Biography of Richard Marshal 3rd Earl Pembroke 1191-1234

Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1233. How the marshal was warned of treachery against him.

The earls and barons in grand knightly array proceeded to London on the 1st of August to the appointed conference, and amongst the rest was Richard earl marshal (age 42), who took up his abode with his [his sister] sister (age 32), the wife of Richard the king's brother (age 24); she then asked him the reason of his journey, to which he replied, that he had come to attend the conference. She then said to him, "Know, my dear brother, that your enemies are plotting to take you prisoner, and they will give you up to the king and the bishop of Winchester, in order that they may serve you the same as they did the earl of Kent (age 63)." The marshal would hardly believe these words of his sister's, until she showed by evident proofs the manner of his capture, and by whom he would be taken. He then began to believe her, and when night came on he took the road, and did not draw rein till he arrived in Wales. There came to the conference the earls of Chester (age 26) and Lincoln (age 41), the earl of Ferrers, and earl Richard the king's brother, with some other earls and several barons, but nothing was done there on account of the absence of the earl marshal and Gilbert Bassett (age 45), and some other nobles who did not make their appearance; on which the king, by the advice of Peter bishop of Winchester, and Stephen Seagrave, sent letters to all the nobles of the kingdom who owed him knight's service, inviting them to come, provided with horses and arms, to Gloucester, on Sunday before the Assumption of the blessed virgin Mary. Richard Marshal and some others however, who were confederated, refused to come at the time appointed, and the king, treating them as traitors, burnt their villages, destroyed their parks and warrens, and besieged their castles. The nobles who were confederated with one another, it was said, were the earl marshal, Gilbert Bassett and his brothers, all distinguished soldiers, Richard Siward, a man trained to arms from his youth, Walter de Clifford, a chosen knight, and many others who joined their cause; all of these the king, without any trial in his court by their peers, ordered to be declared banished and proscribed men, and gave their lands to his Poictevin servants, ordering their persons to be seized wherever they were found in the kingdom.

Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1233. 01 Apr 1234. When the troops were drawn up, the earl marshal (age 43) saw that there were a great many to engage with only a few, he however exhorted his men to battle, asserting that he had undertaken this war for the sake of justice and the laws of England on account of the oppression of the Poietevins, thinking that they all were faithful to him, when in fact they were traitors. lie then dashed boldly into t!ie midst of the enemy, and forcing his way through them he opened a road for his knights with his sword, but only fifteen knights, his own retainers, followed him and endeavoured to disperse their enemies. His sworn dependants and knights on whom he trusted, as had been pre-agreed amongst these traitors, gave themselves up;us prisoners to the enemies without lorce, without being wounded either by lance or sword, as if they were friends glad to see one another; some of them tied, without striking a blow, to the churches and convents, leaving the marshal with only fifteen knights. These however defended themselves bravely, unequal as the struggle was, against a hundred and forty; the whole weight of the battle however fell on the marshal, who then first discovered the treacherous design against his life, but, although attacked on all sides by his enemies, he still defended himself and slew six of them. A knight of gigantic size, to whom Richard de Burgh had given his armour, indignant at seeing this, made a rush at the marshal in order to kill him at once, and endeavoured forcibly to snatch his helmet from his head; the marshal, when he saw this man, thought that it was Richard de Burgh, and exclaimed, "Fly, vilest of traitors, lest I kill you;" to which he replied, "I will not fly, but will come nearer you;" he then lifted up his hands to seize the marshal's helmet, but the latter, by one blow of his sword, cut off both of his hands although covered with armour. Another of them, seeing his companion wounded, rushed with all the speed of his horse at the marshal, and exerting all his force struck him on his head, but owing to his helmet the blow took no effect; the earl however returned the blow and cut his enemy in two as far as the middle, after which not one of them would come near him for a long while. The leaders of his enemies, in a state of consternation, than urged on a host of people who had come there with lances, pitchforks, axes, and halberds, to surround the marshal, kill his horse, and bring him to the ground; and they at once surrounded and overwhelmed him, piercing his horse with many wounds; they could not even then however dismount him, they therefore cut off the horse's feet with their axes; the marshal then fell with his horse, overcome with fatigue, having been engaged fighting from the first hour of the day till the eleventh, and his enemies, rushing on him, lifted up his armour and mortally wounded him in the back. The nobles themselves on learning that he was mortally wounded, and lying as it were lifeless on the ground, conveyed him with scarcely any pigns of life, to his own castle, which Maurice the justiciary had taken possession of but shortly before, where he was placed in close confinement and attended by only one young man of his party. He there remained in the hands of his enemies. This battle was fought on Saturday the first day of April.