Annales Cestrienses Chronicle
of the Abbey of S. Werburg,
At Chester

The chronicle: 1235-61

1246

“...
Item obiit Walterus Marescall comes de Penbrok et Anselmus frater ejus et sic defecerunt omnes v filii Willelmi veteris marescalli sine liberis scilicet Willelmus primogenitus morte naturali, Ricardus secundus natu occisus in bello campestri quod seditiose instruxerat contra naturalem dominum suum Henricum Regem anglie: Gilbertus tertius in quodam tornamento equum proprium agens armatus ab eodem equo ultimi morbo perierunt.
...”

Translation:

Also Walter Marshal, earl of Pembroke, and Anselm, his brother, died, and all the five sons of William, the old Marshal, expired without children; that is to say, William, the eldest, by a natural death; Richard, the second son, was slain in open battle, [in an insurrection] which he had seditiously raised against his natural lord, Henry [III.], king of England; Gilbert, the third son, [was killed] in a certain tournament, when, being in armour and urging on his own horse, [he fell] from the same horse. The two youngest [Walter and Anselm] died from disease.

Note:

William Marshal the elder, earl of Pembroke, had been excommunicated for seizing certain manors of the bishop of Ferns, which William Marshal the younger and his brothers afterwards refused to restore. The deaths of the five children without issue had been foretold by the bishop, and was considered to be a judgment upon them for their own and their father's misconduct in this matter. See the story narrated at length by Matthew Paris (below).

Credit: British History Online

Matthæi Parisiensis,
monachi Sancti Albani,
Chronica majora

Vol. IV, p. 491

Comes Marescallus Walterus obiit.
[Death of Walter Marchal. His burial at Tintern.]

Eodemque anno, comes Marescallus Walterus viam
universæ carnis ingressus, octavo kalendas Decembris,
Londoniis, apud Tinternam, non procul a Strigoil, ubi
plures magnifici antecessores sui sunt sepulti, tumulatur.

Anselmus frater ejus obiit.
[Death of Anselm Marshal. The inheritance desolves on his sisters.]

Et cito post, videlicet tertia die ante Natale, obiit
Anselmus frater ejusdem comitis, natu proximo junior
consequenter. Quibus sine liberis de medio raptis,
illa præclara hæreditas jam multipliciter dissipata ad
multos, ratione sororum, est devoluta; quas diversimode
et particulatim contingebat.

Vol. IV, ps. 492-495

[Deaths of all the sons of William Marshal.]

Eta quia tam miser tamque miserabilis et inauditus
casus de quinque filiis Willelmi Marescalli magni
accidit, -qui secundum ordinem nativitatis suæ, dum adhuc
eis prosperitas possessionum et ætatis arrideret,
lacrimabiliter et absque liberorum propagine sublati sunt
de medio, juxta vaticinium matris eorum, dicentis
quod omnes comites futuri erant unius comitatus, quia
Anselmus licet non fuisset investitutus comitatu, tamen
devolvebatur ad eum; et ita vere Sibilla fuit
comitissa mater eorum, nec credendum arbitror hoc sine
divino judicio contigisse; -quiddam ideo memoratu
dignum duximus huic opusculo breviter annectendum.

[William Marshal had been excommunicated for seizing
certain manors of the bishop of Ferns.]

Memoratus itaque W[illelmus], utpote bellicosus et
sternuus, dictus Marescallus, quasi Martis senescallus,
dum in Hybernia stragi intendens et incendio terras
sibi adquireret spatiosas, a quodam sancto episcopo duo
maneria, ad suam ecclesiam pertinentia, violenter et
injuriose surripere, et subrepta sibi usurpando
præsumpsit, quasi justo titulo, quis in guerra adquisita,
possidere. Episcopus igitur post frequentes admonitiones
in ipsum comitem procaciter respondentem, et
contumaciter in peccato suo dicta maneria retinentem,
sententiam excommunicationis non immerito fulguravit.
Quod comes contempnens, tempora bellica præposuit
pro excusatione, injurias injuriis cumulando. Unde
non sine ratione quidam magister Gervasius de Melckeleia,
de eo versus componens, et quasi ejus personam
assumens, ait,

“Sum quem Saturnum sibi sensit Hybernia, solem
“Anglia, Mercurium Normannia, Gallia Martem.”

Tenuit igitur dictus comes ipsa maneria tota vita
sua, et suo dominico continuavit. Post aliquot vero
annos contigit comitem memoratum, viam universæ
carnis ingressum, apud Novum Templum Londoniis
sepeliri. Hoc cum episcopo innotuisset, {ipse episcopus
fuit episcopus de Fernes, monachus Cisterciensis
ordinis, natione Hibernicus, sanctitate perspicuus,) non sine
mango corporis labore regem adiit, tunc Londoniæ
commorantem, gravemque coram eo de prædicta injuria
responens [querimoniam], asserebat se comitem pro eo
non immerito excommunicasse. Supplicavitque regi, ut
auctoritate regia et præcepto, necnon et pro dicti
W[illelmi] comitis liberatione, sibi sua maneria restitueret,
ut sic defunctus absolutionis beneficium optinere
mereretur. Rex itaque his auditsis contristatus petiit
episcopum, ut accedens ad dicti comitis sepulchrum ipsim
absolveret, et ipse idem rex diligenter intenderet
satisfactioni. Accedens igitur episcopus, rege presente, ad
... to be continued.

Credit: Matthæi Parisiensis, monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica majora Vol 4