I married Crepon, Gonnor de on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

I married on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

{Parents from "The Plantagenet Ancestry," W.H. Turton
(Balt.:Gen.Pub.Co.,1968),p.10.}

Beatrice married Warenne, Raoul ("Ralph") de on Yes, date unknown. Raoul (son of St-Martin, Gautier de and Gonnor Niece of Duchess) died in 1050. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

II married Brittany, Judith of in 1000. Judith (daughter of Conan, Count of Rennes I and Anjou, Ermengarde of) was born in 982; died in 1017. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Archbishop of Rouen

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

Robert and Herleve had three sons: Richard, Ralph (sire of Gace) and William
(m. 1st the widow of Robert de Grentemesnil by whom he had a daughter who m.
Robert, Count of Sicily, and m. 2nd an unknown wife with whom he had William
and Roger (who came to England in 1066 and became ancestor of the Devereaux,
lord Ferrers of Chartley and earls of Essex).

Family/Spouse: Herleve. Herleve died in 1040. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

From "A Baronial Family in Medieval England: The Clares, 1217-1314", by Michael Altschul, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins press, 1965.

   The Clares came to England with the Conqueror. Like many other great families which settled in England after the Conquest, they were related to the dukes of Normandy and had established themselves as important members of the Norman feudal

aristocracy in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. The origin of the family can be traced to Godfrey, eldest of the illegitimate children of Duke Richard I (the Fearless), the Conqueror's great-grandfather. While the Duke granted Godfrey

Brionne, he did not make him a count. Godfrey's comital title derives from the grant of the county of Eu made to him after 996 by his half-brother, Duke Richard II. After Godfrey's death, Eu was given to William, another of Duke Richard I's bastard

sons, and Gilbert, Godfrey's son, was left with only the lordship of Brionne. However, under Duke Robert I, father of William the Conqueror, Gilbert assumed the title of count of Brionne while not relinquishing his claim to Eu. When Count William of Eu

died shortly before 1040, Gilbert assumed the land and title, but he was assassinated in 1040 and his young sons, Richard and Baldwin, were forced to flee Normandy, finding safety at the court of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders. When William the Conqueror

married Count Baldwin's daughter, he restored Gilbert's sons to Normandy, although he did not invest them with either Brionne or Eu or a comital title. William granted the lordships of Bienfaite and Orbec to Richard fitz Gilbert, and Le Sap and Meules

to Baldwin. While Gilbert's descendants later pressed a claim for Brionne, it was never restored.

   Richard and Baldwin fitz Gilbert took part in the Norman conquest of England, and both assumed important positions in the Conqueror's reign. Baldwin was made guardian of Exeter in 1068, and appears in the Domesday Book as sheriff of Devon, lord of

Okehampton and numerous other estates in Devon, Dorset, and Somerset. His sons William and Richard were also sheriffs of Devon and participated in the abortive Norman penetration of Carmarthen in the early twelfth century.

   However, the lasting position of the family in England must be credited to Baldwin's brother, Richard fitz Gilbert I. He was regent of England jointly with William de Warenne during the Conqueror's absence in 1075, and he served in various other

important capacities for the King. King William rewarded his cousin well, granting him one of the largest fiefs in the territorial settlement. The lordship centered on Clare (obviously the origin of the Clare family name), Suffolk, which had been an

important stronghold in Anglo-Saxon times. The bulk of Richard fitz Gilbert's estates lay in Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, and Kent, but comprised holdings in various other counties in the southern and eastern parts of the kingdom as well. In addition, King

William arranged for Richard's marriage to Rohese, sister of Walter Giffard, later Earl of Buckingham, and her dowry, consisting of lands in Huntingdon and Hertford, became absorbed in the family inheritance.

   After Richard's death, his extensive properties in Normandy and England were divided between his two eldest sons. The Norman fiefs of Bienfaite and Orbec passed to Roger, while Gilbert, inherited the English honors of Clare and Tonbridge.

- the players -

Richard I, Duke of Normandy, died 996

:

Godfrey of Brionne and Eu died ca 1015

:

Gilbert, count of Brionne died 1040

     :

     -Richard fitz Gilbert (1035-1090) = Rohese de Giffard

          :

          Roger d.s.p. 1130

          Gilbert fitz Richard I(ca1066-1117 ) = Adeliz daughter of Hugh Claremont

          Walter d.s.p.1138

          Richard, abbot of Ely 1100

          Robert d.1136

          Adelice = Walter Tirel

          Rohese = Eudo Dapifer

     -Baldwin fitz Gilbert died 1095

          :

          William d.s.p. 1096

          Robert d.s.p.1101

          Richard d.s.p.1137

While Gilbert fitz Richard I found himself at odds with the Conqueror's successor, William Rufus, he and other members of the family enjoyed great favor with Rufus' successor King Henry I. Some have suggested that Henry's largesse was due to the fact

that Walter Tirel, husband of Richard's daughter Adelize, shot the arrow which slew Rufus. Proof of this is lacking, but with certainty the wealth and position of the Clare family increased rapidly during Henry's reign. One of Rohese Giffards brothers

(Walter) was made Earl of Buckingham and another Bishop of Winchester. Gilbert fitz Richard's brothers were also rewarded: Richard, a monk at Bec, was made abbot of Ely in 1100; Robert was granted the forfeited manors of Ralph Baynard in East Anglia;

Walter, who founded Tintern Abbey in 1131, was given the great lordship of Netherwent with the castle of Striguil in the southern march, territories previously held by Roger, son of William fitz Osborn, Earl of Hereford, who had forfeited them in 1075.

In 1110 Gilbert was granted the lordship of Ceredigion (Cardigan) in southwestern Wales, and immediately embarked upon an intensive campaign to subjagate the area.

- the players -

     Gilbert fitz Richard I (ca1066-1117)=Adeliz d/o Hugh Claremont

          :

          Richard fitz Gilbert II (ante 1100-1136)=Adelize de Chester

          Gilbert b. 1100

          Baldwin d. 1154

          Hervey

          Walter

          Margaret=William de Montifichet

          Alice=Aubrey de Vere

          Rohese=Baderon de Monmouth

After Gilbert fitz Richard I died in 1117, his children continued to profit from royal generosity and favorable connections. His daughters were all married to important barons; William de Montfichet, Lord of Stansted in Essex, the marcher Lord Baderon

de Monmouth, and Aubrey de Vere, Lord of Hedingham in Essex and father of the first Vere Earl of Oxford. Of the five sons, little is known of two: Hervey, whom King Stephen sent on an expedition to Cardigan abt 1140, and Walter, who participated in the

Second Crusade of 1147. Baldwin established himself as an important member of the lesser baronage by obtaining the Lincolnshire barony of Bourne through marriage. Richard fitz Gilbert II, the eldest and heir, was allowed to marry Adeliz, sister of

Ranulf des Gernons, Earl of Chester, thus acquiring lands in Lincoln and Northampton as her marriage portion. He tried to consolidate the gains made by his father in Cardigan, but was killed in an ambush in 1136 and the lordship was soon recovered by

the Welsh.

   Of Gilbert fitz Richard I' sons, Gilbert was the only one to achieve any great prominence, being the founder of the great cadet branch of the family and the father of one of the most famous men in English history. Gilbert fitz Gilbert de Clare was

high in the favor of Henry I, perhaps because his wife Isabell, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and Earl of Leicester, was one of Henry's favorite mistresses. When Gilbert's uncle Roger died without heirs, Henry granted Gilbert the

lordships of Bienfaite and Orbec in Normandy. When another uncle, Walter, Lord of Netherwent in South Wales, died without issue in 1138, King Richard? gave Gilbert this lordship in addition to the lordship of Pembroke, which had been forfeited by

Arnulf of Montgomery in 1102. Gilbert was also created Earl of Pembroke in 1138. At his death in 1148, he was succeeded by his son Richard fitz Gilbert, aka "Strongbow" who led the Norman invasion of Ireland and obtained the great lordship of Leinster

in 1171.

   Thus, in just two generations, the cadet branch of the Clares became one of the most important families in England.  Strongbow was Earl of Pembroke, Lord of Netherwent, and Lord of Leinster being the most powerful of the marcher and Anglo-Irish

magnates under King Henry II. Strongbow d. in 1176 and son Gilbert d. abt. 1185, ending the male line. In 1189, the inheritance passed to Strongbow's daughter Isabel and her husband, William Marshal.

   Meanwhile, the senior side prospered. After Richard fitz Gilbert II died in 1136, Clare, Tonbridge, and other estates passed to the eldest son Gilbert fitz Richard II, who was created Earl of Hertford by King Stephen. Gilbert died probably unmarried

in 1152, when his younger brother Roger inherited the estates and comital title. Roger resumed the the campaign against the Welsh in Cardigan where, after 8 years, he was defeated in 1165. However, Roger did add some lands and nine knights' fees

through his marriage to Maud, daughter and heir of the Norfolk baron James de St. Hillary. Roger died in 1173 and his widow, Maud, conveyed the remainder of the inheritance to her next husband, William de Aubigny, Earl of Arundel. The Clare estates

along with the earldom passed to Roger's son, Richard, who for the next 4 decades until he died in 1217, was the head of the great house of CLARE, adding immensely to the wealth, prestige, and landed endowment of his line.

   Roger's son Richard, hereinafter Richard de CLARE acquired half of the former honor of Giffard in 1189 when King Richard I, in need of money for the Third Crusade, agreed to divide the Giffard estates between Richard de CLARE and his cousin Isabel,

Strongbow's daughter based on their claims of descendancy to Rohese Giffard. Richard de CLARE obtained Long Crendon in Buckingham, the caput of the Giffard honor in England, associated manors in Buckingham, Cambridge, and Bedfordshire, and 43 knights'

fees, in addition to some former Giffard lands in Normandy. When Richard de CLARE's mother Maud died in 1195, he obtained the honor of St. Hilary. Maud's 2nd husband, William de Aubigny, Earl of Arundel, who had held St. Hilary jure uxoris, d. in 1193,

and despite the fact he had a son and heir, the honor reverted to Maud and after her death escheated to the crown. Richard de CLARE offered 360 and acquired it. The honor later became absorbed into the honor of CLARE and lost its separate identity.

   Richard de CLARE's most important act, however, was his marriage to Amicia, 2nd daughter and eventual sole heir to William Earl of Gloucester. The Gloucester inheritance included the earldom and honor of Gloucester with over 260 knights' fees in

England, along with the important marcher lordships of Glamorgan and Gwynllwg. It was not easy though!! William died 1183, leaving 3 daughters. The eldest, Mabel, married Amaury de Montfort, Count of Evreux, while the second, Amicia married Richard de

CLARE. King Henry II meanwhile arranged the marriage of the youngest Isabel, to his son John, Count of Mortain, in 1189. When John became King in 1199, he divorced Isabel to marry Isabelle of Angoul

married on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

married Corbiel, Germaine de on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Earl of Surrey

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

First Earl of Surrey; Companion of William the Conqueror; Lord of Reisgate, Conningsburgh and Bellencombre. Created Earl of Surrey, 1088. Was at Battle of Hastings, 1066. Founded the Cluniac Priory of St. Pancras, Lewes, 1077. Had other grants at
Lewes, Castle Acre in Norfolk, etc. {per "The Extinct and Dormant Peerages of the Northern Counties of England," by John William Clay (London: 1913, p. 236).} The Warenne family originated at Varenne, Seine-Inf., two miles south of Arques on the River
Varenne, and their seat and castle town became Bellencombre to the north {per "Anglo-Norman Families," Publications of the Harleian Society, 1951 (Vol. 103). An ancestry of William, d. 1088, is given in "Royal Ancestors of Magna Charta Barons," Carr
P. Collins, Jr., Dallas, 1959.} His share of the "spoil" in England following the Conquest included 300 manors and Lewes Castle. He was wounded at the siege of Pevensey and may have died as a
result. William was Count of Warenne in Normandy and is first mentioned regarding the battle of Mortemer in 1054; he attended the Council of Lillebonne where the decision was made to invade England. He was among the powerful Norman barons who
accompanied the Conqueror. In 1067 he was one of the barons entrusted with the government of England in the Conqueror's absence in Normandy. He is buried in the Lewes Chapter House. For a discussion of issues in identifying his ancestry, see
"Falaise Roll" (Baltimore: Gen. Pub. Co.), pp. 183-4.

William married Gundrada before 1077. Gundrada died on 27 May 1085. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Adelaide Princess of France. (daughter of Robert, King of France II and Taillefer, of Provence Constance de) was born in 1009; died on 8 Jan 1079 in Messinesmonastre. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

Robert I was Duke 1028-35. His wife is Estrith, sister of Canute the Great
(no issue). Robert was called "Robert the Devil", accused of poisoning his
brother (whom Robert succeeded as Duke); he sheltered the exiled English
princes, Edward and Alfred; he died returning from a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem.

Family/Spouse: Falaise, Herleve of. Herleve was born about 1012; died about 1050. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: 2nd Count

married Toeni, Adela (or Godeheut) on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Giselbert married on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

married on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Earl of Surrey

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

Second Earl of Surrey; at first supported Duke Robert but later supported
Henry I and was at the Battle of Tinchebray; made grants to Lewes Priory
and is buried in the Lewes Chapter House. He was Governor of Rouen in 1135.

Family/Spouse: de Vermandois, Isabel (aka Elizabeth). Isabel (daughter of Crepi, Hugh Magnus de and Vermandois, Adelaide ("Adele") de) was born in 1081; died on 13 Feb 1131. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

Parents from Carr P. Collins, Jr., "Royal Ancestors of Magna Charta Barons"
(Dallas: 1959), p. 262." Ancestral Roots..." (Balt., 1992) 132A-24 states
Alice is dau. of Richard III by an unknown mistress.

Alice married Ranulph, Vicomte of Bessin I on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

William was described by a Norman monk "as a burly warrior with a harsh

gutteral voice, great in stature but not ungainly" - probably 5'10",

full-fleshed in face, of "russet hair" {-"William the Conqueror...," David

C. Douglas [London, 1966]}.  A primary source by a contemporary is "The

Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy," Ordericus Vitalis, trans.

Thomas Forester (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854).

     ----- Compton's Encyclopedia (America On-Line, 1995):

William I (born 1027, ruled 1066-87), called William the Conqueror, was an

illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy. His mother was a tanner's

daughter. William succeeded his father when he was only 7 years old. At 24 he

had made himself the mightiest feudal lord in all France by various

conquests, but his ambition was not satisfied. He laid plans to become king

of England also.

   William married Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V, count of Flanders, in

1053. She was descended from the old Anglo-Saxon line of kings. Among their

children were four sons: Robert, future duke of Normandy; Richard, who died

as a youth; William Rufus, who succeeded his father as king of England; and

Henry, who succeeded William Rufus. One daughter, Adela, became the mother of

England's King Stephen.

   Edward the Confessor, king of England, was William's cousin. William used

his connection with Flanders to put pressure on Edward to extort a promise

that he would become heir to the English throne. It is probable that Edward

made some kind of pledge to William as early as 1051. Edward died childless

on Jan. 5, 1066. William then claimed the throne on the basis of this

promise. The English, however, chose Harold, earl of Wessex, as their king.

   William prepared a large expedition and set sail for England. On Oct. 14,

1066, he defeated and killed Harold at Hastings in one of the decisive

battles of the world. Then he marched on London, and on Christmas day he was

crowned king.

   After subduing England's powerful earls, William seized their lands for

his Norman nobles and ordered the nobles to build fortified stone castles to

protect their lands. As payment for their fiefs, the nobles supplied the king

with armed knights. French became the language of the king's court and

gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue.

   William won the loyalty of the mass of the people by wisely retaining the

old Anglo-Saxon laws, courts, and customs with only a few changes. Thus the

principle of self-government, which lies at the root of the political system

of English-speaking peoples, was preserved and strengthened. At the same

time, William taught the English the advantages of a central government

strong enough to control feudal lords.

   Toward the end of his reign, William ordered a great census to be taken of

all the lands and people of England. This survey was called Domesday Book.

Two of the original books may still be seen at the Public Records Office in

London. "So very narrowly did he cause the survey to be made," complained the

old Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "that there was not a single rood of land, nor an

ox, or a cow, or a pig passed by, and that was not set down in the accounts."

   William was often on the continent dealing with his widespread holdings.

He died there in 1087 from injuries received while warring with Philip I of

France. William was a man of great stature and had a tremendous voice. Such

was the good order he established that, according to a quaint historian of

his time, "any man, who was himself aught, might travel over the kingdom with

a bosom of gold unmolested, and no man durst kill another, however great the

injury he might have received from him." He was succeeded in Normandy by his

eldest son, Robert, and in England by his second son, William II, called

William Rufus.

- - - - - - - - -

Regarding the location of the Battle of Hastings, this site on the World Wide

Web is helpful and provocative: http://www.cablenet.net/pages/book/index.htm#PART57

I married Flanders, Matilda ("Maud") of in 1053 in Eu in Normandy. Matilda (daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders V and Adelaide Princess of France) was born in 1032; died on 3 Nov 1083; was buried in Holy Trinity Abbey, Caen, Normandy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

Adelaide (referred to as de Gand) was Countess of Huntgindon, Northampton
and Aumale. She m. (1) Enguerrand II, Count of Ponthieu, slain at the siege
of Arques in 1053. She m. (3) Eudes, Count of Champagne and Earl of
Holderness, imprisoned in 1096.
See "Falaise Roll" (Baltimore: Gen. Pub. Co., 1994), p. 15.

Adelaide married Boulogne, Count Of Lens Lambert of in 1054. Lambert (son of Eustace, Count of Boulogne I and Louvain, Maud of) died in 1055 in Battle of Lille. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

Agnes was kidnapped for Simon to marry by her half-brother, Ralph de Toeni
III de Conches, who received Simon's daughter Isabel in marriage in turn.

Family/Spouse: L'Amaury, Baron of Montfort Simon de Montfort. Simon (son of Amauri, Baronde Montfort II and Bertrade) died in 1087. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[dunbar_tree.FTW]

Richard was Lord of Bienfaite and Orbec in Normandy and Lord of Clare of
Tonbridge; Chief Justice of England; kinsman and companion of William the
Conqueror. He founded the House of Clare during the Conquest, and played a
major role in suppressing the revolt of 1075. His wife Rohese Giffard
brought him the great estates of her family. Their son Walter founded
Tintern Abbey. From this couple sprang the great house of Clare.

Richard married Giffard, Rohese on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

II married Crecy, Adelaide de on Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]