Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 2.djvu/268

 CLARE. 267 " Karl " and " Count " (as in the case(") of Albemarle) was promiscuously applied. On Recount of the great importance of these feudal Barons, the earlier Lords of Clare, so frequently considered to have been actual Peers, a short account of them is sub- joined, 88 under.] Holders of ]. Richard Fitz Gilbert, styled (from his possessions) the Honour " DK Bienfaite," " de Claee," and " de Tonuuidge," was s. of Gilbert, Count ok Brion, (or of Auci, iu which territory is the of Clare. town of Brion) in Normandy, which Gilbert was s. and h. of I tern® Godfrey, Count OF Biuon, illegit. s. of Richard, Duke ok Nor- -* ' mandy. He was 6. before 1035, was Lord of Bienfaite and WILL. I. Orbec in Normandy, accompanied his Kinsman, William the Conqueror, into England, and was rewarded by him with no less than 176' Lordships, of which 95 were in Suffolk attached to the Honour of Clare, which honour, with the Castle of Clare, as also the Castle of Tonbridge in Kent he obtained, becoming thus Lord of Clare and of Tonbridge. During the King's absence he was Joint Chief Justiciar, and, as such, suppressed the revolt of 1075. He m. Rohaise, da. of Walter Giffaud. the Elder, thro' which match his descendants became co-heirs to the lands of that family. He was living 1081, but appears to have d, about 1000, being bur. at St. Neots, co. Huntingdon. His widow was living, as such, 1113. H 1000? 2. Gilbert Fitz Kichard, styled also " de Clare" and " DB TONBRIDGE," Lord of Clare, &.C., s. of the above, sue. to the English possessionsC") of his Father. He was 4. before 1086, and was founder of the Priory at Clare, 1090. By Henry I he was granted, 1107—1111, the Lordship of Cardigan " the territory, of Cadogan." He m. Adeliza, da. of Hugh, Count ok Ci.eii.mont en Beauvoisis, by Marguerite, da. of Hildouin, Count ok BouEY(t). Uod. 1114 or 111 ,•(''). III. 1117? S. Richard Fitz Gilbert, styled also "de Clare," Lord of Clare, Sec, s. and h. He is generally believed to have been at. EARL OF HERTFORD by King Stephen, if not by Henry t There appears, however, to-be no ground for this belief. In 1130, he is styled on the Pipe Roll, (not "Earl," either as Earl of Hertford, or Earl Richard, but simply) "Richard Fitz Gilbert," as i» he also(>-') when surprised and killed by the Welsh, near ( a ) See vol. i, p. 53. ( b ) His br. "Roger de Clare" (living 1080) was heir to the lands in Normandy. This Roger, who probably was the eldest son, d. s.p. ( c ) " Pere Anselme," but see note by J. R. Planehe in " Journal of the Brit. Arch. Assoc," vol. xxvi, p. 150. ( d ) His yr. br. Gilbert de Clare was cr. by King Stephen (1138 ?) Earl of Pembroke, and was father of Richard, Earl of Pembroke, the celebrated " Strongbow," who d. «.p.m. 5 April, 1176. (°) The fact that this Richard was not cr. an Earl is also confirmed by a MS. cartulary, where a tenant appears as holding " de Oilleberto, filio Ricardi, et de Ricardo, filio ejus, et postea, de Comitc Gilleberto, filio Ricardi." Mr. Courthope has added to the account, given in " Nicolas," of this Richard, that he " possessed the third penny of that county [Hertford] before or early in the reign of King Stephen." This Would settle the matter, if true, but the facts appear as under : " Madox, it seems, states that Geoifrey Fitz Piers, Earl of Essex (1199-1213), had a grant of the Shrievalty of Essex and Herts, with a saving of the Earl of Clare's third penny. Their Lordships make a note of this in their Report (iii, 69), and subsequently discover that ' as Geoffrey de Mandeville received the Shrievalty from the Empress, and as he was son of Geoffrey Fitz Piers, who may have been son of Peter, the Domes- day Sheriff, the third penny of the Earl of Clare must bo anterior to the graut by the Empress ; his family must therefore have had the third penny either before, or early