Richard de Clare -1136

Paternal Family Tree: Norman

Maternal Family Tree: Adeliza Clermont 1058-1117

Richard de Clare was born to Gilbert de Clare and Adeliza Clermont.

In 1088 [his father] Gilbert de Clare [aged 22] and [his mother] Adeliza Clermont [aged 30] were married. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Hugh Clermont Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis [aged 57].

Death of King William II

On 2nd August 1100 King William II of England [aged 44] died in a hunting accident, not known whether accidentally or otherwise, in the New Forest, Hampshire. His brother Henry [aged 32] succeeded I King of England. The brothers Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan [aged 60] and Henry Beaumont 1st Earl Warwick [aged 50], and [his uncle] Roger de Clare [aged 34] and [his father] Gilbert de Clare [aged 34] were present.

In or before 1115 Richard de Clare and Alice Gernon were married. She the daughter of Ranulf le Meschin Gernon 3rd Earl Chester [aged 44] and Lucy Bolingbroke Countess Chester.

Around 1115 [his son] Gilbert de Clare 1st Earl Hertford was born to Richard de Clare and [his wife] Alice Gernon.

In 1116 [his son] Roger Clare 2nd Earl Hertford was born to Richard de Clare and [his wife] Alice Gernon. He married in or before 1156 Maud St Hilary Countess Hertford and had issue.

In 1117 [his father] Gilbert de Clare [aged 51] died.

In 1117 [his mother] Adeliza Clermont [aged 59] died.

In or before 1130 [his brother] Gilbert de Clare 1st Earl Pembroke [aged 29] and [his sister-in-law] Isabel Beaumont Countess Pembroke were married. She by marriage Countess Pembroke. She the daughter of Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan and Elizabeth Capet Countess Leicester, Meulan and Surrey [aged 44]. They were half fourth cousins.

Around 1133 [his son-in-law] William Percy 3rd Baron Percy Topcliffe and Alice Clare Baroness Percy Topcliffe were married. She by marriage Baroness Percy of Topcliffe. She the daughter of Richard de Clare and Alice Gernon. They were half fifth cousin once removed.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke

Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.

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Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. Among these, the noble and amiable Richard, son of Gilbert¹, falling into an ambush, was slain by the Welsh, on the seventeenth of the calends of May [15th April 1136]; and his body being carried to Gloucester, was honourably buried in the chapter-house of the brethren.

Note 1. Richard, son of Gilbert de Clare, to whom the territory of Cardigan had been given by king Henry, was murdered by Jorwerth.

On 15th April 1136 Richard de Clare was killed. His son Gilbert [aged 21] succeeded 4th Lord Tonbridge.

The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales: Book 1 Chapter 4. [15th April 1136]. It happened a short time after the death of king Henry I, that Richard de Clare, a nobleman of high birth, and lord of Cardiganshire, passed this way on his journey from England into Wales, accompanied by Brian de Wallingford, lord of this province, and many men-at-arms. At the passage of Coed Grono [Map],⁶⁰ and at the entrance into the wood, he dismissed him and his attendants, though much against their will, and proceeded on his journey unarmed; from too great a presumption of security, preceded only by a minstrel and a singer, one accompanying the other on the fiddle. The Welsh awaiting his arrival, with Iorwerth, brother of Morgan of Caerleon, at their head, and others of his family, rushed upon him unawares from the thickets, and killed him and many of his followers. Thus it appears how incautious and neglectful of itself is too great presumption; for fear teaches foresight and caution in prosperity, but audacity is precipitate, and inconsiderate rashness will not await the advice of the leader.

Note 60. In the vale of the Gronwy, about a mile above Pont Escob, there is a wood called Coed Dial, or the Wood of Revenge. Here again, by the modern name of the place, we are enabled to fix the very spot on which Richard de Clare was murdered. The Welsh Chronicle informs us, that "in 1135, Morgan ap Owen, a man of considerable quality and estate in Wales, remembering the wrong and injury he had received at the hands of Richard Fitz-Gilbert, slew him, together with his son Gilbert." The first of this great family, Richard de Clare, was the eldest son of Gislebert, surnamed Crispin, earl of Brion, in Normandy. This Richard Fitz-Gilbert came into England with William the Conqueror, and received from him great advancement in honour and possessions. On the death of the Conqueror, favouring the cause of Robert Curthose, he rebelled against William Rufus, but when that king appeared in arms before his castle at Tunbridge, he submitted; after which, adhering to Rufus against Robert, in 1091, he was taken prisoner, and shortly after the death of king Henry I., was assassinated, on his journey through Wales, in the manner already related.

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History of the Dukes of Normandy by William of Jumieges. In the year [1135] in which the same King Henry departed from this life, there arose a violent wind in Normandy and in many other regions a little before his death, namely on the Vigil of the Apostles Simon and Jude [27th October]. Not long after his death, that is, in the same year or the following one, many of the princes of the English realm died by the judgment of God: namely William, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Rochester, the Bishop of Exeter, Richard, son of [his father] Gilbert (as has already been said), Robert, son of Richard, his uncle, and Richard, son of Baldwin, cousin of the two last named, as well as the second William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. He was succeeded by his son, the third William, born of Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh the Great, Count of Vermandois. The said countess had first been married to Robert, Count of Meulan, by whom she had three sons and as many daughters.

Eo anno quo idem rex Henricus humanis rebus subtractus est, factus ventus vehemens in Northmannia et in aliis pluribus regionibus paulo ante mortem ipsius, scilicet vigilia Apostolorum Simonis et Judæ. Non multo vero post mortem ejus tempore transacto, id est, ipso anno, vel sequenti, mortui sunt plures ex principibus Anglici regni, judicio Dei: videlicet Willelmus Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, episcopus Rovecestriæ, episcopus Exoniensis, Richardus filius Gisleberti, ut jam dictum est, Robertus filius Richardi patruus ejus, Richardus filius Balduini consobrinus horum duorum ultimo nominatorum, nec non et secundus Willelmus de Warenna comes Surreia. Cui successit tertius Willelmus filius ejus, natus ex Elisabeth filia Hugonis magni comitis Viromandorum. Fuit autem primo juncta prædicta comitissa Roberto comiti Mellenti, et ex ea habuit tres filios et totidem filias.

[his son] Robert Clare was born to Richard de Clare and Alice Gernon.

[his daughter] Alice Clare Baroness Percy Topcliffe was born to Richard de Clare and Alice Gernon. She married (1) Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd Aberffraw, son of King Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd and Angharad Queen Consort Gwynedd, and had issue (2) 1133 her half fifth cousin once removed William Percy 3rd Baron Percy Topcliffe, son of Alan Percy 2nd Baron Percy Topcliffe and Emma Gaunt Baroness Percy Topcliffe.

[his daughter] Rohese Clare Countess Lincoln was born to Richard de Clare and Alice Gernon. She married after 1141 her half fourth cousin once removed Gilbert Gaunt 1st Earl Lincoln and had issue.

Richard de Clare -1136

Royal Descendants of Richard de Clare -1136
Number after indicates the number of unique routes of descent. Descendants of Kings and Queens not included.

Ancestors of Richard de Clare -1136

Richard de Clare -1136

Royal Descendants of Richard de Clare -1136Number after indicates the number of unique routes of descent. Descendants of Kings and Queens not included.

Ancestors of Richard de Clare -1136

Royal Descendants of Richard de Clare -1136
Number after indicates the number of unique routes of descent. Descendants of Kings and Queens not included.