“From the annexed account of the Earl’s death, however, by another contemporary writer, it would appear that he died of apoplexy:
“Ea vero tempestate primorum consultu direxit ad partes transmarinas Rex Almaricum de Valencia Comitem de Penbrokia, virum siquidem ad queque nepharia peragenda iuxta sue propinquitatis nequiciam continue paratum, regis Francorum presencie nuncium super dictis negocüs assistendum vt eiusdem regis Francorum animum ab inceptis, revocaret, ut ipsius benevolenciam affectum regis Anglorum varijs blandiciis inclinaret. Quo perveniente, ac iuxta proposita suorum verborum responsis acceptis, per Pykardiam rediens, ad quoddam municipium mi. villa, id est, dimidia villa, nuncupatum, tribus leucis a Compyne distans, in vigilia Sancti Johannis, declinavit pransurus, ubi Christus voluit virum sanguineum et dolosum non dimidiare dies suos. Sed finita refectionis hora thalamum ingreditur, deambulando statim in atrio corruit, ac sine confessione et viatico salutari infelicem animam subito in solo sufflavit.”[97]
The following account of the Earl of Pembroke is from the pen of Hutchinson. “This Earl” (Adomer de Valence) “seemed to have a divine interdict depending over him, and the immediate vindictive hand of Providence to be upon him and his posterity for his atrocious deeds. He was a tool to his prince, and servilely submitted to the mandate of the crown, contrary to the dictates of humanity, honour, and justice. He sat in judgment on Thomas Earl of Lancaster, and impiously acquiesced in his sentence. He was a chief instrument in apprehending the famous Scottish patriot Wallace in 1305; accomplishing his capture by the treachery of his most intimate associates, and those in whom he placed his utmost confidence, Sir John Menteith and others of infamous memory. Adomer, on his bridal day, was slain in a tournament, held in honour of his nuptials; and left a wife at once a maiden, bride and widow. It is said that, for several generations of this family, a father was never happy enough to see his son, the proscribed parent being snatched off by the hand of death before the birth of his issue.” (Hutchinson’s History of Northumberland.)
It may be also remarked as a singular coincidence, the fatality which attended the Stuarts after they came to the throne, not one of whom, for many generations, died a natural death. John Menteith was the son of Walter Stuart, Earl of Menteith, and of the same family which afterwards swayed the Scottish sceptre.
Aymer, or Adomer de Valence, is likewise charged by the Minstrel, as being the instrument made use of for corrupting the fidelity of Menteith; and he mentions, that the infamous bargain was finally concluded in “Ruglyne Kirk,” where the two met by appointment, and that Menteith received from Valence three thousand crowns of gold as the price of his friend. “Ruglyne” is situated nearly mid-way between Bothwell and Dumbarton castles; the former being the place where the Earl of Pembroke usually resided when in Scotland, and was quite convenient for his keeping an appointment at “Ruglyne” with the governor of Dumbarton Castle. When it is recollected, that John Comyn, who, according to “Douglas’s peerage,” married a sister of Valence, was hatching the treason which he afterwards put in practice against Bruce, at the time when his brother-in-law was tampering with the friend of Wallace, it will not be doing him great injustice, if we suppose him at least in the secret of the infamous transaction with Menteith. In fact, both of these deeds of darkness appear to have been part of the same plan for placing Comyn, and consequently the sister of the Earl of Pembroke, on the Scottish throne.
The Earl was thrice married; first, to Beatrix, daughter of Ralph de Noel, Constable of France; secondly, to a daughter of the Earl of Barre; and thirdly, to Mary, daughter of Guy de Chastillon, Count of St Paul; but he had no issue; and the descendants of his sisters, Isabel, the wife of John Baron Hastings, and Joan, who married John Comyn of Badenoch, are consequently his representatives. His eldest sister, Anne, married, first, Maurice Fitz-Gerald; secondly, Hugh de Balliol; and, lastly, John de Avennes; and probably died, S. P. in the 3d Edward II.
Mary, Countess of Pembroke, is chiefly known to the present age by an action, which seldom fails to ensure immortality. She was the foundress of a College for the purposes of learning and religion, which still bears the name of Pembroke Hall; and was likewise a benefactress to several religious houses. She died about 1376; and on the 13th March in that year made her will at Braxted, in Essex, by which she ordered her body to be buried in the church of the sisters of Denny, where she had caused her tomb to be made; and bequeathed to the church of the Abbey of Westminster, where her husband was interred, a cross, with a foot of gold and emeralds, which Sir William de Valence, Knight, brought from the Holy Land.
The body of the Earl of Pembroke was conveyed to England, and buried in Westminster Abbey; but upon the beautiful tomb erected to his memory, it is unnecessary to say a single word, ample justice having been done to it by the artist and the author of a biographical notice, which accompanies a recent engraving of his tomb.
Siege of Carlaverock.