General Notes

REFN: 4807AN
Alias:<ALIA> /Strongbow/
REFN: P4808
Richard fitz Gilbert De Clare, Earl of P embroke and Lord of Leinster, was
the father of Isabel De Clare, wife of Will iam Marshal. Richard was the
son of Gilbert fitz Gilbert De Clare, Earl of Pe mbroke, and Isabel de
Beaumont, sister to Waleran Count of Meulan and Robert Earl of Leicester.
Richard, like his father, was known as "Strongbow" for his skill and use
of the long bow of the men of Gwent. Richard and his father su pported
King Stephen in the civil war between Stephen and the Empress Matilda for
the throne of England until c1141 when King Stephen took Gilbert's lands
and castles on the suspicion that Gilbert might join his nephew, Gilbert
E arl of Clare, and Ranulf Earl of Chester on the Empress's side.
Gilbert Earl o f Pembroke died in 1148, and Richard at the age of eighteen
took seisin of hi s father's lands, castles and titles. In the Treaty of
Windsor of 1153, King Stephen recognized Henry Duke of Anjou as his heir
to the throne of England, and Richard witnessed the Treaty as "comes de
Penbroc." However, once Henry b ecame King Henry II of England in December
1154, he did not recognize Richard 's right to the title or the lands of
Pembroke [inherited by his father from his uncle Walter De Clare and
granted by King Stephen] nor as lord of Orbec a nd Bienfaite in Normandy
[inherited by his father from his uncle Roger De Cla re and granted by
King Henry I]. Whatever Henry's reasons for denying Richard his lands and
titles [there are no definite proven reasons or justifications of this
act of Henry's], Richard was a knight and baron of one of the oldest and
greatest families of the Conqueror's time who found himself without his
rightful inheritance.
At the age of thirty-eight and still unmarried due to a lack of royal
favor, Richard was ready for the arrival and proposal of Derm ot
MacMurchada Lord of Leinster in 1168/69. Dermot arrived in Bristol, along
with his daughter Aoife, and went to the home of Robert fitz Harding, a
wea lthy merchant, money-lender, and favorite of King Henry's. Dermot had
gone to King Henry in Normandy and gained permission to recruit knights
from Henry's lands in Wales and the Marches for his battle to regain his
own lordship of Leinster in Ireland. It is possible and probable that
fitz Harding, to whom d e Clare may have owed money, recommended Strongbow
to Dermot as a good candid ate to be recruited. Dermot offered Strongbow
lands in Ireland, his daughter Eve in marriage, and the lordship of
Leinster on Dermot's death. Dermot offer ed Strongbow a gamble, a chance,
on winning lands, a royal wife, wealth, and knightly fame. He accepted
the chance on the proviso that he obtained permiss ion from King Henry,
his lord and king. Strongbow went to King Henry and obta ined his
permission, although Henry would later deny that he had given it exc ept
in a jesting manner.
Strongbow arrived in Ireland in August 1170; he had already sent many of
his vassals from Wales to Ireland in 1169. Strongbow me t Dermot and the
Anglo-Norman knights, who were already there, with 200 men-a t-arms and
over one thousand archers. They took Waterford on St. Bartholomew' s Eve
[August 28, 1170], and a day later, he and Eve MacMurchada were married
in the cathedral in Waterford. [There is a painting of the marriage of
Str ongbow and Aoife by Maclise in the National Gallery of Ireland in
Dublin.] So on after the marriage, Strongbow, Dermot and their knights
marched to Dublin and took that city and the adjacent surrounding lands.
Strongbow and the othe r Anglo-Normans quickly took control of the cities
of Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford and much of the southeastern land of
Ireland.
King Henry II became a larmed at the success of his knights and fearing
their growing strength and p ossible motives, he ordered all his knights
in Ireland to return to England o n pain of forfeiture of their lands in
England,