Richard of England, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Count of Poiteau, King of the Romans

Born January 5, 1209 at Winchester Castle, Hampshire, England
Died April 2, 1272 at Berkhamstead Castle in Hertfordshire, England
Buried: Hailes Abbey, Gloucestershire, England

Notes:
Second son of King John of England, brother of King Henry III of England.
Richard rebelled against Henry three times, and had to be bought off with lavish gifts.
In 1227 Henry gave him the manor of Isleworth which included Twickenham. He built himself a manor house there and enclosed about 200 acres of land.
1231 he married Isabel Marshall and became stepfather to her six children from her first husband. That year he also aquired Wallingford Castle in Berkshire, which became his main residence.
In 1240 Isabel died and Richard led a crusade to the Holy Land. He became known for negotiating for the release of prisoners and the burial of crusaders killed at Gaza the year before. He also refortified Ascalon, which had been demolished by Saladin. On his return from the Holy Land, Richard visited his sister Isabella, the empress of Frederick II. On his journey to the Holy Land, Richard met Sanchia in the Provence, where he was warmly welcomed by her father Raymond Berenger IV and had fallen in love with her.
King Henry and Queen Eleanor brought up the idea of a marriage with Sanchia (sister of Eleanor) shortly after his return on 28 January 1242, partly to placate him as they had cut him out of the line to the throne.
In 1241 King Louis IX of France invested his own brother Alphonse with Poitou, which was to be Richard's. Richard and Henry's mother Isabella took insult to this and her husband Hugh X de Lusignan encouraged them to retake Poiteau. The expidition did not go well.
In 1257 he was elected King of the Germans (Almayne) in Aachen. He was thus emperor-elect of the Holy Roman Empire, the successor to Charlemagne, but the title had little real meaning since his rival Alfonso X of Castile had also been elected German King, and his election was never confirmed by the Pope.
It was at Richard's Twickenham the barons camped nearby in 1263 attempting, unsuccessfully, to make the king reaffirm his acceptance of the Provisions of Oxford. In the ongoing strife the house was sacked when the rebellion broke out the following year. Richard and his son Edmund fought in the battle of Lewes and were captured by Simon de Montfort's army, Richard held captive until September 1265, when he made ransom. [said to be no less than seventeen thousand pounds of sterling and five thousand pounds of gold]
He founded Burnham Abbey in Buckinghamshire in 1263, and the Grashaus, Aachen in 1266.
In December 1271, Richard was paralyzed on his right side and lost the ability to speak. He died April 2, 1272 at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire and was buried next to his second wife Sanchia and Henry of Almain, his son by his first wife, at Hailes Abbey, which he had founded.

Married 1)

Isabel Marshal on March 30, 1231 at St. Mary's Church at Fawley, Buckinghamshire, England

Children of Richard and Isabel:

Married 2)

Sanchia of Provence on November 23, 1243 at Westminster Abbey, London, England

Children of Richard and Sanchia:

Married 3)

Beatrice of Falkenburg on June 16, 1269 at Kaiserslautern, Rhein-Pfalz, Preussen

No children

Richard had children by his mistress Joan de Valletort:

Richard had children by other mistress(es):

Siblings of Richard of Cornwall:

Henry III of England, Joan of England, Isabella of England, Eleanor of England

Half-siblings from mother's second marriage to Hugh X de Lusignan:

Alice of Lusignan, William de Valence, Agnes Agathe de Lusignan, Isabelle de Lusignan, Hugh XI d'Angouleme, de Lusignan, Aymer de Valance, Guy de Lusignan, Marguerite de Lusignan, Geoffori de Lusignan

      Geoffrey of Anjou
    Henry II of England Empress Matilda
      William X of Aquitaine
  John of England Eleanor of Aquitaine Aenor de Chatellerault
Richard of England      
  Isabella d'Angouleme de Taillefer Aymer de Taillefer Guillaume de Taillefer IV
      Emma de Limoges
    Alice de Courtenay Pierre Capet of France
      Isabelle de Courtenay


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