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FITZGILBERT DE CLARE Richard "Strongbow"
Birth: ABT 1125 of Tunbridge, Kent, England
Death: 20 Apr 1176 Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Burial: Holy Trinity (Christ Church Cathedral), Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_de_Clare,_2nd_Earl_of_Pembroke
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (of the first creation), Lord of Leinster,
Justiciar of Ireland (1130 – 20 April 1176) was a Welsh-Norman lord notable for his
leading role in the Norman invasion of Ireland. Like his father, Richard fitz Gilbert has
since become commonly known by his nickname Strongbow (Norman French: Arc-Fort)
which may be a mistranscription or mistranslation of Striguil.
Cognomen[edit]
Richard's cognomen Strongbow has become the name he is best known by, but it is
unlikely that he was called that at the time. Cognomens of other Cambro-Norman and
Norman lords were exclusively Norman-French as the nobility spoke French and, with
few exceptions, official documents were written in Latin during this period. The
confusion seems to have arisen when Richard's name was being translated into Latin.
[1] In the Domesday Exchequer annals between 1300 and 1304 (over 120 years after
his death) it was written as "Ricardus cognomento Stranghose Comes Strugulliae
(Richard known as Striguil earl of Striguil)." This chronicler erroneously has attributed
Stranghose (foreign leggings) as a cognomen, where it is much more likely a variant
spelling or mistranscription of Striguil, which is called Strangboge, Stranboue or
Stranbohe in other transcriptions. It is in the fourteenth century that we have
Richard's name finally rendered as Strongbow "Earl Richard son of Gilbert Strongbow
[earl of Shropshire]."[2]
Marriage and children[edit]
By an unknown mistress, Richard de Clare fathered two daughters:
Aline de Clare,[b] she married William FitzMaurice FitzGerald, baron of Naas[16]
Basilia de Clare, she married Robert de Quenci, Constable of Leinster[16]
On about 26 August 1171 in Waterford, Richard de Clare married MacMurrough's
daughter, Aoife MacMurrough (anglicised as "Eva").[17] Their children were:
Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, a minor who died in 1185[18]
Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke, who became Countess of Pembroke in her
own right in 1185 (on the death of her brother) until her own death in 1220.[19]
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.[20] Marshall was the
son of John the Marshal, by Sibylle, the sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury.
Richard de Clare died in June 1176 of some type of infection in his leg or foot. He was
buried in Holy Trinity Church in Dublin with his uncle-in-law, Lawrence, Archbishop of
Dublin, presiding. King Henry II took all of Strongbow's lands and castles for himself
and placed a royal official in charge of them. He guarded well the inheritance of
Isabel. Eve was given her dower rights and possibly held Striguil [Chepstow] as part of
those dower rights until the Welsh rebellion of 1184/85. There is a record of Eve
confirming a charter in Ireland in 1188/89 as "comtissa de Hibernia".[21]
Richard de Clare's widow, Aoife, lived on and was last recorded in a charter of 1188.
There are no known extant records of the personal lives of Richard de Clare and Eve.
We know that this young red-haired son of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Pembroke survived
the years of being deprived of his rightful inheritance. He took the gamble that Dermot
MacMurchada offered. He conquered and re-constituted his inherited lordship of
Leinster, married the golden-haired Eve, and re-gained the respect of king Henry II.
Two interesting questions arise for which there is no known extant contemporary
records. Did Richard de Clare perhaps meet the man who would be his daughter's
husband in the 1173 rebellion of the young King Henry? Would Richard de Clare have
approved of the knight William Marshal who married his daughter Isabel and not only
regained all the land, castles and titles that Richard de Clare should have inherited,
but added greatly to them?[21]
Legacy[edit]
Richard de Clare was the statesman, whereas Raymond was the soldier, of the
conquest. He is vividly described by Giraldus Cambrensis as "His complexion was
somewhat ruddy and his skin freckled; he had grey eyes, feminine features, a weak
voice, and short neck. For the rest, he was tall in stature, and a man of great
generosity and of courteous manner."[22] He was first interred in Dublin's Christ
Church Cathedral where an alleged effigy can be viewed.[22] Richard 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,[23] and is the effigy of another local knight. Richard 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,[24] 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.
Richard de Clare is an ancestor of the American Bush political family.[25]
Parents
DE CLARE Gilbert (21 Sep 1100 - 6 Jan 1148)
DE BEAUMONT Isabel (Elizabeth) (ABT 1101 - ABT 1147)
Siblings
FITZGILBERT DE CLARE Richard "Strongbow" (ABT 1125 - 20 Apr 1176)
Marriage To MCMURROUGH Eva (Aoife) (ABT 1141 - 1188)
m.
Notes
Parents
MCMURROUGH Dermot (ABT 1100 - 1 May 1171)
O'TOOLE More (ABT 1114 - 1191)
Children by MCMURROUGH Eva (Aoife) ABT 1141 - 1188
FITZGILBERT DE CLARE Isabel (1172 - 1220)
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