General Notes

Roger de Clare, fifth Earl of Clare and third Earl of Hertford (d 1173),was the younger son of Richard de Clare (d 1126?), and succeeded to hisbrother Gilbert's titles and estates in 1152.  In 1153 he appears withhis cousin, Richard Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, as one of thesignatories to the treaty at Westminster, in which Stephen recognisesPrince Henry as his successor.  He is found siging charters at Canterburyand Dover in 1156. Next year, according to Powell, he received from HenryII a grant of whatever lands he could conquer in South Wales.  This isprobably only an expansion of the statement of the Welsh chronicles thatin this year (about 1 Jun) he entered Cartigan and 'stored' the castlesof Humfrey, Aberdovey, Dineir, and Rhystud.  Rhys ap Bruffudd, the princeof South Wales, appears to have complained to Henry II of theseencroachments; but being unable to obtain redress from the king ofEngland sent his nephew Einion to attack Humfrey and the other Normanfortresses.  The 'Annales Cambriae seem to assign these events to theyear 1159; and the 'Brut' adds that Prince Rhys burnt all the Frenchcastles in Cardigan.  In 1158 or 1160 Clare advanced with an army to therelief of Carmarthen Castle, then besieged by Rhys, and pitched his campat Dinweilir.  Not daring to attack the Welsh prince, the English armyoffered peace and retired home.  In 1163 Rhys again invaded the conquestsof Clare, who, we learn incidentaly, had at some earlier period causedEinion, the capturer of Humfrey Castle, to be murdered by domestictreachery.  A second time all Cardigan was wrested from the Norman hands;and things no were so threatening as aspect that Henry II led an armyinto Wales in 1165, although, according to one Welsh account, Rhys hadmade his peace with the king in 1164, and had even visited him inEngland.  The causes assigned by the Welsh chronicle for this freshoutbreak of hostility are that Henry failed to keep his promise -presumably of restitution - and secondly that 'Roger, earl of Clare, washonourably receiving Walter, the murderer of Rhys's nephew Einion.  Forthe third time we now read that Cardigan was overrun and the Normancastles burnt; but it is possible that the events assigned by the'Annales Cambriae' to the year 1165 are the same as those assigned by the'Brut y Tywysogion' to 1163.

In the intervening years Clare had been abroad, and is found signingcharters at Le Mans, probably about Christmas 1160, and again at Rouen in1161.  In July 1163 he was summoned by Becket to do homage in hiscapacity of steward to the archbishops of Canterbury for the castle ofTunbridge.  In his refusal, which he based on the grounds that he heldthe castle of the king and not of the archbishop, he was supported byHenry II.  Next year he was one of the 'recognisers' of the constitutionsof Clarendon.  Early in 1170 he was appointed one of a band ofcommissioners for Kent, Surrey, and other parts of southern England.  Hislast known signature seems to belong to June or July 1171, and is datedabroad from Chevaille.  He appears to have died in 1173, and certainlybefore July or August 1174, when we find Richard, earl of Clare, his son,coming to the king at Northampton.

Clare marred Matilda, daughter of James de St Hilary, as we learn form aninspeximus (sated 1328) of one of this lady's charters to Godstow.  Hewas suceeded by his son Richard, who died as it is said, in 1217.Another son James, was a very sickly child, and was twice presentedbefore the tomb of Thomas a Becket by his mother.  On both occasions acure is reproted to have been affected. [Dictionary of National BiographyIV:396-7]

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Roger de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, is likewise said to have born thetitle of Earl of Clare.  In the 3rd Henry II, this nobleman obtainingfrom the king all the lands in Wales which he could win, marched intoCardigan with a great army and fortified divers castles thereabouts.  Inthe 9th of the same reign, we find him summoned by the celebratedThomas-a-Becket, archbishop of Caterbury, to Westminster, in order to dohomage to the prelate for his castle of Tonebruge; which at the commandof the king he refused, alleging that holding it by military service itbelonged rather to the crown than to the church.  His lordship m. Maude (who m. after his decease William d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel), dau. ofJames de St Hillary, by whom he had a son, Richard, his successor.  Thisearl who, from his munificence to the church and his numerous acts ofpiety, was called Good, d. in 1173, and was s. by his son, Richard deClare, 4th Earl of Hertford. [Sir Bernard Burke, "Dormant and ExtinctPeerages", Burke's Peerage, London, 1883, p. 119, Clare, Lords of Clare,Earls of Hertford, Earls of Gloucester]

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ROGER (DE CLARE), EARL OF HERTFORD, but generally styled EARL OF CLARE,brother and heir, appears to have been at once allowed the Earldom byHenry lI, and was certainly an Earl in or before January 1155/6, when asRoger, Earl of Clare, he witnessed the charter of Henry II to Geoffrey deMandeville, the younger. In 1157 and in the following years he wasengaged against Rhys ap Gruffyd in Wales. In 1163 ,he disputed with theArchbishop of Canterbury the latter's claim for fealty in respect ofTonbridge Castle, which was held by the serjeanty of being High Steward.In this he was supported by the King, but the fealty was eventmacllyrecovered by Archbishop Hubert. In 1164 he took part in the Constitutionsof Clarendon . In 1166 he certified his fees as 149, and in 1170 was acommissioner to enquire into the proceedings of the sheriffs in Kent,Surrey, Middlesex, Berks, Oxon and Beds. He married Maud, daughter andheir of James DE ST. HILARY, by his wife Aveline. He died in 1173. Hiswidow for the soul of her husband, Roger de Clare, Earl of Hertford, andfor the souls of her ancestors, confirmed to the monks of Eynsham thegifts of Henry and of Roger FitzGerold. She married, 2ndly, William(D'AUBIGNY), EARL OF ARUNDEL, who died 24 December 1193. [CompletePeerage VI:499-501]

Roger, 3rd Earl of Hertford, also bore the title of Earl of Clare, butHornby observes that this meant only Earl at Clare, for his Earldom wascertainly at Hertford. In 3rd of Henry II this nobleman, having obtainedpermission from the King to own all the lands in Wales that he could win,marched into Caerdigan and captured and fortified the castles there. ThisEarl, who, from his munificence to the church and his numerous acts ofpiety, was called the "Good Earl of Hertford."

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Name Suffix:<NSFX> Earl of Hertford
1  BIRT
2  DATE 1116