Elizabeth de Ros

Family/Spouse: Thomas de Clifford. Thomas (son of Roger de Clifford and Maud de Beauchamp) was born about 1363; died on 18 Aug 1391. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. John Clifford was born about 1389; died on 13 Mar 1422 in Mieux, France.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 9 Jun 1384, Uffington, Lincolnshire, England

Notes:

Also called Thomas of Helmsley.

Summoned to Parliament by writs 1362-1383.

Thomas married Beatrice de Stafford after 1 Jan 1359. Beatrice (daughter of Ralph de Stafford and Margaret de Audley) died on 13 Apr 1415. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 14 Apr 1415

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 16 Feb 1343
• Alternate death: Abt 1 Aug 1359, Brittany, France

Notes:

"William de Ros, 2nd Lord (Baron) de Ros of Helmsley, Sheriff Yorks 1326, one of the two Barons, representing the entire class of Barons or magnates of the realm, who at Kenilworth Jan 1326/7 informed Edward II of his deposition; member of Council of Regency Feb 1326/7." [Burke's Peerage]

"He was sum. to Parl. 20 Nov 1317 till 21 Feb. 1339.40." [Complete Peerage]

William married Margery de Badlesmere before 25 Nov 1316. Margery (daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere and Margaret de Clare) was born about 1306; died on 18 Oct 1363. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 22 Oct 1363

Notes:

Not to be confused with her sister, Margaret de Badlesmere.

Notes:

Earl of Stafford. Steward of the Royal Household, 6 Jan 1341 to 29 Mar 1345, when he assumed the position of Seneschal of Aquitaine. King's lieutenant in Gascony, 1350 and onward. One of the 26 founding members, and the fifth knight, of the Order of the Garter. As a young man he supported the plot to free the young Edward III from his mother's lover, Roger Mortimer; he was subsequently a close member of Edward III's retinue for the rest of his life. He was also a notably competent soldier and diplomat in the Hundred Year's War.

Fought at Crécy.

Summoned to Parliament by writ 29 Nov 1336 to 25 Nov 1350.

"He [...] sensationally abducted Margaret de Audley, 2nd Baroness Audley, daughter of Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester and Margaret de Clare, who was worth at least £2314 a year, more than ten times his own estates. Her parents filed a complaint with King Edward III of England, but the King supported Stafford's actions. In compensation, the King appeased Hugh and Margaret by creating Hugh the 1st Earl of Gloucester. [Wikipedia]

Ralph married Margaret de Audley before 6 Jul 1336. Margaret (daughter of Hugh de Audley and Margaret de Clare) was born about 1323; died after 28 Jan 1348; was buried in Tonbridge, Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1318 and 1322
• Alternate birth: Bef 1325
• Alternate death: 7 Sep 1349
• Alternate death: Bef 1 Mar 1351

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1260, of Helmsley, Yorkshire, England
• Alternate death: 6 Aug 1316
• Alternate death: 8 Aug 1316
• Alternate death: 15 Aug 1316
• Alternate death: Bef 16 Aug 1316

Notes:

Governor of Wark Castle; Warden of the Marches. One of the claimants to the crown of Scotland, 1292.

Summoned to Parliament by writs from 6 Feb 1299 to 16 Oct 1315.

William married Maud de Vaux before 1284. Maud (daughter of John de Vaux and Sibyl) was born about 1261 in of Frieston, Lincolnshire, England; died after 17 Jun 1313; was buried in Pentney Priory, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 6 Aug 1316

Notes:

Her body was buried at Pentney Priory, but her bowels were interred in the chapel of St. Mary at Belvoir Priory, Leicestershire. Because of course they were, this is the late Middle Ages and this is what we do.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 14 Apr 1322, Canterbury, Kent, England

Notes:

Steward of the King's Household; Governor of Leeds, Tunbridge, and Bristol Castles; Sheriff of Glamorgan 1314-15; Constable of Dover Castle and the Cinque Ports. Ambassador to France, Savoy, and the Pope.

MP (knight of the shire) for Kent, 1306-7. [Royal Ancestry] "Summoned to Parliament from 26 October 1309 by writs directed Bartholomeo de Badlesmere." [Royal Ancestry]

Unusual in having been, in his lifetime, a member of Parliament both as a "knight of the shire" (chosen by local authorities) and also through being summoned to Parliament by writ.

Bartholomew de Badlesmere and Margaret de Clare were great-great grandparents of Henry V.

"He was appointed one of the peers to regulate the royal household in 1310. [...] In Feb. 1316 he was sent to suppress the rebellion of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales. He was one of those appointed as amabassador to Amadeus of Savoy in Dec. 1316. He was appointed ambassador to the Pope in Jan. 1317. In 1319 he and Hugh Despenser the younger were appointed to reform the state of the Duchy of Aquitaine, and to remove all officers there as were unable to fulfill their duties. [...] In March 1320 he was appointed ambassador to the King of France and to the Pope. In Jan. 1321 he was among those who were sent to treat for peace with Robert de Brus, King of Scots. [...] In 1321 he joined the rebellion of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. In October 1321, while residing at Leeds Castle with her children, his wife, Margaret, refused Queen Isabel admission to the castle. The castle was immediately taken by the king. His wife, Margaret, and their son, Giles, were taken prisoners and conveyed to the Tower of London. A writ was issued to the Sheriff of Gloucestershire to arrest him 26 Dec. 1321. He and other rebellious barons attacked and burned the town of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. SIR BARTHOLOMEW DE BADLESMERE, 1st Lord Badlesmere, fought on the rebel side of the Battle of Boroughbridge 16 March 1322. He was subsequently captured at Stow Park, attainted, and hanged as a traitor at Canterbury, Kent 14 April 1322." [Royal Ancestry]

"Bartholomew of Badlesmere. of Badlesmere and Chilham Castle, Kent, s. and h. of Guncelin or Gunselm B., of Badlesmere afsd., Justice of Chester, was excused from service in the war in Gascony (1294) 22 Edw. I; suc. his father in 1301, being then aged 26; was in the Scottish wars 1303 and 1304; Governor of Bristol Castle 1307; had a grant of the Castle and Manor of Chilham, Kent, 1309, and from 26 Oct. (1309) 3 Edw. II, to 15 May (1321) 14 Edw. II, was sum. to Parl. by writs directed Bartholomeo de Badlesmere whereby he may be held to have become Lord Badlesmere. He obtained a grant of the Castle of Leeds in Kent, and in (1314-15) 8 Edw. II, was made Governor of Skipton Castle, and of all the castles in Yorkshire and Westmorland whereof Robert de Clifford had d. seized. He was also Steward of the King's Household. Notwithstanding the many favours he had received, he joined the Earl of Lancaster in his rebellion, and was defeated with him at Boroughbridge, 16 Mar. 1322, captured at Stow Park, attainted, and hung as a traitor at Canterbury, 14 Apr. 1322. He is described in the contemporary Boroughbridge Roll as a Banneret. He m., before 30 June 1308, Margaret, widow of Gilbert de Umfreville (who d. before 23 May 1303, s. and h. ap. of Gilbert 8th Earl of Angus), aunt and coh. of Thomas de Clare, Steward of the Forest of Essex, da. of Thomas de C., by Julian, (not Amy), da. of Sir Maurice fitz Maurice, Lord Justice of Ireland. He d. as afsd, 1322. His widow, notorious for having refused the Queen admission to the Royal Castle of Leeds in the summer of 1321, was besieged therein by Edward II, and being captured with the Castle on 1 1 Nov. following, was imprisoned in the Tower of London, but was released 3 Nov. 1322, and after staying some time at the Minorites without Aldgate, at the King's charge (2s. a day), had leave to go to her friends, 1 July 1324. She, who was aged 40 in Mar. 1326/7, had dower on lands at Castlecombe, Wilts, &c., and d. late in 1333." [Complete Peerage I:371-72, as corrected by Volume XIV.]

Bartholomew married Margaret de Clare before 29 Sep 1305. Margaret (daughter of Thomas de Clare and Juliane fitz Maurice) was born between 1286 and 1287; died in 1333. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1287
• Alternate death: Between 22 Oct 1333 and 3 Jan 1334

Notes:

"[Bartholomew's] widow, Margaret, continued a prisoner in the Tower of London for several months. Through the mediation of her son-in-law, William de Roos, Knt., she obtained her freedom 3 Nov. 1322. She subsequently retired to the convent house of the Minorite Sisters without Aldgate, and had two shillings per day allowed for her maintenance. In 1327 she petitioned the king and council, stating that while she was in the king's prison, Robert de Welles, husband of her younger sister, Maud de Clare, with the aid and maintenance of Hugh de Despenser, had the lands of their Clare inheritance assessed, and took Maud's share, both in England and Ireland; Margaret requested that the division be made again, according to the assessments returned in Chancery, and that she might have her choice of her share, as she is the elder sister, which request was granted." [Royal Ancestry]

Notes:

Summoned to Parliament by writs 6 Feb 1299 to 20 Aug 1307.

Edmund married Margaret Basset before 1299. Margaret (daughter of Ralph Basset and Hawise) died on 17 Mar 1337; was buried in Tysoe, Warwickshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England

Notes:

Earl of Gloucester.

King's bachelor; Sheriff of Rutland 1317-18; Chief Warden of the Ports and Coasts of Essex, Middlesex, and Hertford 1336; Joint Marshal of the Host (the English army in Flanders) 1339. Ambassador to France, 1341. Summoned to Parliament by writs 30 Nov 1317 to 15 May 1321. Fought on the side of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster at the battle of Boroughbridge. Taken prisoner; later escaped. After the execution of the Despensers and the overthrow of Edward II, he was again summoned to Parliament by writs 3 Dec 1326 to 24 Aug 1336.

"Hugh Audley or Aldithley (junior), 2nd son of Hugh A., who, afterwards,, (viz. in 1321), was also sum. to Parl., by Isolt, da. of Edmund de Mortimer, of Wigmore, was b. c. 1289. He was sum. v.p., to Parl. 20 Nov. (1317) II Edw. II to 15 May (1321) 14 Edw. II, by writs directed Hugoni Daudele juniori. He was with his father in the insurrection of 1321/2, but was pardoned. He was also sum. to Parl. 3 Dec. 1326 to 24 Aug. 1336, by writs directed Hugoni de Audele (only), his father having died in 1325, or early in 1326. In 1336 he was in the King's service in Scotland, and on 16 Mar. 1336/7 he was cr. Earl of Gloucester, his wife having, in 1313, become coh. to her br. Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford. In 1341 he was Ambassador to France. He m., 28 Apr. 1317, at Windsor, Margaret, widow of Piers (Gavaston), Earl of Cornwall, 2nd da. of Gilbert (de Clare), Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, by Joan, da. of King Edward I. She, who was found to be aged 22 in her brother's Inq. p. m. of 12 Oct. (1314) 8 Edw. II, d. Apr. 1342, before Easter. Inq. p. m. 1342-3. He himself d. s.p.m., 10 Nov. 1347, and was bur. in the priory of Tunbridge, when, 'although the dignity [of the Earldom of Gloucester] was to him and his heirs, the title appears to have been considered as extinct.'" [Complete Peerage I:346]

Hugh married Margaret de Clare on 28 Apr 1317 in Windsor, Berkshire, England. Margaret (daughter of Gilbert de Clare and Joan of Acre) was born about 1292 in Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales; died on 9 Apr 1342; was buried in Queenhithe, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1293
• Alternate birth: Between Aug 1293 and Nov 1294
• Alternate death: 13 Apr 1342, France

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Belvoir, Leicestershire, England
• Alternate death: 16 Jun 1285

Notes:

"On 24 Dec. he was sum. as Robert de Ros to (de Montfort's) Parl. in London." [Complete Peerage]

Knight of the shire 1261 & 1265. His bowels were buried at Belvoir, his heart at Croxton Abbey, and the remainder at Kirkham Priory.

Robert married Isabel d'Aubeney before 17 May 1244. Isabel (daughter of William IV d'Aubeney and Isabel) was born about 1233; died on 15 Jun 1301; was buried in Newstead Priory, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Frieston, Lincolnshire, England

Notes:

Sheriff of Norfolk. Fought at Evesham. Justice itinerant in 1288.

John married Sibyl after 1254. Sibyl died after 28 Oct 1287. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Or Gunselm. Justice of Chester and Cheshire, 16 Oct 1274 to 1281. Custodian of Chester Castle.

His wife is frequently given as Joan Fitzbernard, daughter of Ralph Fitzbernard of Kingsdown, Kent, probably due to the statement to that effect in CP I, p. 372. However, CP V (p. 403, note b) states "Nor is anything known about the wife of Guncelin, father of Bartholomew de Badelesmere." CP XIV, p. 57, correcting volume I, notes the latter passage.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1245 and 1246, of Thomond in Connacht, Clare, Ireland
• Alternate birth: Between 1245 and 1246
• Alternate death: Feb 1288

Notes:

Constable of Colchester Castle; Steward of the Forest of Essex; King's Lieutenant in Gascony; Governor of London; Warden of the Forest of Dean; Constable of St. Briavel's Castle.

Studied at Oxford 1257-9.

"He joined his brother, Gilbert, against King Henry III and was knighted by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, before the Battle of Lewes 14 May 1264. He subsequently deserted the baronial cause with his brother, Earl Gilbert. In May 1265 Thomas arranged the gift of a speedy horse to Prince Edward, by means of which Prince Edward escaped from Simon de Montfort at Hereford. Thomas fought for the king at the Battle of Evesham 4 August 1265. In 1267 he took the cross at St. Paul's, London, being moved by the preaching of the papal legate, Ottobuono. [...] He went on crusade to the Holy Land with Prince Edward in 1271, and returned in 1272." [Royal Ancestry]

This Thomas de Clare was identified in early volumes of the Complete Peerage as a son of Sir Richard de Clare d. 1262, and then removed in volume 14 in the articles on Badlesmere and Clare. Despite this, it appears to be correct; Chris Phillips lays out the details here.

Thomas married Juliane fitz Maurice before 18 Feb 1275. Juliane (daughter of Maurice fitz Maurice and Maud de Prendergast) was born in of Offaly, Ireland; died before 24 Sep 1300. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died at the siege of Droslin Castle in Wales, crushed by a falling wall.

Nicholas married (Unknown) de Langley. (Unknown) (daughter of Geoffrey de Langley and Matilda de Brightwell) died before 1287. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

CP calls her "probably da. of Geoffrey de Langley" and notes that "In 1272 a Staffordshire jury stated that the King had given [Nicholas de Stafford] in marriage to a da. of Geoffrey de 'Langeley'."

Notes:

"Ralph Basset, s. and h. of the above, served in the French and Scottish wars. He suc. his father 4 Aug. 1265. He held lands of Ralph Basset of Weldon 1284/5; he was sum. to attend the King at Shrewsbury, 28 June (1283) 11 Edw. I, and was sum. to Parl. 23 June (1295) 23 Edw. I to 10 Apr. (1299) 27 Edw. I, by writs directed Radulfo Basset de Drayton whereby he is held to have become Basset of Drayton. He m. Hawise. He d. 31 Dec. 1299, and was bur. at Drayton." [Complete Peerage II:2]

Ralph married Hawise. Hawise died before 20 Mar 1317. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 20 May 1317

Notes:

This post by John P. Ravilious, from 2005, conjectures based on good circumstantial evidence that she was a daughter of Hugh le Despenser (d. 1265) by his wife Aline Basset (1245-1281).

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1 Apr 1325, Wallingford Castle, Oxfordshire, England
• Alternate death: Bef 12 Apr 1326

Notes:

Summoned to Parliament by writ, 1321. Joined the rebellion of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster in 1322, but surrendered before the battle of Boroughbridge. Died while a prisoner in Wallingford Castle.

"Hugh Audley, of Stratton Audley, Oxon, yst. s. of James Audley or Aldithley, of Heleigh, co. Stafford by Ela, da. of William Longespée (s. and h. ap. of Ela, suo jure Countess of Salisbury); was b. c. 1267, and obtained from his mother, soon after her husband's death, a reversionary grant, (1272-73) 1 Edw. I, of Stratton Audley, afsd., which had been her inheritance. He was in the French wars, 1294, &c.; a prisoner in France 2 Apr. 1299; in the Scottish wars, 1299-1302, and again 1313; he was in Gascony in 1304/5; Justice of North Wales 1306; and was Governor of Montgomery Castle, 1309. He was sum. to Parl. 15 May (1321) 14 Edw. II, the writ being directed Hugoni de Audele seniori, to distinguish him from his 2nd s., Hugh Audley, Junior, who had been so sum. in 1317. In 1321/2 he joined the insurrection of the Earl of Lancaster, but surrendered before the battle of Boroughbridge, 16 Mar. 1321/2, and was confined in Wallingford Castle. He m., before 7 Jan. 1293, and probably in 1288, Isolt, widow of Sir Walter de Balun, of Much Marcle, co. Hereford (who was living and m. to her in 1286/7), da. of Sir Edmund de Mortimer, 1st Lord Mortimer, of Wigmore, co. Hereford, by (____). She brought him the manors of Eastington, co. Gloucester, and of Thornbury, Co. Hereford. He d. between Nov. 1325, and Mar. 1325/6, probably while still a prisoner. No trace can be found of the pardon which he is sometimes said to have received, and any peerage which he may be held to have possessed, may be treated as having been forfeited by attainder. His widow was living 1336." [Complete Peerage I:347-48, as corrected in Volume XIV. See the entry on his wife for doubt she was was a daughter of Edmund de Mortimer.]

Hugh married Isolde le Rous before Jul 1291. Isolde (daughter of Roger le Rous and Eleanor de Avenbury) died before 4 Aug 1338. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Complete Peerage and Ancestral Roots give her as a daughter of Sir Edmund Mortimer, 7th Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, by an unidentified first wife, but various discussions on SGM and elsewere led to a consensus that this is chronologically improbable and that her parentage must be regarded as unknown. See also this page on Chris Phillips' site.

More recently, on 17 Dec 2017, Douglas Richardson posted to SGM evidence that she was a daughter of Roger le Rous and his wife Eleanor de Avenbury. Both pieces of evidence have to do with the known fact that her first husband was Walter de Balun, who died in 1287. In 1296 one Isolde sued Reynold de Balun in the Court of Common Pleas regarding the manor of Eastington, Gloucester, which she claimed as her right and which she was in fact holding at that time. Reynold de Balun was Walter de Balun's brother and heir. The record identifies Isolde, the plaintiff, as "daughter of Roger le Rus." The other document is a record of Walter de Balun and his wife, Isolde, being enfeoffed with the manor of Much Marcle, Herefordshire by Roger le Rous. Between these two it seems clear that the wife of Hugh de Audley, widow of Walter de Balun, was a daughter of Roger le Rous.

Complete Peerage and Ancestral Roots give her as a daughter of Sir Edmund Mortimer, 7th Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, by an unidentified first wife, but various discussions on SGM and elsewere led to a consensus that this is chronologically improbable and that her parentage must be regarded as unknown. See also this page on Chris Phillips' site.

More recently, on 17 Dec 2017, Douglas Richardson posted to SGM evidence that she was a daughter of Roger le Rous and his wife Eleanor de Avenbury. Both pieces of evidence have to do with the known fact that her first husband was Walter de Balun, who died in 1287. In 1296 one Isolde sued Reynold de Balun in the Court of Common Pleas regarding the manor of Eastington, Gloucester, which she claimed as her right and which she was in fact holding at that time. Reynold de Balun was Walter de Balun's nephew and heir. The record identifies Isolde, the plaintiff, as "daughter of Roger le Rus." The other document is a record of Walter de Balun and his wife, Isolde, being enfeoffed with the manor of Much Marcle, Herefordshire by Roger le Rous. Between these two it seems clear that the wife of Hugh de Audley, widow of Walter de Balun, was a daughter of Roger le Rous.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1299

Notes:

Called "Red Gilbert" and "The Red Earl". Earl of Gloucester. Earl of Hertford. Steward of St. Edmund's Abbey. Held, among many other manors and lordships, the lordship of Glamorgan, one of the most wealthy holdings in the Welsh Marches. Built Caerphilly Castle.

A turbulent figure who fought on both sides of the Second Barons' War of 1263-64, first alongside Simon de Montfort at the battle of Lewes (where according to some accounts he personally took Henry III prisoner), and then on the side of the king, commanding one of the royal divisions at the decisive battle of Evesham where de Montfort was killed.

His subsequent relationships with Henry III and Edward I were complex and fraught. As one of the two or three most powerful non-royal individuals in the realm, he was both a desirable ally and also the very model of the kind of overweening subject that Edward was determined to tame -- and ultimately did.

As a side note, it is worth noting that while de Clare was still allied to the baronial party, he led the massacre of the Jews at Canterbury, which took place while other rebel leaders were conducting similar massacres in London. Ian Stone writes in "The Rebel Barons of 1264 and the Commune of London," quoted here: "The Dunstable annals report rumours that the Jews of London were preparing to betray the citizens: they had Greek fire to burn the city, copies of the keys to the city gates, and subterranean passages to each gate. Such tales were used to excuse an outbreak of looting and murder. One chronicler says that the Jews were suspected of betraying the barons and citizens, and almost all were killed. Another says that the Jewish quarter was pillaged, and any Jews who were caught were stripped, robbed and murdered. Estimates of the number killed range from 200 to 500, with the remainder forcibly converted or imprisoned (or, looking at it another way, the rest were saved by the justices and the mayor, who sent them to the Tower for protection). The chronicler Wykes, who tended to be less favourable to the baronial party, singled out the baronial leader John fitz John, who was said to have killed the leading Jew, Kok son of Abraham, with his own hands, and seized his treasure. Fitz John was then forced to share the proceeds with Simon de Montfort. It is possible that de Montfort was taking the Jewish treasure, not to enrich himself, but to finance his forces. At the same time, the cash of Italian and French merchants, deposited in religious houses around London, was also seized and taken to the city."

Gilbert married Joan of Acre in May 1290 in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Middlesex, England. Joan (daughter of Edward I, King of England and Eleanor of Castile, Queen Consort of England) was born in 1272 in Acre, Palestine; died on 23 Apr 1307 in Clare, Suffolk, England; was buried in Austin Friars, Clare, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 7 Apr 1307
• Alternate death: 28 Apr 1307, Clare, Suffolk, England

Notes:

Also called Joan of England.

"The agreement for Joan's marriage to Gilbert de Clare, earl of Hertford and Gloucester, was made in 1283. Gilbert and his first wife, Alice de la Marche, had had only two daughters; this marriage was dissolved in 1285, and a papal dispensation for the marriage to Joan was obtained four years later. Gilbert surrendered all his lands to the king, and they were settled jointly on Gilbert and Joan for their lives, and were then to pass to their children; if however the marriage was childless, the lands were to pass to Joan's children by any later marriage. The wedding took place at Westminster in early May 1290." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Because of this agreement, Joan remained in control of the estates following Gilbert's death in 1295. Her father intended for her to marry Amadeus V of Savoy, but instead she secretly married Ralph de Monthermer, a squire of Earl Gilbert's household whom she had previously persuaded her father to knight. "She is reputed to have said 'It is not ignominious or shameful for a great and powerful earl to marry a poor and weak woman; in the reverse case it is neither reprehensible or difficult for a countess to promote a vigorous young man.'" [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] Her enraged father slapped de Monthermer into prison and seized all of Joan's lands, but through the mediation of Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, father and daughter were reconciled and her estates restored to her. Subsequently the king "became much attached to his new son-in-law, who was summoned to Parliament as Earl of Gloucester and Hertford during the minority of his step-son Gilbert de Clare." [Royal Ancestry] De Monthermer went on to serve in a variety of offices and military roles.

Notes:

Royal Ancestry gives the date of their marriage as 23 April 1290; Complete Peerage as 30 April; the ODNB as "early May."

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1200, of Helmsley, Yorkshire, England
• Alternate death: 1258

Notes:

Taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, 1217.

William married Lucy fitz Peter before 24 Jan 1234. Lucy (daughter of Peter fitz Herbert and Alice fitz Robert) was born in of Blaen Llyfni, Cathedine, Brecconshire, Wales; died after 29 Sep 1266. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1266

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1247 and 1248

Notes:

Also called William de Beauvoir.

William married Isabel. Isabel died after 1285. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1244

Notes:

"Oliver de Vaux accompanied King John to Ireland 1203, later opposed John, hence his lands forfeited, though they were restored him by Henry III c. 1218; Justice itinerant c. 1234; married Petronilla, widow of Henry de Mara and William de Longchamps, and died after 1244." [Burke's Peerage]

Oliver married Pernel de Craon after 1210. Pernel (daughter of Guy II de Craon and Isabel Basset) was born in of Frieston, Lincolnshire, England; died between 1259 and 1262. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 28 Mar 1262

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 15 Jul 1262, Ashenfield, Waltham, Kent, England

Notes:

Earl of Gloucester; Earl of Hertford; High Marshal and Chief Butler to the Archbishop of Canterbury; Privy Councillor 1255, 1258; Warden of the Isle of Portland, Weymouth, and Wyke, 1257.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Richard de Clare was a minor at the time of his father's death, and heir to one of the greatest collections of estates and lordships in all of England and Wales. His wardship and marriage were thus matters of the keenest interest to the politically powerful and ambitious of the day. The justiciar Hubert de Burgh, using his position in the government of Henry III, managed to have custody of Richard assigned to himself. On Hubert's fall from power in 1232, the king transferred custody of both Richard and his lands to the new royal favourites, Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, and his nephew Peter des Rivaux. Hubert de Burgh's wife, in an apparent effort to rescue the family fortunes, secretly married Richard de Clare to her daughter Margaret; but the marriage was apparently never consummated, and was in any event mooted by Margaret's death in 1237. In the meantime both Peter des Roches and Peter des Rivaux had themselves fallen from power in 1234, and thereafter King Henry kept the wardship in his own hands, although allowing custody of at least some of the Clare lands to be secured by Richard de Clare's uncle Gilbert Marshal, earl of Pembroke. During this time the king began searching for a suitable marriage. A proposed arrangement with the great French comital family, the Lusignans, fell through, and in 1238 Richard de Clare was married to Maud, daughter of John de Lacy, earl of Lincoln. The prime mover in the marriage negotiations seems to have been the king's brother, Richard of Cornwall, who was Richard de Clare's stepfather, having married the widowed Isabel Marshal in 1231. Notwithstanding his marriage Clare remained the ward of the king until 1243, when he came of age and received both official seisin of his inheritance and formal dubbing to knighthood.

The complexities, intricacies, and rivalries involved in the story of Richard de Clare's wardship are an excellent case study of the stakes and resources at issue when contemplating the lives of the upper aristocracy in the thirteenth century. A connection to Richard de Clare was a prize well worth pursuing at full tilt. His inheritance was vast. [...] Richard de Clare was, by every criterion--annual income (close to £4000), knight's fees (nearly 500), and both the sheer number of and the strategic location of his estates and lordships--easily the richest and potentially the most powerful baron, next to the members of the immediate royal family, in the British Isles (excluding Scotland) as a whole.

From Wikipedia:

He joined in the Barons' letter to the Pope in 1246 against the exactions of the Curia in England. He was among those in opposition to the King's half-brothers, who in 1247 visited England, where they were very unpopular, but afterwards he was reconciled to them.

In August 1252/3 the King crossed over to Gascony with his army, and to his great indignation the Earl refused to accompany him and went to Ireland instead. In August 1255 he and John Maunsel were sent to Edinburgh by the King to find out the truth regarding reports which had reached the King that his son-in-law, Alexander III, King of Scotland, was being coerced by Robert de Roos and John Balliol. If possible, they were to bring the young King and Queen to him. The Earl and his companion, pretending to be two of Roos's knights, obtained entry to Edinburgh Castle, and gradually introduced their attendants, so that they had a force sufficient for their defense. They gained access to the Scottish Queen, who made her complaints to them that she and her husband had been kept apart. They threatened Roos with dire punishments, so that he promised to go to the King.

Meanwhile the Scottish magnates, indignant at their Castle of Edinburgh's being in English hands, proposed to besiege it, but they desisted when they found they would be besieging their King and Queen. The King of Scotland apparently traveled South with the Earl, for on 24 September they were with King Henry III at Newminster, Northumberland."

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In July 1258 Richard de Clare and his brother William both fell ill. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes contemporary reports that this was due to an attempted poisoning, "supposedly instigated by King Henry's uncle, William de Valence, earl of Pembroke, in retaliation for Clare's support of the baronial reform movement; and Valence's purported agent in the plot, Clare's seneschal, Walter de Scoteny, was tried and hanged." William died, but Richard survived with the loss of his hair and nails. In 1259 Richard was appointed chief ambassador to the Duke of Brittany, presumably in hopes of frightening the duke by sending a hairless, nailless creature to his court. Three years later, Richard died at Ashenfield, Waltham, Kent, on the 15th, the 16th, or the 22nd of July 1262. It was again bruited about that he had been poisoned, this time by the Queen's uncle Peter of Savoy, but the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, noting that "the annals of Tewkesbury Abbey are the single most valuable literary source for the reconstruction of [de Clare] family history for this period", points out that "the silence of the Tewkesbury account on this point strongly indicates that such rumours were unfounded."

In a perfectly medieval series of postmortem events, Richard de Clare's body was borne to the Cathedral Church of Christ at Canterbury, where his entrails were buried before the altar of St. Edward the Confessor; it was then taken to the Collegiate Church of Tonbridge, Kent, where his heart was buried; finally, what remained of his body was taken to Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire where it was buried in the choir at his father's right hand.

Richard married Maud de Lacy about 25 Jan 1238. Maud (daughter of John de Lacy and Margaret de Quincy) died before 10 Mar 1289. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1288 and 1289
• Alternate death: Aft 1288

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1286

Notes:

Justiciar of Ireland, 1272-3. Also called Maurice fitz Maurice fitz Gerald. Not to be confused with Maurice fitz Gerald (d. 1268) who was the son of his brother Gerald fitz Maurice (d. 1243).

Maurice married Maud de Prendergast before 28 Oct 1259. Maud (daughter of Gerald de Prendergast and (Unknown) de Burgh) was born about 1242; died before 1276. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1282

Robert married Alice Corbet. Alice (daughter of Thomas Corbet and Isabell de Valletort) was born in of Caus, Westbury, Shropshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

He was probably of age by 1222, which suggests a date of birth about 1200, and first appears in royal service in 1233-4 as constable of St Briavels, Gloucestershire. He joined the royal curia, and was appointed knight-deputy to the earl marshal and marshal of the household.

The Gascon campaign of 1242–3 proved a turning point in Langley's career. On his return he was given custody of the honour of Arundel. From late 1244 to early 1250 he was associated with the general forest eyre conducted under the headship of Robert Passelewe (d. 1252). On 4 March 1250 he was made chief justice of the forest on both sides of the Trent, an office which he exercised for two and a half years until 25 October 1252. As a forest justice he earned some notoriety. According to Matthew Paris, Langley had gained a reputation for parsimony while marshal of the household. Now he was to be particularly zealous in the interests of the king. Langley's northern eyre was a very lucrative one, and undoubtedly caused murmurings.

By 1252 Langley was at the height of his power and high in royal esteem, being a particular favourite of the queen. A member of the council, he functioned as a guardian of the king's young daughter, Margaret, queen of Scots, during 1252–3, but made himself unpopular in Scotland and was removed. Then in March 1254 he took responsibility for the English and Welsh lands of the young Prince Edward. This proved to be a disaster, however, for he provoked the Welsh rising of November 1256. Paris says that he conducted himself here in a typically high-handed manner, while the Dunstable annalist writes of him as trying to bring Wales under English law, and ordering the introduction into that country of shires and hundreds, while boasting before the king and queen that he had the Welsh in the palm of his hand. Out of favour with the king, he was eventually pardoned on 14 February 1258. In 1262 he was one of the auditors investigating the accounts of Prince Edward's bailiffs. He was unpopular, however, with the opposition baronage, and was among those royalists whose lands were pillaged in the spring of 1263.

Geoffrey married Matilda de Brightwell before 25 Sep 1236. Matilda (daughter of Robert de Brightwell) was buried in Grey Friars, Coventry, Warwickshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Custos pacis for Shropshire and Staffordshire, 1264.

"Ralph Basset, s. and h. of Ralph B. of Drayton, co. Stafford, and of Colston Basset, Notts, was sum. to Parl. 24 Dec. (1264) 49 Hen. III, by writ directed Radulfo Basset de Drayton; which writ however, having issued in rebellion, should not create a peerage dignity. He m. Margaret, da. of Roger de Somery, of Dudley, Basset, co. Worcester, by his ist wife (to whom she was da. and coh.), Nicole, da. and eventually coh. of William (d'Aubigny), Earl of Arundel. He d. 4 Aug. 1265, being slain at the battle of Evesham fighting against the King, who, however, continued the estates to his widow and son, as her father had fought for the King at Evesham. His widow m., before 26 Jan. 1270/1, as 2nd wife, Ralph de Cromwell, of Cromwell, Notts, and West Hallam, co. Derby, who d. shortly before 18 Sep. 1289. She took the veil shortly before 18 June 1293." [Complete Peerage II:1-2]

Ralph married Margaret de Somery. Margaret (daughter of Roger de Somery and Nichole d'Aubigny) died after 18 Jun 1293. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"She took the veil shortly before 18 June 1293." [Complete Peerage II:2]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 23 Jun 1272, Thomond, Ireland

Notes:

Also de Aldithel, Audley. Crusader with Prince Edward, 1270.

"James of Aldithley, 1st or 2nd s. and h., b. about 1220. Keeper of the castle of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 30 Oct. 1250. He joined in a letter of the Barons to the Pope in 1258. Witnessed, as one of the King's sworn Council, the confirmation by Henry III of the Provisions of Oxford, 1258; Lord Marcher; Sheriff of Salop, and co. Staff., 1261-62 and 1270-71; Justiciar of Ireland 1270-72. He took an active part on the King's side against the Barons, being in arms for the King on the Welsh Marches in 1264, and engaging in the Evesham campaign in 1265. He m., in 1244, Ela, da. of William Longespee (who d. 1250), s. and h. of Ela, suo jure Countess of Salisbury, by Idoine, da. and h. of Richard de Camville. She brought him the manors of Stratton, afterwards called Stratton Audley, and Wretchwick, Oxon, in frank marriage. He d. about 11 June (1272) 56 Hen. III, in Ireland, by 'breaking his neck.' Writ for his Inq. p. m. 16 July 1272. His widow d. apparently shortly before 22 Nov. 1299. Inq. p. m. (1325-26) 19 Edw. II." [Complete Peerage I:337-38, as corrected in Volume XIV.]

Notes:

Suo jure Countess of Salisbury.

Notes:

Sheriff of Gloucestershire, 1278-79. Sheriff of Herefordshire 1293-94. Knight of the shire for Gloucestershire, 1283. Knight of the shire for Herefordshire, 1290.

Regarding his service at parliament in 1283, a footnote to the article excerpted below observes that "it is singular that this particular return is supposed to be the only existing record of those present at that Parliament, which met at Shrewsbury, 30th Sep. 1283, one of its results being the execution of Prince David." The other significance of the parliament of 1283 is that following the execution of Dafydd, Parliament removed a few miles south to Acton Burnell, home of Edward I's chancellor Robert Burnell, and there the "knights of the shire" made the constitutionally-consequential decision to sit in a separate gathering alongside the town burgesses, and separate from the aristocracy. Many historians point to this as the origin of the modern houses of Commons and Lords. It is perhaps also significant that the law actually passed by this gathering was a measure empowering the mayors of London, York, and Bristol to take actual against defaulting debtors without involving the national government.

From "Harescombe: Fragments of Parochial History" (citation details below):

Sir Roger le Rous (the father of Alianora) appears to have been a personage of considerable influence and activity in the reign of Edward I., which may be the result of his position as one of the knights enfeoffed by the Earl of Hereford, as well as of the King's personal favour, although upon one occasion he seems to have fallen under his displeasure. He held of the King in capite, as of the manor of Berton Regis, three virgates of land at Brockthrop, which he formerly held of Humphrey de Bohun, but the king ousted him, and compelled him to redeem the lands by payment of fifty marks down and half a mark annually.

He was appointed one of the assessors of the subsidy for this county granted in 3 Edw. III. In the same year he performed military service, due from Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex; muster at Worcester in eight days after the Feast of St. John the Baptist. The register of Malmesbury Abbey names him as one of the witnesses of the settlement of a dispute with the abbot concerning common rights in the wood of Flusrugge, claimed by the Earl of Hereford's men at Wockeseye (Oaksey); he also witnesses a release to the abbey of the marriage of the heir of John le Breth, son of Richard le Breth, of Weston, by Alan de Plokenet for 15 marks of silver (40 marks previously received), together with John Giffard, Walter Heliun, Adam de Monte Alto, John Giffard de Twyford, Ralph de Albyniaco, and Robt. de Panes, Knights. The wardship and marriage so released were sold to Ralph de Leycestre, Archdeacon of Wilts, for 70 marcs of silver.

In the Lanthony Register, he witnesses divers grants: viz., from William de Waleys de Husmerley: "Rogo Ruffo de Harscombe," with Will. de Parco, Walter de Salle, and Robt. de Coverle; also from John de Bohun of half an acre, near to the Court at Haresfield, for the soul of his father, Earl Humphrey, and his mother Matilda; also, from Laurence de Chandos of all his Court of Brockworth, with buildings, gardens, curtilages and vineries, and all appurtenances, in the field called Westfield. He witnesses also a grant from Alexander de Mattesdon to Philip de Mattesdon, and Isabel, his wife, of all his rights in that vill, contained in the Abbot's Register. He was Sheriff of Gloucestershire in Edw. I. (1278). In 1283 he was returned as one of the knights for the shire, as "Dominus Rogerus le Rous."

In 1285, in the time of Rich. Swinfield, Bishop of Hereford (whose judicial rights within his fee the turbulent citizens of Hereford had disputed), we meet with him as Commissioner on an Inquisition held on the day of St. Dionysius. In 1290 we find him Knight of the Shire for Hereford. His name is of frequent occurrence in the Registers of St. Peter's Abbey as a witness to grants of lands, &c.

Roger married Eleanor de Avenbury. Eleanor (daughter of Henry de Avenbury) died after 1312. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 18 Jun 1239, Westminster Palace, Westminster, Middlesex, England
• Alternate death: 8 Jul 1307, Burgh-by-Sands, Carlisle, Cumberland, England

Notes:

Edward Longshanks, Hammer of the Scots, conqueror of Wales. Although he is acclaimed for his many administrative accomplishments and for establishing Parliament as a permanent institution, he also expelled the Jews from England; significant numbers of them returned only 350 years later. He was tall (6' 4"), personally intimidating, and rigid in personal morality, in marked contrast to most earlier post-Conquest English rulers.

Edward married Eleanor of Castile, Queen Consort of England on 18 Oct 1254 in Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos, Castile, Spain. Eleanor (daughter of St. Fernando III, King Of Castile, León, Galicia, Toledo, Córdoba, Jaén, and Seville and Jeanne de Dammartin) was born in 1240; died on 28 Nov 1290 in Hardby, Nottinghamshire, England; was buried in Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1241, Burgos, Castile, Spain
• Alternate birth: Abt 1241

Notes:

Countess of Ponthieu.

Eleanor of Castile, first wife of Edward I, was a daughter of Ferdinand III, King of Castile, Leon, and Galicia, and the French noblewoman Jeanne de Dammartin, suo jure Countess of Ponthieu. Although her marriage (in 1254) to then-prince Edward was a political match designed to affirm English control of Gascony, the couple were unusually close; she even accompanied Edward on the Fourth Crusade, where he was wounded at Acre in Palestine. She was notably well-educated and maintained her own scriptorium, the only one in northern Europe at the time. Her preference for Spanish-style home decorations, kitchen utensils, and personal comforts had a great influence on English domestic life. She brought a considerable personal fortune to her marriage, and increased it all her life through shrewd purchases of lands and manors. Although this had a negative effect on her personal popularity, her husband always encouraged her in it.

Her heart was buried in the Dominican priory of Blackfriars in London, along with that of her son Alphonso. Her entrails were buried in Lincoln Cathedral.