portrayed by Matthew Paris as unhorsing
Baldwin of Guines at a skirmish before the Battle of Monmouth in 1233 Earl Richard may have been hesitant about committing to open rebellion, but once the decision was made, he did what he could to win. He took the strategic decision to ally with Prince
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth of Gwynedd, otherwise his family's long-term enemy. With Welsh support, in mid-October 1233, his army swept across South Wales, besieging and seizing the castles of
Usk,
Abergavenny,
Newport and
Cardiff in quick succession. Not all went well, however. According to the chronicler
Roger of Wendover in his
Flores Historiarum (
Flowers of History), Marshal and his
knights then came to
Monmouth to reconnoitre the town before besieging it. However, they were seen coming towards the
castle walls by
Baldwin III, Count of Guînes. He was a nobleman of
Flanders who, with his mixed force of Flemings and Poitevins, had been entrusted by King Henry with defending the town. The local lord,
John of Monmouth, was absent from the battle. Baldwin wrongly thought that Marshal had only a few followers with him, and rode out with his forces to pursue him, but Marshal turned the tables. It was said of Marshal that he put up a gallant defence against Baldwin's men in this skirmish, but though his army repulsed Baldwin's forces the castle remained defiant. However, despite these local successes, Earl Richard failed to gain any wider support amongst his fellow earls and barons, and—apart from some daring mounted raids out of the March and deep into England—he did not have the resources or allies to carry the war to the king and his hated advisers. outside
Kildare It may have been the stalemate in the war in England that persuaded Earl Richard to sail for Ireland on 2 February 1234, finding his province of
Leinster to be loyal and committed. Here he found that his able younger brother, Gilbert Marshal, had managed since summer 1233 to institute a truce between his party and the king's justiciar
Maurice fitz Gerald and his allies, the rival regional lords
Walter de Lacy and
Richard de Burgh. This appears to have frustrated the earl, but around mid-March, he seized the opportunity to attack de Burgh who had come out more strongly for the king, and so he organised a raid against him, in alliance with the Irish of the province of
Thomond which alarmed the earl's enemies by taking several de Burgh castles in quick succession. De Burgh and de Lacy retaliated by their own rapid strike out of
Meath which besieged the Marshal castle of
Kildare. On 1 April 1234, Earl Richard and a small column of cavalry reached the siege lines on the
Curragh. Attempted negotiations by the
Templar brothers failed and in the succeeding mêlée the earl was cut off from his men, surrounded and unhorsed. He suffered a fatal wound during his capture. He lingered for two weeks but died of his injuries on 15 April 1234, while the justiciar and his allies subdued Leinster. Richard was buried in the
Franciscan friary of
Kilkenny. He was succeeded by his brother,
Gilbert, at the time a clergyman, who had to deal with the aftermath of salvaging the Marshal fortunes and prosecuting the inevitable formal feud between his family and his brother's killers. The death of Richard Marshal ended the long connection between the Marshals and their Continental lands, as his brother Gilbert did not succeed to them. Little is known subsequently of Richard's widow Gervasia, who died in 1238 or 1239. She was childless by him, though had several heirs from her two previous husbands. ==Notes==