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- Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare, d. 15 April 1136. was a Norman nobleman, the son of Gilbert Fitz Richard de Clare and Adeliza de Claremont. He founded the priory of Tonbridge.
Richard held the Lordship of Ceredigion in Wales. A Welsh revolt against Norman rule had begun in south Wales where, on 1 January 1136 the Welsh won a victory over the local Norman forces between Loughor and Swansea.
Richard had been away from his lordship in the early part of the year. Returning to the borders of Wales in April, he ignored warnings of the danger and pressed on toward Ceredigion with only a small force. He had not gone far when on 15 April he was ambushed and killed by the men of Gwent under Iorwerth ab Owain and his brother Morgan, grandsons of Caradog ap Gruffydd, in a woody tract called "the ill-way of Coed Grano", near Llanthony Abbey, north of Abergavenny.
The news of Richard's death induced Owain Gwynedd, son of Gruffydd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd to invade his Lordship. In alliance with Gruffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth, he won a crushing victory over the Normans at the Battle of Crug Mawr, just outside Cardigan. The town of Cardigan was taken and burnt, and Richard's widow, Adelize, took refuge in Cardigan Castle, which was successfully defended by Robert fitz Martin. She was rescued by Miles of Gloucester who led an expedition to bring her to safety in England.
He is commonly said to have been created Earl of Hertford by either Henry I or Stephen, but no contemporary reference to him, including the record of his death, calls him by any title, while a cartulary states that a tenant had held "de Gilleberto, filio Richardi, et de Ricardo, filio ejus, et postea, de Comite Gilleberto, filio Richardi" (of Gilbert Fitz Richard, and his son Richard, and then of Earl Gilbert Fitz Richard), again failing to call Richard Earl while giving that title to his son. Thus his supposed creation as Earl is likely apocryphal.
Richard married 1116, Alice de Gernon, (c. 1102-1128), daughter of Ranulph le Meschin, 1st Earl of Chester and the heiress Lucy of Bolingbroke, by her having:
Gilbert Fitz Richard de Clare, d. 1153, 2nd Earl of Hertford
Alice de Clare (Adelize de Tonbridge), m. (1) about 1133, Sir William de Percy, Lord of Topcliffe, son of Alan de Percy and Emma de Gant; (2) Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd, brother of Owain Gwynedd
Robert Fitz Richard de Clare, perhaps died in childhood
Rohese de Clare, m. Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln
Roger de Clare, d. 1173, 2nd Earl of Hertford.
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