• General Notes

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  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 Cts de Gloucester