Vol II File 10: The Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James (original) (raw)

1. Gilbert de Clare, his successor as eldest son (See Wurts: pp. 68-70), born September 2, 1243, in Christchurch, co. Hants. He was known as "the Red Earl," 9th Earl of Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, and 6th Earl of Gloucester, by the king's procurement. Being under age at his father's death, he was a ward of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. He married in 1257, (1) Alice le Brun, daughter of Hugh le Brun, Count of La Marche and Angoulesme, and his wife, Yolande, daughter of Pierre Mauclerk. Alice was the niece of the king of France, which monarch bestowed upon the lady a marriage portion of 5,000 marks. In April 1264 he led the massacre of the Jews at Canterbury, as Simon de Montfort had done in London. His castles of Kingston and Tonbridge were taken by the king, who, however, allowed his Countess, who was in the latter, to go free because she was his niece; and on May 12 he and Montfort were denounced as traitors. Two days later, just before the battle of Lewes, on May 14, Montfort knighted the Earl and his brother Thomas. The Earl commanded the second line of the battle and took the King prisoner, having hamstrung his horse. As Prince Edward had also been captured, Montfort and the Earl were now supreme. On October 20 following, however, the Earl and his associates were excommunicated by the Papal Legate and his lands were placed under interdict.

Continue with pg. 69 in Wurts.

Gilbert, who, like his predecessors, was zealous in the cause of the barons, proceeded to London immediately after the defeat sustained by the insurrectionary lords at Northampton in the 48th year of King Henry III., in order to rouse the citizens, which, having effected, he received the honor of knighthood, from Montfort, Earl of Leicester, at the head of the army at Lewes; of which army, he, with John Fitz-John and William de Montchensi, commanded the second brigade, and having mainly contributed to the victory, in which the king and the prince became prisoners, while the whole power of the realm fell into the hands of the victors, the earl procured a grant under the great seal of all the lands and possessions, lying in England, of John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, one of the most faithful adherents of the king, excepting the castles of Riegate and Lewes, to hold during the pleasure of the crown, and he soon after, with some of the principal barons, extorted from the captive monarch commission authorizing Stephen, then bishop of Chichester, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and himself, to nominate nine persons of "the most faithful, prudent, and most studious of the public weal," as well prelates as others, to manage all things according to the laws and customs of the realm, until the consultations at Lewes should terminate. Becoming jealous, however, of the power of Leicester, the earl soon after abandoned the baronial cause, and having assisted in procuring the liberty of the king and the prince, commanded the second brigade of the royal army at the battle of Evesham, which restored the kingly power to its former lustre. In reward of these eminent services he received a full pardon for himself and his brother Thomas, of all prior treasons, and the custody of the castle of Bergavenny, during the minority of Maud, wife of Humphrey de Bohun. He veered again though in his allegiance, and he does not appear to have been sincerely reconciled to the royal cause, until 1270, in which year demanding from Prince Edward repayment of the expenses he had incurred at the battle of Evesham, with livery of all the castles and lands which his ancestors had possessed, and those demands having been complied with, he thenceforward became a good and loyal subject of the crown. Upon the death of King Henry, the Earl of Hertford and Gloucester was one of the lords who met at the New Temple in London, to proclaim Prince Edward, then in the Holy Land, successor to the crown, and so soon as the new monarch returned to England, he was the first to entertain him and his whole retinue, with great magnificence for several days at his castle of Tonebruge. In the 13th year of King Edward I., he divorced his wife Alice le Brun, the French Princess, and in consideration of her illustrious birth, granted for her support during her life, six extensive manors and parks, and he married in 1289, (2) Joane Plantaganet, of Acre, daughter of King Edward I., upon which occasion he gave up the inheritance of all his castles and manors, as well in England as in Wales, to his royal father-in-law, to dispose of as he might think proper; which manors, etc. were entailed by the king upon the earl's issue, by the said Joane, and in default, upon her heirs and assigns, should she survive his lordship. By this lady he had issue as follows:

• 1. Gilbert de Clare, his successor, at the decease of his mother, Joane, became Earl of Hertford and Earl of Gloucester. He married Maud Burgh, daughter of Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, but was slain at the battle of Bannockburn in 1313, leaving no issue, whereupon his large possessions devolved upon his three sisters as co-heiresses, and the Earldom of Gloucester and Hertford became extinct.
• 2. Eleanor Clare, married in 1337, (1) Hugh Despencer, Jr, and (2) William Zouche, Lord Zouche, of Mortimer. See the continuation of the lineage in the Despencer Line in Volume II.
• 3. Margaret Clare, married (1) Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, favorite of King Edward II, and (2) Hugh de Audley, who was eventually created Earl of Gloucester. See the continuation of this lineage in the Audley Line in Volume II.
• 4. Elizabeth Clare, married (1) John de Burgh, son of Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, by whom she had issue: William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, who married Maud, sister of Henry Plantaganet, Duke of Lancaster, and left a daughter and heiress, Elizabeth Burgh, who married Lionel Plantaganet, Duke of Clarence, Knight of the Garter, and had an only daughter and heiress, Philippa Plantaganet, who married Edward Mortimer, Earl of March. Elizabeth, widow of John de Burgh, married (2) Theobald de Verdon; and (3) Roger d'Amory; by the last she had two daughters, Elizabeth d'Amory, married to John, Lord Bardolph, and Eleanor d'Amory, married to John de Raleigh.
  Gilbert de Clare died in 1295, and the Countess Joane, surviving, married a "plain esquire," called Ralph de Monthermer, clandestinely, without the king, her father's knowledge; but to which alliance he was reconciled through the intercession of Anthony Beke, the celebrated bishop of Durham, and became eventually much attached to his new son-in-law, Ralph de Monthermer, who, during the lifetime of the Princess Joane his wife, enjoyed the Earldoms of Hertford and Gloucester, and was summoned to parliament in those dignities from February 6, 1299, to November 3, 1306,