Richard FitzGilbert (Clare) de Clare (abt. 1030 - abt. 1090)

Born about 1030 in Bienfaite, Normandie, France

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1090 at about age 60 in Risbridge, Suffolk, England

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Biography

A kinsman of William the Conqueror, in Normandy he was Count of Brionne and Lord of Orbec and Bienfaite. In England after the 1066 invasion he was given lordship over the large Honour of Clare, and the castle of Tonbridge in Kent. Keats-Rohan refers to him as "Ricardus Filius Gisleberti Comitis".^[1] Complete Peerage says he was referred to in various ways: "De Clare", "De Tonbridge", and "De Bienfaite".^[2]

In about 1026, Herleva of Falaise, the sixteen year old daughter of a tanner from Falaise in Normandy, gave birth to a son called Richard. The boy's father was Gilbert, Count of Brionne, one of the most powerful landowners in Normandy. As Herleva was not married to Gilbert, the boy became known as Richard Fitz Gilbert. The term 'Fitz' was used to show that Richard was the illegitimate son of Gilbert. ^[3]

When Robert, Duke of Normandy died in 1035, William of Normandy inherited his father's title. Several leading Normans, including Gilbert of Brionne, Osbern the Seneschal and Alan of Brittany, became William's guardians. ^[3]

A number of Norman barons would not accept an illegitimate son as their leader and in 1040 an attempt was made to kill William. The plot failed but they did manage to kill Gilbert of Brionne. As Richard was illegitimate, he did not receive very much land when his father died. ^[3]

Richard built castles at Tonbridge (Kent), Clare (Suffolk), Bletchingley (Surrey) and Hanley (Worcester).

It was probably in 1070 that, with his brother, he witnessed a charter of William at Salisbury (Glouc. Cart. i. 387). On William's departure for Normandy he was appointed, with William of Warrenne, chief justiciar (or regent), and in that capacity took a leading part in the suppression of the revolt of 1075 (Ord. Vit. ii. 202). He is further found in attendance on the king at Berkeley, Christmas 1080 (Glouc. Cart. i. 374), and again, with his brother, at Winchester in 1081 (Men. Angl. iii. 141 ). The date of his death is somewhat uncertain. Ordericus (iii. 371) alludes to him as lately (nuper) dead in 1091, yet apparently implies that at this very time he was captured at the siege of Courcy. From Domesday we learn that he received in England some hundred and seventy lordships, of which ninety-five were in Suffolk, attached to his castle of Clare. In Kent he held another stronghold, the castle of Tunbridge, with its appendant Lowy (Lega), of which the continuator of William of Jumièges asserts (viii. 37) that he received it in exchange for his claim on his father's comté of Brionne, while the Tintern 'Genealogia' (Monasticon Anglican. v. 269) states that he obtained it by exchange from the see of Canterbury, which is confirmed by the fact that, in later days, it was claimed by Becket as having been wrongly alienated, and homage for its tenure exacted from the earls (Materials, iii. 47, 251). By Stapleton (ii. 136) and Ormerod (Strig. 79) it has been held that he received the lordship of Chepstow as an escheat in 1075, but for this there is no foundation. The abbey of Bec received from him a cell, afterwards an alien priory, at Tooting (Mon. Arngl. vi. 1052-3). He married Rohaise, the daughter of Walter Giffard the elder (Ord. Vit. iii. 340), through whom his descendants became coheirs to the Giffard estates. She held lands at St. Neot's (Domesday), and there founded a religious house, where her husband is said to have been buried (Mon. Angl. v. 269). She was still living as his widow in 1113 (ib. iii. 473), and is commonly, but wrongly, said to have married her son-in-law, Eudes the sewer (Eudo Dapifer). By her Richard FitzGilbert left several children (Ord. Vit. iii. 340). Of these Roger, mentioned first by Ordericus, was probably the eldest, though he is commonly, as by Stapleton (ii. 136), styled the 'second.' He had sided with Robert in the revolt of 1077-8 (Ord. Vit. ii. 381), and is said by the continuator of William of Jumièges (viii. 37) to have received from Robert the castle of Hommez in exchange for his claims on Brionne, but it was, according to Ordencus (iii. 343), his cousin Robert FitzBaldwin who made and pressed the claim to Brionne. Roger, who witnessed as 'Roger de Clare' (apparently the earliest occurrence of the name) a charter to St. Evreul (Ord. Vit. v. 180) about 1080, was his father's heir in Normandy, but left no issue. The other sons were Gilbert (d. 1115?) [q.v.], the heir in England, Walter [see Clare, Walter de], Robert, said to be ancestor of the Barons FitzWalter (but on this descent see Mr. Eyton's criticisms in Add. MS 31938, f. 98), and Richard a monk of Bec (Ord. Vit. iii. 340), who was made abbot of Ely on the accession of Henry I (ib. iv. 93), deprived in 1102, and restored in 1107 (Eadmer, v. 143, 185). There was also a daughter Rohaise, married about 1088 to Eudes the sewer (Mon. Angl. iv. 609).

Children

Richard had the following children by Rohese de Giffard:^[4]

1. Rohais (-7 Jan 1121)
2. Roger (-after 1131)
3. Walter (-1138)
4. Richard (-16 Jun 1107)
5. Gilbert (-1114 or 1117)
6. Avoye (Avice)
7. Adelisa (-[1125/35])
8. Robert (-[1134])

Burial

Richard is buried at St. Neots Priory in St. Neots, Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire), England. ^[5]

Notes

The eldest son of Gislebert, was the founder of the House of Clare. He accompanied William the Conqueror into England and participated in the spoils of conquest. He became possessed of 38 lordships in Surrey, 35 in Essex, 3 in Cambridgeshire, 95 in Suffolk, and some in Wiltshire and Devonshire. One was the manor of Westley in Suffolk (Manors of Suffolk, pages 112-113) and another was that of Clare, on the borders and in the county of Suffolk, which subsequently became his chief seat and his descendants were known as the Earls of Clare although never so created.

This great feudal lord married Rohese, daughter of Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, and had issue: Gilbert, his successor; Roger, Walter; Richard; Robert; a daughter who married Ralph de Telgers; and a daughter married to Eudo Dapifer. Richard de Tonebruge, or de Clare, who is said to have fallen in a skirmish with the Welsh, was succeeded by his eldest son, Gilbert de Tonebruge.

Clare is a small village in the County of Suffolk. The manor of Westley descended to Gilbert de Clare, his grandson (son of Gilbert de Clare, who was created by King Stephen, in 1138, Earl of Pembroke, and who married Elizabeth, sister of Waleran, Earl of Muellent, and on his death in 1149. The Earldom of Clare was created in 1138, i.e., in the reign of King Stephen, 1135-1154.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, p.363
2. ↑ Cockayne et al, Complete Peerage, 2nd ed, Vol.3 p.242
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Simkin, John. (2013) Richard FitzGilbert.
4. ↑ Charles Cawley. Medieval Lands
5. ↑ Wikipedia:Richard_fitz_Gilbert.
6. ↑ Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p. 118, Clare, Lords of Clare, Earls of Hertford, Earls of Gloucester

• Royal Ancestry D. Richardson 2013 Vol. II p. 171-172
• Geni. Good discussion and references.

See Also:

1. Banks Dormant Peerage

2. G.E.C. Complete Peerage 3 242

3. J.H. Round Feudal England p. 471, 474, 523