Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke

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Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (c. 1191 – 15 April 1234) was a nobleman and soldier who led a life of shifting loyalties and battles in England, Wales, and Ireland. He was the son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Isabel, and the brother of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. He became the 3rd Earl when his brother died on 6 April 1231.

Early life and service
Richard was well educated like other Marshals. He was kept as a hostage for his father by King John in 1207–08 and again in 1212. John knighted him, and Richard traveled with the king on the Poitou expedition in 1214, where he fell seriously ill. After the Barons’ War, he went to France, and by 1219 he was in the household of King Philip II of France, in part because his parents planned that he would inherit their Norman lands.

Property and marriage
When his mother died in March 1220, Richard inherited substantial Norman lands around Longueville and Orbec, while he also held an English estate, Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire. In June 1220, Richard and his brother met King Philip II at Melun, where Richard gave homage to the French king. Around 1222, Richard married Gervasia de Dinan, heir to lands in Brittany. The marriage helped him press claims to the manors of Ringwood in Hampshire and Burton Latimer in Northamptonshire.

Rise of tension in England
In 1230, Richard’s elder brother William died after a Brittany campaign. The English king, Henry III, promised Richard’s succession to their English lands. Richard returned to England in 1231 and was welcomed at court. The death of William stirred trouble at home, as Peter des Roches and his allies gained influence, and Richard found himself drawn into a power struggle. He sheltered his brother’s ally Gilbert Basset and faced pressure from royal authorities. After a failed attempt to force him to surrender Usk Castle, Richard’s position grew more precarious.

Alliance with Wales and downfall
Richard chose to resist the king’s advisers and, with the support of Prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd, began a campaign against English lords and castles in South Wales. By mid-October 1233 his forces captured Usk, Abergavenny, Newport, and Cardiff. A key setback came at Monmouth, where local forces and a Flemish-Guînes commander stopped his advance. Although he had Welsh support, Richard did not gain wide backing among English nobles, and the rebellion did not succeed in toppling royal power.

Last campaigns in Ireland and death
In early 1234 Richard sailed to Ireland, where his younger brother Gilbert had made a truce with rival lords. Richard then attacked de Burgh castles in Meath, provoking a swift response. On 1 April 1234 he and a small force were cut off and captured at the Curragh; he was wounded, died two weeks later on 15 April 1234, and was buried in Kilkenny.

Aftermath
Richard’s death ended the Marshals’ ties to their Continental lands; his brother Gilbert, who was a churchman at the time, became the next Earl and dealt with the resulting feuds. Richard’s widow, Gervasia, died in 1238 or 1239 and had other heirs from prior marriages, but none with Richard.