Earl Gilbert De Clare PEMBROKE

   Other names for Gilbert were HERTFORD Earl and PEMBROKE Earl.

   Ancestral File Number: 8XJQ-9F. User ID: 75638940.

   General Notes:

Earl of PEMBROKE 1138, Earl of HERTFORD 1141.

BOOKS
The Political History of England, Vol II, George BurtonAdams Longmans Green and Co, 1905, Ch X
p221: "During this year, 1138, Stephen adopted a method of strengthening himself which was imitated by his rival and by later kings, and which had a most important influence on the social and constitutional history of England. We have noticed already his habit of lavish gifts. Now he began to include the title of earl among the things to be given away to secure fidelity. Down to this time the policy of William the Conqueror had been followed by his successors, and the title had been very sparingly granted. Stephen's first creation was the one already mentioned, that of Hugh `the Poor,' of Beaumont, as Earl of Bedford, probably just at the end of 1137. In the midst of the insurrection of the south-west, Gilbert of Clare, husband of the sister of the three Beaumont earls, was made Earl of Pembroke. As a reward for their services in defeating King David at the battle of the standard, Robert of Ferrers was made Earl of Derby, and William of Aumale Earl of Yorkshire. Here were four creations in less than a year, only a trifle fewer than the whole number of earls in England in the last years of Henry I. In the end Stephen created nine earls. Matilda followed himwith six others, and most of these new titles survived the period in the families on which they were conferred. It is from Stephen's action that we may date the entry of this title into English history as a mark of rank in the baronage, more and more freely bestowed, a title of honour to which a family of great possessions or influence might confidently aspire..."
Ch XI, p236: [1141] "...In the creation of two new earls a short time before, William of Albini as Earl of Sussexor Arundel, and Gilbert of Clare as Earl of Hertford, Stephen sought to confirm a doubtful, and to reward a steady, support..."
p238: "By the time the conquest of Normandy was completed [by Matilda], events of equal interest had taken place in England, involving the fall of the powerful and shifty Earl of Essex, Geoffrey de Mandeville. Soon after Easter, 1142, he had found opportunity for another prudent and profitable change of sides. [Stephen] had fallen ill on his return from the north, and, once more, as at the beginning of his reign, the report of his death was spread abroad. Geoffrey seems to have hurried at once to the Empress, as a probable source of future favours, and to have carried with him a small crowdof his friends and relatives, including the equally unscrupulous Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. Matilda, who was then at Oxford, and had no prospect of any immediate advance, was again ready to give him all he asked. Her fortunes were at too lowan ebb to warrant her counting the cost, and in any case what she was buying was of great value if she could make sure that the sellers would keep faith. Geoffrey, with his friends, and Nigel, Bishop of Ely, who was already on her side, controlling Essex, Hertford, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge, could give her possession of as large a territory on the east of England as she now held on the west, and this would very likely carry with it the occupation of London once more, and wouldthreaten to cut the kingdom of Stephen into two detached fragments. Geoffrey was in a position to drive a good bargain, and he did so. New lands and revenues, new rights and privileges, were added to those he had already extorted from both sides; the Empress promised to make no peace without his consent with his `mortal enemies,' the burghers of London, towards whom she probably had herself just then no great love. Geoffrey's friends were admitted to share with him in the results ofhis careful study of the conditions of the market, especially his brother-in-law, Aubrey de Vere, who was made Earl by his own choice of Cambridge, but in the end of Oxford, probably because Matilda's cousin, Henry of Scotland, considered thatCambridge was included in his earldom of Huntingdon. What price was offered to Hugh Bigod, or to Gilbert Clare, Earl of Pembroke, who seems to have been of the number we do not know."
Ch XIX, p393: [1199] "...On the part of a considerablenumber of the barons- the names that are recorded are those of old historic families, Beaumont, Ferrers, Mowbray, De Lacy, the Earls of Clare and Chester- there was found to be opposition to taking the oath of fealty on the ground of injustice committed by the administration..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 8XJQ-9F Gilbert De CLARE Born 21 Sep 1100 Tunbridge Kent England Mar Bef 1130 Isabel (Elizabeth) De BEAUMONT 8XJQ-BL Tunbridge Kent England Died 1149 England.

   Marriage Information:

Gilbert married Isabel Elizabeth De BEAUMONT, daughter of Count Robert De Beaumont MEULAN, I and Countess Isabel De Vermandois SURREY, before 1130 in Tunbridge, Kent, England. (Isabel Elizabeth De BEAUMONT was born about 1086-1096 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England and died about 1147.)