Richard FitzGilbert De Clare

• General Notes
  • Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland (1130 - 20 April 1176), was also known as Strongbow. He was a Cambro-Norman lord notable for his leading role in the Norman invasion of Ireland.
    
    He was the son of Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Beaumont. His father Gilbert died when Richard was about eighteen years old, and he inherited the title Earl of Pembroke, but it was probably not recognized at Henry II's coronation.[1]
    
    The Marriage of Aoife and Strongbow (1854) by Daniel Maclise, a romanticised depiction of the union between the Aoife MacMurrough and Strongbow in the ruins of Waterford.
    
    In 1168 Dermot MacMurrough ( Turlain Mac Murchada), King of Leinster, driven out of his kingdom by Rory O'Connor (Irish Tairrdelbach mac Ruaidri Ua Conchobair), High King of Ireland with the help of Tiernan O'Rourke (Irish Tighearnán Ua Ruairc), came to solicit help from Henry II.
    
    He was pointed in the direction of Richard and other Marcher barons and knights by King Henry, who was always looking to extend his power in Ireland. Diarmuid secured the services of Richard, promising him the hand of his daughter Aoife and the succession to Leinster. An army was assembled that included Welsh archers. The army, under Raymond le Gros, took Wexford, Waterford and Dublin in 1169 and 1170, and Strongbow joined them in August 1170. The day after the capture of Waterford, he married MacMorrough's daughter, Aoife of Leinster.
    
    The success was bittersweet, as King Henry, concerned that his barons would become too powerful and independent overseas, ordered all the troops to return by Easter 1171. However, in May of that year, Diarmuid died, and Strongbow claimed the kingship of Leinster in the right of his wife. The old King's death was the signal of a general rising, and Richard barely managed to keep Roderick out of Dublin. Immediately afterwards, Richard hurried to England to solicit help from Henry II, and in return surrendered to him all his lands and castles. Henry invaded in October 1172, staying six months and putting his own men into nearly all the important places, and assumed the title Lord of Ireland. Richard kept only Kildare, and found himself again largely disenfranchised.
    
    In 1173, Henry's sons rose against him in Normandy, and Richard went to France with the King[citation needed]. As a reward for his service he was reinstated in Leinster and made governor of Ireland[citation needed], where he faced near-constant rebellion. In 1174, he advanced into Connaught and was severely defeated, but Raymond le Gros, his chief general, re-established his supremacy in Leinster[citation needed]. After another rebellion, in 1176, Raymond took Limerick for Richard, but just at this moment of triumph, Strongbow died of an infection in his foot.[citation
    
    Legacy
    
    Strongbow was the statesman, whereas Raymond was the soldier, of the conquest. He is vividly described by Giraldus Cambrensis as a tall and fair man, of pleasing appearance, modest in his bearing, delicate in features, of a low voice, but sage in council and the idol of his soldiers. He was buried in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral where an alleged effigy can be viewed. Strongbow's original tomb-effigy was destroyed when the roof of the Cathedral collapsed in the 16th century. The one that is on display now actually bears the coat of arms of the Earls of Kildare and dates from c.15th century and actually is the effigy of another local Knight. Strongbow is actually buried in the graveyard of the Ferns Cathedral in Ferns, Ireland, where his grave can be seen in the graveyard.
    
    He left a young son Gilbert who died in 1185 while still a minor, and a daughter Isabel. King Henry II promised Isabel in marriage to William the Marshal together with her father's lands and title. Strongbow's widow, Aoife, lived on and was last recorded in a charter of 1188.
    
    Richard also held the title of Lord Marshal of England.
    
    The English Strongbow Cider was named in honour of Richard de Clare