John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_de_Lacy,_2nd_Earl_of_Lincoln

He was the 2nd Earl of Lincoln,the eldest son and heir of Roger de Lacy and his wife, Maud or Matilda de Clere ( not de Clare).

He was hereditary constable of Chester and was one of the earliest who took up arms at the time of the Magna Carta. As a result, he appointed to see that the new statutes were properly carried into effect and observed in the counties of York and Nottingham. He was one of twenty-five barons charged with overseeing the observance of Magna Carta in 1215.

He was excommunicated by the Pope. Upon the accession of King Henry III, he joined a party of noblemen and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and did good service at the siege of Damietta. In 1232 he was made Earl of Lincoln and in 1240, governor of Chester and Beeston Castles.

He married first Alice in 1214 in Pontefract, daughter of Gilbert de Aquila, who gave him one daughter Joan. Then he married in 1221 Margaret de Quincy, only daughter and heiress of Robert de Quincy, son of Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester, by Hawyse. By this marriage he had one son, Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, and two daughters, of one, Maud, married Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester.

He died on 22 July 1240 and was buried at the Cisterian Abbey of Stanlaw, in County Chester. The monk Matthew Paris, records: "On the 22nd day of July, in the year 1240, which was St. Magdalen's Day, John, Earl of Lincoln, after suffering from a long illness went the way of all flesh". Margaret, his wife, survived him and remarried Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke.

Buried:
Grave location and biography:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66773859

John married Margaret de Quincy, Countess of Lincoln. Margaret (daughter of Robert de Quincy and Hawise of Chester, 1st Countess of Lincoln) was born ca 1206, England; died Mar 1266, Hampstead, England; was buried , Church of The Hospitallers, Clerkenwell, London, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_de_Lacy,_Countess_of_Hertford_and_Gloucester

She was an English noblewoman, being the eldest child of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, and the wife of Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester. Maud de Lacy was born on 25 January 1223 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.

Maud de Lacy had a personality that was described as "highly competitive and somewhat embittered". She became known as one of the most litigious women in the 13th century as she was involved in numerous litigations and lawsuits with her tenants, neighbours, and relatives, including her own son. Author Linda Elizabeth Mitchell, in her Portraits of Medieval Women: Family, Marriage, and Politics in England 1225-1350', states that Maud's life has received "considerable attention by historians".

Maud was styled Countess of Hertford and Countess of Gloucester upon her marriage to Richard de Clare. Although her mother, Margaret de Quincy, was Countess of Lincoln in her own right, this title never passed to Maud as her mother's heir was Henry de Lacy, the son of Maud's deceased younger brother Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract.

Her eldest son was Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, a powerful noble during the reigns of kings Henry III of England and Edward I.

Maud and her mother, Margaret, were never close; in point of fact, relations between the two women were described as strained. Throughout Maud's marriage, the only interactions between Maud and her mother were quarrels regarding finances, pertaining to the substantial Marshal family property Margaret owned and controlled due to the latter's second marriage on 6 January 1242 to Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke almost two years after the death of Maud's father, John de Lacy in 1240. Despite their poor rapport with one another, Maud was, nevertheless, strongly influenced by her mother.

The fact that her mother preferred her grandson, Henry over Maud did not help their relationship; Henry, who was also her mother's ward, was made her heir, and he later succeeded to the earldom of Lincoln.


On 25 January 1238 which was her fifteenth birthday, Maud married Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, and 6th Earl of Gloucester, son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, 5th Earl of Gloucester, and Isabel Marshal. Maud was his second wife. Throughout her marriage, Maud's position as the wife of a politically significant nobleman of the 13th century was diminished by her mother's control of a third of the Marshal inheritance and her rank as Countess of Lincoln and dowager countess of Pembroke.

In about 1249/50, Maud ostensibly agreed to the transfer of the manor of Naseby in Northamptonshire, which had formed the greatest part of her marriage portion to her husband's young niece Isabella and her husband, William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle as part of Isabella's own marriage portion. Years later, after the deaths of both women's husbands, Maud sued Isabella for the property, claiming that it had been transferred against her will. Isabella, however, was able to produce the chirograph that showed Maud's participation in the writing of the document; this according to the Common Law signified Maud's agreement to the transaction, and Maud herself was "amerced [fined] for litigating a false claim".

Together Richard and Maud had seven children:

1. Isabel de Clare (1240-before 1271), married as his second wife, William VII of Montferrat, by whom she had one daughter, Margherita. She was allegedly killed by her husband.

2. Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester (2 September 1243-7 December 1295), married firstly Alice de Lusignan of Angouleme by whom he had two daughters; he married secondly Joan of Acre, by whom he had children.

3. Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond (1245-29 August 1287), married Juliana FitzGerald, daughter of Maurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of Offaly and Maud de Prendergast, by whom he had issue including Richard de Clare, 1st Lord Clare and Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere.

4. Bovo de Clare, Chancellor of Llandaff (21 July 1248-1294)

5. Margaret de Clare (1250-1312/1313), married Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall. Their marriage was childless.

6. Rohese de Clare (17 October 1252-after 1316), married Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray, by whom she had children.

7. Eglantine de Clare (1257-1257)

On 15 July 1262, her husband died near Canterbury. Maud designed and commissioned a magnificent tomb for him at Tewkesbury Abbey where he was buried. She also donated the manor of Sydinghowe to the "Priory of Leigh" (i.e. Canonsleigh Abbey, Devon, for the soul of Richard, formerly her husband, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford by charter dated to 1280.

She was involved in numerous lawsuits and litigations with her tenants, neighbours, and relatives, including her eldest son Gilbert, who sued her for admeasurement of her dowry. In her 27 years of widowhood, Maud brought 33 suits into the central courts; and she herself was sued a total of 44 times. As a result, she was known as one of the most litigious women in the 13th century.

She endowed many religious houses, including the Benedictine Stoke-by-Clare Priory, Suffolk (re-established in 1124 by Richard de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford having been moved from Clare Castle) and Canonsleigh Abbey, Devon, which she re-founded as a nunnery. She also vigorously promoted the clerical career of her son, Bovo, and did much to encourage his ambitions and acquisitiveness. She was largely responsible for many of the benefices that were bestowed on him, which made him the richest churchman of the period. Although not an heiress, Maud herself was most likely the wealthiest widow in 13th century England.

Maude married Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester, 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, 8th Lord of Clare. Richard was born 04 Aug 1222, Clare Castle, Clare, Suffolk, England; died 14 Jul 1262, Waltham, Kent, England; was buried , Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_de_Clare,_7th_Earl_of_Gloucester

Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 3rd Lord of Glamorgan, 9th Lord of Clare was a powerful English noble. Also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare or "The red earl", probably because of his hair colour or fiery temper in battle. He held the Lordship of Glamorgan which was one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Welsh Marcher Lordships as well as over 200 English manors.

Gilbert de Clare was born at Christchurch, Hampshire, the son of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester, and of Maud de Lacy, Countess of Lincoln, daughter of John de Lacy and Margaret de Quincy. Gilbert inherited his father's estates in 1262. He took on the titles, including Lord of Glamorgan, from 1263. Being under age at his father's death, he was made a ward of Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford.

He supported Simon de Montfort in the Battle of Lewes against King Henry. However he changed sides as he fell out with de Montfort, and shared the Prince Edward's victory at Kenilworth on 16 July, and in the Battle of Evesham in which de Montfort was slain. As a reward for supporting Prince Edward, Gilbert was given the castle and title of Abergavenny and honor and castle of Brecknock. At the death of Henry III, 16 November 1272, the Earl took the lead in swearing fealty to Edward I, who was then in Sicily on his return from the Crusade.

During Edward's invasion of Wales in 1282, de Clare insisted on leading an attack into southern Wales. King Edward made de Clare the commander of the southern army invading Wales. However, de Clare's army faced disaster after being heavily defeated at the Battle of Llandeilo Fawr. Following this defeat, de Clare was relieved of his position as the southern commander and was replaced by William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke

In the next year, 1291, he quarreled with the Earl of Hereford, Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, grandson of his onetime guardian, about the Lordship of Brecknock, where de Bohun accused de Clare of building a castle on his land culminated in a private war between them. Although it was a given right for Marcher Lords to wage private war the King tested this right in this case, first calling them before a court of their Marcher peers, then realizing the outcome would be colored by their likely avoidance of prejudicing one of their greatest rights they were both called before the superior court, the Kings own. At this both were imprisoned by the King, both sentenced to having their lands forfeit for life and de Clare, the Earl of Gloucester, as the aggressor, was fined 10,000 marks, and the Earl of Hereford 1,000 marks.They were released almost immediately and both of their lands completely restored to them - however they had both been taught a very public lesson and their prestige diminished and the King's authority shown for all.

Gilbert's first marriage was to Alice de Lusignan, also known as Alice de Valence, the daughter of Hugh XI of Lusignan and of the family that succeeded the Marshal family to the title of the Earl of Pembroke in the person of William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke. They married in 1253, when Gilbert was ten years old. She was of high birth, being a niece of King Henry, but the marriage floundered.

After his marriage to Alice de Lusignan was annulled in 1285, Gilbert married Joan of Acre, a daughter of King Edward I of England and his first wife Eleanor of Castile. King Edward sought to bind de Clare, and his assets, more closely to the Crown by this means. By the provisions of the marriage contract, their joint possessions and de Clare's extensive lands could only be inherited by a direct descendant, i.e. close to the Crown, and if the marriage proved childless, the lands would pass to any children Joan may have by further marriage.

King Edward then gave large estates to Gilbert, including one in Malvern. Disputed hunting rights on these led to several armed conflicts with Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, that Edward resolved. Gilbert made gifts to the Priory, and also had a "great conflict" about hunting rights and a ditch that he dug, with Thomas de Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford, that was settled by costly litigation.

Gilbert had a similar conflict with Godfrey Giffard, Bishop and Administrator of Worcester Cathedral (and formerly Chancellor of England. Godfrey, who had granted land to the Priory, had jurisdictional disputes about Malvern Priory, resolved by Robert Burnell, the then Chancellor.

Thereafter, Gilbert and Joan are said to have taken the Cross and set out for the Holy Land. In September, he signed the Barons' letter to the Pope, and on 2 November, surrendered to the King his claim to the advowson of the Bishopric of Llandaff.

Gilbert and Joan had one son: also Gilbert, and three daughters: Eleanor, Margaret and Elizabeth.

1. Gilbert, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester (1291-1314) succeeded to his father's titles and was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn.

2. Eleanor de Clare (1292-1337) married Hugh Despenser the Younger, favorite of her uncle Edward II. Hugh was executed in 1326, and Eleanor married secondly William de la Zouche.

3. Margaret de Clare (1293-1342) married firstly Piers Gaveston (executed in 1312) and then Hugh de Audley.

4. The youngest sister Elizabeth de Clare (1295-1360) married John de Burgh in 1308 at Waltham Abbey, then Theobald of Verdun in 1316, and finally Roger d'Amory in 1317. Each marriage was brief, produced one child (a son by the 1st, daughters by the 2nd and 3rd), and left Elizabeth a widow.

He died at Monmouth Castle on 7 December 1295, and was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey, on the left side of his grandfather Gilbert de Clare. His extensive lands were enjoyed by his surviving wife Joan of Acre until her death in 1307.



Buried:
Grave location, biography, stained glass portrait, photo of Caerphilly Castle and Latin tombs inscription:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=84189824

Gilbert married Princess Joan of Acre. Joan (daughter of Edward I (Longshanks) Plantagenet, King of England and Eleanor of Castile) was born Apr 1272, Acre, Holy Land; died 23 Apr 1307, Clare, Suffolk, England; was buried , Clare Priory, Clare, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_de_Clare

She was a powerful English noblewoman who married Hugh le Despenser, 1st Baron Despenser and was the granddaughter of Edward I of England. With her sisters, Elizabeth de Clare and Margaret de Clare, she inherited her father's estates after the death of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hereford at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. She was born in 1292 at Caerphilly Castle in Glamorgan, Wales and was the eldest daughter Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 5th Lord of Glamorgan and HRH Princess Joan of Acre.

As a co-heiress with her sisters Elizabeth de Clare (wife of Roger Damory), and Margaret de Clare (wife of Hugh Audley), in 1314 she inherited the de Clare estates including the huge feudal barony of Gloucester, following the death of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Gloucester at the Battle of Bannockburn. The partition was not fully settled until 1317.

During this period the family seat of Caerphilly Castle was held by the king under the stewardship of Payn de Turberville of Coity Castle. In protest against Turberville's mistreatment, the Welsh nobleman Llywelyn Bren and his supporters launched a surprise attack on 28 January 1316, and besieged Caerphilly Castle, which successfully held out under the command of "The lady of Clare" (almost certainly Eleanor) and a small garrison until relieved by Sir William Montacute on 12 March 1316. [Another ancestor]

In May 1306 at Westminster, Eleanor married Hugh le Despenser the Younger, the son of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester by his wife Isabella de Beauchamp, daughter of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick. Despenser thereby became Lord of Glamorgan. Her grandfather, King Edward I, granted Eleanor a dowry of 2,000 pounds sterling.

Eleanor's husband rose to prominence as the new favourite of her uncle, King Edward II of England. The king strongly favored Hugh and Eleanor, visiting them often and granting them many gifts. One foreign chronicler even alleged that Edward was involved in a ménage à trois with his niece and her husband. Eleanor's fortunes changed drastically after the invasion of Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer, following which her husband Hugh le Despenser was executed.

Eleanor and Hugh had nine children to survive infancy:

1. Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308-1349), 2nd Baron Le Despencer, who was restored to his grandfather's title of Baron le Despencer in 1338. He had no surviving children.

2. Gilbert le Despencer

3. Edward le Despenser, (1310-1342), soldier, killed at the siege of Vannes; father of Edward II le Despenser, Knight of the Garter, who became Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357.

4. Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel (1312-1356), married Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel.

5. John le Despenser, (1311-June 1366).

6.Eleanor le Despenser, (c. 1315-1351), nun at Sempringham Priory

7. Joan le Despenser, (c. 1317-1384), nun at Shaftesbury Abbey

8.Margaret le Despenser, (c. 1319-1337), nun at Whatton Priory

Elizabeth le Despenser, born 1325, died 13 July 1389, married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley.

In November 1326, Eleanor was confined to the Tower of London. The Despenser family's fortunes also suffered with the executions of Eleanor's husband and father-in-law. Eleanor and Hugh's eldest son Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308-1349), who held Caerphilly Castle against the queen's forces until the spring of 1327, was spared his life when he surrendered the castle, but he remained a prisoner until July 1331, after which he was eventually restored to royal favor. Three of Eleanor's daughters were forcibly veiled as nuns. Only the eldest daughter, Isabel, and the youngest daughter, Elizabeth, escaped the nunnery, Isabel because she was already married and Elizabeth on account of her infancy. In February 1328 Eleanor was freed from imprisonment. In April 1328, she was restored to possession of her own lands, for which she did homage.

In January 1329 Eleanor was abducted from Hanley Castle by William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer, who had been one of her first husband's captors and who had led the siege of Caerphilly Castle. The abduction may in fact have been an elopement; in any case, Eleanor's lands were seized by King Edward III, and the couple's arrest was ordered.

At the same time, Eleanor was accused of stealing jewels from the Tower of London. Sometime after February 1329, she was imprisoned a second time in the Tower, and was later moved to Devizes Castle. In January 1330 she was released and pardoned after agreeing to sign away the most valuable part of her share of the lucrative Clare inheritance to the crown. She could recover her lands only on payment of the enormous sum of 50,000 pounds in a single day.

Within the year, however, the young future King Edward III (Eleanor's first cousin) overthrew Queen Isabella's paramour, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and had him executed. Eleanor was among those who benefited from the fall of Mortimer and Isabella.

She petitioned Edward III for the restoration of her lands, claiming that she had signed them away after being threatened by Roger Mortimer that she would never be freed if she did not. In 1331 Edward III granted her petition "to ease the king's conscience" and allowed her to recover the lands on the condition that she should pay a fine of 10,000 pounds, later reduced to 5,000 pounds, in installments. Eleanor made part-payments of the fine, but the bulk of it was outstanding at her death.

Eleanor's troubles were by no means over, however. After Eleanor's marriage to Zouche, John de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Rotherfield claimed that he had married her first. In 1333 Grey was still attempting to claim marriage to Eleanor; the case was appealed to the Pope several times. Ultimately, Zouche won the dispute and Eleanor remained with him until his death in February 1337, only a few months before Eleanor's own death. By Zouche Eleanor had progeny as follows:

William de la Zouche, born 1330, died after 1360, a monk at Glastonbury Abbey and Joyce Zouche, born 1331, died after 4 May 1372, married John de Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt.

Hugh le Despenser the younger and Eleanor are generally credited with having begun the renovations to Tewkesbury Abbey, a foundation of her ancestors, which transformed it into one of the finest example of the decorated style of architecture surviving today.

The famous fourteenth-century stained-glass windows in the choir, which include the armor-clad figures of Eleanor's ancestors, brother and two husbands, were most likely Eleanor's own contribution, although she probably did not live to see them put in place. The naked kneeling woman watching the Last Judgment in the choir's east window may represent Eleanor.



Buried:
Grave location, biography, and stained glass window portrait:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16441442

Eleanor married Hugh le Despenser, The Younger. Hugh (son of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester and Isabella de Beauchamp, Baroness Despenser) was born 1286, Gloucestershire, England; died 24 Nov 1326, Hereford Herefordshire, England; was buried , Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet]