House of Clare
Noble House
Parent houseHouse of Normandy
CountryEngland

Wales

Lordship of Ireland

  • Leinster
FounderRichard fitz Gilbert
TitlesVarious
Style(s)Earls, Barons, and Knights
Estate(s)Various Earldoms, Baronies and over 190 Manorial Lordships

The House of Clare was a prominent Anglo-Norman noble house that ruled the Earldoms of Pembroke, Hertford and Gloucester in England and Wales throughout its history, playing a prominent role in the Norman invasion of Ireland.

They were descended from Richard Fitz Gilbert, Lord of Clare (1035-1090), a kinsman of William the Conqueror who accompanied him into England during the Norman conquest of England. As a reward for his service, Richard was given lands in Suffolk centred on the village of Clare. As a result, Richard and his descendants carried the name of 'de Clare' or 'of Clare'.

The de Clares ranked among the greatest baronial houses of the early Middle Ages and were the proprietors of the monumental Caerphilly Castle, Pembroke Castle, Castell Coch, and over 190 manors in England.[1][2]

Origins

Stained glass window in Tewkesbury Abbey depicting Lord Gilbert de Clare.

The Clare family derived in the male line from Gilbert, Count of Brionne, whose father Geoffrey, Count of Eu was an illegitimate son of Richard I, Duke of Normandy by an unknown mistress. Gilbert de Brionne was one of the guardians of William II, who became Duke of Normandy as a child in 1035. When Gilbert was assassinated in 1039 or 1040, his young sons Baldwin and Richard fitz Gilbert fled with their guardians to Baldwin V, Count of Flanders; they returned to Normandy when William married Baldwin's daughter in 1053, and William took them into high favour. After the conquest of England, Richard fitz Gilbert received extensive estates, notably including Clare and Tonbridge. From his holding the former, the family he founded are usually referred to by historians as 'de Clare' (of Clare)."[3] Historical sources are vague and sometimes contradictory about when the name Clare came into common usage, but Richard fitz Gilbert (of Tonbridge) is once referred to as Richard of Clare in the Suffolk return of the Domesday Survey.[4] His brother Baldwin de Meules was left in charge of Exeter on its submission (1068) and made sheriff of Devonshire. Large estates in Devonshire and Somersetshire are entered to him in Domesday as "Baldwin of Exeter" or "Baldwin the Sheriff".[5]

Earldoms

Elizabeth de Clare, 11th Lady of Clare, founder of Clare College, Cambridge

On his death, Richard's English estates passed to his son Gilbert Fitz Richard de Clare (1055-1117), while a younger son, Robert Fitz Richard, would give rise to a lineage that became Barons FitzWalter, as well as having younger branches that took the surnames of Daventry and Fawsley.[6][7] A younger son of Gilbert fitz Richard, also named Gilbert, establishing himself in Wales, acquired the Earldom of Pembroke in 1138 and the Lordship of Striguil. Earl Gilbert's nephew of the senior line, the son of his older brother, Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare (1090-1136), would likewise be made an Earl. Gilbert Fitz Richard (d. 1152) was named Earl of Hertford, perhaps in 1138 but at least by 1141, and subsequently, the family would sometimes use the style of Earls of Clare.[5][8][9] The first Earl of Hertford died without issue and was succeeded by his brother, Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, from whom the later Earls of Hertford descended.

The son of Gilbert Fitz Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, was Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (died 1176), known as Strongbow, a leader of the Norman invasion of Ireland. His only son died while still a minor, and Strongbow's many Irish and Welsh possessions passed with his daughter Isabel, to her husband, William Marshal.[10] Some of these lands would be brought back into the family via the marriage of one of the coheiresses of Isabel de Clare and William Marshal, Isabel Marshal, to her distant cousin, Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford (died 1230). He also inherited from his mother the estates of his maternal grandfather, William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester (died 1183), including the earldom and honour of Gloucester and the lordship of Glamorgan.

The family continued to hold both Earldoms until the early 14th century, when Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester died without issue and the Earldoms became extinct, while his lands were divided among several sisters. Richard de Clare, a member of a junior line that had become lords of Thomond, in Ireland, would be summoned to Parliament in 1309 and hence is held to have been made Lord Clare. But, the death of his infant son in 1321, shortly after his own death, brought an end to the last of the lines typically called de Clare, though the male line persisted at least a century later in the Barons FitzWalter.

Coat of arms

Seal of Gilbert Fitz Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke

The early Clares appear to have used a coat of arms that was chevronny, as seen in the seals of Gilbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and of his niece, Rohese, Countess of Lincoln. Richard 'Strongbow', 2nd Earl of Pembroke, would simplify this to a coat with three chevronels, matching the three red chevrons on a gold background that would be the arms of the Clare Earls of Hertford.[11]

Genealogical tree

Tree of Clare
Richard I
Duke of
Normandy
† 996
Geoffrey
Count of Eu
† 1015


House of
Clare		Gilbert
Count of
Brionne and Eu
† 1040
Richard
fitz Gilbert
lord of Bienfaite,
Orbec, Clare and
Tonbridge, joint
Chief Justiciar
of England
† c. 1090		Baldwin
fitz Gilbert
lord of Sap and
Meules, baron of
Okehampton
Sheriff of Devon
† 1090
Robert
fitz Baldwin		William
fitz Baldwin
baron of
Okehampton
Sheriff of Devon
fl. 1096		Richard
fitz Baldwin
baron of
Okehampton
Sheriff of Devon
† 1137		Adelise
fitz Baldwin
eventual heiress



[? Matilda]
fitz Baldwin
= William
fitzWimund
= Ranulf
Avenel
Roger
fitz Gilbert
de Clare
lord of Bienfaite
and Orbec
† 1131		Gilbert
fitz Richard
de Clare
lord of Clare,
Tonbridge and Cardigan
† 1117		Walter
fitz Richard
de Clare
lord of
Netherwent
† c. 1138		Richard
fitz Richard
de Clare
Abbot of Ely


Robert
fitz Richard
lord of Little
Dunmow (Essex)
† 1136
Richard
fitz Gilbert
de Clare
lord of Tunbridge
and Cardigan
† 1136		Gilbert
fitz Gilbert
de Clare
Earl of
Pembroke
† 1148/9		Baldwin
fitz Gilbert
de Clare
lord of
Bourne
† 1154/1166		Barons
FitzWalter
male line
extinct 1431


Daventry
of Daventry
male line
extinct 1381


Fawlsey
of Fawlsey
male line
extinct 1392


Gilbert
fitz Richard
de Clare
Earl of Hertford
† 1152		Roger
fitz Richard
de Clare
Earl of Hertford
† 1173		Rohaise
de Clare
=Gilbert
de Gant
Earl of
Lincoln		Alice
de Clare
= Cadwaladr
ap Gruffydd
prince of
Gwynedd		Lucy
de Clare
= Baldwin
de Redvers
Earl of
Devon		Richard
fitz Gilbert
de Clare
Strongbow
Earl of
Pembroke
† 1176
Richard
de Clare
Earl of
Hertford
† 1217		Aveline
de Clare
† 1164
= Geoffrey
fitz Piers
Earl of Essex		Isabel
de Clare
=William Marshal
Earl of
Pembroke
† 1220		Gilbert
de Clare
of Striguil
Earl of
Pembroke
† 1185
Mathilde
de Clare
= Rhys Gryg
prince of
Deheubarth
† 1234		Gilbert
de Clare
Earl of
Hertford and
Gloucester
† 1230		Isabel
Marshal
coheiress of
her mother		other
coheiresses



Isabel
de Clare
† 1264
= Robert
de Brus		Richard
de Clare
Earl of
Hertford and
Gloucester
† 1262
Bruce
Kings of
Scotland




Gilbert
de Clare
the Red Earl
Earl of Hertford
and Gloucester
Guardian of
England
† 1295		Bogo
de Clare
clergyman
† 1294




Thomas
de Clare
lord of
Thomond
Chancellor
of Ireland
† 1287
Gilbert
de Clare
Earl of
Hertford and
Gloucester
† 1314

Eleanor
de Clare
= Hugh
Baron
Despenser
=William
de la Zouche

Margaret
de Clare
= Piers
Gaveston
Earl of
Cornwall
= Hugh de
Audley
Earl of
Gloucester		Elizabeth
de Clare
= John de
Burgh
=Theobald
de Verdun
=Roger
Baron
d'Amory		Gilbert
de Clare
lord of
Thomond
† 1308
Richard
de Clare
Lord Clare
lord of
Thomond
† 1318

Maud
de Clare
= Robert
Baron Clifford
= Robert
Baron Welles

Margaret
de Clare
= Gilbert de
Umfraville
= Bartholomew
Baron
Badlesmere

(coheiresses)Thomas
de Clare
† 1321		(coheiresses)

Notes

    Bibliography

    • J. C. Ward, "Fashions in monastic endowment: the foundations of the Clare family, 1066–1314", Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 32.4 (1981), p. 427–451.
    • J. C. Ward, "Royal service and reward: the Clare family and the crown, 1066–1154", Anglo-Norman Studies, vol. 11 (1988), p. 261–278.
    • Michael Altschul, A Baronial Family in Medieval England: The Clares, 1217–1314, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1965. See online summary.

    References

    1. ↑ Queen Mary, University of London, The estates of the Clare Family 1066-1317. Ward, Jennifer Clare
    2. ↑ Page, W. (1927) Parishes: Chilton. A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4. Ed. London, England: Victoria County History.
    3. ↑ Richard Mortimer, Clare, Richard de [Richard fitz Gilbert] (1030x35–1087x90), magnate, in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online by subscription.
    4. ↑ Suffolk return of the Domesday Survey (c. 1086) (ed. A. Rumble, Suffolk, 2 vols (Chichester, 1986), 67 ~ 1
    5. 1 2 Round 1911.
    6. ↑ J. Horace Round (1901), "The Companions of the Conqueror", Monthly Review, vol. 3, pp. 91-111
    7. ↑ George Baker (1822), History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, vol. 1, pp. 306, 379
    8. ↑ R. H. C. Davis, King Stephen (1977), p. 136, and p. 129.
    9. ↑ Frank Barlow, The Feudal Kingdom of England, 1042–1261 (4th edition 1988), p. 213.
    10. ↑ Round 1887.
    11. ↑ J. H. Round, "The Introduction of Armorial Bearings into England", The Archaeological Journal, volume 51, pp 43-48
    Attribution
    • Round, John Horace (1911). "Clare (family)" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 423–424.
    •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Round, John Horace (1887). "Clare, de". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 10. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 375–376.
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