he might have saved England many years of bitter strife.
"Peter des Roches realized that the Marshal family, with this resolute second son at the head of it, might become too powerful for him to cope with, and characteristically he decided to take the offensive. Richard had no sooner been confirmed in his offices and estates than the power behind the throne attacked. A court official named William de Rodune, who acted as representative of the Marshals, was dismissed and a Poitevin put in his place. Richard, surprised and infuriated, responded in kind, demanding of theKing that he get rid of his foreign advisers. The issue was joined.
"Peter des Roches struck again immediately, sending royal troops on some flimsy pretext to seize the lands of two supporters of the Marshals, Gilbert Basset and Richard Siward (the tow knights who later effected the escape of Hubert de Burgh), and, for added measure, turning the confiscated estates over to his own son...At the same time messengers that Richard had sent to Normandy were held up and searched, onthe supposition that they might be carrying treasonable instructions.
"The Good Knight had always acted on a deep sense of loyalty to the King he served. He had ridden to Runnymede with John, even though he knew that the cause of the barons was a just one, and it is doubtful if any circumstances could have brought him to the point of drawing sword against his anointed sovereign. His son Richard, seeing things in clearer focus, had no such scruples. He realized that Henry had become the servant of the Winchester party and that, for the good of the realm, action would have to be taken. Although making no secret of his readiness to intervene by force of arms if necessary, he proposed, nevertheless, that strife be avertedby a conference, and he was on his way to meet the King's representatives when a messenger stopped him at Woodstock. His sister Isabella, married to Richard of Cornwall and in a position to know what was going on at court, had sent him warningnot to attend. The King, who was completely a tool of Peter des Roches, summoned the young marshal to attend another conference to be held some months later. When Richar did not appear he was proclaimed atraitor, his offices were taken from him, and it was announced that his possessions were forfeit.
"Without further delay the head of the Marshal family drew the sword and set up his standard against the King. From his castle at Chepstow the young marshal saw the West blaze intorebellion behind him. Llewelyn the Great lost no time in throwing in his lot with the rebels...
"Henry, lacking the steel to fight on in the face of defeat, came to terms at this stage and agreed to get rid of his foreign advisers. Richard of Pembroke was to be received back into favor, and all his possessions and honors were to be restored.
"Believing the King's word, Richard hurried over to Ireland, where his enemies, the Lacys, had taken advantage of his involvement athome to seize some of his castles. The Lacys proposed a truce, but when the young earl rode out to the Curragh of Kildare to discuss terms he was set upon by a large force of armed men. In the fighting which ensued he was badly woulnded and died later in the castle of Kilkenny, to which he had been carried. It was said that the surgeon who attended him brought about his death by unskilled cuterization of his wounds.
"Thus died the man who would inevitably have commanded the forces of liberty and who might perhaps have held Henry to recognition of the responsibilities of his high office. He left no children."
p155: "...But the murder of Richard the Marshal had removed the one man capable of leading the forces of discontent, and the breaking of the storm must wait the appearance of another leader..."

The Political History of England 1216-1377, Vol III, T F Tout, 1905, AMS Press, P45: "...[1232] The earls who had saved Hubert began to oppose the whole administration. Their leader was Richard, Earl of Pembroke, the second son of the great regent, and since his brother's death head of the house of Marshal. Richard was bitterly prejudiced aginst the king and his courtiers by an attempt to refuse himhis brother's earldom. A gallant warrior, handsome and eloquent, pious, upright, and well educated, Richard, the best of the marshal's sons, stood for the rest of his short life at the head of the opposition. He incited his friends to refuse toattend a council summoned to meet at Oxford on 24 Jun 1233...Yet Richard Marshal still continued to hope for peace, and after the failure of earlier councils, set off to attend another assembly fixed for August 1, at Westminster. On his way helearnt from his sister isabella, the wife of Richard of Cornwall, that Peter des Roches waslaying a trap for him. In high indignation he took horse for his Welsh estates, and prepared for rebellion...A forminable civil war broke out..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
G8BC-ZK Born Abt 1194 Pembroke Pembrokeshire Wales Died 16 Apr 1238, LLZR-3J Born Abt 1220 Died 16 Apr 1234 Bur 17 Apr1234 Castle Kilkenny Kildare Ireland.

   Marriage Information:

Richard married Gervase De DINANT, daughter of Alan Le DINANT, about 1222 in Dinan, Brittany, France.