• General Notes

  [charlemegne.FTW]
  
  Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hartford. "the Red Earl " 9th Earl of Clare
  
  Gilbert de Clare the Red, Knt., Baron of Clare, Suffolk, 9th Ear l of Clare, 3rd Earl of Gloucester, 6th Earl of Hertford.
  
  At the death of King Henry III on 16 Nov. 1272, the Earl took th e lead in swearing fealty to Edward I, who was then in Sicily re turning from the Crusade. He was Joint Guardian of England durin g the King's absence. Proposals for his marriage to the King's d aughter were made as early as May 1283.
  
  3rd Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hertford.
  
  Gilbert Goch ("the Red") - named for hair color. Hants = Hampshi re. also seems to be enumerated in some sources as 6th earl of G loucester, 9th earl of Clare
  
  knighted 14 May 1264; died Monmouth Castle. (1) marriage to Alic e, daughter of Hugh de Lusignan, count of La Marche and Angoulem e.: there was a formal separation in 1271 and an annullment in 1 285.
  
  Gloucester, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of, 9TH EARL OF CLARE, al so called THE RED EARL (b. Sept. 2, 1243, Christchurch, Hampshir e, Eng.--d. Dec. 7, 1295, Monmouth, Wales), Welsh nobleman whos e belated support of King Henry III of England was a major facto r in the collapse of the baronial rebellion led by  Simon de Mon tfort. Gilbert married Alice of Angoulme, niece of  King Henr y III, succeeded his father (Richard de Clare) in July 1262, an d joined the baronial party led by Simon de Montfort. With Simon , Gloucester was at the battle of Lewes in May 1264, when the ki ng himself surrendered to him, and after this victory he was on e of the three persons selected to nominate a council. Soon, how ever, he quarreled with Simon. Leaving London for his lands on t he Welsh border, he met Prince Edward (afterward King Edward I ) at Ludlow, just after his escape from captivity, and contribut ed largely to Edward's victory at Evesham in August 1265. But th is alliance was as transitory as the one with Simon. Glouceste r championed the barons who had surrendered at Kenilworth in Nov ember and December 1266 and, after putting his demands before th e king, secured possession of London (April 1267). Gloucester qu ickly made his peace with Henry III and with Prince Edward. Unde r Edward I he spent several years fighting in Wales, or on the W elsh border. He was succeeded by his son, also named Gilbert d e Clare (1291-1314), who was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn .
  
  There seems to be some confusion over the dates of birth of th e children of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Hertford and Glouceste r (1243-95) and Joan "of Acre" (1272-1307), daughter of Edward I .
  
  Contemporary chronicle evidence and the testimony of Edward I' s wardrobe accounts confirm that Joan's first child by Gilbert , another Gilbert, was born in May 1291.  The dates of birth o f her last three children, all daughters, are not as specificall y recorded and must be recovered from the inquisitions post mort em  taken following the death at Bannockburn in 1314  of their b rother Gilbert, the last Clare earl of Hertford and Gloucester.
  
  Only two of the sisters' births can be determined in this way, h owever.
  Elizabeth, the youngest, was born in November 1295, only weeks b efore her father's death.
  
  But it appears to have been the eldest of the the three sisters , Eleanor,
  who was born in October 1292 and not Margaret, the second of th e three. All contemporary record sources agree that Eleanor wa s the eldest, and as the human reproductive cycle is fixed withi n certain limits there is, even biologically speaking, barely en ough time between May 1291, when young Gilbert was born, and Oct ober 1292 when it is alleged Margaret was born, for yet anothe r child to have been born.  If we factor in the prevailing custo m of a woman's confinement for a period of up to 60 days (two mo nths) between the  birth of a child and her churching or purific ation, it becomes even less likely that Joan "of Acre" could hav e borne Gilbert in May 1291, then Eleanor and then Margaret in O ctober 1292.
  
  Frances Underhill's biography of the youngest sister Elizabeth ( to be published in November 1999 by St Martin's Press in New Yor k) date Eleanor's birth to October 1292, Margaret's c. 1294 an d Elizabeth's in November 1295.

Details of Gilbert's family with Joan of England