Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage: Volume 5: Gloucester

GLOUCESTER

See also "proposed" section

Volume 5, page 683:
ROBERT [Earl of Gloucester, d. 1147] ROBERT, illegitimate son of HENRY I, probably by Sibyl, da. of Robert CORBET, burgess of Caen,(d) was usually called in charters "son of the King," and "de Caen" or Consul (for Comes).
Note d:
See R.A.L. Pezet, Les Barons de Creully. On the statement that his mother was Nest, da. of Rhys ap Tudor, Prince of South Wales (by whom Henry had a son Henry), see Freeman, Norm. Con., vol. v, pp. 852-3. The statement is made in the later text of the Brut y Tywysogion. During William II's reign Henry spent most of his time in Normandy.

In volume 11, Appendix D, on Henry I's Illegitimate Children, p.106 it is stated that the name and identity of Robert's mother are uncertain, and that Pezet's statement "seems to arise from confusion with Henry I's mistress Sibyl, da. of Robert Corbet of Alcester".

Volume 5, page 686, note b:
[Robert, Earl of Gloucester, d. 1147] Of the Earl's daughters ... Mabel m. Aubrey de Vere.

There seems to be no evidence for such a marriage. In a pedigree of the Alington family from the late 16th century, the Aubrey de Vere in question is inserted between the 1st and 2nd Earls of Oxford of that name [British Library, Add. MS 12471, ff.88b-89; the supposed daughter of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, is there called Adeliza, not Mabel].

Volume 5, page 700, note h (on p.701):
Besides his son and successor in title, Gilbert, the Earl [Richard de Clare, d. 1262] had two sons: (1) Thomas de Clare, who had a public career and was a friend of Prince Edward, with whom he went on a Crusade (Annales Mon., vol. ii, p. 109). ... He d. in Ireland in Feb. 1287/8 (Annales Mon., vol. iv, p. 314; the extent of his lands is in Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. ii, p. 696), leaving a son and heir Thomas (Cal. Patent Rolls, 1292-1301, p. 81), and a son Richard, a clerk (Cal. Papal Letters, vol. ii, p. 12 &c.).

Thomas de Clare married Julian, daughter and heir of Sir Maurice FitzMaurice, before 18 February 1274/5 [Cal. Documents Ireland, vol. 3, no 1142]. He was lord of Thomond in Connaught, and died 29 August 1287 (not February 1287/8). His wife Julian remarried, between 11 December 1291 and 16 February 1291/2, to Adam de Creting [Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1281-1292, pp. 463, 476; Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, vol. 3, no 1142]. He was succeeded by his son Gilbert (not Thomas), and afterwards his son Richard. Richard's son Thomas was succeeded in April 1321 by his aunts (Richard's sisters), Margaret, the wife of Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere, and Maud, the wife of Sir Robert de Welle [Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. 6, no 275]. Thomas de Clare's other son Richard, the clerk, was presumably illegitimate, as he did not succeed to the estates despite apparently surviving until at least 1331 [Cal. Papal Letters, vol. 2, p.326; see below].

The identification of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond, as a younger son of Richard, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [d. 1262], was removed in Complete Peerage, volume 14, in the articles on Badlesmere and Clare. Nevertheless, this identification is commonly assumed by historians and editors (and in several other volumes of the Complete Peerage; for example, the extent of lands referred to above is that of the lord of Thomond). This identification does appear to be justified by record evidence:

• In 1284 Thomas de Clare, described as the brother of the Earl of Gloucester, made a recognizance to several merchants of Lucca for a loan of £409, and they were to hold his manor called Agni in the county of Limerick until it was repaid [Cal. Documents Ireland, vol. 2, no 2312]. Presumably this is the same as the manor of "Any" which appears in the extents of the lands of Thomas de Clare of Thomond, taken in 1287 [Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. 2, no 696].
• In 1306, a papal dispensation was issued to Richard de Clare, who had held the churches of Boureth and Yothel in the dioceses of Killaloe and Cloyne. Richard was identified as the son of Thomas de Clare, son of the Earl of Gloucester, and the dispensation was granted at the request of Richard's aunt, Margaret de Clara, Countess of Cornwall [Cal. Papal Letters, vol. 2, p. 12]. The places mentioned are indexed as Bunratty and Youghal, and the advowsons of both these places are included in the extent of the lands of Thomas de Clare of Thomond [Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. 2, no 696]. Margaret de Clare, the divorced wife of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, was a daughter of Richard, Earl of Gloucester [Complete Peerage, vol. 3, p.433].
• A papal mandate, dated 1341, to grant a dispensation to remain married, to Hugh le Despenser, Lord of Tewkesbury, and his wife Elizabeth Montague, stated that Hugh was related to Elizabeth's former husband, Giles de Badlesmere, in the third degree [Cal. Papal Letters, vol.2, p.553]. The relationship is explained thus: Hugh's maternal grandfather was Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [son of Earl Richard, d.1262; Complete Peerage, vol. 4, pp.269-273], and Giles's maternal grandfather was Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond [Gilbert's brother; Complete Peerage, vol. 1, p.372].

The date, February 1287/8, given above for Thomas de Clare's death [citing the Chronicle of Thomas Wykes, Annales Monastici, vol. 4, p. 314] must be an error. In Gilbert de Clare's proof of age in 1302, Thomond de Clare is said to have died 29 August 1287 [Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. 4, no 54]. This is confirmed by the fact that the extents of Thomas de Clare's Irish lands were taken in September and October 1287 [Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. 2, no 696].

The reference to Thomas de Clare leaving a son and heir Thomas is also an error. In the reference cited above [Cal. Patent Rolls, 1292-1301, p. 81], the son and heir is named as Gilbert, not Thomas.

Richard de Clare the clerk, son of Thomas de Clare, was said to be aged about 20 in 1306 [Cal. Papal Letters, vol. 2, p. 12]. In 1314, Thomas de Clare's other son Richard granted to him for life the manor of Plashes, in Standon, Hertfordshire [Victoria County History Hertforshire, vol. 3, p.355, citing Duchy of Lancaster Deeds, L1282]. Richard seems to have been still living in or shortly before 1331, when he was ordered to be removed from a canonry of Dublin and the prebend of Swords [Cal. Papal Letters, vol. 2, p. 326]. Despite this, Thomas de Clare's daughters had been returned as the heirs of their nephew Thomas de Clare in 1321 [Cal. Inq. p.m., vol. 6, no 275]. So Richard the clerk was presumably an illegitimate son (he could not have been a half-brother of Thomas's other son Richard, as there is no doubt that Thomas was married to Julian at the times of both their births).

[The inconsistencies concerning the identity of Thomas de Clare, lord of Thomond, were raised by Dave Utzinger in November 2001. Douglas Richardson pointed out his identity with Earl Richard's son, based on the evidence of the Despenser-Badlesmere consanguinity and the descent of the manor of Plashes, in March 2002. Further contributions were made by John P. Ravilious, Adrian Channing and Cris Nash.]

Volume 5, page 715:
HUGH DE AUDLEY [d. 1347] was 2nd s. of Hugh (DE AUDLEY), LORD AUDLEY (by writ of 1321), by Isolt, da. of Edmund DE MORTIMER, of Wigmore.

Isolt, the wife of Hugh de Audley, Lord Audley, was not a Mortimer, but was a daughter of Roger le Rus or Rous; see Audley (of Stratton Audley), vol. 1, pp. 347, 348.

[Item last updated 26 August 2018.]

Volume 5, page 729:
The coheirs of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, were his three surviving daughters: (1) Anne, then wife of her 2nd husband, Edmund, Earl of Stafford ...

Anne was baptised at Pleshey, Essex, shortly before 6 May 1383, when her uncle John of Gaunt ordered several payments to be made in connection with her baptism [Camden 3rd ser., vol.57, pp.258-260 (1937)].

[Information from Douglas Richardson.]