Richard Marshal 3rd Earl of Pembroke ²

   Cause of his death was Wounds from the Battle of the Curragh while being held prisoner.

  General Notes:

RICHARD (-Kilkenny Castle 16 Apr 1234, bur Kilkenny, Church of the Franciscans). The Chronicle of Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire, names (in order) "Willihelmus, Richardus, Gilbertus, Walterus et Ancellimus" as sons of "Willielmi Marescalli comitis Penbrochiæ", adding that each succeeded in turn as earl of Pembroke and died without children. On the death of their father, his older brother ceded him his lands in Normandy, whereby he became Seigneur de Longueville et d'Orbec. He succeeded as Seigneur de Dinan in 1224, de iure uxoris. "Richardus Maresschallus dominus Dinanni et Gervasia eius uxor" confirmed donations to the abbey of Beaulieu by charter dated 1224. He succeeded his brother in 1231 as Earl of Pembroke, hereditary Master Marshal. The Annales Cambriæ record that "Ricardus frater eius" succeeded as Earl of Pembroke in 1230 after the death of "Willelmus Marescallus". The Annales Cambriæ record the death in 1234 of "Ricardus Marescallus" in Ireland. The Annals of Tewkesbury record the death "in Hibernia XVII Kal Mai" in 1234 of "dominus Ricardus Mariscallus comes Penbrochiæ".

m (1222) as her third husband, GERVAISE de Vitré Vicomtesse de Dinan, widow firstly of JUHEL Seigneur de Mayenne and secondly of GEOFFROY [I] Vicomte de Rohan, daughter of ALAIN Sire de Vitré & his first wife Clémence de Fougères (-[1236/41]). "Juhellus dominus Meduanæ et Dinani…Gervasia uxor mea filia Alani de Dinan…Isabella mater mea" founded the abbey of Fontaine-Daniel by charter dated 19 May 1205. "Juhel seigneur de Mayenne" donated property to the priory of Fontaine-Daniel, for the soul of "Gervaise sa femme", by charter dated 12 Feb 1207, witnessed by "…Isabelle de Mayenne…". "Henricus de Avalgor, filius Alani comitis…et Margarita uxor mea" renewed a donation of property to the abbey of Bon-Repos by "Gervasia domina Dinani", for the soul of "bone memorie Gaufridi vicecomitis de Rohan quondam mariti sui", by charter dated 1229. "Richardus Maresschallus dominus Dinanni et Gervasia eius uxor" confirmed donations to the abbey of Beaulieu by charter dated 1224. "Gervasia domina de Dynan" confirmed donations by "bone memorie Juhelli de Meduana quondam mariti nostri" to Saint-Aubin-des-Bois by charter dated 1235. "Gervasia domina Dynanni" donated property to Saint-Aubin-des-Bois after the death of "bone memorie Richardi Marischallis, quondam mariti mei" by charter dated 1236. Her date of death is confirmed by the charter dated 1241 under which "Droco de Melloto, Locharam et Meduane dominus" [her son-in-law] wrote to "fratri suo domino Henrico de Avalgor", naming "bone memorie domine Gervasie".

[FMG/Medieval Lands]

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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 wounds with a hot instrument so roughly that it brought on acute fever.

Richard married Gervaise de Vitré Vicomtesse de Dinan, daughter of Alain de Vitré Seigneur de Dinan and Clémence de Fougères, before Jan 1224.¹ (Gervaise de Vitré Vicomtesse de Dinan died about 1235-1241 ¹.)