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Page 22
Although it was much closer to Builth, Prince Llewelyn's invitation did not reach Pembroke keep any sooner than it reached Hemel. This was because Richard Marshal had kept the letter for several days before sending it on to his wife, Gervase, with a covering letter of his own, ordering her to come to Brecon to meet him. Even if Richard had been at Pembroke keep himself, the wedding invitation would not have had the same effect on him and Gervase that it had on Geoffrey and Joanna. The truth was that Richard had little love, or even liking, for his wife.
Of course, Richard Marshal had not married for love; he had married the eldest daughter of Alan, Comte de Dinan and Vicomte de Rohan, for the lands and titles that would come to him on her father's death. However, Richard had married in good faith, intending to love and honor his wife as his father had loved and honored his mother. Unfortunately, Gervase was nothing at all like Isobel, late Countess of Pembroke. She was young and self-centered and had been raised in a different tradition than Richard's.
If Gervase had had a child, that might have drawn them together, for both desired children and they would have had some interest in common; however, Gervase miscarried several times, and that increased the tension between them. Soon they found each other's company so distasteful that chances for conception became few and far between. After several years, Gervase's father died, and the lands, as promised, came to Richard. This, however, only pushed the couple further apart. Gervase had expected some special recognition, a great celebration, a swearing of the vassals. But Richard took the lands in hand without reference to her at allbecause he did not trust her.
Then the situation was exacerbated by the death of the husband of Gervase's sister, Marie de les Maures. Because the sister's father was dead and they had no brothers, Marie became Richard's ward when her husband's younger brother, who had inherited her late husband's lands, stated firmly that he would not keep her. Perhaps if Richard could have done so, he would have fought for Marie's dower rights as she demanded.
Unfortunately, Richard's older brother William had died without heirs, and it was imperative that Richard go at once to England and take hold of the vast territories of his inheritance.

 
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