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GENERATION
1 |
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01. Richard I,
duke of Normandy
(Aug 28, 933 - Nov 20, 996), was
listed as the progenitor of this line by Cokayne's Complete Peerage. |
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GENERATION
2 |
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02. Godfrey,
(Geoffrey) Count of Brionne, was an illegitimate son
of Richard. |
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GENERATION
3 |
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03. Gilbert,
was Count of Brionne in
Normandy. |
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GENERATION
4 |
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04. Richard Fitz Gilbert,
[1]
son of Gilbert,
a lawyer and Chief Justice of England, born before
1035, was the founder of the House of Clare in England, first Lord of
Clare. He was the eldest son of Gislebert, Count of Eu and Brionne, a
descendant of Emperor Charlemagne. He accompanied Duke William into
England, and later held one hundred and seventy-six lordships or manors.
At the time of the General Survey, which was towards the close of King
William's reign, he is called Ricardus de Tonebruge, from his seat
at Tonebruge (now Tunbridge), in Kent, which town and castle he obtained
from the archbishop of Canterbury, in lieu of the castle of Brion; at
which time he enjoyed thirty-eight lordships in Surrey, thirty-five in
Essex, three in Cambridgeshire, with some others in Wilts and Devon, and
ninety-five in Suffolk, among those was Clare, whence he was styled
Richard de Clare; and that place in a few years afterwards becoming the
chief seat of the family, his descendants are said to have assumed
thereupon the title of Earls of Clare (Burke, pg. 118-119). He married
Rohese
Giffard
of Bolebec, daughter of Walter (Gautier) Giffard de Bolebec,
Earl of Buckingham and Earl of Longueville, in Normandy, granddaughter of
Osborne de Bolebec, a noble Norman, living in the time of Richard, Duke of
Normandy, and granddaughter of his wife, Aveline, sister of Gunnora,
Duchess of Normandy. According to Burke, pp. 230-231, he was granted for
his gallant services at the battle of Hastings, the title of Earl of
Buckingham. At the time of the General Survey, he was sent with Remigius,
Bishop of Lincoln, and others, into Worcestershire, and some other
counties, to value the lands belonging to the crown, as well as to private
individuals in these parts.
He himself possessed at that time two
lordships in Berkshire; one in Wilts; one in Somersetshire; one in
Huntingdon; five in Cambridgeshire; nine in Oxfordshire; nine in the co.
of Bedford; three in Suffolk; twenty-eight in Norfolk; an forty-eight in
Buckinghamshire; in all one hundred and seven. In 1089, he adhering to
William Rufus, fortified his mansions in Normandy, for that king, and
became chief general of his army there; yet in some years afterwards
(1102), he sided with Robert Curthose (Courthouse), against King Henry I.
The earl married Agnes Flaitell, daughter of Gerard Flaitell, and sister
of William Flaitell, Bishop of Eureux. They had three children: Walter,
his successor, 2nd Earl of Buckingham, who d.s.p; Rohais (Rohese), named
above; and Isabel Giffard, who married Richard Granville or Grenville,
progenitor of the house of Grenville, Dukes of Buckingham. According to
Crispin and Macary, "Falaise Roll" pg. 22, Rohese was the
daughter of Walter (Gautier) Giffard, brother of Berenger and Osberne
(Osborne), who contributed 30 vessels and 100 men to the fleet for the
Conquest as well as the horse on which William the Conqueror rode at the
Battle of Hastings. He was awarded the earldom of Buckingham for his
services. "Rohesia married Richard de Bienfaite, eldest son of
Gilbert, Count of Brionne, from which union sprung the great house of
Clare.") |
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GENERATION
5 |
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05. Gilbert De Clare,
[1]
of Tonebridge, son of Richard and Rohese, 2nd
Earl of Clare, was born before 1066. He resided at Tonebruge and inherited
all of his father's lands in England. He joined in the rebellion of Robert
de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, against the king, but observing the
William Rufus upon the point of falling into an ambuscade, he relented,
besought pardon, and saved his royal master. We find him subsequently,
however, again in rebellion, in the same reign, and fortifying and losing
his castle at Tunbridge. He married in 1113, Adeliza Clermont,
daughter of Hugh de Clermont, 2nd Count of Clermont, and his wife,
Marguerita, daughter of Hildwin IV., Count of Montidier and Lord of Rouci
and Ramere, and his wife, Adela, Countess of Rouci, great granddaughter of
Hugh Capet and his wife, Adela. |
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GENERATION
6 |
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06. Richard FitzGilbert De Clare,
[1]
eldest
son of Gilbert and Eva, was born before 1105. He
first bore the title of Earl of Hertford. He invaded Wales with an army
and became lord of vast possessions there by power of his sword, but
requiring other matters of moment from the king, in which he was
unsuccessful, he reared the standard of revolt, and soon after was slain
in a skirmish with a few Welsh yeomen, near Abergavenny, on April 15,
1136. In 1124 he removed the monks out of his castle at Clare into the
church of St. Augustine, at Stoke, and bestowed upon them a little wood,
called Stoke-Ho, with a doe every year out of his park at Hunedene.
Richard married Alice Meschines, daughter of Ranulph(Ralph?) de
Meschines, 1st Earl of Chester, and sister of Ranulph, 2nd Earl of
Chester. |
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GENERATION
7 |
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07. Roger De Clare,
[1]
son of Richard and
Alice, 3rd Earl of Hertford, born before 1116, is
likewise said to have received the title of Earl of Clare. In the 3rd year
of Henry II., he obtained from the king all the lands in Wales which he
could win, marched into Cardigan with a great army, and fortified divers
castles thereabouts. In the 9th year of the same reign, we find him
summoned by the celebrated Thomas-a-Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, to
Westminster, in order to do homage to the prelate for his castle of
Tonebruge; which at the command of the king he refused, alleging that
holding it by military service it belonged rather to the crown than to the
church. He married Maude St. Hillary, daughter and heir of James de
St. Hillary, of Field Dalling, Norfolk, by whom (who married after his
decease William d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel) he had a son, Richard, his
successor. This earl, who, from his munificence to the church, and his
numerous acts of piety was called the Good, died in 1173, and was
succeeded by his son, Richard. |
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GENERATION
8 |
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08. Richard De Clare,
[1]
son of Roger and
Maude, the Surety and the 4th Earl of Hertford, but
like his father and his uncle was more generally known as the Earl of
Clare. He was born abt. 1153 and was present at the coronation of King Richard at Westminster on
September 3, 1189, and of King John on May 27, 1199. In the 7th year of
Richard I., gave 1,000 pounds to the king for livery of the lands of his
mother's inheritance, with his proportion of those sometimes belonging to
Giffard, Earl of Buckingham. He sided with the barons against King John
and his castle of Tunbridge was taken. On November 9, 1215, he was one of
the commissioners on the part of the barons to treat peace with the king.
On March 4, 1215 or 1216 his lands in cos. Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk,
and Essex were granted to Robert de Betun; and he and his son were among
the barons excommunicated by the Pope in 1215. He married Amice
Fitzwilliam, Countess of Gloucester, 2nd
daughter and co-heiress (with her sisters Mabel, wife of the Earl of
Evereux, in Normandy, and Isabel, the divorced wife of King John) of
William FitzRobert (Muellent), Earl of Gloucester, and his wife Hawise
(Mabel) Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester.
Amice, a descendant of the Kings of France back to Hugh Capet, died on
January 1, 1224 or 1225. |
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GENERATION
9 |
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09. Gilbert De Clare,
[1]
son of Richard and
Amice, 5th Earl of Hertford, born about 1180, who
after the decease of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, the 2nd
husband of Isabel, the divorced wife of King John (one of the co-heiresses
mentioned above of William, Earl of Gloucester), and in her right Earl of
Gloucester, and her own decease, s.p., as also the decease of Almarick
d'Evereux, son of the Earl of Evereux, by Mabel, the other co-heiress, who
likewise succeeded to the Earldom of Gloucester, became Earl of
Gloucester, in the right of his mother, Amica, the other co-heiress. In
June 1202 he was entrusted with the lands of Harfleur and Mostrevilliers.
This nobleman was among the principal barons who took up arms against King
John, and was appointed one of the twenty-five chosen to enforce the
observance of the Magna Charta. In the ensuing reign, still opposing the
arbitrary proceedings of the crown, and championing Louis le Dauphin, he
fought on the side of the barons at Lincoln, and was taken prisoner there
by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke; but he soon afterwards made his
peace. He led an army against the Welsh in 1228 and captured Morgan Gam,
who was released the next year. Being engaged in an expedition to
Brittany, he died on his way back at Penros in that duchy, October 25,
1230. His body was conveyed by way of Plymouth and Cranbourn to
Tewkesbury. He was buried before the high altar, November 10, 1230. He
married, on October 9, 1217,
Isabel Marshal, one of the daughters
and eventually co-heiresses of the same William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke,
(who married after his decease, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of King
Henry III.). She was sister of William Marshal, the Surety. She died
January 17, 1239/40. |
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GENERATION
10 |
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10. Richard De Clare,
[1]
son of Gilbert and
Isabel, 6th Earl of Hertford, and 2nd Earl of
Gloucester, born abt. 1222 was in minority at the time of his father's death. The
wardship of this young nobleman was granted to the famous Hubert de Burgh,
Earl of Kent, Justiciary of England, whose daughter, Margaret, to the
great displeasure of King Henry III., he afterwards (1243) clandestinely
married, but from whom he was probably divorced. She died in November,
1237. We find the king marrying him the next year, on or before January
25, 1237/8 to Maude Lacy, daughter of the Surety John de Lacy, Earl
of Lincoln, in consideration whereof the said John paid to the crown 5,000
marks, and remitted a debt of 2,000 more. His lordship, who appears to
have been a very distinguished personage in the reign of King Henry III.,
was one of the chief nobles present in Westminster Hall (40th year of
Henry III.), when Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, with divers other
prelates, pronounced that solemn curse, with candles lighted, against all
those who should thenceforth violate the Magna Charta. In two years
afterwards an attempt was made by Walter de Scotenay, his steward and
chief counselor, to poison the earl and his brother William, which proved
effective as to the latter, while his lordship narrowly escaped with the
loss of his hair and nails. In the next year the earl was commissioned
with others of the nobility, by the appointment of the king, and the whole
baronage of England, to the parliament of France, to convey King Henry
III.'s resignation of Normandy, and to adjust all differences between the
two crowns; and upon the return of the mission, his lordship reported
proceeding to the king, in parliament. About this period he had license to
fortify the Isle of Portland, and to embattle it as a fortress. It is
reported of this nobleman, that being at Tewkesbury, in the 45th year of
Henry III., a Jew, who had fallen into a jakes upon the Saturday, refusing
to be pulled out in reverence to the Jewish sabbath, his lordship
prohibited any help to be afforded him on the next day, Sunday, the
Christian sabbath, and thus suffered the unfortunate Israelite to perish.
He died himself in July 15, 1262, having been poisoned at the table of
Peter (Piers) de Savoy, the queen's uncle, along with Baldwin, Earl of
Devon, and other persons of note. |
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GENERATION
11 |
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11. Gilbert De Clare,
[1]
son of Richard and
Maude was born on September 02, 1243 in Christchurch, Hampshire,
England. He was a Knight
and Crusader, the 9th Earl of Clare, Earl of
Hertford and Gloucester. At his death he was "the most powerful
subject in the kingdom". He was knighted
on May 14, 1264. He was called "The Red" after the fiery
color of his hair. He inherited not only the great Clare estates and
lordships in England, Wales, and Ireland, but also a
position of leadership among the magnates of the
realm; and he was destined to play an even more decisive
role in the civil wars which determined the fate of the struggle between
king and baronage than his father had played in the initial stages
of the movement for reform. Being under age at his father's death,
he was a ward of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. He married in 1257,
(1) Alice le Brun, daughter of Hugh le Brun, Count of La Marche and
Angoulesme, and his wife, Yolande, daughter of Pierre Mauclerk. Alice was
the niece of the king of France, which monarch bestowed upon the lady a
marriage portion of 5,000 marks. In April 1264 he led the massacre of the
Jews at Canterbury, as Simon de Montfort had done in London. His castles
of Kingston and Tonbridge were taken by the king, who, however, allowed
his Countess, who was in the latter, to go free because she was his niece;
and on May 12 he and Montfort were denounced as traitors. Two days later,
just before the battle of Lewes, on May 14, Montfort knighted the Earl and
his brother Thomas. The Earl commanded the second line of the battle and
took the King prisoner, having hamstrung his horse.
As Prince Edward had
also been captured, Montfort and the Earl were now supreme. On October 20
following, however, the Earl and his associates were excommunicated by the
Papal Legate and his lands were placed under interdict. Gilbert,
who, like his predecessors, was zealous in the cause of the barons,
proceeded to London immediately after the defeat sustained by the
insurrectionary lords at Northampton in the 48th year of King Henry III.,
in order to rouse the citizens, which, having effected, he received the
honor of knighthood, from Montfort, Earl of Leicester, at the head of the
army at Lewes; of which army, he, with John Fitz-John and William de
Montchensi, commanded the second brigade, and having mainly contributed to
the victory, in which the king and the prince became prisoners, while the
whole power of the realm fell into the hands of the victors, the earl
procured a grant under the great seal of all the lands and possessions,
lying in England, of John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, one of the most
faithful adherents of the king, excepting the castles of Riegate and
Lewes, to hold during the pleasure of the crown, and he soon after, with
some of the principal barons, extorted from the captive monarch commission
authorizing Stephen, then bishop of Chichester, Simon de Montfort, Earl of
Leicester, and himself, to nominate nine persons of "the most
faithful, prudent, and most studious of the public weal," as well
prelates as others, to manage all things according to the laws and customs
of the realm, until the consultations at Lewes should terminate. Becoming
jealous, however, of the power of Leicester, the earl soon after abandoned
the baronial cause, and having assisted in procuring the liberty of the
king and the prince, commanded the second brigade of the royal army at the
battle of Evesham, which restored the kingly power to its former lustre.
In reward of these eminent services he received a full pardon for himself
and his brother Thomas, of all prior treasons, and the custody of the
castle of Bergavenny, during the minority of Maud, wife of Humphrey de
Bohun.
He veered again though in his allegiance, and he does not appear to
have been sincerely reconciled to the royal cause, until 1270, in which
year demanding from Prince Edward repayment of the expenses he had
incurred at the battle of Evesham, with livery of all the castles and
lands which his ancestors had possessed, and those demands having been
complied with, he thenceforward became a good and loyal subject of the
crown. Upon the death of King Henry, the Earl of Hertford and Gloucester
was one of the lords who met at the New Temple in London, to proclaim
Prince Edward, then in the Holy Land, successor to the crown, and so soon
as the new monarch returned to England, he was the first to entertain him
and his whole retinue, with great magnificence for several days at his
castle of Tonebruge. In the 13th year of King Edward I., he divorced his
wife Alice le Brun, the French Princess, and in consideration of her
illustrious birth, granted for her support during her life, six extensive
manors and parks, and he married in 1289, (2)
Joan
Plantagenet, of Acre
, daughter of
King Edward
I
., upon which occasion
he gave up the inheritance of all his castles and manors, as well in
England as in Wales, to his royal father-in-law, to dispose of as he might
think proper; which manors, etc. were entailed by the king upon the earl's
issue, by the said Joane, and in default, upon her heirs and assigns,
should she survive his lordship. |
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GENERATION
12 |
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12a. Margaret De Clare,
[1]
daughter of Gilbert and Joan was born in 1292
in Tunbridge Castle, Kent, England. She married Hugh
D'Audley
on April 28, 1317 in Windsor, Berkshire, England. She
brought her husband a third of the vast Clare estates to which she was a
co-heiress. Margaret died on April 9, 1342 in France. I
descend from their daughter Margaret
D'Audley
who married Ralph Stafford
.
12b. Eleanor De Clare,
[1]
daughter of Gilbert and Joan was born in
October, 1292. She married
Hugh Le
Despencer
(c1286-1326), son of
Hugh Le
Despencer and Isabella De Beauchamp. I
descend from their 2 children:
(1) Isabel Le Despencer
(c1313-) who married Richard FitzAlan
and
(2) Sir Edward Le Despencer
(1310-1342) who married
Anne De Ferrers. |
