Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

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Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare
Richard de Clare "Strongbow" (seal).png
An image of the seal of Richard de Clare.
Born 1130
Tonbridge, Kent, England[citation needed]
Died 20 April 1176(1176-04-20) (age 45/46)
Dublin, Ireland
Resting place Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
Other names Strongbow (Arc-Fort)
Ethnicity English-Norman
Spouse(s) Aoife Ní Diarmait
Children Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke
Parent(s) Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Isabel de Beaumont

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (of the first creation), Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland (1130 – 20 April 1176) was a Cambro-Norman lord notable for his leading role in the Norman invasion of Ireland. Like his father, he was also commonly known by his nickname Strongbow (Norman French: Arc-Fort).

Career

Richard was the son of Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Beaumont.[1] Richard's father died in about 1148, when he was roughly 18 years old, and Richard inherited the title 'count of Strigoil' Earl of Pembroke. It is probable that this title was not recognized at Henry II's coronation in 1154.[2] As the son of the first 'earl', he succeeded to his father's estates in 1148, but was deprived of the title by King Henry II of England in 1154 for siding with King Stephen of England against Henry’s mother, the Empress Matilda.[3] Richard was in fact, called by his contemporaries Count Striguil, for his marcher lordship of Striguil where he had a fortress at a place now called Chepstow, in Monmouthshire on the River Wye.[4] He saw an opportunity to reverse his bad fortune in 1168 when he met Diarmait Mac Murchada, the deposed King of Leinster.[5]

Dispossession of the King of Leinster

In 1167, Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough) was deprived of the Kingdom of Leinster by the High King of Ireland - Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair. The grounds for the dispossession were that Mac Murchada had, in 1152, abducted Derbforgaill, the wife of the King of Breifne, Tiernan O'Rourke (Irish: Tighearnán Ua Ruairc). To recover his kingdom, Mac Murchada solicited help from the King of England - Henry II. The deposed king embarked for Bristol from near Bannow on 1 August 1166.[6] He met Henry in Aquitaine in the Autumn of 1166. Henry could not help him at this time, but provided a letter of comfort for willing supporters of Mac Murchada's cause in his kingdom. However, after his return to Wales, he failed to rally any forces to his standard. He eventually met the count of Striguil (nicknamed "Strongbow") and other barons of the Welsh Marches. Mac Murchada came to an agreement with de Clare: for the Earl’s assistance with an army the following spring, he could have Aoife, Mac Murchada's eldest daughter in marriage and the succession to Leinster.[7] As Henry’s approval or license to Mac Murchada was a general one, the count of Striguil thought it prudent to obtain Henry's specific consent to travel to Ireland: he waited two years to do this.[8] The license he got was to aid Mac Murchada in the recovery of his kingdom of Leinster.[3]

The re-taking of Leinster

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See also: Norman invasion of Ireland

Mac Murchada and de Clare raised a large army, which included Welsh archers and arranged for Raymond FitzGerald (also known as Raymond le Gros) to lead it. The force took the Ostman towns of Wexford, Waterford, and Dublin[lower-alpha 1] in rapid succession between 1169 and 1170.[9] de Clare, however, was not with the first invading party and arrived later, in August of 1170.[10]

In May 1171, Diarmait Mac Murchada died and his son, Donal MacMurrough-Kavanagh (Irish: Domhnall Caemanach mac Murchada) claimed the kingdom of Leinster in accordance with his rights under the Brehon Laws. de Clare also claimed the kingship in the right of his wife. At this time, Strongbow sent his uncle, Hervey de Montmorency, on an embassy to Henry II. This was necessary to appease the King who was growing restive at the count's increasing power. Upon his return, de Montmorency conveyed the King's terms - the return of de Clare's lands in France, England, and Wales as well as leaving him in possession of his Irish lands.[11] In return, de Clare surrendered Dublin, Waterford, and other fortresses to the English king.[12] Henry's intervention was successful and both the Gaelic and Norman lords in the south and east of Ireland accepted his rule;[13] de Clare also agreed to assist the Henry II in his coming war in France.

Marriage and issue

The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife (1854) by Daniel Maclise, a romanticised depiction of the union in the ruins of Waterford

By an unknown mistress, de Clare fathered two daughters:

  • Aline de Clare,[lower-alpha 2] she married William FitzMaurice FitzGerald, baron of Nass[14]
  • Basilia de Clare, she married Robert de Quenci, Constable of Leinster[14]

On about 26 August 1171 in Waterford, de Clare married MacMurrough's daughter, Aoife MacMurrough (anglicised as "Eva").[15] Their children were:

King Henry II had promised Sir William Marshal that he would be given Isabel as his bride, and his son Richard I upheld the promise one month after his ascension to the throne. The earldom was given to her husband as her consort.[18] Marshall was the son of John the Marshal, by Sibylle, the sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury.

de Clare's widow, Aoife, lived on and was last recorded in a charter of 1188.

Legacy

de Clare was the statesman, whereas Raymond was the soldier, of the conquest. He is vividly described by Giraldus Cambrensis as a tall and fair man, of pleasing appearance, modest in his bearing, delicate in features, of a low voice, but sage in council and the idol of his soldiers.[19] He was first interred in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral where an alleged effigy can be viewed.[19] de Clare's actual tomb-effigy was destroyed when the roof of the Cathedral collapsed in 1562. The one on display dates from around the 15th century, bears the coat of arms of an unknown knight,[20] and is the effigy of another local knight. de Clare was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin within sight of the cross according to an eye witness, Giraldus Cambrensis. There is little evidence to support the tradition that he was buried either in St Edan's Cathedral, Ferns,[21] Christ Church cathedral, Waterford or Dominican abbey, Kilkenny. References to de Clare being buried in Gloucester cathedral refer to his father, while those to 'Strongbow' in Tintern abbey refer probably to Walter or Anselm Marshall, both of whom died in 1245.

Ancestry

Family of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gilbert, Count of Brionne
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Richard fitz Gilbert
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gilbert Fitz Richard
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rohese Giffard
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ermengarde Flaitel
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hugh de Creil, Count of Claremont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Alice de Claremont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Marguerite de Montdidier and Roucy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Humphrey de Vieilles
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Roger de Beaumont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Albreda de la Haye Auberie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adeline of Meulan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Isabel de Beaumont
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Henry I of France
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hugh I, Count of Vermandois
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Anne of Kiev
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Elizabeth of Vermandois, Countess of Leicester
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Alice, Countess of Valois
 
 
 
 
 
 

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ These were longphorts where the Viking raiders settled, marrying Gaelic women and slightly acculturating to Gaelic customs (such as naming practices, MacGiollamhuire, MacTurkill, etc.), Dublin being the most famous. See: James F. Lydon, The Making of Ireland: From Ancient Times to Present (London; New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 21.
  2. ↑ Aline was born well before her father married Eve (Aoife), daughter of Dermot. That both she and her unnamed sister were illegitimate is indicated by the fact that neither inherited anything from their father's great holdings. See: Cokayne, CP, X, Appendix H, 103

References

  1. ↑ George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, A History of the House of Lords and All its Members from the Earliest Times, Vol. X, eds. H. A. Doubleday; Geoffrey H. White; Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1945), p. 352
  2. ↑ M. T. Flanagan, 'Clare, Richard fitz Gilbert de, second earl of Pembroke (c.1130–1176)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (2004)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wilfred Lewis Warren, Henry II (Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973), p. 193
  4. ↑ Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1216, Vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911), pp. 85-9
  5. ↑ Wilfred Lewis Warren, Henry II (Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973), p. 114
  6. ↑ The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland, ed. R. F. Foster (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 57
  7. ↑ Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1216, Vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1911), p. 91
  8. ↑ Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1216, Vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1911), p. 93
  9. ↑ Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1216, Vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1911), p. 184
  10. ↑ John Davies, A History of Wales (London: Penguin Group, 1993), p. 126
  11. ↑ A J Otway-Ruthven; Kathleen Hughes, "A History of Medieval Ireland", (London: Ernest Benn Limited; New York: Barnes & Noble Inc., 1968), p. 48
  12. ↑ Wilfred Lewis Warren, Henry II (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2000), p. 197
  13. ↑ Wilfred Lewis Warren, Henry II (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2000), p. 200
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, A History of the House of Lords and All its Members from the Earliest Times, Vol. X, eds. H. A. Doubleday; Geoffrey H. White; & Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1945), Appendix H, p. 103
  15. ↑ George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, A History of the House of Lords and All its Members from the Earliest Times, Vol. X, eds. H. A. Doubleday; Geoffrey H. White; Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1945), p. 356
  16. ↑ George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, A History of the House of Lords and All its Members from the Earliest Times, Vol. X, eds. H. A. Doubleday; Geoffrey H. White; Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1945), p. 357
  17. ↑ George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage; or, A History of the House of Lords and All its Members from the Earliest Times, Vol. X, eds. H. A. Doubleday; Geoffrey H. White; Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1945), pp. 358–64
  18. ↑ Thomas B. Costain The Conquering Family (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962), p. 267
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Alfred Webb, A compendium of Irish biography (Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1878), p. 130
  20. ↑ James Graves, ‘Armorial bearings of Strongbow’, Gentleman’s magazine and historical review, ccxvi, 1 (March 1864), 362-3; 'On the arms of de Clare’, Gentleman’s magazine and historical review, ccxviii, 1 (April 1865), 403-8; ccxvix, 2 (July 1865), 3-11; (August 1865), 207-8;(November 1865), 551-63 gives the best summary. Stuart Kinsella summarised the most recent work in a lecture to the conference on 'Monuments and Monumentality in Later Medieval and Early Modern Europe' in Stirling University in August 2011
  21. ↑ John Finlayson, Inscriptions on the monuments, mural tablets &c, Christ Church Cathedral (Dublin: Hodges, Foster, & Figgis, 1878), p. 66 notes no more than a 'fearful malediction ... pronounced against him by a Bishop of Ferns' citing King's Church History, ii, 622 and Haverty's 'History of Ireland', p. 256.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
New creation
 Justiciar of Ireland
1173–1176		 Succeeded by
Unknown
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Pembroke
1148–1168		 Succeeded by
Gilbert de Clare
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