With the death of the heirless Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, at Bannockburn, the issue of the Earldom became a serious problem. Gilbert’s widow claimed she was pregnant with his child for the two years following the Earls death, a lie that Edward seemed content to allow as he sought out favourable marriages for the two widowed Clare sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret. But these claims were finally put to rest after she – obviously - didn’t give birth. I’m not entirely sure how long she would have kept up the ludicrous notion that she was with child, but it’s an eye rolling moment anyway.
The inheritance, due to a will left by their father, was split between the three sisters and Gilbert’s widow in 1317. it amounted to some £6000 per year – which was a helluva lot of money. It makes it more understandable why these two women were so sought after. Marrying them brought instant prestige – not only as nieces to the king, but also because of the wealth they possessed.
According to the article on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by Hamilton, the land was split between the three heiresses. Eleanor, the eldest and wife of Hugh Despense, was given Glamorgan and Tewkesbury. Margaret and Hugh Audley were given Gwynllŵg, the castle of Tonbridge and associated manors in Kent, and the youngest, Elizabeth, and her husband Roger Damory were given Usk, the honour of Clare, and manors in Dorset.
The main problem was that the de Clare heiresses were sitting on a goldmine. Gloucester was a great catch and Hugh Despenser the younger wanted the Earldom and the wealth that came with it. He tried to expand his lands of Glamorgan, forcing his brother in law, Hugh Audley (married to Margaret, Gaveston’s widow) to hand over the Welsh lands he had inherited from the Clare settlement. This in itself did not go unanswered and led to a Marcher rising in 1321 (essentially the beginning of the Civil War).
Eleanor de Clare
The eldest of the three heiresses, her marriage to Hugh Despenser was completed when Edward Longshanks, her maternal grandfather, was still alive. She became extremely wealthy following the death of her brother, the Earl of Gloucester and as such, Hugh himself became an important lord in the country.
Hugh however was ambitious and ruthless in that ambition. Every time I read his actions I find myself shaking my head because I know where his arrogance leads him. He immediately started trying to pull the Earldom of Gloucester back together, seizing the lands that had been given to the other Clare sisters.
It would be wrong to blame the entire civil war on Despenser’s land grabbing in the Welsh Marches, because there were already underlying tensions there prior to this, but the action did fuel the fire. Despenser successfully alienated himself from the other Marcher lords such as the Earl of Hereford, Roger Mortimer, Hugh Audley, Roger Damory and others.
Caerphilly Castle, South Wales. Belonged to the Clare family and passed to Despenser. It was the site of the rebellion in 1316 by Llywelyn Bren. Having been there myself I have to say it is a truly forboding place and I can imagine the difficulties that arose from trying to siege it. The moat is frigging huge.
The king was finally forced to intervene before full out war broke and seized Gower into royal hands. However the damage had already been done and under the command of Lancaster and Hereford, they attacked Despenser.
Margaret de Clare
Second eldest of the Clare sisters. Married to Gaveston on the 1 November 1307 at Berkhamsted. Margaret and Gaveston had one daughter, Joan, born in York on 12 January 1312. Gaveston was executed by his political enemies in June 1312, and in September the king endowed the widowed Margaret de Clare with lands valued at 2000 marks per annum. This arrangement was modified in December 1316, but the new settlement provided her with the same annual revenues.
On 28 April 1317 she married at Windsor, Hugh Audley. In September 1318 Audley and Margaret unsuccessfully petitioned the York parliament for possession of the earldom of Cornwall, which had been part of her first husbands’ lands.
Of the three sisters, Margaret came off less well in the division of the Clare inheritance and after her lands in South Wales were taken by Despenser, Audley joined the Marcher lords, and fought under Lancaster.
He was captured during the battle of Boroughbridge and imprisoned between 1322 and 1326. unlike the other lords in the rebellion who were brutally executed, Margaret’s interception saved her husband from the chopping block.
Elizabeth de Clare
Elizabeth married John de Burgh, Earl of Ulster and the brother of Gilbert’s wife, in 1308.
February 1316, Elizabeth, widowed some three years earlier, was abducted by a man called Theobald de Verdon, who claimed she had been betrothed to him in Ireland. He died no more than five months later, but not before Elizabeth fell pregnant with her daughter, Isabella. Edward, wanting a man he could trust in such a high position of power, began to persuade Elizabeth to marry his favourite, Damory and in May 1317 they were joined.
She was forced into turning over her castle at Usk to her brother-in-law, Hugh Despenser and later she also lost Gower. Usk was eventually returned to her in 1327 by Edward III, but during the rise of the Despenser’s she never managed to regain her welsh lands.
Sources Used:
- Hamilton, J.S, ‘Clare, Margaret de, countess of Gloucester (1291/2?–1342)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, Sept 2004)
- Hamilton, J.S, ‘Despenser, Hugh, the younger, first Lord Despenser (d. 1326)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, Sept 2004)
- Maddicott, J.R, ‘Audley, Hugh, earl of Gloucester (c.1291–1347)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004)
- Prestwich, M, The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272-1377, (Methuen and Co. LTD ,1980)
- Tuck A, Crown and Nobility, 1272-1461 (Oxford Blackwell, 2nd edition 1999)
- Ward, J, ‘Clare, Elizabeth de (1294/5–1360)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, Sept 2004)
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