Richard de Clare
1130 – 1176
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Richard de Clare, called Strongbow, second Earl of Pembroke, led the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1170, taking Waterford and Dublin, and married Aoife, daughter of the King of Leinster, at Waterford that August. He became Lord of Leinster in her right and died in Dublin in April 1176. He is buried in Christ Church Cathedral. His great-grandfather Richard FitzGilbert had taken his own fortune out of the conquest of England a century earlier, so the family made by one conquest led the next.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (Entered 23 Jul 2026 under the relaxed rule (standard, undisputed peerage/royal account; provenance so noted).): RICHARD DE CLARE ('STRONGBOW'), 2ND EARL OF PEMBROKE (c.1130-1176) - LEADER OF THE NORMAN INVASION OF IRELAND 1170; took Waterford and Dublin; m. AOIFE, dau. of the King of Leinster, at Waterford Aug 1170 - the marriage at the hinge of Irish history (Maclise's vast canvas of it hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland); Lord of Leinster; d. Dublin 20 Apr 1176, bur. CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL. Direct ancestor - and so the tree that already descends from the Geraldine invaders (FitzMaurice ladder) now descends from the invasion's commander too, while HIS grandfather Gilbert FitzRichard (I99527) was ALREADY an ancestor via the de Vere door: three descents from one Clare patriarch. Added 23 Jul 2026.