Maud de Clare († 1327)

Maud de Clare (* around 1276, † between March 4 and May 24, 1327 ) was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman.

She came from the Anglo-Norman family Clare and was the eldest daughter of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond . Her father died in 1287. On November 3, 1295, she married the English baron Robert de Clifford at Clifford Castle in Herefordshire . After her husband died in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 , she was forcibly kidnapped on a street near Bowes Castle by Jack the Irishman , the administrator of Barnard Castle , around November 11, 1315 . Although this Jack the Irishman had enjoyed the favor of the king, Edward II could not accept the kidnapping of the widow of one of his most loyal vassals. He hired William Montagu , an experienced knight of his household, to free Maud. Montague moved to Barnard Castle with about 40 knights and soldiers in arms and was able to quickly obtain the release of Maud. Jack the Irishman was removed from his position as administrator of Barnard Castle, but remained in the king's favor. Maud married the second marriage before December 16, 1315, the knight Robert de Welle , who had been one of her liberators. Since the marriage had been entered into without the king's permission, the Wittum was confiscated by Maud. It was returned to her in October 1316 for a fine of £ 100.

Her husband died in 1320. After her two brothers Gilbert and Richard died and Richard's son Thomas died as an infant, she asked in vain in 1327 to be recognized as the heir to her father's possessions. The estates had officially fallen to the Crown in 1322, but English rule in Thomond had actually collapsed after the Irish victory in the Battle of Dysert O'Dea , in which her brother Richard died in 1318.

From her marriage to Robert de Clifford, she had several children, including:

Roger de Clifford, 2nd Baron de Clifford (around 1300–1322)
Robert de Clifford, 3rd Baron de Clifford (1305-1344)
John de Clifford
Idoine de Clifford († 1365) ⚭ Henry Percy, 2nd Baron Percy

Her second marriage to Robert de Welle was childless.

Web links

Cracroft's Peerage: de Clifford, Baron (E, 1299)
Maud de Clare on thepeerage.com , accessed July 28, 2015.

Individual evidence

^ Henry Summerson: Clifford, Robert, first Lord Clifford (1274-1314). 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 2004
^ Andy King: Jack Le Irish and the Abduction of Lady Clifford, November 1315; The Heiress and the Irishman . In: Northern History, Vol. 38 (2001), pp. 187-195
↑ Cracroft's Peerage: Welles, Baron (E, 1299 - abeyant 1499). Retrieved May 22, 2015 .
^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 197

personal data
SURNAME	Clare, Maud de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Clare, Mathilda de; Clifford, Maud de; Welle, Maud de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Anglo-Irish nobles
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1276
DATE OF DEATH	between March 4, 1327 and May 24, 1327

[1] Henry Summerson: Clifford, Robert, first Lord Clifford (1274-1314). 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 2004

[2] Andy King: Jack Le Irish and the Abduction of Lady Clifford, November 1315; The Heiress and the Irishman . In: Northern History, Vol. 38 (2001), pp. 187-195

[3] Cracroft's Peerage: Welles, Baron (E, 1299 - abeyant 1499). Retrieved May 22, 2015 .

[4] Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 197