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DE CLARE Roger
Birth: 1116 Tunbridge Castle, Kent, England
Death: 1173 Oxfordshire, England
Burial: Eynsham Priory, Oxfordshire, England
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_de_Clare,_2nd_Earl_of_Hertford
Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, 5th Lord of Clare, 5th lord of Tonbridge, 5th Lord
of Cardigan (1116–1173) was a powerful Norman noble during the 12th century
England. He succeeded to the Earldom of Hertford and Honor of Clare, Tonbridge and
Cardigan when his brother Gilbert died without issue.[1]
Life[edit]
Roger was a son of Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare and Alice de Gernon.[2] In 1153, he
appears with his cousin, Richard Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, as one of the
signatories to the Treaty of Wallingford, in which Stephen recognises Prince Henry as
his successor. He is found signing charters at Canterbury and Dover in 1156. Next
year, according to Powell, he received from Henry II a grant of whatever lands he
could conquer in South Wales. This is probably only an expansion of the statement of
the Welsh chronicles that in this year (about 1 June) he entered Cardigan and 'stored'
the castles of Humfrey, Aberdovey, Dineir, and Rhystud. Rhys ap Gruffydd, the prince
of South Wales, appears to have complained to Henry II of these encroachments ; but
being unable to obtain redress from the king of England sent his nephew Einion ab
Anarawd to attack Humfirey and the other Norman fortresses. The 'Annales Cambriæ
seem to assign these events to the year 1159 ; and the 'Brut' adds that Prince Rhys
burnt all the French castles in Cardigan.[1]
In 1158 or 1160, Clare advanced with an army to the relief of Carmarthen Castle, then
besieged by Rhys, and pitched his camp at Dinweilir. Not daring to attack the Welsh
prince, the English army offered peace and retired home. In 1163, Rhys again invaded
the conquests of Clare, who, we learn incidentally, has at some earlier period caused
Einion, the capturer of Humfrey Castle, to be murdered by domestic treachery.[1]In
1164 he assisted with the Constitutions of Clarendon. From his munificence to the
Church and his numerous acts of piety, Roger was called the "Good Earl of Hertford".
[a] He was the founder of Little Marcis Nunnery prior to 1163.[3]
A second time all Cardigan was wrested from the Norman hands ; and things now wore
so threatening an aspect that Henry II led an army into Wales in 1165, although,
according to one Welsh account, Rhys had made his peace with the king in 1164, and
had even visited him in England. The causes assigned by the Welsh chronicle for this
fresh outbreak of hostility are that Henry failed to keep his promises — presumably of
restitution — and secondly that Roger, earl of Clare, was honourably receiving Walter,
the murderer of Rhys's nephew Einion. For the third time we now read that Cardigan
was overrun and the Norman castles burnt; but it is possible that the events assigned
by the 'Annales Cambræ' to the year 1165 are the same as those assigned by the 'Brut
y Tywysogion' to 1163.[1]
In the intervening years, Clare had been abroad, and is found signing charters at Le
Mans, probably about Christmas 1160, and again at Rouen in 1161 (Eyton, pp. 52,
53). In July 1163 he was summoned by Becket to do homage in his capacity of
steward to the archbishops of Canterbury for the castle of Tunbridge. In his refusal,
which he based on the grounds that he held the castle of the king and not of the
archbishop, he was supported by Henry II (Ralph de Diceto, i. 311; Gervase of
Canterbury, i. 174, ii. 391). Next year he was one of the ‘recognisers’ of the
constitutions of Clarendon (Select Charters, p. 138). Early in 1170 he was appointed
one of a band of commissioners for Kent, Surrey, and other arts of southern England
(Gerv. Cant. i. 216). His last known signature seems to belong to June or July 1171,
and is dated abroad from Chevaillée.[1]He appears to have died in 1173, and certainly
before July or August 1174, when we find Richard, earl of Clare, his son, coming to
the king at Northampton.[1]
Family[edit]
Roger married Maud de St. Hilary, daughter of James de St. Hilary and Aveline.[4]
Together they had seven children:
Mabel de Clare, d. 1204, m. (c. 1175), Nigel de Mowbray.
Richard de Clare, b. c. 1153, Tonbridge Castle, Kent, England, d. 28 November 1217,
3rd Earl of Hertford
James de Clare
Eveline (Aveline) de Clare, d. 4 June 1225, m. [1] (c. 1204), Geoffrey IV Fitz Piers (Fitz
Peter), 1st Earl of Essex.[5] m. [2] Sir William Munchensy, (b. c. 1184), son of Warin
de Munchensy and Agnes Fitz John.
Roger de Clare, d. 1241, Middleton, Norfolk, England.
John de Clare
Henry de Clare
Parents
DE CLARE Richard Fitz Gilbert (ABT 1084 - 15 Apr 1136)
LE MESCHIN Alice (Adeliza) (ABT 1094 - AFT 1142)
Siblings
DE TUNBRIDGE (CLARE) Alice (Adeliza) (1115 - 1148)
DE CLARE Roger (1116 - 1173)
DE CLARE Rohese (1120 - )
Marriage To DE ST. HILARY Maud (Matilda) (1132 - 24 Dec 1193)
m.
Notes
Parents
(DU HARCOURT) DE ST. HILARY (HILAIRE) James (ABT 1105 - )
____ Aveline (ABT 1109 - )
Children by DE ST. HILARY Maud (Matilda) 1132 - 24 Dec 1193
DE CLARE Richard (ABT 1153 - 30 Dec 1218)
DE CLARE Eveline (Aveline) (ABT 1172 - ABT 4 Jun 1225)
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