Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/384

 Clare [q. v.], and from that time the heads of the house were earls of Gloucester and Hertford. Gilbert had already inherited, through his grandmother, the honour of St. Hilary, and through his ancestress Rohaise (Giffard) a moiety of the Giffard estates, and both he and his father had been among the barons appointed as guardians of Magna Carta. The accession of the Gloucester inheritance now further increased their power, and 'from this time the house of Clare became the acknowledged head of the baronage' (Arch. Journ. xxxv. 337). Their vast possessions were again increased by Gilbert's marriage with one of the heiresses of the Marshalls, earls of Pembroke, a granddaughter of his kinsman Strongbow. In his grandson Gilbert, 'the Red Earl' [q. v.], his house attained its highest glory. Almost the arbiter of the barons' war, he became under Edward I the most powerful subject in the kingdom, and married, in 1290, the king's daughter Joan. With the death of his son Gilbert [q. v.], who fell gloriously at Bannockburn (24 June 1314), there passed away this famous house, of which it has been said with much truth that 'for steady hereditary influence, supported on the whole by moderation of conduct, and always by great personal valour, no family at all approached to that of the earls of Gloucester and Hertford' (ib. p. 338).

The vast possessions of the De Clares were divided among the three sisters of the last earl, of whom Elizabeth [q. v.], inheriting Clare, became lady of Clare ('Domina Claræ'), and after losing three husbands became in her widowhood foundress of 'Clare College,' Cambridge (1347). Her granddaughter and heiress, by her first husband, Elizabeth de Burgh, was in turn lady of Clare, and married Lionel, son of Edward III (1360), who was hence created (1362) duke of Clarence ('de Clarentia'), the style of whose herald is still preserved in Clarenceux king of arms. Their descendant and heir, the Duke of York, ascended the throne as Edward IV (1461), by which 'the honour of Clare' became merged in the crown, and formed part, as it still does, of the duchy of Lancaster.

The dukedom of Clarence was conferred on Thomas, son of Henry IV (1411), and on George, brother of Edward IV (1461-2), and was finally revived (1789) for Prince William, afterwards William IV. The title was also conferred, as an earldom, on the late Duke of Albany (1881).

The town, county, and river of Clare in Ireland also derive, through Strongbow, their name from this family. Thus this name 'became, through them, so incorporated in our national history and literature that in one or more of its forms it is familiar wherever the English language is spoken' (Antiquary, v. 60).

Clare as a place-name is of doubtful origin. It was certainly a stronghold of early date, and a seat of power before the Conquest. A description of the castle a century ago will be found in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1787 (lvii. 789), and a curious deed by the lady of Clare in that for 1793 (lxiii. 30). The latter is of interest as illustrating the quasi-regal position of its lords.

 CLARE, ELIZABETH (d. 1360), founder of Clare College, Cambridge, the third daughter of Gilbert de Clare, ninth earl of Clare [q. v.], and Princess Joan, the daughter of Edward I, was born at Acre while her father was on the crusade of 1271. Her father died suddenly on 8 Nov. 1295, and as she was her mother's third daughter she could not have been born much before or after 1291-2. She was married early in life to John de Burgh, the son of Richard de Burgh, second earl of Ulster and fourth earl of Connaught [q. v.], who, however, died in his father's lifetime (1313). In the next year her brother Gilbert [see, tenth ], fell at the battle of Bannockburn (1314). By this event the vast estates of the De Clares, the earldoms of Gloucester and Hertford, were divided between the three sisters, Eleanor, Margaret, and Elizabeth. The last-named received the estate of Clare, and hence became known as the lady of Clare ('Domina Claræ'). The hand of these heiresses was a prize to be aimed at by the most powerful men in the country, and one which the king, as their uncle and guardian, reserved for his favourites. Eleanor was married successively to Hugh de Spencer and Lord Zouch of Mortimer; Margaret to Piers Gaveston and Hugh, lord Audley, who assumed in her right the earldom of Gloucester. Elizabeth by her first husband had one son, William, who became third Earl of Ulster at his grandfather's death [see Burgh, William de (DNB00), sixth earl of Connaught and third earl of Ulster, 1312-1332]. In 1315 Elizabeth de Clare (or de Burgh, for