Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/230

Marshal then induced the king to enter on the lands of Gilbert Basset and Richard Siward, two of Marshal's chief supporters, and put them in charge of his son, Peter des Rievaux (Ann. Mon. iv. 74 ; Wendover, iii. 53) ; orders were also given to have the messengers whom Marshal had sent to France searched at Dover (Shirley, i. 417, 18 July). Marshal nevertheless endeavoured to make peace, and in- tended to be present at a further proposed conference on 1 Aug. With this purpose he had come as far as Woodstock, when his sister Isabella warned him that treachery was intended, and he accordingly went back to Wales. On 14 Aug. the king called another assembly, at Gloucester, and when Marshal again failed to appear, had him proclaimed as a traitor and deprived of his office as marshal. Thereupon Marshal made an alliance with Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, and the king, invading the earl's lands, besieged his castle of Usk. A truce was, however, soon arranged, under which the castle was surrendered to the king, and a further con- ference fixed for 2 Oct. at Westminster. The conference did not have the desired re- sult, and as the castle was not restored, Marshal at once laid siege to it. In the early days of October the earl and his Welsh allies captured the castles of Usk, Abergavenny, Newport, and Cardiff (21 Oct.) Henry collected an army with a view to active warfare; but meantime, on 30 Oct., Marshal's supporters, Siward and Basset, rescued Hubert de Burgh and carried him off to the earl's castle of Chepstow. Karly in November the king advanced to Grosmont. There, on 11 Nov., Marshal's adherents — for the earl himself would not attack the king in person — surprised the royal camp, and made a great booty. After this the king withdrew to Gloucester, while Marshal with a few followers attacked the foreign mercenaries at Monmouth on 25 Nov., and after defeating them with much slaughter, took the castle. The war still went on favourably to Marshal and his allies, some of whom plundered the lands of their opponents in the English marches, while others besieged Carmarthen. Early in January 1234 Marshal himself defeated the royal army under John de Monmouth or Monemue (q. v.], a connection of the Lacys, and followed up his success by a raid, in company with Llywelyn, which resulted in the sack of Shrewsbury. But Archbishop Edmund was now exerting himself actively to bring about an agreement ; and through his influence Peter des Roches and the king's other Poite- vin advisers were at length dismissed from the court on 9 April 1234; the archbishop would seem to have effected a truce some time earlier, and this was now prolonged to the end of July (ib. i. 433-4). But in the meantime Peter des Roches and his friends had stirred up the Lacys and Marshal's other opponents in Ireland, in- cluding Richard de Burgh and Geoffrey de Marisco, encouraging them to make war on the earl as a traitor, and to seize him alive or dead should he cross over to Ireland. In consequence of these machinations Marshal left Wales early in February, and on land- ing in Ireland was joined by Geoffrey de Marisco, who craftily pretended to be his friend. Urged on by Marisco, Marshal col- lected an army, and after taking Limerick recovered many of his castles, which had fallen into the hands of his enemies. The Lacys then sent the Templars to demand a truce, and Marshal in response proposed a conference to be held next day, 1 April, on the Curragh of Kildare. Marshal himself was in favour of granting terms, but Marisco treacherously advised him to demand the surrender of the remaining castles, hoping to thus make a conflict inevitable. This evil advice was accepted, with the result that Hugh de Lacy and his friends, knowing that Marshal's army was faithless, appealed to force. Marshal at length recognised the treachery of his false friend, but declared that he would rather ' die with honour for the sake of justice than flee from the fight and thus incur the reproach of cowardice.' Marshal had with him but fifteen faithful knights, against 140. Despite his desperate valour he was at length overpowered and his horse slain. While he strove to defend himself on foot he was wounded from be- hind, and so taken prisoner. His captors carried him to the castle of Kilkenny, where he was on the way to recovery when a clumsy or treacherous surgeon cauterised his wounds so roughly as to cause his death. Marshal died on 16 April 1234, and was buried imme- diately afterwards in the church of the Fran- ciscans at Kilkenny. Henry repented too late of his treatment of the son of the faithful regent, and, bitterly lamenting his sad end, declared that he had left no peer in England. Marshal seems to have inherited to the full his father's merits as a patriotic statesman and a skilful soldier. He was like his father also in the nobilitv of his personal character. Even the author of the 'Histoire de Guillaume le Mar6chal,' writing probably in 1225, praises him for his proesce e sens e bealtez E bons mors e gentillesce, Charite, enor e largesse. (11. 14884-6.)