• General Notes

  [SUSANNA KEENE.FTW]
  
  Source:  A Baronial Family in Medievil England:  The Clares,
  1217-1314, Michael Altschul, The Johns Hopkins Press,
  Baltimore, 1965. p 94:  "Gilbert de Clare, the "Red Earl" of
  Gloucester and Hertford, was after Simon de Montfort the single
  most important figure in the later stages of the baronial
  opposition to Henry III.  From his father Earl Richard he
  inherited not only the great Clare estates and lordships in
  England, Wales, and Ireland, but also a position of leadership
  among the magnates of the realm; and he was destined to play an
  even more decisive role in the civil wars which determined the
  fate of the struggle between king and baronage than his father
  had played in the initial stages of the movement for reform."
  From same p 104, 107-108:  "The victory at Lewes [over Henry
  III, 14 May 1264] marked the high point of Simon de Montfort's
  fortunes. Ominously, a number of Simon's supporters deserted
  him, including the Earl of Gloucester.  (P) Gilbert's defection
  proved the decisive factor in the situation. The chroniclers
  record a long list of grievances, and the chancery records bear
  at least some of them out.  He had become increasingly
  dissatisfied with Simon's regime and reproached the earl for
  his supposed autocratic rule.  He was jealous of the position
  the earl's sons held in the government.  He quarreled with
  Simon over the control of royalist castles and manors, and the
  exchange of prisoners.  He objected to the use of foreign
  knights in important castles and the failure to expel all the
  aliens from court.  His support for Simon had not been
  unqualified, as the letter written in the winter of 1263-64 had
  shown.  A combination of grievances thus drove him into
  opposition." From same, p 108-110:  "Simon [de Montfort] took
  [Lord] Edward and Henry [III] with him to the west, and
  encamped at Hereford until May 24 [1265]. Attempted
  negotiations proved fruitless, for Gilbert had already worked
  out a plan with Edward and Roger Mortimer which would seal
  Simon's fate.  On May 28, with the assistance of Thomas de
  Clare, Earl Gilbert's younger brother, Edward managed an
  escape.  He joined forces with [Roger] Mortimer at Wigmore, and
  the next day Gilbert joined them in Ludlow.  Wykes, perhaps the
  best informed chronicler of this period, records an important
  set of cnditions that Earl Gilbert demanded as the price of his
  support.  The earl made Edward swear a solemn oath that, if
  victorious, he would cause the "good old laws" of the realm to
  be observed' evil customs would be abolished, aliens banished
  from the king's council and administration; and the king would
  rule with the counsel of his faithful subjects.  If Wykes'
  account of the oath is substantially correct, it clearly shows
  that Gilbert remained firmly attracted to the principles of the
  Provisions [of Oxford (1258) and Westminster (1259), granted to
  the barons by Henry III but not much adhered to], however
  vaguely envisioned and conventionally expressed, and to the
  xenophobia which the movement engendered.  If he withdrew his
  support from Simon, it was not because he was willing, like his
  father Earl Richard in 1260, to repudiate the Provisions, but
  because he felt that Simon did not distinguish between the
  baronial ideals and his personal ambition.  The cause of
  reform, in short, was not the exclusive prerogative of the earl
  of Leicester.  (P) The military operations are quickly told.
  Under the leadership of Edward and Earl Gilbert, the royalists
  gathered at Gloucester, cutting off Simon's retreat across the
  Severn at that point.  Boldly making his way into the march,
  Simon renewed his alliance with Llywelyn in the middle of June.
  He then went through Monmouth to the borough of Newport in the
  Clare lordship of Gwynllwg and attempted to cross over to
  Bristol, but this plan was foiled when Earl Gilbert destroyed
  the convoy sent for that purpose.  Simon managed to return to
  Hereford, and tried to join forces with an army led by his son.
  Edward and Gilbert, however, surprised the younger Simon at
  Kenilworth in Warwick on August 1, routed his forces, and
  immediately doubled back to intercept Earl Simon.  The earl
  reached the Worcester manor of Evesham on August 3, but was
  surrounded by the royalists.  The next day battle [of Evesham]
  was joined.  As Simon advanced on a troop led by Roger
  Mortimer, Earl Gilbert, who commanded the second line, suddenly
  attacked from the rear.  The outcome was less a battle than a
  slaughter.  The only important marcher who fought with Simon,
  Humphrey de Bohun the younger, was captured and imprisoned at
  Beeston castle in Cheshire, where he died on October 27. Two
  other men with marcher affiliations, Henry de Hastings and John
  fitz John, were also imprisoned.  Otherwise the royalists
  showed no mercy.  Simon de Montfort, his son Henry, his loyal
  friend Peter de Montfort the elder, the justiciar Hugh
  Despenser and many others were slain.  King Henry himself was
  rescued by Roger Leyburn.  The Montfortian experiment was
  ended.  (P) The death of Simon de Montfort did not produce
  peace.  The ferocity with which the royalists had crushed their
  enemies carried over into a period of widespread seizures of
  rebel lands and indiscriminate plundering which produced
  further turmoil and unrest.  In addition, the territorial
  policy adopted by the restored royal government provoked those
  supporters of Earl Simon still at large into guerilla
  operations which turned into full-scale warfare and prevented a
  final pacification of the kingdom until the end of 1267.  In
  this period the actions of Gilbert de Clare again proved
  decisive.  His support for the disinherited rebels was a major
  factor in the establishment of internal order following the two
  years of continued civil strife which constituted the aftermath
  of the battle of Evesham."
  From same, p 120-121:  "The most striking feature of Gilbert de
  Clare's role in the later stages of the baronial movement is
  its consistency.  The Red Earl's shifting allegiance was a sign
  not of vaillation but of independence. He was the moderating
  force against the extremes of both the royalist and the
  Montfortian sides.  He was attracted to the baronial movement
  as a whole, but even more than his father Earl Richard, he drew
  the crucial distinction between its policies and the great earl
  whose name is inseparably associated with the movement.  Earl
  Gilbert was not convinced that Simon de Montfort's actions were
  always and indisputably right, and he withdrew his support when
  he felt that Simon's regime was no better in its way than King
  Henry's had been.  His adherence to the royalists, however, was
  no less qualified.  When two years of continued resistance to
  the restored government of Henry III produced further social
  and political unrest, Earl Gilbert's rising proved the decisive
  factor in restoring unity and tranquillity to the realm.
  Unlike Earl Richard, Gilbert had not accepted Henry's
  repudiation of the principles which underlay the Provisions of
  Oxford and Westminster.  His activities, while strongly colored
  by personal animosities and conditioned by personal interests,
  nevertheless reveal a continuity of purpose which did much in
  helping to incorporate those principles into the fabric of the
  common law and the conduct of monarchy. From same, p 155-156:
  "On December 7 [1295] he [Gilbert] died at Edmund of
  Lancaster's castle of Monmouth, and was buried two weeks later
  at Tewkesbury Abbey.  Most of the chroniclers merely noted his
  death without further comment, although an interpolation in the
  chronicle of Walter of Guisborough refers, in rather
  conventional fashion, to the earl's military prowess and
  staunch defense of his rights.  The Red Earl's last years were
  spent under the shadow of Edward I's domination, and his stormy
  career ended in dispirited humiliation.  Perhaps the soundest
  judgment is that contained in the otherwise undistinguished
  Osnay chronicle.  In referring to the earl's marriage to Joan
  of Acre in 1290, the chronicler calls Gilbert the greatest of
  the magnates of the realm in nobility and eminence, and
  incomparably the most powerful man in the kingdom -- next to
  the king.  Later events proved that the chronicler's
  qualification was more significant than he could have realized
  at the time."  From same, p 41-42:  "Taken as a whole, the
  Clare family represents what might be termed one of the most
  successful joint enterprises in medieval English history.  More
  than two centuries of steady territorial growth raised the
  family to a position of pre-eminence in the ranks of the higher
  nobility.  The major factors in this development in the twelfth
  century were undoubtedly royal favor and shrewdly chosen
  marriages.  The Clares prospered from their intimate
  connections with successive rulers of England, and the male
  members of the house were rewarded with a series of important
  fiefs and well-placed ladies.  The power and prestige of the
  family reached their highest level in the thirteenth century
  and the fortunes of its members help illuminate almost every
  aspect of the social and political life of the English baronage
  in this period."
  
  REF: "Falls the Shadow" Sharon Kay Penman: May 1263 the young
  Earl of Gloucester led an Army west & captured the Bishop of
  Hereford, the most hated of the foreign advisors to Henry III
  then left after the expulsion of the de Lusignans.  He threw
  the Bishop into prison, laid siege to the royal castle at
  Gloucester, where de Montfort assumed command.  The army then
  went north to Bridgenorth, where they coordinated their attack
  with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd; the twon & castle surrendered.  de
  Montfort then headed south for London, where a panicked Henry
  took refuge in the Tower.  On April 5 1264 the defeat at
  Northampton by Prince Edward of Simon de Montfort's forces
  crippled Simon's forces.  Northampton defenses had been allowed
  to decay in the years previous to de Montfort's occupation
  there, plus the battle was lost due to the treachery of the
  Prior at St. Andrew's. After the defeat, Edward allowed his
  army to have their sport on the town, culminating in utter
  destruction, rapine, murder, etc. of its inhabitants. Some 80
  barons & knights were taken prisoner & the rebel army was
  gutted.  The defeat touched off a riot in London on Apr 9, 1264
  in which hundreds, mainly Jews, were slain.  Sir Hugh le
  Despenser, Simon's Justicialar & Thomas FitzThomas, Mayor of
  London, attempted to control the crowds & saved some lives by
  offering sanctuary in the Tower.  FitzThomas then begged Simon
  to return to London to quell the Londoners' fear.  In May 1264
  Edward looted lands of Robert de Ferrers, the Earl of Derby,
  after he lost Tutbury Castle, Derby defected from Simon's
  support.  King Henry meanwhile took Leicester & Nottingham.
  Simon & Gilbert de Clare attacked Rochester Castle (which
  surrendered) & besieged the town when Edward approached London
  so Simon went back to defend it.  King Henry & Edward were
  practicing fierce cruelty by chopping off the nads & feet of
  all common soldiers captured from de Montfort's army.  The
  Cinque Ports & Dover Castle held fast for Simon, & did not obey
  Henry & Edward's command for a naval force to attack London.
  Thwarted, Edward took Gilbert de Clare's Tonbridge Castle.
  Simon continued to hold London, but is surrounded by Edward &
  Henry. Gilbert lets his men loose on the Canterbury Jews using
  as a weak (& unproven) excuse that they were in league with the
  King.  de Clare had a fairly long histroy of intense hatred for
  Jews. On the eve of the Battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264, after
  Henry had refused the entreaty of the Bishops of London &
  Worcester (Walter de Cabntelou) to negotiate, de Clare followed
  Simon de Montfort's lead & formally renounced all allegiance to
  King Henry. With Robert de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, de Clare
  had the most to lose of any of the rebel supporters. In late
  July, he joined forces with Montfort & Llywelyn ap Gruffydd &
  put down a rebellion of the Welsh Marcher Lords, including
  Roger de Mortimer.  In October 1264 he was excommunicated by
  Papal edict along with other Montfort supporters & Simon
  himself; however, the sentecne of anathema was not practiced by
  the English Church. Clare had an extremely prickly sense of
  pride, & held a mixture of rancor toward Montfort's sons &
  jealosy of Montfort himself, both of his acclaim & his personal
  popularity with the people.  Clare also could have split
  because of his intense anti-Jewish sentiment & Montfort's
  refusal to condone pogroms, etc. In November 1264, Clare had
  the latest of many quarrels with Montfort's son Bran de
  Montfort, but this one spilled bad blood for the first time
  over to Gilbert's brother Thomas de Clare too. Before Nov 1264,
  Montfort awarded his sons several lucrative appointments; when
  Clare complained he was brushed off by Montfort.  Although
  after Lewes Clare received the lands of John de Warenne,
  William de Lusignan & Peter de Savoie, but Montfort rejected
  his demand for the ransom of Richard of Cornwall (despite the
  Mise of Lewes proclaiming no ransoms to be paid for prisoners
  from the battle). Montfort called a Parliament January 1265; at
  this Parliament Montfort had a very public clash with Clare;
  Clare withdrew to his estates on the Welsh Marches. Clare was
  harboring Marcher Lords in violation of the government
  expulsion edict.  Clare was grieved at Montfort's unilateral
  appointment of his son Amaury as treasurer of York & when in
  late 1264 Montfort arrested the Earl of Derby & threw him into
  the Tower of London for wanton lawlessness, extortion &
  plundering of his neighbors. Many lords, while not feeling
  sorry for Derby, felt this set a dangerous precedent. Lord paid
  for political transgressions; not criminal ones. By April/May
  1265, Simon & Clare had supposedly patched up a peace again,
  but Clare was only stalling for time in order to free Prince
  Edward from the custody of Henry de Montfort & Robert de Ros.
  Edward had again played his cousin Henry for the fool,
  gradually getting Henry to trust him & allow him more freedom.
  While Clare made a visit to King Henry to make a false oath of
  fealty to the King & Simon's government, he engineered Roger de
  Mortimer's rescue of Edward from Henry de Montfort to Wigmore
  castle in May 1265. Gilbert almost goes to war with Roger de
  Mortimer over the lands of Humphrey de Bohun, who died in
  captivity soon after Evesham (Aug 4 1265). Gilbert was as
  uneasy in his new alliance with Edward as he had been formerly
  with Simon; he simmered until April 1267 he siezed London. He
  held London for two months until he was able to negotiate an
  amnesty with Henry. His wife (they shared a mutual hatred for
  one another) tried to warn her uncle King Henry of Gilbert's
  intention but he did not believe her until it was too late.

Details of Gilbert the Red de Clare's family with Joan of Acre Plantagenet