Sir Gilbert de Clare Knight, Earl of Gloucester

   Another name for Gilbert was Glibert Fitz Richard.

  General Notes:

~Weis' Ancestral Roots . . ., 63:28, 7th Earl of Clare, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester, Magna Charta Surety, 1215. ¹⁶⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Dates & Events.
Gilbert and his father, Richard de Clare, were made Magna Carta Sureties in 1215.III in 1225.

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, was the son and heir of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, more generally known as Earl of Clare, by Amice, 2^nd daughter and coheir, and eventually sole heir, of William Fitz Robert, Earl of Gloucester. He inherited the Clare estates from his father, those of Gloucester from his mother and a moiety of the Giffard estates from his ancestor Rohese. By the death of Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, 14 Oct 1217, his mother, Amice, became sole heir of her father, William, Earl of Gloucester, and appears to have been recognized as Countess of Gloucester up to her death, abt. 1 Jan 1224/5. Gilbert was born probably circa 1180. In June 1202 he was entrusted with the lands of Harfleur and Mostrevilliers. In 1211 he held 6 1/2 knights' fees in Kent of his mother's maritigium, and she as Amice, Countess of Clare, offered 40 marks for the recovery of certain fees of which she had been disseised by Guy de Chanceaus. In Jun 1215 he was one of the 25 barons made guardians of Magan Carta. In Dec 1216 he was excommunicated by Innocent III, and at that date and in the following March had letters of protection.

Gilbert fought on the side of Louis of France at the battle of Lincoln, 19 May 1217, and was taken prisoner by William Marshal, whose daughter he married later. In the following July he was at Gloucester. In Nov 1217, shortly after the death of his aunt, Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, he appears to have been recognized as Earl of Gloucester. In the same month as Earl of Gloucester and Hertford he confirmed several benefactions. In Jan 1217/8 he was one of the King's dilecti et fiedeles, and in Oct one of the Council, approving the King's Seal. In July 1222 he was forbidden to attack the castle of Dinas Powys, in Glamorgan. From this time he frequently attests royal grants. He joined the Earl Marshal, his brother-in-law, in an expedition into Wales in 1223. In 1225 he was present at the confirmation of the Great Charter by Henry III, and in that year the sheriff of Gloucester was ordered to pay him 20 pounds "in the name of the county," as previous Earls of Gloucester had had it. He the took part of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, against the King in July 1227 with regard to the forest laws and the misgovernment of Hubert de Burgh, and in Sep was one of the nobles accredited to meet the princes of the Empire at Antwerp. He led an army against the Welsh in 1228 and captured Morgan Gam, who was released next year.

Gilbert married, 9 Oct 1217, Isabel, daughter of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, by Isabel, daughter and heir of Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, formerly Earl of Pembroke. Being engaged in an expedition to Brittany, he died on his way back at Penros in that duchy, 25 Oct 1230. His body was conveyed by way of Plymouth and Cranbourn to Tewkesbury, where he was buried before the high altar, 10 Nov 1230, a monument being erected by his widow. He made his will 20 Apr and 23 Oct 1230. His widow married as her 2^nd husband, 30 Mar 1231, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 2^nd son of King John. She died 17 Jan 1239/40, in childbed, at Berkhampstead, of jaundice, and was buried at Bealieu, Hants, her heart being sent to Tewkesbury Abbey.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Hertford), Vol. VI, pp. 694-696

Gilbert married Lady Isabella Marshall, daughter of Sir Willam Marshall Knight, Third Earl of Pembroke and Isabella de Clare Countess of Pembroke, on 9 Oct 1217 in Pembroke Castle, Wales.¹⁶⁰ (Lady Isabella Marshall was born on 9 Oct 1200 in Pembroke Castle, Wales, died on 17 Jan 1240 in Berkhamsted Castle, Hertfordshire, England ¹⁶⁰ and was buried in Beaulieu Abbey, Hampshire.)