Earl Gilbert de Clare of Pembroke

  General Notes:

Sometimes referred to as "Strongbow" but his son is better remembered by this name.

Gilbert de Clare became a baron, obtaining the estates of his paternal uncles, Roger and Walter, which included the baronies and castles of Bienfaite and Orbec in Normandy, the lordship of Nether Gwent and the castle of Striguil (later Chepstow). Stephen created him Earl of Pembroke and gave him the rape and castle of Pevensey.

At Stephen's defeat at Lincoln on February 2 1141, Gilbert was among those who rallied to Empress Matilda when she recovered London in June but he was at Canterbury when Stephen was re-crowned late in 1141. He then joined Geoffrey's plot against Stephen but when that conspiracy collapsed, he was again adhered to Stephen, being with him at the siege of Oxford late in 1142. In 1147 he rebelled when Stephen refused to give him the castles surrendered by his nephew Gilbert, 2nd Earl of Hertford, whereupon the King marched to his nearest castle and nearly captured him. However, the Earl appears to have made his peace with Stephen before his death the following year.

He married Isabel de Beaumont (c. 1102-c. 1172), around 1130, daughter of Sir Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, Count of Meulan, and Isabel de Vermandois. Isabel had previously been the mistress of Henry I.

Gilbert married Isabel de Beaumont, daughter of Robert de Beaumont Earl Of Leicester, Count Of Meulan and Elizabeth de Vermandois.