Rohesia FitzGilbert de Clare

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Rohese de Clare

• Husband Baderon Fitz William
• Noble family House de Clare
• Father Gilbert de Clare
• Mother Adeliza de Breteuil
• Born 1090
• Clare, Suffolk, Kingdom of England
• Died 1166
• Clare, Suffolk, Kingdom of England
• Buried Monmouth Priory, Monmouthshire, Kingdom of England
• Religion Catholic

Rohese de Clare (1090-1185) was the daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 2nd Baron of Clare (1066-1117), by his wife Adeliza de Breteuil (1058-1117). She married once to Baderon Fitz William, 2nd Baron of Monmouth (1100-1176) and had five children by that marriage. [1][2] Rohese was highly religious and made many gifts to her favorite Priory. Besides being a wife to a feudal Baron her life was relatively uneventful.

Life

When Rohese de Clare was ready to marry her father was already dead so her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke gave her away at her wedding at Striguil Castle.[2][3] Rohese de Clare is most notable for her generosity to Monmouth Priory beginning soon after her marriage. As a married woman she acted through her husband, who records in the charter that the gifts were made "by myself and my wife, at her request ... at the Feast of All Saints on the same day on which she was married to me at Striguil".[4] The gift was put into effect "on the St. Martin's Day Feast next following" at a ceremony at Monmouth attended by Rohese's brothers Walter de Clare and Gilbert and by Gilbert's wife Isabel de Beaumont (a former mistress of King Henry I of England. The gift consisted of a tithe of the regular revenues of the town of Monmouth, to be paid in installments three times each year.[4] In 1144 Rohese and Baderon made further donations to Monmouth Priory.[5][4]

Family

Rohese de Clare married once to Baderon Fitz William, 2nd Baron of Monmouth by which they had 5 children by that marriage:

• Gilbert Fitz Baderon, 3rd Baron Monmouth (1103-1189) Heir; married Bertha de Braose
• James Fitz Baderon (1105-1159);
• Robert Fitz Baderon (1106-1165);
• Rohese of Monmouth (1130-1181); married Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath
• Walter Fitz Baderon (1108-1169); married Petronilla de Muscegros

References

1. * George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant, Vol. XII, Part 2, Ed. Geoffrey H. White (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1959), p. 168
2. * Women and Literature in Britain, 1150-1500, Ed. Carol M. Meale, Second Edition (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 17
3. * I.J. Sanders, English Baronies: a study of their origin and descent, 1086-1327 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), p. 65
4. * William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, Vol 4, Eds. J. Caley, H. Ellis & B. Bandinel (London: Longman, Hurst, et al., 1823), pp. 596-597
5. * J. Horace Round, ed., Calendar of Documents Preserved in France: 918-1206: Anjou: part 2 (1899) no. 1143