Richard was born in 1267, probably on 3 February. His father died when he was five years old, and his estates were wasted by his grandmother Maud, and her second husband, Richard d'Amundeville. He was himself, however, under the wardship of his grandfather Mortimer, although several custodians, among whom was his mother, successively held his castle at Arundel. Before 1285 Fitzalan married Alasia or Alice, the daughter of Thomas, Marquess of Saluzzo in Piedmont, an alliance which is thought to point to a lengthened sojourn in Italy. One chronicler to remarked that the Marquess of Saluzzo was descended from ‘the impious Lombards’.

Their children were:

Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel

 

Eleanor Fitzalan, married Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy

 

Alice Fitzalan, married Stephen de Segrave, 3rd Lord Segrave

 

Margaret Fitzalan, married William le Botiller (or Butler) of Wem

 

Richard died on 9^th March 1301/02

In 1287 Fitzalan received his first writ of summons against the rebel Rhys ap Maredudd, and was enjoined to reside on his Shropshire estates until the revolt was put down. He is there described as Richard Fitzalan, but in January 1292 he is styled Earl of Arundel for the first time, and it was as Earl of Arundel that he was regularly styled thereafter. In 1292 his zeal to join the king's forces was the excuse for a humiliating submission to Gilbert de St Leofard, Bishop of Chichester, after a quarrel about his right of hunting in Houghton Forest. In 1294 he was appointed to command the forces sent to relieve Bere Castle, in Meirionydd, which was threatened by the Welsh insurgent Madog. In 1295 he was active in leading the baronial opposition to Edward I's demands for paid military service in Gascony. However, in 1297 having laid aside his opposition, he agreed to serve in the duchy. In 1298, 1299, and 1300 he held command in Scotland, and in the latter year appeared, a ‘beau chevalier et bien amé’ and ‘richement armé’, at the siege of Caerlaverock. His last attendance in parliament was in 1301 at Lincoln, where he was one of the signatories of the famous letter to the Pope backing Edward I's claim to Scotland. His last military summons was to Carlisle for 24th June 1301. He died on 9th March 1302 and was buried in Haughmond Abbey, Shropshire.