Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/173

 In the summer of 1233 the quarrel between Henry and the Earl Marshal grew critical, but the Earl of Cornwall deserted his brother-in-law for his brother, and his lands were ravaged by one of Marshal's partisans, Richard Siward [q. v.] (Ann. Osney, p. 76). Next year Richard Marshal's death led to a general pacification. All through the struggle Richard showed great weakness. He was plied largely with grants from his brother. Besides the Welsh grants, he received the profits of a specially searching judicial iter (Ann. Tewkesbury, p. 90), and in 1235 the lordship of the castle and honour of Knaresborough (, i. 436).

During 1235 Richard also took an active part in promoting the marriage of his sister Isabella to the Emperor Frederick II, with whom he exchanged many letters and presents. But the request made early next year by Frederick that Richard should pay him a visit and take a high command in an expedition projected against the French was refused by the magnates at Merton on the ground that Richard was heir to the throne.

Gregory IX had long been striving to organise a new crusade. In June 1236 a gathering of magnates assembled at Winchester, and many of them took the cross. At their head was Richard of Cornwall. He cut down and sold his woods to pay the cost of his pilgrimage. But domestic troubles delayed his departure. The marriage of Henry III in 1236 had brought over a new swarm of foreigners, and Richard again put himself at the head of the growing opposition to his brother. In 1237 he openly rebuked the king for his greed and maladministration (, iii. 411). In 1238 he was the mouthpiece of the baronial opposition to the marriage of his niece Eleanor, William Marshal's widow, to Simon of Montfort [q. v.], then looked upon as simply one of the greedy group of high-born foreign adventurers (Royal Letters, ii. 15). For a short time the Earl of Cornwall was the popular hero. But he soon again showed his characteristic infirmity of purpose. The legate Otho, working in the king's interest, strove hard to win Richard over; and the latter was easily reconciled both to Earl Simon and Henry III. On 20 June 1239 he stood godfather, along with Simon, to the future Edward I. He mediated effectively when Henry and Simon quarrelled on 2 Aug. 1239. As before, fresh grants rewarded his conversion to the royal cause. He now received the manor of Lidford and the forest of Dartmoor, possessions which extended his Cornish estates as far as Exeter. In January 1240 the death of his wife Isabella in childbirth, quickly followed by that of her new-born son, overwhelmed him with grief. But he hurried on his crusading preparations. The bishops at Reading urged him not to go. His presence was the one check on the rapacious foreigners. Richard answered that he could not any longer endure the desolation of England (ib. iv. 11). As a last contribution to peace, he reconciled Gilbert Marshal with the king.

On 10 June 1240 he bade adieu at Dover to the king, in whose care he left his little son Henry and his vast estates. A large number of English knights and nobles followed him. The most famous among them were Simon de Montfort and the younger William Longsword, earl of Salisbury (ib. iv. 44). By midsummer day 1240 Richard had reached Paris, where St. Louis and his mother, Queen Blanche, gave him a hearty welcome. Raymond Berengar, count of Provence, the father of Queen Eleanor, met him at Tarascon, and accompanied him to Saint-Gilles. Meanwhile Gregory IX renewed his quarrel with Frederick II, and wished to defer all crusading until Frederick was subdued. At Saint-Gilles the papal legate, John Baussan, archbishop of Arles, forbade Richard to proceed. Richard was also asked by his brother-in-law the emperor to abandon the undertaking. But he angrily rejected all such counsels, and embarked for Palestine at the free Provençal city of Marseilles. On 8 Oct. he landed at Acre, where he was rejoined by Simon de Montfort.

Three days after landing at Acre, Richard issued a proclamation offering to take into his pay all pilgrims forced to go home for lack of means. After completing his preparations he marched to Jaffa. He was accompanied by the Duke of Burgundy, almost the only Frankish crusader who had not gone home. Richard prudently kept aloof from the factions of the Latin host. He ordered a march towards Ascalon, and busied himself with the fortification of the city. At the same time he negotiated a treaty with the sultan of Krak, a dependent of the sultan of Egypt, by which many French captives were restored to liberty on 23 April (, iv. 141–3;, Beilage, i. 96–8). Richard also collected the bones of the Christians slain at Gaza, gave them Christian burial at Ascalon, and endowed a priest to say mass for the repose of their souls. He then handed over Ascalon to the deputy of the Emperor Frederick, whom Richard regarded as the lawful king of Jerusalem.

Richard had now done his work. He returned to Acre through Jaffa. He left Acre on 3 May, and landed at Trapani in Sicily on 1 July, after a stormy passage. A