Richard FitzGilbert de Clare
1094 – 1136
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Richard FitzGilbert de Clare was one of the greatest landholders in Domesday Book, tenant-in-chief of something like a hundred and seventy lordships, and joint Justiciar of England in 1075. He founded the house of Clare, whose castles at Clare and Tonbridge gave the family its name. Unlike many Conquest-era ancestors his identity is not in doubt at all, which is why this family's claim to reach Domesday rests on him rather than on the better-known but more ambiguous first Aubrey de Vere.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (Entered 23 Jul 2026 under the relaxed rule (standard, undisputed peerage/royal account; provenance so noted).): RICHARD FITZGILBERT DE CLARE (d. 15 Apr 1136), son of Gilbert FitzRichard (I99527) and brother of ancestress Alice de Vere - AMBUSHED AND KILLED BY THE WELSH in the wooded pass of Coed Grwyne, the opening blood of the great Welsh revolt of 1136. m. ADELIZ OF CHESTER. Father of the 2nd Earl of Hertford (our line) - a THIRD line of descent from Gilbert FitzRichard. Direct ancestor. Added 23 Jul 2026.