monks came from his father's foundation at Beaulieu. Richard endowed the house liberally. In 1271, just before his death, the church was burnt down; but Edmund of Cornwall, Richard's son and successor, rebuilt it (ib. v. 686–6). By his will Richard established a college of secular priests at Oxford to pray for the repose of his soul. But Edmund thought he would better further his father's desire by converting this into the new Cistercian abbey of Rewley, just outside Oxford (ib. v. 697–701).
Richard was thrice married. All his wives are described as very beautiful. By his first wife, Isabella, daughter of William Marshal the regent, and widow of Gilbert of Clare, earl of Gloucester, whom he married on 30 March 1231 at Marlow, he had: 1. John, born 31 Jan., died 22 Sept. 1232, and buried at Reading (Ann. Tewkesbury, p. 89); 2. Isabella, born September 1233, died October 1234, and also buried at Reading (ib. p. 93); 3. Henry, born 1 Nov. 1235 at Hayles [see Henry of Almaine]; 4. Nicholas, who died a few days after his birth at Berkhamstead, and cost his mother her life. Isabella died on 16 Jan. 1240, and was buried at Beaulieu (ib. pp. 113–14). Her heart was deposited at Tewkesbury among her first husband's family. By his second wife, Sanchia of Provence, whom he married on 23 Nov. 1242, Richard had two sons: the elder, born in July 1246, died on 15 Aug. (Matt. Paris, iv. 568–9); the second, born after Christmas 1250, was baptised Edmund (see below) by Archbishop Boniface in honour of Richard's early friend, St. Edmund of Canterbury (ib. v. 94).
By Beatrice of Falkenstein Richard left no issue (Wykes, pp. 224–225; Gebauer, pp. 254–8, 615–32). Sandford (Genealogical History, p. 99) says that Richard was also father of three natural children: 1. Richard, ancestor of the knightly families of the Cornwalls called barons of Burford in Shropshire, and of those of Berington in Herefordshire; 2. Walter, who received a grant of land from his brother Edmund; 3. Isabel, who married Maurice of Berkeley.
Edmund, second Earl of Cornwall (1250–1300), was knighted and invested with the earldom by Henry III on 13 Oct. 1272. On Henry's death next month he was named joint guardian of the realm, but his position seems to have been honorary, and the power remained with the archbishop of York and the chancellor, Walter de Merton [q. v.] In April 1279 he was again appointed joint lieutenant of the realm. When Edward went to Gascony in May 1286, Edmund was made guardian and lieutenant of England. On this occasion his functions were more important, as the chancellor accompanied Edward; but the three years of the king's absence were uneventful. In 1297 Edmund became councillor to the young Prince of Wales. He died on 1 Oct. 1300, having married Margaret, daughter of Richard de Clare, eighth earl of Clare and seventh earl of Gloucester [q. v.] He left no issue, and the earldom became extinct.
[The oldest modern life of Richard is J. P. von Gundling's Geschichten und Thaten Kaiser Richard's (Berlin, 1719). G. C. Gebauer's Leben und denckwürdige Thaten Herrn Richards erwählten römischen Kaysers (Leipzig, 1744) is still of use for its fulness and the documents printed in it. A. Lipkau's De Richardo comite Cornubiæ electo coronato Rege Romano (1865) is a rather thin Königsberg inaugural dissertation, of which only thirty-two pages have been printed. Dr. Hugo Koch's Richard von Cornwall, erster Theil (1209–1257), Strassburg, 1888, is careful and almost exhaustive up to Richard's coronation, though sometimes failing to disentangle the biography from general history, and occasionally making little mistakes in English matters. The biography of Richard in the Allgemeine deutsche Biographie (xxviii. 412–413) by F. Schirrmacher is too brief to be of value. Richard's German career and the constitutional problems involved in his election have been much written about in Germany. Among older monographs may be mentioned Zentgrav De Interregno imperii Germanici (Wittenberg, 1668), and Schwartz's Dissertatio de Interregno (Jena, 1714). Among recent monographs upon special points may be mentioned A. Busson's Die Doppelwahl des Jahres 1257 (Münster, 1866); A. di Miranda's Richard von Cornwallis und sein Verhältniss zur Krönungsstadt Aachen, Bonn, 1880; A. Bauch's Die Initiative zur Wahl Richards von Cornwall zum römischen König, printed as an appendix to his book on Die Markgrafen Johann I und Otto III von Brandenburg in ihren Beziehungen zum Reich, 1220–1267 (Breslau, 1886), and Schirrmacher's Kurfürsten Colleg. A solitary and short English monograph is F. P. Weber's Richard, earl of Cornwall, and his Coins as King of the Romans, London, 1893, reprinted from the Numismatic Chronicle, 3rd ser. xiii. 273–81. Among the general histories which specially deal with Richard may be mentioned Pauli's Englische Geschichte, excellent for both the English and German sides of his career, Lorenz's Deutsche Geschichte im 13en und 14en Jahrhundert, F. Schirrmacher's Die letzten Hohenstaufen, especially bk. iii. ch. iii. and vii. Richard's German acts are calendared in J. F. Böhmer's Regesta Imperii, of which the last and best edition for the 1198–1272 period is that edited by Ficker (Innsbruck, 1879–1892). The acts of Richard in this edition are in vol. v. pp. 988–1024, and pp. 1733–1774. More important documents are printed in full in Böhmer-Ficker's Acta Imperii Selecta, pp. 307–15 (Innsbruck,
