Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/238

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Marshal
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Marshal

mediation of Archbishop Edmund was soon fully pardoned, together with his two younger brothers (Shirley, i. 438-9; Sweetman, i. 2120, 2151, 2175). On 11 June, at Worcester, the king knighted him, and invested him with his earldom and marshalry (Ann. Mon. iii. 137). Though nominally taken into full favour, Gilbert seems to have meditated an appeal to the pope (Sweetman, i. 2284). He was very friendly with his brother-in-law, Richard, earl of Cornwall, whom he supported in his opposition to the court favourites and in his open rising in 1238 (Matt. Paris, iii. 476). As a result he fell once more into disfavour. On 12 Nov. 1239 he took the cross with Earl Richard at Northampton, on condition that he was reconciled to the king, which Richard promised to effect. When, in July 1240, he was on the point of leaving England Henry recalled him, and took him into favour. On 27 June 1241, while taking part in a tournament at Ware, he was thrown from his horse and dragged. His injuries caused his death the same day, and he was buried by his father in the Temple at London; an effigy supposed to be his is still preserved. Gilbert Marshal married, first, in September 1230, Margaret de Lanvallei (Excerpta e Rot. Fin. i. 202); secondly, in August 1235, Margaret, sister of Alexander II of Scotland, with whom he received a large dower (Ann. Mon. iii. 143), but left no children. A portrait, drawn by Matthew Paris, who depicts him falling from his horse, is engraved in Doyle's ‘Official Baronage.’

Walter Marshal, fifth Earl (d. 1245), the fourth son, was not yet a knight in 1225 (Histoire, l. 14895). He was with his brother Richard in Ireland in 1234, and at the Curragh of Kildare, when his brother sent him away from the battle. He was pardoned at the same time as Gilbert. In May 1240 he was sent into Wales with an army to restore Cardigan Castle. After Gilbert's death Henry, in anger at the holding of the tournament, which had been prohibited, withheld investiture from Walter till October 1241. Walter accompanied the king to Gascony in 1242. On 6 Jan. 1242 he married Margery, widow of John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln [q. v.], but died without issue, at Goodrich Castle, in 1245, apparently on 24 Nov. (Matt. Paris iv. 491 ; Sweetman, i. 2798), and was buried at Tintern.

Anselm Marshal (d. 1245), the fifth son, then succeeded as sixth earl, but before he could receive investiture died at Striguil (or Chepstow) on 23 Dec. 1245, and was buried by his brother. His wife was Maud, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, second earl of Hereford. Thus the five sons of the great marshal had all been earls of one earldom and died without issue, as their mother is said to have prophesied. Another story ascribed the failure of the family to the curse of the Bishop of Ferns (Matt. Paris, iv. 492-3; cf. Sweetman, i. 823, 825).

Marshal's daughters were: 1. Matilda (d. 1248), who married in 1206 Hugh Bigod, third earl of Norfolk (Histoire, l. 13338), by whom she had a son Roger, who became in her right Earl Marshal. Hugh Bigod died in 1225, and Matilda then married William, earl of Warenne (d. 1240). 2. Isabella, who married first, on 9 Oct. 1217, Gilbert de Clare, seventh earl of Clare [q. v.], and had six children; secondly, in 1231, Richard, earl of Cornwall. 3. Sibilla, married William, earl of Ferrers or Derby, and had seven daughters. 4. Eva, married William, son of Reginald de Braose, by whom she had a daughter, Matilda, who married Roger Mortimer (d. 1282). 5. Johanna, who, after her father's death, married Warin de Munchensi, and had two children, John and Johanna; the latter married William de Valence [q. v.], who was created Earl of Pembroke, and from whom the earls of the Hastings line descended (Histoire, ll. 14915-56; Chart. St. Mary, Dublin, ii. 144, 313). The vast lands of William Marshal were divided among the numerous representatives of his daughters. The office of marshal passed through his eldest daughter to the Bigods, earls of Norfolk, and through them to the Mowbrays, and eventually to the Howards. As their representative the present Duke of Norfolk is earl-marshal of England.

John Marshal, first baron Marshal of Hingham [q. v.], was a nephew. Two other nephews were Anselm Le Gras, who was treasurer of Exeter in 1205, and bishop of St. Davids from 1230 to 1247 (Le Neve,Fasti,i. 291, 414;Ann. Mon. iv. 422), and William Le Gras or Grace, who fought under the younger William Marshal in Ireland.

[The Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, a long French poem, discovered by M. Paul Meyer in the Phillips Library, and now being edited by him for the Société de l'Histoire de France, is by far the most important authority for Marshal's life. It was written for his family about 1225, and is based on excellent information. The chronology of the earlier part is faulty, but the facts throughout are in full harmony with what we know from other sources; only one volume, containing about half the poem down to 1194, has yet been published, but through the courtesy of Mr. Paul Meyer the writer has had access to the proof-sheets of the second volume as far as 1214; the narrative of Marshal's last days is