On Saturday 7 May 2022, a new statue of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, created by Harriet Addyman of Narberth, was unveiled on its plinth immediately below the walls of Pembroke Castle. William Marshal was the younger son of a minor knight; but by his courage, his extraordinary skill at tournaments and his loyalty to successive kings, he rose to be the most powerful man in England. In 1214-15, he held the balance of power between King John and the rebel barons, remained loyal to the King but ensured that John put his seal to Magna Carta. As regent to the boy-king Henry III, 1216-19, he re-issued Magna Carta twice over his own seal, rallied the loyal barons and trounced the French and rebel armies at the Battle of Lincoln. So, he saved the Charter and England (were it not for that victory at Lincoln, we would all be speaking French.)
William was well rewarded. He had been due to marry Heloise of Lancaster. In 1188, Henry II promised him the richer prize of Denise of Châteauroux. Over the following months, the arrangements changed again: William was promised the far greater heiress Isabel, daughter, and heiress of Chepstow’s Earl Richard Strongbow and of Aoife, herself the heiress of vast lands in Ireland. In 1189, the new king Richard Lionheart confirmed his permission for the marriage.
This marriage transformed William into a magnate of the realm. Strongbow was Earl of Pembroke but had been stripped of all his lands by Henry II. In 1200, King John granted William the Earldom. King after king was raising William’s standing, wealth, and power.
Pembroke now became the base of William’s power in south-west Wales. The region was home to the chronicler Gerald of Wales, who praised it for its flat lands and long seacoast, for its beauty, wheat, and fish. Thanks to Isabel, William had lands to hold and lands to recapture from the Welsh. He built the Castle’s great circular tower, 80 feet high, its walls 20 feet thick at the base, to dominate the landscape and project his power. His new statue’s proud figure, armed and mounted on a war-horse, vividly recalls the days of Anglo-Norman power that transformed the great castle above, over 800 years ago.
Pembroke Castle: www.visitpembrokeshire.com/attraction-listing/pembroke-castle
Master Robin Griffith-Jones has been the Reverend and Valiant Master of the Temple since 1999. He has co-authored and co-edited two books on the history and significance of the Temple Church in collaboration with The Courtauld Institute of Art: The Temple Church: History, Architecture, Art (Boydell, 2012) and Tomb & Temple: Re-presenting the Sacred Buildings of Jerusalem (Boydell, 2018). He is also Reader in New Testament Studies at King’s College London.
