This collection of documents represents the surviving output of the clerks of what became the most powerful magnate dynasty in England, Wales, and Ireland in the thirteenth century. Its greatness did not last even half of that century, however: the Marshal earls were powerful at court and in the various Angevin realms in Britain and France only from 1190 to 1245. But as a result of the Marshals' spread of interests and marriage alliances the charters and letters edited here embrace a remarkable diversity of lordships and societies. That fact and the central place the two Earls William Marshal held at the court of the young Henry III between 1216 and 1231 give this collection a particular interest for medieval historians of Britain and France, more so perhaps than for any other contemporary magnate family.

The earliest member of the lineage who is identifiable in the sources is one Gilbert, who possessed an estate of 3½ hides at Winterbourne Monkton (Wiltshire) in 1086 as a tenant of Glastonbury Abbey. The Wiltshire geld rolls identify him as Gilbert ‘Gibard’ (literally, ‘moonface’) and the Marshal descent from him was deduced by Neil Stacy from the possession of the same estate by John Marshal (I) and the incidence of the surname ‘Giffard’ carried by John's clerical brother, William. Gilbert does not appear in 1086 as holder of known Marshal centres (notably Hamstead and Cheddar, though a Gilbert was perhaps the predecessor of John Marshal at Easton Royal in Kinwardstone Hundred, Wiltshire). This indicates that the breakthrough of the family into the royal court and marshalcy came after the Domesday Survey. Was this Gilbert Giffard of Winterbourne the father or grandfather of John Marshal? Chronologically he could be either. Were he the grandfather he might as well have been the maternal as the paternal forbear of John. Though John Marshal had a brother known as William Giffard – which at first sight makes it more likely that Gilbert would have been the father or paternal grandfather – the contemporary Basset-Ridel example indicates that a maternal surname might well be taken by a younger son. The origins of the Giffard-Marshal lineage is only otherwise indicated by a mention of its kinship with the Herefordshire family of Evreux, major tenants of the Lacy family and lords of Lyonshall castle. The kinship might derive from a marriage at the time of Gilbert (I) or it might be that the two families shared a common lineage, though the possession by the Marshals of a Herefordshire estate in 1155 at Upleadon perhaps indicates just such a marriage. There is a reference in Henry II's charter to John Marshal (II) of the family's unspecified lands in Normandy, which tends to confirm that the Giffard-Marshals were ultimately of continental not English origin.

John fitz Gilbert had chaplains and indeed a medicus named amongst the witnesses of his acts, members of his clerical retinue (nos 1 and 3). He also had a clerical brother, Gilbert, who was the incumbent of the church of Cheddar so we may assume that there were sources of clerical practice accessible to him. The early Marshal clerks may perhaps not have had much to do in clerical terms in comparison with the household of a count of Meulan or even an earl of Salisbury, but they do seem to have commenced the practice of archiving key family documents. When King John confirmed the office of master-marshal of the household to William Marshal (I) in 1200 he did so remarking that he had seen the act of King Henry I adjudicating it to William's predecessors, and the terms were sicut carta ipsius regis quam vidimus testatur (App. I, no. 6). So Earl William had been able to find somewhere that crucial record of the conferral of office Henry I had made to his grandfather, Gilbert (I). Likewise in his great year of 1200, when William received a flurry of confirmations of privileges awarded to his father and elder brother, for the convenience of John's chancery he was able to present copies of King Richard's charters issued to his brother.

The equestrian effigy parallels in size and design that found in a number of contemporary magnate seals. The ‘leaping’ posture of the galloping horse is reminiscent of the first seal of Earl William de Mandeville of Essex, also, one assumes, a design of the later 1160s, though here the rider's sword arm is tighter to his body and the sinuous curve of the trunk resembles more the ‘third’ seal of King Stephen of England. This was a design that would colonize the equestrian seals of the next decade. There is a partial legend on the one surviving impression (no. 6): + sigill[vm] . . .

The charters and letters in each section are listed in alphabetical order of beneficiary or addressee. Where a number of acts are addressed to the same beneficiary, they are listed in a putative chronological order. Where a date range is offered for an act wider than one year it is in the format (0000 × 0000) taking the earliest possible and latest date as the terminal points. Where there are specific dating clauses given by the texts, they have to be interpreted within the whole range of the way medieval people defined a year. Thus 1141 could begin as early as what we would call 25 December 1140 and carry on till as late as Easter (19 April) 1142. In general it may be assumed that the predominant Bedan or incarnational dating would be what an English clerk would intend: that is, either beginning the year at Christmas as Bede advocated or at the point of Jesus's conception, the feast of the Annunciation (25 March). So where the charter carries the actual date ‘1141’, the apparatus for the charter will interpret this as ‘25 December 1140 × 24 March 1142’. If a specific day of issue is given between 1 January and 24 March, as for instance ‘11 March 1142’, it will be given in the form of ‘11 March 1142/3’, since either year might be intended.

John (I) fitz Gilbert grants half the village of Easton Royal, Wiltshire, in exchange for the land of Woodhill he had planned to give the priory, until it can obtain the latter. [1145 × 1165]

1. B = BL, MS Cotton Vitellius A xi (Cartulary of Bradenstoke Priory), fos 103v–104r (s. xiv), fire damaged. C = BL, MS Stowe 925 (Cartulary of Bradenstoke Priory), fo. 87v (s. xv).

   Calendared, Cartulary of Bradenstoke, 92 (from C).

Notification that he has confirmed the grant by William of Lancaster to Gervase of his holdings (at Sizergh, Westmorland) as according to William of Lancaster's charter, to hold of William Marshal and his heirs. [1186 × June 1188]

1. A = Sizergh Castle, Westmorland, Hornyold-Strickland Deeds, Book of Charters no. 1, fo. 1v (no. 5).

   180 × 62 + 25 mm. Double central slits for tag, torn out. Endorsed: Geruasii de Aincurt (s. xvi).

   Printed, Records relating to the Barony of Kendale, ed. W. Farrer and J.F. Curwen, 3 vols, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Record Series, 4–6 (1923–1926), 1: 383, no. 11.

Notification that under God's inspiration and for the souls of herself and her husband, Earl William Marshal, she has conceded the acknowledgement of the abbey's right which her husband made concerning the church of St Mary of Orbec, Calvados, which her ancestors granted to the abbey, and concedes the same for the abbey's own use claiming nothing by right from the church or whatever belongs to it for herself or her heirs. [1199 × 1220]

1. B = BnF, ms latin 13905 (Chronicon Beccense), p. 168 (s. xvii fin.).

Letter to his father and lord, the bishop, informing him that on Monday the day after the feast of St Lawrence he learned of the death of Nicholas d’Anstey, as a result of which he asks of his Discretion (in which he has full confidence) that he please lend his aid, counsel, and industry in this matter so that he arrange it that the lord king chooses to concede the custody and marriage of the heir and lands of Nicholas to him, or retains it himself, until the earl may come to the king and bishop in person, and let nothing happen regarding the same in the meantime. Because the earl does not have his seal, which was left behind in London on his departure for his other business, he has caused the letter to be sealed with this one. [1225, c.11 August]

1. A = National Archives (PRO) SC1/2/19.

   132 × 39 mm, parchment trimmed for binding. Endorsed: domino Baton’ (s. xiii).

Notification that by God's inspiration and for her own soul she has conceded the abbey the houses and lands Durand son of Walchelin of Sutton, her sworn follower, held as a perquisite and gave the abbey in her manor of Sutton Valence, Kent, reserving the lands Durand held of his inheritance and the houses he had in her borough there. [1231 × 1238]

1. A = San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, BA 13/1149.

   161 × 73 + 13 mm, slightly damaged in binding. Single central slit for tag, now gone. Endorsed: carta comitisse de Penbroc (s. xiii).

Notification that Richard has granted Adam an acre and a quarter of another half acre from his demesne in Long Crendon adjacent to Adam's courtyard, in exchange for a half acre above Halendon in the east field and a half of another half acre next the land of Elias le Crei, for which Adam gave him a half mark. [1220 × 1231]

1. A = San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, STG, Box 5, no. 14 (Stowe Grenville Evidences).

   173 × 87 + 19 mm. Single central slit for parchment tag (10 mm wide), seal gone. Endorsed: carta Ricardi marescallusa (s. xiii); Crendon’ (s. xv).

Notification that moved by love of God and reverence for Lord Pope Gregory the earl grants to the abbey his patronage of the church of St Leonard of Magor, Gwent, with its chapels and everything else belonging to it. Chepstow. 23 February 1238.

1. B = Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Register of Pope Innocent IV, fo. 474v (s. xiii).

Notification that the earl quitclaimed Roger in a carrucate of land adjacent to Kildare, Co. Kildare, in the estate called Cardonan and Blackrath, known as Balibothelane which lies between Kineagh and Athgarvan. New Ross. 19 February 1245.

1. B = Bodl. Libr., MS Rawlinson B 499 (Cartulary of St Thomas, Dublin), fo. 68v, copy of c.1526.

Letter to her dear friend Sir Robert. She requests the return by the messenger carrying her letter a knife with a jasper handle which Earl Walter had given Robert's father, as she wants to send it to the earl overseas along with other things she is sending. [April × October 1242]

1. A = Northamptonshire Record Office, Stopford-Sackville MS 2200.

   162 × 42 mm, approx. Tongue and tie cut from right for seal attached, tongue above tie. Endorsed: sanz date (s. xvi). Seal: Vesica, green wax. Armorial, Lacy with a label of four points. A seven-pointed star in upper cusp. No legend, the rim decorated with lions passant guardant.

Notification that he has quitclaimed the canons and their men in any suit owed to the hundred court of Bledisloe, which is dependent on his manor of Awre, Gloucestershire. Alvington, Gloucestershire. 20 December 1244.

1. B = National Archives (PRO), C115/77 (Cartulary of Llanthony Priory), fos 95v–96r (s. xivmed.). C = National Archives (PRO), C115/74, fo. 166r (s. xiv fin.).

Notification that as countess of Norfolk and widow she has granted Ralph for his homage and service her land of Stockton, Norfolk, saving the mill of Dunberg’ and the advowsons of the churches which her late husband Earl Hugh reserved when he gave the manor to Hamo Lenveise. Ralph to hold the manor for a twentieth part of a knight's fee. [c.1 May, 1225]

1. A = BL, Harley charter 46 D 38.

   168 × 104 + 18 mm. Single central slit for parchment tag (13 mm wide). Endorsed: carta de Stocton (s. xiv).

Notification and confirmation of the agreement between Gilbert Marshal (II) son of John Marshal (I) and his mother Adelina and her second husband, Stephen Gay, over her inheritance. [April × July 1153]

1. A = National Archives (PRO), E40/5938.

   125 × 60 mm (approx), badly eaten away at base. No visible endorsements.

2. B = BL, MS Harley 245, fo. 139r (s. xvi fin.), copy by Robert Glover. C = London, College of Arms, MS Glover 1, fo. 110v (s. xvi fin.). D = Antony House, Cornwall (‘Pole's Charters’), no. 2969 (s. xvi fin.).

   Printed, Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum iii, 1135–1154, ed. R.H.C. Davis and H.A. Cronne (Oxford, 1969), 128, no. 339.

Brief in which King Henry III recalls that as there are people who might perhaps convey to the lord pope and cardinals certain business which has recently been transacted by him as a result of the advice of his magnates and vassals, who may put a malicious interpretation on it, and as the affair might be a potential hindrance to him, he (so the recipients are better prepared to argue against the cunning deceits of such men) is minded to explain here the whole sequence of certain of his affairs, so that they may not be uninformed about what has passed, on which it may happen that they or others might otherwise be deceived. [2] So they are to be aware that whereas, at the time when the bishop of Norwich was legate (1218–1221), the earl Marshal still occupied the castles of Marlborough and Ludgershall, and was proposing to marry the sister of Count Robert of Dreux, and there were also other magnates in England who were endeavouring to distance him from the king by injurious alliances, the idea of betrothing the earl to one of the king's sisters was discussed between the legate, his justiciar and certain other magnates, partly because the political alliance with foreigners was thought alarming should the earl marry the sister of the count of Dreux – so as not to render England more accessible to foreigners, especially since Richard Marshal, the brother of the earl, might obtain all the Marshal lands in Normandy – and partly because of fear of the malice of those people who endeavoured to seduce the earl's allegiance from the king; and indeed because the castles of Marlborough and Ludgershall ought to be returned to him (which many times the earl promised) so that the other magnates might the more readily be persuaded likewise to return to the king his castles which they also held. [3] Because of his tender years and the fragile state of his kingdom, one of the king's sisters was destined for the said Marshal, by the authority of the legate and the counsel of certain magnates. The said Marshal swore to marry her, if it pleased the king and the magnates of the realm. The justiciar swore to hand her over to the Marshal, if the magnates of the kingdom agreed. The legate, the justiciar and others who were present faithfully promised that they would approach this matter conscientiously. The said castles were handed back to the legate, so that if the contract were not fulfilled within a space of time long now expired, they should be given back promptly to the Marshal. [4] Further to this, when these matters were communicated to other magnates, notably to the earl of Chester who at that point returned from the Holy Land (July 1220) – the earl strongly approved the match and many others agreed, with no dissenters. But afterwards, when certain dissensions had emerged, some people demurred, claiming – just as indeed was said on their behalf in the papal curia – that the king should have no greater an aid for his own marriage as for his sisters, as a result of which his sisters’ marriage arrangements would be impeded, about which he was negotiating a considerable treaty in foreign parts, and so at that time the Marshal arrangement remained unfulfilled. [5] But when recently (June 1222) the same Marshal obtained a papal mandate addressed to the archbishop of Canterbury and bishop of Salisbury, that either they should cause him to be entirely absolved from the conditions of the oath, or the marriage contract be confirmed, the Marshal insisted vociferously that one of those options should be followed, since he cared for nothing other than that he be married. So now as before it is a worry that Marshal – a man of great power in England as much as Ireland – might marry the sister of the said count of Dreux or a daughter of the duke of Brabant, who was likewise offered to him – which on account of the matters already alluded to would assist the king in no way – or even the sister of the king of Scots, where similarly no small danger might arise, for by how much nearer Scotland is to Ireland and the Marshal lands, so much the more dangerous would the marriage be to the king. [6] So having considered the energy and power of the said Marshal, as well as the faithful service he has openly and strenuously performed for the king especially in the region of Wales – his castles which Llywelyn prince of Gwynedd held which Marshal vigorously reclaimed (in April 1223) would scarcely have been taken without his capacity and hard work – and also bearing in mind the example of Philip, the late king of France (died 14 July 1223) – who for a long time freely married off his daughters, sisters, and nieces to the likes of the counts of Namur and Ponthieu and others of his men rather than to foreigners, just as the current king of France recently married off his niece, the daughter of Guichard de Beaujeu to the count of Champagne (after August 1223); because of all these precedents and the great things which are hoped for from the Marshal, it should not be objectionable to the king and his council – all things considered – that he may at some time permit him to marry his sister to his advantage and honour. The king, on the advice of such and such men, having discussed this business extensively, conceded the Marshal his younger sister, without lessening of his lands, castles or money. [September 1223 × January 1224]

1. A = Kew, National Archives (PRO), SC1/2/109.

   Printed, Royal Letters, 1: 244–246; Diplomatic Documents, 95–97.