Earl Marshal of England

“ This corporation consists of thirteen members, viz. three Kings at arms, six Heralds at arms, and four Pursuivants at arms; who are nominated by the Earl Marshal of England, as ministers subordinate to him in the execution of their offices, and hold their places by patent, during their good behaviour. They are all the King’s servants in ordinary, and therefore in the vacancy of the office of Earl Marshal, have been sworn 182into their offices by the Lord Chamberlain. ”

“ Ten days after, on the 6th of July, he was crowned in Westminster Abbey, and to prevent any murmurs at his usurpation, he was lavish of gifts, promotion and bribery. The Duke of Norfolk, the celebrated jockey mentioned by Shakspeare, who had put Richard in training for the throne, became Earl Marshal, and his son was created Earl of Surrey, in honour, perhaps, of the surreptitious manner in which the crown had been obtained for his master Richard. ”

“ The great earl marshal himself, who, if we may trust his biographer, was never afraid to do what he thought honour demanded, and was always able to defend himself in the king's presence with such vigorous argument that nothing could be done with him, was obliged to give over to the king's keeping first his eldest and then his second son. ”

“ The Earls of Holland and Carlisle, the pusillanimous Earl of Montgomery, his brother the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of Dorset were rather men of pleasure than of business, and attended the Council without caring for office. The Earl of Arundel was Earl Marshal, a proud and empty man, whom Clarendon the historian describes as living much abroad, because the manners of foreign nations suited him better than his own, and who "resorted sometimes to Court, because there only was a greater man than himself, and went thither the seldomer because there was a greater man than himself." ”

“ Mowbray was not given livery of his lands until a fortnight before Henry's death, two days after which he was summoned to Henry Vs first parliament as earl-marshal (Doyle, Official Baronage) . There is some reason to believe that his father-in-law then resigned the office of marshal of England into his hands (Gregory, Chron. ; Rot. Parl. iv. 270) . When the king discovered the Earl of Cambridge's plot on the eve of his expedition to France in July 1415, the earl-marshal was the chief member of the judicial commission which investigated the conspiracy (ib. iv. 65) . ”

“ As long as Peter des Roches ruled the king it would be hard to keep England for the English. Poitevins and Bretons flocked over from the Continent, and were appointed to all the influential posts which fell vacant. The barons had the national feeling behind them when they raised complaints against this policy. Their leader was Earl Richard the Marshal, the son of the Earl William who had governed England after the death of John. Without even the semblance of trial Henry declared Earl Richard and his chief supporters guilty of treason. ”

“ They sent an address to Charles demanding Arundel's immediate liberation; he returned an evasive answer: they sent a second address; Charles then ordered the attorney-general to plead the royal prerogative, and to declare the earl marshal as personally offensive to the king, and as dangerous to the state. The peers would not admit the plea, but passed a resolution to suspend all business till their colleague was set at large; and after a contest of three months the king was forced to yield, and the earl marshal resumed his seat in the house amid cheers and acclamations. ”

“ Edward, second Earl of Carlisle, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Berkeley, by whom he had issue three sons and two daughters. His lordship died in 1692, and was succeeded by his only surviving son, Charles, as third earl, who, during the minority of his kinsman, the Duke of Norfolk, held the office of Deputy Earl Marshal: many important posts were conferred upon, and trusts reposed in, him. He married Lady Elizabeth Capel, daughter of the Earl of Essex, by whom he left issue two sons—Henry, who succeeded him, and Charles, a general of the army—and three daughters. ”

“ In this document he is styled not only Duke of York and Norfolk and Earl Warren, but also Earl of Surrey and Nottingham, earl marshal, and marshal of England, and lord of Segrave, of Mowbray, and of Gower. On 9 Aug. 1480 his appointment as lieutenant of Ireland was continued by another patent for twelve years more after the expiration of his two years' term. Being, however, still a child, he remained under his mother's care till after the death of Edward IV, in April 1483. ”

“ In 1189 he covered the flight of Henry II. from Le Mans to Chinon, and, in a skirmish, unhorsed the undutiful Richard Coeur de Lion. None the less Richard, on his accession, promoted Marshal and confirmed the old king’s licence for his marriage with the heiress of Strigul and Pembroke. This match gave Marshal the rank of an earl, with great estates in Wales and Ireland, and he was included in the council of regency which the king appointed on his departure for the third crusade (1190) . ”

“ It was not long, however, before he was again in Ireland, not altogether with the king's goodwill, and he soon appeared in opposition to the new justiciar, Geoffrey de Marisco [q. v.] (ib. i. 1440, 1443) . Marshal was still in Ireland in the following spring, when he gave his protection to Hugh of Connaught at Dublin (Four Masters, iii. 243) . But in May he returned to England, and on the 21st was with the king at Westminster (Sweetman, i. 1518) . He seems to have spent most of the next three years in England (ib. 1680, 1789, 1812) , and was high in Henry's favour. ”

“ It was difficult, indeed, to believe that the monarchy could be preserved, surrounded as it was by foreign and domestic foes leagued for its destruction, and who held most of the chief castles and cities in the kingdom, the capital included. One man of high rank, destined to save all by his moderation and energy—moderation in the midst of violence, and energy in spite of old age—remained faithful and firm. This was William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, a man whose hair was white, and who had seen many years ”

“ When his brother died, in April 1231, Marshal was still in France; he did not come over to England till the end of July. The king had, by advice of Hubert de Burgh [q. v.] , taken the earldom into his own hands, because Richard was the liegeman of the king of France. When Marshal came to the king at Castle Maud in Wales, Henry refused him investiture and ordered him to leave the country. Marshal then crossed over to Ireland, intending to recover his inheritance, if need be, by force. Henry, to avert warfare, at length gave way. ”

“ It is thus impossible to determine precisely how much of the credit of the policy which freed England from her invaders and restored peace and order to the distracted country and the ruined administration is due to the Marshal himself, and how much to his colleagues, Gualo, Hubert, Peter des Roches, and the other ministers of the late King. A large share of credit must in any case belong to them for a steady, faithful, and intelligent co-operation without which the Marshal obviously could not have carried on either war or government at all. ”

“ The Earl was a young cornet in 1710-12, and was with the armies in the Low Countries, where we had given Marshal Villars a trouncing, and he gave Prince Eugene a trouncing back, in exchange. So, sometimes, of the long winter nights, the Earl sends for me, and reads to me out of books about that last campaign of the Duke of Marlborough's, and says to me, 'Lance, how was this?' and, 'Lance, do you recollect that?' Being only a soldier, I never did know what we were marching and counter-marching for, nor so much as what we were fighting for ”

“ 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. ”

“ The king summoned the military tenants to appear with horses and arms at Gloucester on the 14th. There Richard Marshal was declared a traitor and an invasion of his estates was ordered. But the king had not sufficient resources to carry out his threats, and October saw the barons once more wrangling with Henry at Westminster, and claiming that the marshal should be tried by his peers. Peter of Winchester declared that there were no peers in England as there were in France, and that in consequence the king had power to condemn any disloyal subject through his justices. ”

“ Really, when one knows that he has undertaken to [313] teach how mediæval MSS. should be edited, [634] one is driven again reluctantly to ask whether such editing as this should be styled a farce or a burlesque. [635]
Before returning to the ‘Modus,’ the point from which we started, we must clear up the confusion that surrounds the title of Earl Marshal.
Camden, apparently, was led by the error in the claim of 1377 to assign the treatise on the office of Marshal to the time of Henry II. [636] Coke went further, and, as M. Bémont says, confused the ‘Modus’ with the treatise. ”

“ The process of development in this country will be more easily understood when it is remembered that the Marshal or Earl Marshal was in former times, with the Lord High Constable, the first in military rank under the King, who usually led his army in person, and to {28}the Marshal was deputed the ordering and arrangement of the various bodies of troops, regiments, bands of retainers, &c., which ordering was at first facilitated and at length entirely determined by the use of various pictorial ensigns, such as standards, banners, crests, cognisances, and badges. ”

“ It would not be in place here to discuss the growth of the office with the growth of the administration, just as the constableship developed in its descent from Miles of Gloucester through the Bohuns. The one point to keep in mind is that the office of marshal descended from Gilbert temp. Hen. I., to Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, at whose death in December (1306) , the marshalship, by his own arrangement, reverted to the king. ”

“ After the defeat of the Lacys, John accused Marshal of having aided William de Braose in his flight; the earl boldly defended his conduct, declaring that he had no reason to believe Braose was the king's enemy. However, Marshal had to give further hostages, including his faithful squire, John of Early, or d'Erlegh, and also to surrender the castle of Dumas. John could not venture on more extreme measures with so powerful a noble, but he was probably glad that Marshal should be out of his way. The earl therefore remained in Ireland for the next two years ”

“ Richard reached England on 13 March 1194. Marshal was prevented from meeting him at once by the death of his brother John, by which event he became marshal of England. But soon afterwards he joined the king at Huntingdon, and accompanied him to the siege of Nottingham on 25-7 March. On 28 March his old enemy Longchamp urged the king to require from Marshal the same homage for his Irish lands as Walter de Lacy, sixth baron Lacy [q. v.] ”

“ In 1245, the male line of the Earl Marshal was finally extinguished, and the inheritance of Strongbow fell to five sisters, the great grand-daughters of Dermod MacMurrough. Matilda, the eldest, obtained Carlow and carried the hereditary office of Earl Marshal to her husband, Hugh Bigot, Earl of Norfolk. Joan, the second, received Wexford. Isabella, the third, had Kilkenny, which her descendants sold to the Ormonde family. Sibilla, the fourth, had Kildare for her share. Eva, the youngest sister, married William De Braose ”

“ But when Longchamp would not accept the advice of his subordinates, Marshal joined in the opposition. If we may trust Hoveden, Marshal must in the autumn have gone to Richard at Messina, for that writer distinctly says (iii. 96) that in February 1191 the earl was sent home, in company of Walter de Coutances, with power to arrange the quarrel. This, however, is very improbable, but Marshal was specially associated with Walter, and under the truce of Winchester in July he received Nottingham Castle from John to hold for the king. ”

“ Marshal himself remained with Richard in England. In October he swore at Westminster on Richard's behalf that the English king would meet Philip at Vezelay next year. On 1 Dec. he was with the king at Canterbury (Epistolæ Cantuarienses, p. 323, Rolls Ser.) , and probably accompanied him to France on 11 Dec., for he was still with Richard at Rouen on 20 March 1190 (ib. p. 324) . Richard had appointed Marshal to be one of the subordinate justiciars under Longchamp, and this appointment was renewed before the king started on the crusade. ”

“ From these fragmentary records we learn enough to indicate that the first marshal of the Massachusetts colony was a man of no [Pg 54] ordinary character. His was a semi-military position, devolving upon him, not only the duty of executing the ordinary behests of the General Court, but of acting an important part as an aid to the governor in devising means for the defence of the colonists against their Indian foes. Marshal Waite was proprietor of a tailoring establishment, and an owner of real estate on Broad Street. ”

“ Edward's little band of adventurers was opposed by the whole resources of England in the hands of the Earl of Warwick. The Earl himself was posted with a strong force at Coventry. His brother Montagu occupied an advanced position at Pomfret to intercept the invaders on their southward march. The Earl of Oxford was advancing from the Eastern counties, and Clarence from London. By a masterly flank march the King passed to the westward of Pomfret and reached Nottingham, leaving Montagu in his rear baffled and outwitted. At Nottingham loyal men began to flock to the King's standard. ”