Chapter 6

The Daughters of the Earl Marshal

It is impossible to talk about anything related to Magna Carta without mentioning the man who has come to be known as ‘the Greatest Knight’, William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and his family. Marshal was one of the few nobles to stay loyal to King John throughout the Magna Carta crisis. That is not to say that John and Marshal did not have their differences, nor that their relationship was always smooth sailing. However, William Marshal was famed for his loyalty and integrity and maintained his oaths to King John throughout his reign, regardless of the distrust of the king. To tell the story of his daughters, we must first tell the story of William Marshal, this fourth son who rose from being a humble hearth knight on the tournament circuit to being regent to King Henry III and the most powerful man in the kingdom.

William Marshal was the second son of John FitzGilbert, hereditary royal marshal, by his second wife, Sybil, sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury, whom he had married around 1145. The marriage was part of a peace deal between the two neighbouring lords, an act of conciliation. Marshal also had two sons from his first marriage to Aline Pipard, whom he repudiated in 1141, Gilbert and Walter; Walter died before his father, and Gilbert died within a year of John’s death in 1165. The Marshal lands and title, as a result, passed to William’s older brother, John Marshal, which he held until his death in 1194. The Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal addresses John Marshal’s humble origins by highlighting his merits: ‘Though he was no earl and no baron with fabulous wealth, yet his generosity so increased that all were amazed by it.’¹ Evidence from the Histoire suggests that William was born sometime around the year 1147.²

Unlike most medieval characters, who remain elusive until they reached adulthood and joined the political stage, William’s story was already a part of legend by the time he attained his majority. After initially accepting King Stephen in 1135, by 1141 John Marshal had switched his allegiance to Empress Matilda during her conflict with King Stephen, in the period now known as The Anarchy, when the two rivals battled for control of England – and the crown – between 1139 and 1153. Marshal was badly injured in a desperate rearguard action at Wherwell; he took refuge in the abbey church, but his pursuers set the church alight and Marshal refused to surrender to save his life. He lost an eye and his face was badly disfigured by molten lead falling from the roof of the church tower in which he was hiding. He only emerged from the church after his pursuers had given him up for dead and left. Marshal then walked the twenty-five miles home to his castle at Marlborough where he finally received treatment for his wounds.³

In 1152, aged only 4 or 5, William was given as a hostage by his father to King Stephen as a pledge of good faith during a truce. Stephen was blockading John Marshal’s new castle at Newbury and expected the truce to be used in order to negotiate the castle’s surrender. John Marshal, however, used it to buy himself some time to provision and reinforce the castle with more men, apparently in reckless disregard of the risk this held for young William’s life. King Stephen’s advisers wanted young William hanged in front of the castle, a ruthless warning of what would happen to anyone who broke the terms of truce. When John Marshal was made aware of this intention, he is said to have replied that he ‘still had the hammers and anvils to make more and better sons.’⁴

While this statement at first appears the words of a heartless father, it is more likely that John Marshal, who had served King Stephen in the early years of his reign, knew the king well enough to know that William was never in any real danger. Indeed, Stephen’s refusal to execute William for the actions of his father is often cited as an example of the king’s lack of that ruthless streak that was needed to put an end to the civil war once and for all. It was, however, a gamble on John Marshal’s part, and may have appeared as one he had badly miscalculated when the story continues that young William was escorted to the gallows and placed on a siege catapult, which the child took for a swing. When Marshal refused to react, the child was then dangled from a wicker shield before the castle gate. Apparently young and innocent William asked what kind of strange toy was being hung out of the castle window, causing ‘the king to smile and have him taken back to safety.’⁵ After this, threats against William’s life ceased, but the king kept him as a ward at court and kept him close, despite the fact William was too young even to act as a page in the royal household. William himself later told the story of how Stephen would play a game of ‘knights’ with him.⁶

We do not know when young William was returned to his family, it may not have been until after Matilda’s son, Henry, and Stephen came to an agreement in November 1153, whereby Stephen recognised the young count of Anjou as his heir, rather than his own eldest son, Eustace. Before 1160, William had been fostered into the household of William de Tancarville, chamberlain of Normandy, with whom he stayed for six years as a squire. Little is known of his education in this time, though it is known that he was never taught his letters. One story handed down from William’s time in Tancarville’s household was that he earned the nickname ‘Gaste-Viande’ (the Glutton), and it was said that when there was nothing to eat, he slept.⁷ William first appears in a charter in or just before 1156, where he was included as consenting to John Marshal’s sale of the Somerset manor of Nettlecomb to Hugh de Ralegh. The price of the sale was ‘the service of one knight, a horse, two dogs and 80 marks in cash (£53 6s 8d).’⁸ William was knighted in 1166, just after his father’s death. John Marshal had left his son no share in the family lands, which first went to William’s half-brother Gilbert and then to his full brother, John.

Shortly after his knighting, William saw his first action when he was involved in a border dispute between Henry II and the counts of Flanders, Ponthieu and Boulogne, which led to an invasion of the Pays de Caux. William was among de Tancarville’s household knights who garrisoned the castle of Neufchâtel-en-Bray.⁹ He distinguished himself in a skirmish, though he earned a scolding from de Tancarville who chastised him for being too headstrong; ‘Get back, William, don’t be such a hothead, let the knights through!’¹⁰ William then lost his horse in a skirmish in the streets of Neufchâtel and failed to redeem his loss by taking ransoms and harness from the defeated enemy. De Tancarville refused to offer William further maintenance, which forced the young knight to sell his clothes in order to finance the purchase of a new horse. However, de Tancarville did allow William to accompany his household to a tournament in Maine, in which William distinguished himself by capturing, among others, a prominent courtier of the king of Scots. For the next year, with the consent of William de Tancarville, William Marshal followed the tournament circuit. In 1167 or 1168 he left de Tancarville’s service to join the household of his uncle Patrick, Earl of Salisbury.

William accompanied Patrick to Poitou where the earl had been given joint responsibility for the province, alongside his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. William was a younger member of the escort for Queen Eleanor when it was ambushed by the troops of Guy de Lusignan. The queen escaped, but in the ensuing skirmish, Earl Patrick was mortally wounded and William was taken prisoner after being wounded by a strike from behind during the encounter. He had to endure an uncomfortable period of captivity, wounded and half-starved; he was only released after Queen Eleanor paid his ransom. The queen then took the young knight into her retinue.

In 1170 he was placed in the household of Henry II’s young heir Henry, known as the Young King after his recent coronation; William was to act as Henry’s tutor in arms and infused the young man with a love of the tournament.¹¹ William Marshal is named by Roger of Hoveden as having joined the Young King in his rebellion against his father in 1173 and of knighting his charge in the first days of the campaign.¹² Although, Hoveden must have been confused as Henry II himself knighted his son shortly before the boy’s coronation in 1170. William was in constant attendance on the Young King, even witnessing the 1174 agreement between Henry II and his sons, which ended the conflict. The two men parted ways, however, in 1182, after William’s enemies spread rumours that he held nothing but contempt for the Young King by promoting his own interests on the tournament circuit, and that he had committed adultery with young Henry’s wife, Queen Margaret of France. Although the accusations were unfounded, they caused a breach between the Young King and William Marshal and William left Henry’s service in the last days of 1182, his attempts to receive justice from Henry II being dismissed at Caen at Christmas of that year.¹³

William Marshal then went on pilgrimage to Cologne, to visit the relics of ‘the three kings’ before going into service with the count of Flanders, ‘from whom he accepted a large money fee in the city of St Omer.’¹⁴

After continuing difficulties between Henry II and his heir, Marshal returned to the Young King’s service sometime after February 1183. His renewed service was short-lived, however, as Henry the Young King died on 11 June near Limoges. William was at Henry’s deathbed and asked by Henry to take his cloak to Jerusalem and lay it before the altar of the Holy Sepulchre as a fulfilment of the vow of pilgrimage to the Holy Land that the Young King had made. After escorting the Young King’s body to its burial in Rouen, William was given permission by Henry II to fulfil his son’s dying wish and he arrived in Jerusalem in 1184, staying there for nearly two years, though practically nothing is known of his experiences there.

On his return in 1186, William joined the Angevin royal household, after which he received rewards for his service, including the wardship of the lordship and heir of William of Lancaster, and the royal estate of Cartmel.¹⁵ By the end of Henry II’s reign William was one of the commanders of the royal household guard, fighting with distinction against Philip II Augustus of France. He was in command of the rearguard at Le Mans as the king escaped to Angers, opposing Richard, the king’s oldest surviving son, who was leading the pursuit of his father. Richard and William came face-to-face, with Richard lightly armed and unsupported, having ridden ahead of his troops. The Histoire recounts that Richard begged William to spare him.¹⁶ William was back with the king in time to witness the conference at Azay and Henry II’s death at Chinon on 6 July 1189.

In spite of his earlier run-in with Marshal, as the new king Richard I appreciated William Marshal’s abilities and even confirmed Henry II’s offer of the marriage of Isabel de Clare, the heiress of Striguil (now Chepstow), whose father was the late earl Richard de Clare (later known as Strongbow) who died in 1176. Isabel’s mother was Aife (Eva), daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster. In August 1189, after arriving in London, Isabel and William were married even though Isabel may have been as much thirty years William’s junior, having been born in the early to mid-1170s. Nevertheless, the early death of Isabel’s brother, Gilbert, when still a child, meant Isabel was the sole heir to her father’s estates in England, Normandy, south Wales and Leinster.¹⁷ In addition to Striguil, marriage to Isabel also brought William a half-share in the Giffard honour of Longueville in Normandy and some Giffard manors in England, including Caversham, as well as the lordship of Leinster, conquered by Strongbow in 1170–71.¹⁸ And to consolidate his power in the southern Welsh March, William was granted the shrievalty of Gloucester and created keeper of the Forest of Dean.

William’s star continued to rise in the reign of King Richard I. He was in constant attendance upon the king until his departure on crusade, and William was appointed as one of the four men tasked with monitoring the conduct of the justiciar, William Longchamp. William cooperated with the king’s brother, John, in his attempts to have Longchamp removed from office, and fully supported Walter de Coutances, the man sent by Richard to resolve the tensions in England. With Longchamp removed, William worked alongside John and his fellow justiciars to govern the country until news of Richard’s capture and imprisonment in Germany reached England, in December 1192. The justiciars were forced to confront John and thwart his attempts on the throne, a delicate task given John was Richard’s heir and may one day be their king. John fled England, however, in 1194 when news arrived that Richard was free and on his way home. John’s lands in England were confiscated by the justiciars. As the king returned in March 1194, William’s older brother, John Marshal, died at Marlborough, without a legitimate heir, leaving William to succeed to the Marshal lands, supplementing an already impressive power base in the west country and southern Welsh March.

William Marshal played a prominent part in Richard’s successful conclusion of the siege at Nottingham Castle, which held out for John in 1194. However, his relationship with Richard was not without its hitches Although he paid homage to the king for his English lands, he refused to do so for Leinster reasoning that John, lord of Ireland since his father’s reign, was overlord there. It was noted at the time that William was keeping his options open with John. Longchamp accused him, ‘Here you are planting vines!’,¹⁹ as Marshal obviously had one eye on the future. Richard accepted William’s reasoning and allowed him to carry a sword of state at his solemn crown-wearing at Winchester on 17 April 1194.²⁰ From then until the end of Richard’s reign, William spent much of his time in Normandy and elsewhere in France, campaigning. In the summer of 1197, it was William who was sent to negotiate with the counts of Flanders and Boulogne and in August he took part with Count Baldwin of Flanders, in the action at Arras, in which King Philip was trapped and forced to surrender to terms. The Histoire relates a story of William leading the attack on the castle of Milly-sur-Thérain in 1198, which clearly demonstrates his leadership style and stamina, where he climbed a scaling ladder and defended a section of the wall, knocking out the castle’s constable as they met on the wall walk. William was already in his fifties at the time, and apparently had to rest by sitting on the constable’s prone body.²¹

When King Richard was fatally wounded on 6 April 1199, William was acting as ducal justice at Vaudreuil. He made his way to Rouen after receiving instructions to secure that city and it was there that he heard the news of Richard’s death. Despite the late hour, William met with Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, and a keen debate followed over the merits of the two contenders for the throne, John and his nephew, Arthur of Brittany. According to the Histoire, while the archbishop backed Arthur as having the greater right, William gave his full support to John, arguing that Arthur’s overbearing attitude, treacherous advisers and French leanings would act against the interests of the realm.²² More with a nod to hindsight (the Histoire was written in the 1220s), than the skill of prophecy, the archbishop cautioned: ‘This much I can tell you, you will never come to regret anything you did as much as what you’re doing now’.²³

William Marshal was rewarded for his loyalty to John by being invested with the earldom of Pembroke, previously held by his father-in-law Richard Strongbow but taken from him in 1154 and held by the English crown, shortly before John’s coronation on 27 May 1199. By 1201 William held the lands as well as the title of Pembroke, and had also visited his lands in Leinster, Ireland, to take the homage of his men there.²⁴ William was again made sheriff of Gloucester and given the keeping of the royal castles at Gloucester and Bristol. By 1202 it looked as if William’s star had reached its zenith. He was also entrusted with the protection of Upper Normandy, but the king’s political misjudgements compromised his efforts. His unsuccessful attempt to relieve Château Gaillard with river-borne and land forces led to his being decisively defeated by the French commander, Guillaume de Barres. William Marshal left Normandy with King John in December 1203, after which the duchy soon fell to the French king.

The loss of Normandy was a severe blow to the Anglo-Norman barons of England, with many of them losing half their patronage. When William was sent to negotiate with King Philip in May 1204, along with the earl of Leicester, the two barons secured a private agreement from the French king whereby they were given a year’s grace before they would have to pay homage to him for their Norman lands. King John was understanding of William Marshal’s predicament and appears to have continued to be supportive of the earl of Pembroke, granting him the lordship of Castle Goodrich and looking the other way when Marshal gained the Dorset manor of Sturminster by taking advantage of the count of Meulan’s desperate need for money.²⁵

In spring 1205 William returned to France on another diplomatic mission and agreed to do homage to King Philip for his Norman lands. John was still sympathetic, although clearly unhappy that the homage Philip had extracted also obliged William to do military service for the French king when in France. To John, this was treason and he demanded the magnates pass judgement on William. However, they refused, William’s warning probably ringing in their ears: ‘Be on alert against the king: what he thinks to do with me, he will do to each and every one of you, or even more, if he gets the upper hand over you.’²⁶ King John basically washed his hands of William Marshal, he had had enough of helping William recover from his Norman losses and demanded the earl give up his eldest son and heir as a sign of good faith while the steady stream of royal favours ceased. William remained at court and was among the earls tasked with escorting King William of Scotland from the Scottish border to his meeting with John at York in November. However, when John left for Poitou in June 1206, William left court and did not return once the king was back in England in September.

William Marshal spent the next seven years in the political wilderness, mainly by choice. His plans to travel to his Irish estates fuelled John’s growing distrust of the Marshal, which was demonstrated in the king’s demand that William hand over his second son, Richard, as an extra hostage to his good behaviour, thus strongly hinting that the king would rather that William did not leave England. When William failed to heed the warning, and left for Ireland with his family and household, John retaliated by relieving William of his responsibilities in the Forest of Dean and as sheriff of Gloucester, as well as taking the fortress of Cardigan.²⁷ As such, William spent much of the following nine years in Ireland, in the honour of Leinster. He came into conflict with the king’s justiciar, Meiler Fitz Henry, who was not only a tenant of William’s in Leinster but had also laid claim to William’s lands at Offaly. When William was recalled by John, the king came down on the side of Fitz Henry and William’s isolation increased. The conflict eventually ended when John recognised his need for William Marshal’s support and Meiler Fitz Henry was offered up as a scapegoat and disinherited. William’s lands at Offaly were returned and Leinster restored on new terms. William lived in Ireland, in isolation from the court for several more years, his two eldest sons still in John’s custody as hostages.

The Marshal crossed paths with the king again in 1210, when John was preparing an expedition to Ireland in pursuit of his erstwhile friend and now bitter enemy, William de Braose. King John suspected William Marshal of sheltering de Braose and his family, who stayed briefly with the earl at Leinster before moving on to stay with their own daughter Margaret and son-in-law, Walter de Lacy, in Meath. William Marshal crossed to Pembroke to face the king and protest his innocence. He was sent back to Ireland, his punishment being no more than a few harsh words from the king and the loss of the fortress of Dunamase, Ireland²⁸

Relations between the monarch and William Marshal began to thaw in 1212 when William made a significant demonstration of loyalty in Ireland as John was facing baronial conspiracy at home. William’s two sons were released from custody and, in May 1213, William was recalled to court and restored to his lands and position in south Wales; William Marshal’s famed loyalty was now badly needed by the king against the rise of the rebellious barons. He remained in England, watching over the Welsh March as John undertook his final Continental campaign, which ended with the disastrous Battle of Bouvines. The military defeat was a catalyst for the emergence of the rebel baronial party. As the crisis came to a head in 1215, William Marshal was John’s chief lay negotiator, first at London in January and again at Oxford in February. When war broke out William was entrusted with the security of the Welsh Marches, against the rebels and their ally Prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd (John’s own son-in-law). Following John’s defeat, William again took on the role of negotiator, aided by the fact his eldest son, William (II), had sided with the rebels. This may have been a cynical move by the Marshals providing them with the chance to have one foot in each camp, and there was certainly suspicion of this at the time according to the Worcester annals.²⁹

When Louis of France arrived to take up the fight on the side of the rebels, landing in Kent on 22 May 1216, it was William Marshal who advised King John against meeting the French prince in the field, gambling with the fate of the entire nation in pitched battle.³⁰ John heeded the advice, perhaps also unsure of the loyalty of his mercenaries, and retreated. As John took the fight north, facing down the northern contingent of the rebel barons in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Axeholme, William again guarded the Welsh March. King John’s death in October 1216, however, brought William Marshal from the Welsh border to the forefront of English politics and the struggle against the rebel barons and their French allies.

John’s final testament appointed William as one of the council of thirteen executors tasked with assisting in the recovery of 9-year-old Henry III’s inheritance, England. Though yet to be appointed regent, William Marshal immediately took control of the situation, arranging John’s funeral at Worcester Cathedral, taking responsibility for the young king and having him brought to Gloucester from Devizes, then convening a council at Gloucester for November, in order to ratify the arrangements for a protectorship. At a council at Bristol in November 1216, William Marshal’s role was decided on, he was to be ‘guardian of the king and the kingdom’; his new title was first used on 12 November 1216.³¹ He was probably in his seventieth year by this time. From this point on, all royal acts were carried out in William Marshal’s name; it was his own seal that was affixed to chancery writs.³² In 1217 Magna Carta was reissued, alongside the newly created Charter of the Forest.

In May 1217, William Marshal and the Royalist forces defeated the rebel barons and their French allies at the battle of Lincoln; this victory was consolidated with victory at sea, in a battle off the coast of Sandwich in August. Louis sued for peace and left England in September in return for a general amnesty and an indemnity of 10,000 marks, a generous settlement for a defeated prince. William Marshal ruled England for nineteen months, with some success; the exchequer was re-established, peace returned to the Welsh March and an accommodation reached with Prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd at Worcester in March 1218. By January 1219, however, the great man, now into his seventies, was suffering his final illness, although he managed to soldier on for several more months. He held a council in his sickroom at his manor of Caversham on 8 and 9 April, where he relinquished his power. The Histoire depicts a touching deathbed scene with William taking leave of Isabel, his ‘belle amie’, embracing his wife one last time and crying with her.³³ He died on 14 May 1219, his head supported by his eldest son and heir, William (II) Marshal. He was laid to rest in the church at the New Temple, London, where the effigy from his tomb can still be seen.

William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was survived by his wife, Isabel de Clare, by only a year. Isabel and William had been married in August 1189, William having collected her from the household of Ranulf de Glanville in London, where she had been residing.³⁴ The Histoire gives us a glimpse of Isabel, depicting her as a personality in her own right when the family resided at her estates in Ireland, between 1207 and 1213.³⁵ Isabel had taken part in the council of Marshal’s men at Chepstow, prior to their departure for Ireland, when she argued against sending their second son, Richard, into John’s custody to be yet another hostage. And when William was forced to be in attendance upon the king in this period, it was Isabel who took over the running of the family’s Irish estates. During William’s absence, a number of his retainers sided with John’s justiciar, Meiler Fitz Henry, in return for lands from King John. According to the Histoire, Isabel opposed William’s decision to pardon these rebellious vassals on his return to Ireland.³⁶ Although it is unusual for a woman of her time, Isabel appears to have enjoyed some measure of authority and personal independence. She had her own chaplain, named Walter, her own clerk, a man named Robert, and her own seal. This seal depicts her in a standard contemporary pose: ‘full face, standing, in tight-fitting dress, pointed headdress, and long cloak, with a falcon on her left wrist.’³⁷ In his final will, William Marshal left all the lands to Isabel that he had held from her and Isabel would continue to administer these lands, personally, until her death. Their eldest son, William, was to receive all the Marshal lands and those that William had acquired throughout his career and would only inherit the lands William held in his wife’s name on Isabel’s death. It is a mark of the authority and independence that Isabel enjoyed as a widow that she was able to make her own agreement with the king of France, whereby the family were allowed to retain their property in Normandy. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that her daughters were themselves strong, remarkable women. Isabel died in 1220 and was buried at Tintern Abbey in Wales.³⁸

Isabel and William Marshal had ten children together, five sons and five daughters. Of the sons the eldest William (II) succeeded his father as earl of Pembroke. He married King John’s daughter, Eleanor, but died childless in 1231 and was succeeded in the earldom by his brother, Richard, who had inherited the Norman lands in their father’s will. Richard died in captivity in Ireland from wounds received at the battle of the Curragh in 1234. He was succeeded as earl by Gilbert Marshal, who married Margaret, sister of King Alexander II of Scotland. Gilbert died in 1241, leaving only an illegitimate daughter, Isabel. He was succeeded as earl by Walter, William and Isabel’s fourth son, who married Margaret de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, but he died in November 1245, also childless. The fifth and final son, Ancel, briefly succeeded as earl, but died on 22 December 1245. The earldom was then divided among the five Marshal daughters, with the title of Marshal passing through William and Isabel’s eldest daughter, Matilda, into the Bigod family and the earls of Norfolk.

Matilda Marshal

The children of William and Isabel cannot fail to have benefited from William Marshal’s rise through the ranks from fourth son and humble hearth knight, to earl of Pembroke and, eventually, regent for Henry III. Their father’s position as a powerful magnate on the Welsh Marches and the most respected knight in the kingdom saw William’s daughters make the most advantageous marriages in the highest echelons of the nobility. Although we do not have a birth date for Matilda Marshal, also known as Maud or Mahelt, given that her parents married in 1189 and she had two elder brothers, she was probably born in 1193 or 1194.³⁹ She was the third child and eldest daughter. The Histoire praises Matilda saying she had the gifts of ‘wisdom, generosity, beauty, nobility of heart, graciousness, and I can tell you in truth, all the good qualities which a noble lady should possess.’⁴⁰ The Histoire goes on to say; ‘Her worthy father who loved her dearly, married her off, during his lifetime to the best and most handsome party he knew, to Sir Hugh Bigot.’⁴¹ Of William and Isabel’s five daughters, it is only Matilda who is mentioned in the Histoire as being ‘loved dearly’ by her father.

In 1207 when the Marshal family moved to Ireland, William looked to settle Matilda’s future. Now aged 13 or 14, Matilda was old enough to be married and William approached Roger Bigod, second Earl of Norfolk, to propose a match between Matilda and Roger’s son and heir, Hugh Bigod. Hugh was Roger’s son by his wife Ida de Tosny, former mistress of King Henry II and the mother of the king’s son, William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury. Roger and Ida had married at Christmas in 1181 and so Hugh was probably in his mid-twenties when the marriage with Matilda was suggested. According to the Histoire William asked Roger Bigod ‘graciously, being the wise man he was, to arrange a handsome marriage between his own daughter and his son Hugh. The boy was worthy, mild-mannered, and noblehearted and the young lady was a very young thing and both noble and beautiful. The marriage was a most suitable one and pleased both families involved.’⁴² The match was a good one. The Bigods were loyal servants of the king, with royal connections through Ida’s son, Longespée, who was also half-brother to King John. Through his marriage to Ela of Salisbury, Longespée was also related to William Marshal, Ela’s grandfather and William’s mother being brother and sister. After the marriage, Matilda lived with her husband at the earl of Norfolk’s magnificent thirteen-towered castle at Framlingham. In 1209 she gave birth to a son, Roger, who would succeed his father as fourth Earl of Norfolk. Another son, Hugh, was born in 1212, and a daughter, Isabelle in 1215. A third and final son, Ralph, was probably born in 1216 or 1217.

Matilda’s family was deeply divided by the Magna Carta crisis and subsequent civil war. Her husband and father-in-law had joined the ranks of the baronial rebellion in 1215, as had her brother, William Marshal the Younger, whilst her father remained a staunch supporter of the king, holding the Welsh Marches for the Royalist cause during the civil war. In 1216 the war touched Matilda personally, with Framlingham Castle being besieged by King John, who demanded the castle’s surrender:

The King to his well-beloved men, William le Enveise, constable of Framlingham, and all the knights presently with him in that castle, greetings. We command that you deliver up to our trusty and well-beloved William de Harcourt and Elias de Beauchamp the castle of Framlingham. And in testimony hereof we thereto send you these our letters patent. Witness myself, at Framlingham, the thirteenth day of March, in the seventeenth year of our reign.⁴³

We do not know whether Matilda was in residence at the castle at the time of the siege; her father-in-law was in, or on his way to, London and her husband Hugh’s whereabouts are unknown, but he was not at Framlingham. The king allowed the constable, William le Enveise, to send messengers to the earl and seek advice on what they should do.⁴⁴ The earl probably advised the constable to surrender as the castle capitulated to the king without a fight two days later. One of Matilda’s sons, most likely the eldest, Roger, was taken as hostage. It is not hard to imagine what thoughts and feelings – and fears – must have gone through Matilda’s mind, knowing that her young son, only 6 or 7 years of age, was in the custody of King John. The king’s treatment of Matilda de Braose was common knowledge, and rumours of what had happened to Arthur of Brittany were rife. Her own two older brothers, William and Richard, had also been held for several years as hostages to their father’s good behaviour. It must have been a comfort to Matilda, however, to know that King John depended on the loyalty of her father, and so would treat the boy well, if only to avoid alienating the man whose support he sorely needed.

Despite King John’s death in October 1216, Matilda’s husband and father-in-law remained in rebellion, supporting the claims of Louis of France. The earl of Norfolk only came to terms with the Royalist government when the French prince returned home in September 1217 and when he was finally restored to the earldom of Norfolk and Framlingham Castle was returned to him. It was probably also at this time that his grandson, Roger, was returned to his mother. His last year as a hostage would have been when his own grandfather, William Marshal, was in power as regent, which must have let Matilda rest easier and allayed her fears for her son.

Matilda spent time with her father while he was dying in April and May 1219. The Histoire says of Matilda at her father’s deathbed: ‘My lady Mahelt [Matilda] la Bigote was so full of grief she almost went out of her mind, so great was her love for him. Often she appealed to God, asking Him why He was taking from her what her heart loved most.’⁴⁵ It goes on to tell the story of the ailing William Marshal calling for his daughters to sing to him. William asked Matilda to be the first to sing: ‘She had no wish to do so for her life at the time was a bitter cup, but she had no wish to disobey her father’s command. She started to sing since she wished to please her father, and she sang exceedingly well, giving a verse of a song in a sweet, clear voice.’⁴⁶

Matilda’s husband, Hugh, succeeded to the title of earl of Norfolk when his father died sometime between April and August 1221, probably aged well into his seventies. The new earl, however, only enjoyed his title for four years; he died suddenly in 1225, aged only 43. He was succeeded by their eldest son, Roger, then only 16 years old and therefore still a minor. His wardship was given to William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury, and the young earl’s half-uncle, but when Longespée died the following year, the wardship was transferred to Alexander II, King of Scots.⁴⁷ The Fine Rolls of Henry III record in great detail the transfer of wardship:

1226: 27 Oct. Westminster. For the King of Scots. To the sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. The king’s faithful and beloved brother, Alexander, King of Scots, has made fine with him by 500 m., to be rendered at Mid-Lent in the eleventh year, for having to himself or to his assigns, until the full age of the heirs of H. Bigod, formerly earl of Norfolk, the wards, marriages and escheats that escheated from the lands and knights’ fees and all other things that were held of the same earl by knight service and that the king has retained in his hand, which lands and aforesaid fees the king has granted to the aforesaid king. Also, the king [of England] has granted 50 m. to the king [of Scots] or his assigns, by the same fine, to be received annually from the county of Norfolk until the full age of the aforesaid heirs, which the aforesaid earl used to receive each year from the county of Norfolk in the name of the same county. The king [of England] has further granted to the king [of Scots] or his assigns, until the full age of the aforesaid heirs, the presentations of the churches that pertain to the same heirs, so that the king or his assigns are to present to them whenever they fall vacant. Order to cause the same king or his assigns to have the wards, marriages and escheats when they escheat, and the presentations to churches when they fall vacant, in his bailiwick, as aforesaid. He is also to inquire diligently by trustworthy and law-worthy men of those parts what lands and fees pertain to the heirs of the same earl, and who holds them, and what lands and fees pertain to W. earl Warenne and Matilda, his wife, in the name of dower of the same Matilda, and who holds them, and which presentations to churches pertain to the same heirs when they fall vacant, and who holds those churches, and which presentations to churches pertain to the aforesaid W. earl Warenne and Matilda, his wife, in the name of dower of the same Matilda. The inquisition having been taken, he is to cause Thomas son of Ranulf, bailiff of the same king, to have it under his seal and the seals of those by whom etc. was taken. Order also to cause to come on a suitable day and place before the aforesaid Thomas or other bailiffs of the aforesaid King of Scots, if the same Thomas will not be present, all knights and free tenants of the lands and fees that are in the hand of the King of Scots by the king’s grant in his bailiwick, in order to perform their fealty to the same Thomas, or to other bailiffs of the aforesaid King of Scots if Thomas will not be present, for their lands and tenements, to be observed until the full age of the same heirs, saving fealty to the king. The king has also granted to the same king or to his assigns, by the aforesaid fine, those 50 librates of land which he retained in his hand for the custody of Framlingham castle. The king has ordered Herbert de Alençon to cause the same king or his assigns to have full seisin thereof. Before the justiciar.⁴⁸

It was also ordered in writing:

to the sheriffs of Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Essex [that] The king has granted to A. King of Scots, until the full age etc., by a fine that he made with the king, the wards, marriages and escheats, which escheated in the aforesaid writ, etc., except for that clause “concerning the 500 m. that he used to receive from the county of Norfolk”, and the other clause addressed to Herbert.⁴⁹

Essentially, custody of the young earl of Norfolk, and of all his lands, was handed to Alexander II, king of Scots, who would marry Roger to his sister, Isabella of Scotland. The only lands not granted to the king of Scots were those which Matilda held in dower as Hugh Bigod’s widow. Matilda was still only 32 when Hugh died, with four children to care for. As a valuable marriage prize she, or her family, acted quickly to secure her future and safety and within three months of her husband’s death, she was married once more. Her second husband was William de Warenne, fifth Earl of Surrey, also known as Earl Warenne. William was the only son of Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey in her own right, and her second husband, Hamelin de Warenne, half-brother of King Henry II. Matilda was the earl’s second wife, his first wife, Matilda, daughter of William d’Aubigny, second Earl of Arundel had died childless on 6 February 1215 and was buried at Lewes Priory, Sussex.⁵⁰ William de Warenne was a neighbour of the Bigods, having lands centred in Castle Acre in Norfolk, and he had joined the rebellion against King John at about the same time as Roger Bigod, although William was back in the Royalist camp by March 1217 and was a prominent participant in the negotiations which ended the war in August 1217.⁵¹

Probably born in the late 1160s, William was considerably older than his new wife and the marriage appears to have been one of practicality, rather than affection. The earl had purchased Matilda’s marriage, essentially meaning her dower in Norfolk, before July 1225.⁵² Matilda continued to style herself as ‘Matildis la Bigot’ in charters, with ‘Matildis de Warenne’ added only as an afterthought, or not at all. For example, a charter from the early 1240s, following the death of William de Warenne, has the salutation, ‘ego Latilda Bigot comitissa Norf’ et Warenn.’⁵³ This may be an indication that this marriage was not of Matilda’s own choosing and may even have preferred to remain a widow, rather than entering into this second marriage. The continuing use of her name from her first marriage being her own mark of rebellion against her new situation.

After the resolution of the crisis of 1216/1217 William de Warenne served the crown faithfully, save for his brief involvement in the confederation against it led by Henry III’s brother Richard of Cornwall, between July and October 1227. He was forced to surrender Tickhill Castle, but his disgrace was only temporary and in 1228 he was confirmed in possession of the manors of Grantham and Stamford for life, as well as the receipt of the third penny for the county of Surrey for the first time, an honorary payment previously denied to William and his father. In 1230 William de Warenne was appointed keeper of the east-coast ports of England during the king’s expedition to Brittany. In 1236 he was cup bearer at the coronation of Eleanor of Provence and in 1237 he witnessed the reissue of Magna Carta, one of the few surviving barons who were witness to the original charter in 1215.⁵⁴

In his early seventies, William de Warenne died in London on 27 or 28 May 1240; he was buried before the high altar at his family’s foundation of Lewes Priory in Sussex. In his memory, the king ordered that a wayside cross be erected on the road between Carshalton and Merton, in Surrey.⁵⁵ Matilda bore her second husband two children, a boy and a girl, John and Isabel (later Isabel d’Aubigny). John would succeed his father as earl and attained his majority in 1248, when he succeeded to the Warenne estates. He would pursue a martial career and was one of Edward I’s fiercest generals. Matilda did not marry again after William’s death. In 1246, as the last surviving child of William Marshal, and with neither of her five brothers leaving a son, Matilda was granted the Marshal’s rod by King Henry III. She did, at this point, change her name on charters, to ‘Martill marescalla Angliae, comitissa Norfolciae et Warennae.’⁵⁶ Emphasising her Marshal name as her father’s eldest surviving child, Matilda was, significantly, claiming the title Marshal of England as her right, thus increasing her power and prestige, and taking the authority of the marshal as her own. Matilda appears to have acted independently during her second marriage, purchasing land in the Don Valley in South Yorkshire, close to the Warenne stronghold of Conisbrough Castle. After the queen she was ‘undoubtedly the most powerful and wealthy woman in England from 1242 onwards.’⁵⁷

Matilda died in 1248, in her mid-fifties. Choosing to be laid to rest with her Marshal family, rather than either of her husbands, Matilda was buried at Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire. Her three Bigod sons and their Warenne half-brother carried their mother’s bier into the church, where she was laid to rest close to her mother, Isabel, two of her brothers, Walter and Ancel, and her sister, Sybil. It is through Matilda’s marriage to Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, that the present duke of Norfolk also bears the title of Earl Marshal.

Isabel Marshal

Matilda had been the eldest of the five Marshal sisters; her next sister, Isabel Marshal, was at least six years her junior, born in 1200. She was married to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who was twenty years her senior. Gilbert was the son of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, and Amicia, coheiress of William, Earl of Gloucester. His aunt, Amicia’s sister, was Isabella of Gloucester, the discarded first wife of King John, who had held the earldom of Gloucester until her death on 14 October 1217, when it passed to Gilbert. Both Gilbert and his father were named among the twenty-five barons appointed as Enforcers of Magna Carta in 1215; as a consequence, father and son were excommunicated at the beginning of 1216.

After the death of King John, Gilbert sided with Prince Louis of France and was only reconciled with the Royalist cause after the battle of Lincoln in May 1217, despite having married Isabel, the second daughter of the regent, William Marshal, in 1214.⁵⁸ Like her older sister, Matilda, Isabel had found her husband’s family on the opposing side to her father in the Magna Carta crisis and the civil war that followed. Gilbert’s political career was during the minority of Henry III, his position owed mainly to his landed status and his marital connections, rather than his abilities or capacity for leadership. In 1225, he was present at the confirmation of Magna Carta at Westminster, but in 1227 he sided with the king’s brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in his dispute with Henry III, demanding a renewal of the forest acts and campaigning against Hubert de Burgh. In 1230 Gilbert accompanied the king on his expedition to Brittany, but died there, at Penros, on 25 October 1230. He had made his first will before his departure to the Continent, at Southwick, on 30 April 1230, and made a second will on 23 October, two days before he died.⁵⁹

Gilbert’s body was brought back to England and laid to rest in Tewkesbury Abbey, before the great altar, in the presence of an ‘innumerable gathering.’⁶⁰ Isabel, his widow, set up a memorial stone dated 28 September 1231.⁶¹ Gilbert was succeeded in his earldoms by his eldest son by Isabel, Richard de Clare, who was only 8 years old on his father’s death. Richard had been born on 4 August 1222 and was the eldest of five children. Two other sons, William and Gilbert, were born in 1228 and 1229 respectively, but remained unmarried. Gilbert and Isabel also had two daughters. Amicia was their eldest child, born in 1220, she married firstly Baldwin de Revières, Earl of Devon, and secondly Robert de Guines. A second daughter Isabel, born in November 1226, married Robert (V) de Brus, fifth Lord of Annandale; her grandson, Robert the Bruce, would be crowned King of Scots in 1306.⁶² On Gilbert’s death, wardship of young Richard de Clare and his lands was given to Hubert de Burgh, the king’s justiciar, but was passed to Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, when de Burgh fell from power in 1232.

Only just turned 30, Isabel Marshal was not a widow for long. In March 1231, apparently without the king’s permission or knowledge, she married Henry III’s 22-year-old brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall. Despite the nine-year age difference, it was a good match; Isabel already had five healthy children by her first husband and was yet young enough to bear more. She also brought with her the Marshal name and, eventually, a share in the Marshal inheritance. The marriage with Richard was put under immense strain when their first two children died in infancy and in 1235 Richard attempted to put Isabel aside. He wrote to Rome asking for an annulment, but the pope advised him to persevere with the marriage. Isabel fell pregnant for a third time and gave birth to a healthy son, Henry, known as Henry of Almain in November 1235.⁶³ The appalation Almain was in reference to his father being named King of the Germans in 1256. Henry would survive into adulthood and was a friend and ally of Lord Edward, son and heir of Henry III, but was to meet a tragic end in March 1271, when he was murdered by his own cousin, Guy de Montfort, while attending mass at church in Viterbo, Italy.

In 1234 Richard had been involved in the rebellion of his brother-in-law, Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and in August Richard had his wife warn her brother, approaching court to try to settle the dispute, of a possible trap and told him to flee or face arrest.⁶⁴ However, he was persuaded to abandon Marshal by his brother the king, and the shortlived rebellion ended with the death of Richard Marshal, while a prisoner in Ireland, and the fall of the Poitevin faction at court. Isabel died in childbirth on 17 January 1240 at Berkhamsted Castle, the child – a boy – died with her. She had asked to be buried at Tewkesbury Abbey, with her first husband, but was, in fact, interred at Beaulieu Abbey, her baby son with her; her heart was sent to Tewkesbury to be interred with Gilbert de Clare.

Following his wife’s death, Richard, having taken the cross at Winchester in June 1236, finally began his preparations to leave on crusade. Isabel’s brother, Gilbert, had sworn to accompany him but had fallen out with Henry III and decided to resolve his issues with the king before his departure. Despite the fact Gilbert was grieving for his sister, the king was not in a conciliatory mood. King Henry had levelled accusations against Gilbert that were so demeaning that Matthew Paris, the chronicler, refused to record them. Unfortunately, no one else thought to record them, either, so we do not know what transpired between Gilbert and the king. It took a year for Gilbert to resolve his issues with the Henry, by which time Richard of Cornwall had left on crusade without him.⁶⁵

Sibyl Marshal

Isabel was survived by her next-youngest sister, Sibyl, who was born around 1201. Sibyl was married to William de Ferrers, fifth Earl of Derby. The couple played little part in national affairs, Ferrers had been plagued by gout since his youth and took little interest in public matters. He was regularly transported by litter and never fully recovered from an accident that occurred sometime in the 1230s while crossing a bridge at St Neots in Huntingdonshire, whereby he was thrown from his litter into the water. He succeeded to the earldom of Derby on his father’s death in 1247 but died in 1254. Sibyl gave birth to seven children, all daughters: Agnes, Isabel, Maud, Sibyl, Joan, Agatha and Eleanor. Sibyl died sometime before 1247 and was laid to rest at Tintern Abbey, alongside her mother.

Eva Marshal

William and Isabel Marshal’s fourth daughter, Eva, was born in about 1203 in Pembroke Castle, and so was only 16 when her father died – and 17 when she lost her mother. As a child, she spent several years with her family in exile in Ireland, only returning to England when her father was finally reconciled with King John in 1212. Sometime before 1221, Eva was married to William (V) de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny, son of Reginald de Braose and grandson of Matilda de Braose, who died of starvation in King John’s dungeons.

William de Braose was a powerful Marcher baron who was hated by the Welsh. Having been a prisoner of Prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd in 1228, he returned to the Welsh prince’s court in 1230 to arrange the marriage of his daughter to Llywelyn’s son, Dafydd. De Braose caused a public scandal by being found in Llywelyn’s chamber with the Welsh prince’s wife, Joan. Llywelyn’s immediate reaction was one of anger and William de Braose was publicly hanged in Wales on 2 May 1230. This rage, however vicious, was remarkably brief. Despite William de Braose’s betrayal of Llywelyn, and subsequent violent death, the marriage between William’s daughter, Isabella, and Llywelyn’s son, Prince Dafydd, was not derailed.

Llywelyn was anxious that the wedding should go ahead and wrote to his ‘esteemed friend’ Eva Marshal, Isabella’s mother, shortly after her husband’s execution, with warm greetings and asking

in so far as you might inform us regarding your wish, whether you would want to persist with the alliance made between David [Dafydd], our son, and I. [Isabella], your daughter; because she will never remain with us except that the alliance will stand. And if you would not want this, lest any worse harm might be able to happen, you would want to make known soon your will regarding that alliance and regarding the authority of your daughter with us. And you may know that in no way might we have been able to avert what judgement the magnates of our land might not do, considering what revenge they have done because of the scandal and our outrage. And whatever you will have done from there you might take the trouble to make known to us.⁶⁶

The letter suggests that Isabella had accompanied her father on the mission to negotiate her marriage to Dafydd. It must have been a dreadful time for the young woman, to see her father hanged from the nearest tree and then have to remain at the court of the man who had ordered the execution. However, Llywelyn’s letter suggests that he was truly hoping that her mother, Eva, would still allow the marriage to go ahead. Llywelyn also wrote to Isabella’s uncle, William Marshal, the second Earl of Pembroke, addressing him as ‘friend and dearest brother’ and continuing with:

Your grace will know that the magnates of our land might in no way control what they might not do regarding William de Breuse [Braose], the judgement which they will have made on him who engineered our deceit, by deceitfully entering our chamber, bringing shame to us in the highest way. Whereby we ask your grace resolutely, concerning which we show the greatest trust, in so far as you may wish to show to us your will, whether you might have wished the alliance made between your niece and our son Dafydd; which, if you might have wished, on our part that alliance steadfastly and persistently stands firm. Farewell.

You may take the trouble to show to us your pleasure over this and other matters and for certain you may know that never might anything happen in us but that the friendship made between you and us is guarded steadily and invariably forever, neither on account of the king nor on account of anything in the world. Again farewell.⁶⁷

Llywelyn’s letters do seem to have healed any possible rift before it became unsurmountable; Dafydd and Isabella were married in 1232, although they remained childless and Dafydd was eventually succeeded by his nephew, Llywelyn, as prince of Gwynedd and, eventually Wales, when he died in 1246.

William and Eva had four daughters together, including Isabella, who was born in 1222. A second daughter, Maud, born in 1224, married Roger Mortimer, first Baron Wigmore, and died in 1301. Eva de Braose, born in 1227, died 28 July 1255 and married William de Cantilupe. The youngest daughter, born around 1228, Eleanor, married Humphrey (IV) de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and was the mother of Humphrey (V) de Bohun, Gilbert and a daughter, Alianore. Eleanor died sometime in 1251 and her husband remarried to Joan de Quincy. Eleanor’s substantial lands in the Welsh Marches passed to her son, Humphrey. However, the younger Humphrey predeceased his father, and the earldom passed to his son, another Humphrey (VI), on the old earl’s death in 1275.

Following her husband’s execution, Eva kept hold of the Braose lands and castles and continued to administer them in her own right.⁶⁸ She is listed as the holder of Totnes in 1230, but it was confiscated by the king in August 1233, during her brother’s rebellion, when the king ordered ‘the sheriff of Devon to take the castle of Totnes, which is in the hand of Eva de Braose into the king’s hand, with all appurtenances, and to keep it safely until the king orders otherwise.’⁶⁹ Eva is also recorded in a pledge of 12 June 1237 ‘for the 800 m. in which she is bound to the king for G. [Gilbert] Earl Marshal, concerning which 800 m. letters were directed to the barons of the Exchequer.’⁷⁰ In 1242 Eva also paid a fine to be able to decide the marriage of her youngest daughter, Eleanor:

30 Jan. Westminster. For Eva de Braose. To the barons of the Exchequer. The king has betaken himself to H. earl of Hereford and Essex for the 650 m. which still remain to be paid to the king from the fine of 800 m. by which Eva de Braose made fine with the king for having the custody and marriage of Eleanor, her daughter, and he has granted him that he may render the aforesaid 650 m. at the below-written terms, namely 50 m. at Easter in the twenty-sixth year, 50 m. at Michaelmas in the same year, and 100 m. thus from year to year at the same terms until the aforesaid 650 m. are paid to the king in full. Order to cause this to be done and enrolled thus.⁷¹

Eva was also granted 12 marks by the king to strengthen Hay Castle, which had been granted to her as part of her dower.⁷² In 1234 she was somehow involved in the rebellion of her brother, Richard, and probably acted as one of the arbitrators between the king and her surviving brothers, following Richard’s murder in Ireland (he died while in custody, his wounds untreated after a battle). She received a safe conduct in May 1234, allowing her to speak with the king; her lands and castles, including Totnes, were restored to her before the end of the month. Eva also received a formal statement from the king, declaring her back in ‘his good graces’.⁷³ She died in 1246.

Joan Marshal

The youngest Marshal sister was Joan, who was still only a child when her father died in 1219. As with her sister Matilda, she is mentioned in the Histoire as having been called for by her ailing father, so that she could sing for him.⁷⁴ Joan was married before 1222 to Warin de Munchensi, a landholder and soldier who was born in the mid-1190s. When his father and older brother died in 1204 and (possibly) 1208, respectively, Warin was made a ward of his uncle William d’Aubigny, Earl of Arundel. He was ill-treated by King John, who demanded 2,000 marks in relief and quittance of his father’s Jewish debts on 23 December 1213. He was ordered to pay quickly and pledged his lands as a guarantee of his good behaviour. However, this harsh treatment drove him to ally with the rebel barons and he was captured fighting against the Royalist forces at the battle of Lincoln, on 20 May 1217.⁷⁵ He was reconciled with the crown and served Henry III loyally on almost every military campaign of the next forty years.

His marriage to Joan Marshal produced two children; John de Munchensi and a daughter, Joan, who would marry the king’s half-brother, William de Valence, fourth son of Isabelle d’Angoulême and her second husband, Hugh X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche. It was through his wife and, more accurately her mother, that de Valence was allowed to claim the title Earl of Pembroke. Joan Marshal died sometime before November 1234, as Warin married for a second time shortly after that, to a widow, Denise, daughter and heir of Nicholas of Anstey of Hertfordshire.⁷⁶

When the last Marshal son, Ancel, died without heirs in December 1245, the Marshal lands were divided equally between Matilda, the sole surviving Marshal, and the heirs of her four sisters. The legacy of the great William Marshal continued through the female line, but this branch of the Marshal name had died out just one generation after the death of the great knight and regent. His posthumous reputation was permanently established by the Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchale, commissioned by William, his son and heir, in the early 1220s. Having had a father of such integrity and fame cannot have failed to rub off, not only on his sons, but also his daughters. Matilda, Isabel, Sibyl, Eva and Joan all showed the strength and determination for which their father was famous, holding together their families in times of hardship and adversity. It seems ironic that, despite William’s firm adherence to King John, his daughters were all married to men who fought against him in the Magna Carta crisis; a testament to how much opposition John faced.