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