Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester

Coat of arms of Gilbert de Clare

Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester and 7th Earl of Hertford (* approx . May 10, 1291 , † June 24, 1314 near Stirling ) was an English nobleman. He was the last male member of the Clare Anglo-Norman family . After his death at the Battle of Bannockburn , his possessions were divided.

Origin and youth

Gilbert de Clare was the only son of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester , and of Johanna , a daughter of King Edward I. He had two older half-sisters and three sisters. After his father's death in 1295 at the age of four, he became heir to his father's titles and extensive estates, which included lands mainly in southern England and south Wales. Soon after the death of his father, his mother secretly married Ralph de Monthermer , a knight from his father's entourage. By marriage, Monthermer became through his wife Earl of Hertford and Earl of Gloucester , he also became the guardian of the young Gilbert. At the age of eight, Gilbert was sent to the court of his step-grandmother Queen Margaret for education .

Occasionally he is confused with his eponymous cousin Gilbert , the eldest son of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond . He was a childhood friend of Crown Prince Edward , but died in 1307.

Mediator between the king and the aristocratic opposition

Gilbert's mother died in April 1307, and shortly afterwards the new King Edward II recognized him as heir to his father's possessions after his accession to the throne. In March 1308, at the age of 16, he became Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Hertford. With an estimated annual income of around £ 6,000, he was the second richest English nobleman after the Earl of Lancaster , who had around £ 8,000 a year.

Despite his youth, he became Warden of Scotland during the Scottish War of Independence from 1308 to 1309 and Captain of Scotland and the Scottish Marches the following year . However, the reign of King Edward II was marked by several crises. In addition to the war with Scotland, the English nobility rebelled against the influence of the royal favorite Piers Gaveston , who was married to Gilbert's sister Margaret . Nevertheless, Gilbert was one of the Lords Ordainers who, under pressure from the aristocratic opposition, worked out a government reform program, the so-called Ordinances . However, he was not one of the radical nobles who forced Gaveston into exile in 1311 and kidnapped and murdered him on his return in 1312. He reconciled himself with the king and thus became the mediator between the king and the discontented nobles under the leadership of Thomas of Lancaster. Gilbert probably enjoyed the trust of the nobles, but above all the king. The king appointed him in March 1311 during his stay in Scotland and in the summer of 1313 during his trip to France twice for Regent . Because of his negotiating experience, the king sent him in February 1314 as his envoy to Gascony, which was then part of England .

The Battle of Bannockburn. Illustration from the 1440s

Death at the Battle of Bannockburn

The English position in Scotland had been weakened by the domestic political crisis and the power struggles at the royal court. To relieve Stirling Castle, besieged by Robert Bruce , King Edward II summoned his vassals to a campaign against Scotland in Berwick-upon-Tweed in the summer of 1314 . Gilbert de Clare followed the king's call with over 500 knights and soldiers, while the absence of the Earl of Lancaster and other nobles indicated that the domestic crisis in England was not yet resolved. On June 23, 1314, the English army reached Stirling . Jointly led by Gilbert and Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford , the vanguard quickly became involved in skirmishes with the Scottish Army. During these skirmishes, the Earl of Hereford's nephew Henry de Bohun was killed in a duel by Robert Bruce, Gilbert lost his horse and an attempt at relief of the castle under Robert de Clifford was rejected by the Scots under the Earls of Moray and Black Douglas .

The English spent the night, shocked by the unexpected casualties and exhausted by the advance, under arms for fear of a surprise Scottish attack. The next morning, Gilbert, assisted by the more experienced soldiers, tried to convince the king to postpone the attack on the Scottish army for a day so that the soldiers could recover. Other barons then accused him of treason and cowardice, to which Gilbert is said to have responded that today's battle would show that he was neither a traitor nor a liar, and the king ordered the attack on the Scottish army. The exact circumstances of Gilbert's death are unclear, probably alone or in front of his armed forces he rode a violent attack on the Scottish troops fighting on foot when they unexpectedly appeared on the flank of the English advance guard during the English advance. In addition, he was probably provoked by the accusations of the king and by a dispute with the Earl of Hereford over the command of the vanguard. With no cover from his subsequent knights, Gilbert was knocked off his horse by the soldiers of Black Douglas. Since he was supposedly not wearing a tabard, the Scots did not recognize him. They did not take him prisoner to get a large ransom, but instead killed him.

After the battle, Robert Bruce, who was Gilbert's brother-in-law, had his body recovered and transferred to Tewkesbury Abbey in England , where he was buried next to his ancestors. Bartholomew de Badlesmere , who had led Gilbert de Clare's more than 500 knights contingent in battle, was accused of having shamefully abandoned his liege lord.

Consequences of his death

Presumably through the mediation of his cousin Richard de Clare, Lord of Thomond , he had married Maud de Burgh , a daughter of the Earl of Ulster , in Ireland on September 29, 1308 , while his sister Elizabeth married his wife's brother. His marriage had remained childless. His wife claimed she was pregnant at the time of Gilbert's death, so until the birth of a possible male heir, Gilbert's holdings were placed under royal administration. However, since she did not have a child until 1316, Parliament finally decided in 1317 that the Clares' possessions should be divided between his three sisters or their husbands, while his two older half-sisters Isabel and Joan, according to his father's marriage contract, were married to Johanna von England remained without an inheritance. The division of the estate had far-reaching consequences. Hugh le Despenser , the husband of his eldest sister Eleanor , had insisted on the division of the property since Gilbert's death, giving him Tewkesbury , the capital of the Honor of Gloucester, and Glamorgan in the Welsh Marches . Gilbert's second sister Margaret, Piers Gaveston's widow, married Hugh de Audley in 1317 . She inherited numerous estates in England as well as Wentloog in the Welsh Marches. Elizabeth, his youngest sister, married Theobald de Verdon, 2nd Baron Verdon , in 1316 , who died that same year. In 1317 she married Roger Damory in her third marriage . She inherited Clare Castle and the Honor of Clare . Gilbert's widow Mathilda received as Wittum Usk and Caerleon in south-east Wales and other possessions in England, which were divided among the three heiresses after her death in 1320. While the division seemed fair at first, Hugh le Despenser was the most-favored beneficiary of the inheritance. He became the king's new favorite and this favor enabled his brother-in-law Hugh de Audley to hand over Wentloog to him. When he wanted to expand his possessions in South Wales at the expense of his sister Elizabeth, the mistress of Usk and Caerleon, a rebellion of the Marcher Lords , the so-called Despenser War , broke out in 1321 .

As early as 1314, after Gilbert's death in Glamorgan, there was a revolt of the Welsh population. In 1316 there was another rebellion under Llywelyn Bren because of the tough attitude of the royal administrator .

The titles of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford and Earl of Gloucester expired upon his death. The title of Earl of Gloucester was restored to his brother-in-law Hugh de Audley in 1337.

Web links

• Michael Altschul: Clare, Gilbert de, eighth earl of Gloucester and seventh earl of Hertford (1291-1314). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of January 2008
• Lady Despenser's Scribery: Gilbert de Clare, Eighth Earl of Gloucester and Seventh Earl of Hertford 1291-1314

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JR Maddicott: Badlesmere, Sir Bartholomew (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
2. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 46

predecessor	Office	successor
Ralph de Monthermer	Earl of Gloucester Earl of Hertford 1308-1314	Title expired