| History |
Richard fitz Gilbert, was a Norman lord who participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066. He was also known as \"de Bienfaite\", \"de Clare\", and \"de Tonbridge\".
Richard de Clare, was the eldest son of Gilbert, surnamed Crispin, Count of Brionne, in Normandy. This Richard fitz-Gilbert came into England with William the Conqueror, and received from him great advancement in honour and possessions.
He was rewarded with 176 lordships and large grants of land in England, including the right to build the castles of Clare and of Tonbridge. Richard fitz Gilbert received the lordship of Clare, in Suffolk, where parts of the wall of Clare Castle still stand. He was thus Lord of Clare.
He served as Joint Chief Justiciar in King William\'s absence, and played a major part in suppressing the revolt of 1075.
He was the son of Gilbert \"Crispin\", Count of Brionne, grandson of Richard I of Normandy.
Richard married Rohese Giffard, daughter of Sir Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville and Agnes Flaitel, and had the following children:
Walter de Clare, Lord of Nether Gwent, d. 1138
Richard fitz Richard de Clare, Abbot of Ely, d. 1107
Roger fitz Richard de Clare, received Norman lands and d. 1131, apparently without issue
Gilbert fitz Richard, d. 1115, succeeded his father as Earl of Clare
Robert fitz Richard, Lord of Little Dunmow, Baron of Baynard, d. 1136
Rohese de Clare, d. 1121, m. (ca. 1088), Eudo de Rie.
Adelize de Clare, d. 1138. m. Walter Tirel
Richard\'s Surrey lands had a value of £241: 30% of the value of his English lands. Within Surrey, Richard fitz Gilbert owned manors in the following places: Albury, Beddington, Bletchingley, Buckland, Chelsham, Chessington, Chipstead, Chivington, Effingham, Apps in Elmbridge, Farleigh, Immerworth (Kingston upon Thames), Long Ditton, Mickleham, Molesey, Ockley, Old Malden, Shalford, Streatham, Tandridge, Tolworth, Tooting, Walton-on-Thames, Warlingham, Tillingdon, and Woldingham.
He was buried in St. Neot\'s Priory in 1091. His widow was still living in 1113. His lands were inherited by his son, Gilbert fitz Richard. [2] |
| History |
Richard was a member of the peerage in England in the eleventh century. He was the founder of the Anglo-Norman noble family, the de Clares. He was born about 1035, the son of Gilbert, Comte de Brionne. When Gilbert, who had been a guardian of the young William, duke of Normandy, was murdered in 1040, Richard and his brother Baldwin were conveyed by their friends to the court of Baudouin V, Count of Flanders. When William married Count Baudouin\'s daughter Matilda of Flanders in 1053, he restored to Gilbert\'s sons the fiefs which in their absence he had seized and appropriated, although he did not invest them with either Brionne or Eu, or a comital title. William granted the lordships of Bienfaite and Orbec to Richard, who came to be known as \'de Bienfaite\', as well as \'de Clare\' and \'de Tonbridge\'.
Richard married Rohese Giffard, daughter of Walter Giffard, lord of Longueville, and they had eight children, of whom four would have progeny.
In 1066 Richard accompanied his second cousin William, duke of Normandy into England. He served at the Battle of Hastings, and assisted William in subduing the Anglo-Saxons. He was rewarded with 176 lordships and large grants of land in England, including the right to build the castles of Clare and of Tonbridge.
He served as Joint Chief Justiciar in William\'s absence, and played a major part in suppressing the revolt of 1075. Richard took the name Earl of Clare from one of his lordships in Suffolk, where parts of the wall of Clare Castle still stand.
The modern Irish county of County Clare was historically part of the North Munster Gaelic kingdom of Thomond, dominated by the O\'Briens, kings of Thomond. The region was granted to the de Clare family in 1275 and they became Lords of Thomond. When the boundaries of the modern County Clare were fixed by Sir Henry Sidney in 1565, it was named after the de Clares.
Richard died in 1090. [3] |
Ellie Wood Keith Genealogy
1030 - 1091 (60 years)
