Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/400

 (17 April). Before leaving Ireland he had made Hugh de Lacy lord of Meath, and entrusted Wexford to William FitzAldhelm. Meanwhile, Earl Richard withdrew to Ferns, where he married his sister Basilia to Robert de Quenci, who was given the constableship of Leinster (. i. 25; . 287; A.-N.P. ll. 2741-50).

For the next two years Kildare seems to have been Earl Richard’s headquarters (ll. 2760-72), whence he appears to have made forays on the district of Offaly. On one of these expeditions Robert de Quenci was slain, upon which Raymond le Gros demanded the widow in marriage. This request, which implied a claim to the constableship of Leinster and the guardianship of Basilia's infant daughter, was refused, allthough the refusal seems to have cost the earl ‘the services of Raymond and his followers, who at once returned to Wales (A.-N.P. pp. 133-6; but cf. (. 310).

On the breaking out of the rebellion of 1178 (c. 15 April 1173) Henry summoned the earl to his assistance in Normandy, where, according to the ‘Anglo-Norman Poet,’ he was given the castle of Gisors to guard. From Ralph de Diceto we know that he was present at the relief of Verneuil (9 Aug.) (cf., 172, l76). 1[e was apparently dismissed before the close of the first year of war, and as a reward of his fidelity received the restoration of Wexford, Waterford, and Dublin. On reaching Ireland he atonce despatched Robert Fitzllernard, FitzStephen, and others tn aid against. the rebels in llngland, where, if we may trust, the ‘Anglo-Norman Poet,’ the Irish forces were present at the overthrow of the Earl of Leicester (17 Uct.) at- Bury St.. Edmunds (A.-N.P. pp. 130-4l;, i. 375, 377; . 298, but cf. remarks in list of authorities at end of article).

On Raymond’s departure Earl Richard gave the eoustableship to llervey de Mountmaurice (. 308). Dissatisfied with his generalship, the troops clamoured for the reappointment of Raymond, whom Henry had sent back to Ireland with the earl, and their request was granted (ib. 298). About the latter part. of 1174 the earl led his army into Munster, against Ronald of Limerick, and met with the great disaster that forced him back to Waterford, where he was closely besieged by the Irish, while Roderic O'Connor advanced to the very walls of Dublin. In this emergency the earl sent over a messenger begging that Raymond would come to his aid, and promising him his sister's hand. The two nobles met in an island near Waterford. Earl Richard was brought back to Wexford, where the marriage was celebrated. On the next day Raymond started to drive the of Counaught out of Meath (A.F.M. ii. 15-19, with which cf. . 310-12; A.-N.P. pp. 142-4). It was now that, at Raymond’s suggestion, the earl gave his elder daughter Alina to William Fitzmaurice. To Maurice himself he Wicklow Castle; Carbury to Meiler FitzHenry, and other estates to various other knights. Dublin was handed over to the brothers from Hereford. With his sister Earl Richard granted Raymond Fothord, Idrone, and Glaskarrig (. 314; for full list, see A.-N.P. pp. 144-8). It appears that the earl was now supreme in Leinster, having hostages of all the great Irish princes (ll. 3208, &c.)

It was robably in 1175 that Earl Richard was called) upon to relieve Hug; de Lacy’s newly built castle of Trim. After this success he withdrew to Dublin, having determined to send his army under Raymond against Donald O’Brien of Limerick. He does not seem to have taken any personal share in the latter expedition (c. 1 Oct. 1175), and indeed may possibl have been in England in this very month (, 196). After the fall of Limerick Hervey persuaded the king to recall his rival Ra ond, whom, however, the peril of the English garrison detained in Ireland long after the receipt of the summons, since the earl’s men refused to advance under any other leader. On Tuesday, 6 April 1176, Raymond once more entered Limerick, from which town he soon started for Cork, to relieve Dermot Macarthy, rince of Desmond. While thus engaged he received a letter from his wife, Basilia, informing him that ‘that huge grinder which had caused him so much pain had fallen out.’ By this phrase be understood that Earl Richard was dead (c. 1 June according to Giraldus; but 5 April according to Diceto). After Raymond`s arrival the earl was buried in the church of the Holy Trinity, where his tomb is still shown. Other accounts make him buried at Gloucester (A.-N.P. 11. 3208, &c.; ;, i. 407).

Earl Richard seems to have left an only daughter, Isabella by name. At the age of three she became the heiress to her father’s vast estates, and was married by King Richard to William Marshall in 1189 (, iii. 7;, i. 407). The question as to whether he had other issue has been fiercely contested by genealogists; but there seems to be no reason for doubting that he was married before espousing Dermot’s daughter. The earl's daughter, Alina, mention above, cannot well have been his child by Eva. In the ‘Irish Annals’ we read (A.D. 1171) of a predatory expition led into Kildare by the ear1's son (A.F.M. 1185). A Tintern char-