CHAPTER XXXVII
THE GREAT EARL OF PEMBROKE
It really seemed, after the death of John, as if the Plantagenets hadceased to reign in England, and that all hope of a great nationalroyalty had vanished. It was difficult, indeed, to believe that themonarchy could be preserved, surrounded as it was by foreign anddomestic foes leagued for its destruction, and who held most of thechief castles and cities in the kingdom, the capital included. One manof high rank, destined to save all by his moderation andenergy--moderation in the midst of violence, and energy in spite of oldage--remained faithful and firm. This was William Marshal, Earl ofPembroke, a man whose hair was white, and who had seen many years; butwhose frame time had not bent, and whose spirit trouble had not broken.
The name of the great earl--albeit of European renown in his ownday--does not occupy a very large space in English history, consideringthe service he rendered England. But the effects of his prudent conductand disinterested patriotism are visible in the England in which welive. Indeed, the influence which he exercised was immense; and it isnecessary, in order to comprehend the events which rendered the year1217 so memorable, to know something of the career and character of thewarrior-statesman on whom devolved the responsibility of redeeming theerrors--so numerous, and glaring, and gross--that had been committedboth by his friends and by their foes. Personal foes he appears to havehad none; and what was said by Lord Clarendon of the great Duke ofOrmond might with justice be said of Pembroke, “that he either had noenemies, or only such as were ashamed to profess that they were so.”
The family of which Pembroke was the chief derived the surname ofMarshal from an office held by them from the time of Henry Beauclerc,and of that family he became the head on the death of his elder brotherin the reign of Cœur-de-Lion. At that time, however, he was no longera stripling, but had been for many years mixed up with public affairs,and had taken part in important transactions.
It seems that early in life William Marshal was attached to young HenryPlantagenet, that son of Henry II. and Eleanor of Guienne, who, afterbeing crowned in his father’s lifetime, died of fever on the Continent,under somewhat melancholy circumstances. Being very penitent for thepart he had acted, the prince on his deathbed expressed strongcontrition for arming against his sire, and in token thereof deliveredto William Marshal, “as his most familiar friend, his cross to carry toJerusalem,” which was done in accordance with the ill-starred prince’srequest.
Returning to England on the accession of Richard, William Marshal, beingin favour with the young king, bore the royal sceptre of gold atCœur-de-Lion’s coronation, and soon after received in marriageIsabel, daughter and heiress of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke(surnamed Strongbow), by Eva, daughter of an Irish king, at whoseinstance Strongbow embarked for the conquest of Ireland. With Isabel hegot the earldom of Pembroke, and immense possessions in England,Ireland, and Normandy. So he was already one of the wealthiest ofEnglish magnates, when, on the death of his brother, he succeeded to theoffice of King’s Marshal.
After the return of King Richard from his crusade and his captivity,Pembroke fought with him and for him in France, Normandy, and inIreland; and on John’s accession he had made his name known to fame asone of the noblest men and foremost warriors in Christendom. Naturallyenough, he was generally recognised as the most honourable and mostsagacious person of rank in England at the time when the quarrel betweenthe barons and the king reached a crisis.
Pembroke, as a man of pure patriotism and clear intelligence, could not,of course, sympathise strongly with either party. Probably he wasequally shocked by the gross selfishness and hypocrisy of Fitzwalter’sconfederates and the unworthy treachery of John. But, whatever hisdisgust, he did not desert his country in her hour of need; nor did hespare any effort to avert the horrors of civil war. Indeed, he did allhe could to accommodate matters; but he spoke to men on whom moderatecounsels were wasted, and who, reason or none, were bent on violentcourses. It was in vain, therefore, that the great earl, having the goodof his country sincerely at heart, played the part of mediator. Hemight as well have talked to the wild winds as either to the barons orthe king.
Approving neither of the conduct of the barons nor the conduct of theking, the position of William Marshal was trying. But, believing that,whatever John’s faults and failings, the interests of the English peoplewere bound up with the interests of the Plantagenet monarchy, nothingcould allure him from his fidelity to the crown; and in the midst ofJohn’s distresses, when he was deserted by all whom he had mostdelighted to honour, Pembroke continued faithful and true, because hedeemed that it was his duty so to do.
Nor when John departed this life, and there was every prospect of PrinceLouis and the Anglo-Norman barons completing the work they had sovigorously begun, did the great earl despair. Even then he saw thepossibility of saving the crown from the grasp of a foreign conqueror,and, exposing himself to terrible hazard in case of failure, instantlytook steps to secure the succession of Henry of Winchester, the eldestof John’s two sons by Isabel of Angoulême.
But the aspect of affairs was most forbidding. Only one circumstanceoccurred about this time to encourage Pembroke in the patriotic coursehe pursued. Many of the barons who had originally invited Louis toEngland, or subsequently done homage to him as their sovereign, weredeeply disgusted with the French prince’s hauteur and with the airs andinsolence of his followers. Some of them had even sent messengers toJohn at Newark, offering, on certain conditions, to return to theirallegiance. The king was too near the gates of death either to see themessengers or hear the conditions. But Pembroke perceived that such afact as their having sent at all in the circumstances favoured hispolicy, and no sooner did he receive intelligence of John’s death thanhe summoned several prelates, and nobles, and knights to Gloucester, andwhen Peter, bishop of Winchester, and Sylvester, Bishop of Worcester,and Ralph, Earl of Chester, and William, Earl Ferrars, came thither, asalso Philip de Albini, a knight of fame, and John Marshal, Pembroke’scousin, the earl at once proposed to crown the boy Henry, and toproclaim him king.
It was, however, a perilous step to take, and the prelates, nobles, andknights gasped and stared at the idea of a boy of ten occupying athrone that was menaced by royal and feudal warriors who had hosts offighting men at their backs, nearly every English county at their feet,and the King of Scots and the Prince of Wales as their humble servants.
But it was a step which Pembroke did not fear to take. His brave heartdid not fail him in the day of trial, and he was ready to do all, dareall, and risk all, rather than witness the realisation of the visionwhich his patriot soul abhorred--the vision of a French prince enthronedat Westminster, and lording it over England with the insolence of aconqueror.
Well was it for England that there was one man at that terrible crisiswho had the capacity to think and the courage to act.