Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd edition (2011), Volume I, pages 446-448

1. RICHARD DE CLARE, Knt., 3rd Earl of Hertford (but generally styled Earl of Clare), of Clare, Suffolk, son and heir of Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, by Maud, daughter and heiress of James de Saint Hilary, of Field Dalling, Norfolk. He married AMICE OF GLOUCESTER, 2nd daughter and co-heiress of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, by Hawise, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester. Her maritagium included the town of Sudbury, Suffolk and 6-½ knights fees in Kent. They had four sons, Gilbert, Knt. [Earl of Gloucester and Hertford], Richard, Roger, and Henry, and three daughters, Maud, Hawise, and [?Joan]. Sometime in or before 1172, he gave assent to the grant of his father, Earl Roger de Clare to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem of the advowson of Tonbridge, Kent. He and his father-in-law, William, Earl of Gloucester, were both suspected of complicity, if not direct involvement, in Earl Hugh le Bigod’s rebellion in 1173-4. Clare subsequently supported the king, when the king's son, Henry, rebelled against his father. In the period, 1185-1214, he gave the advowson of the church of Yalding with the chapel of Brenchley, Kent to the church of St. Mary Magdalene, Tonbridge, Kent. In 1188 he and Roger le Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, disputed for the honor of carrying the banner of St. Edmund in battle. He was present at the Coronation of King Richard I at Westminster in 1189. In 1191 he was one of the eleven appointed by the Chancellor to determined [sic] the questions between himself and Prince John. In 1193 he was enjoined by the Chancellor to accompany him on his return to King Richard, then a prisoner in Germany. In 1194/5 he had acquittance as being with the King in the army in Normandy. At the start of the reign of King Richard I the barony of Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire (which had escheated to the crown in 1164) was divided between him and William Marshal, Knt., later Earl of Pembroke. He had a grant from King John of a moiety of the Giffard estates in Normandy and England. In 1198 he excused himself from personal attendance on the king at Hertford. Sometime before Michaelmas 1198, Earl Richard and his wife, Amice, were separated by order of the Pope on grounds of consanguinity, at which date she claimed the town of Sudbury, Suffolk, which had been her marriage portion. They were evidently divorced by 1200, when Amice was styled "formerly the Countess of Clare." In 1202-3 she repeated her claim to the town of Sudbury, Suffolk, and, in 1205-7, she claimed the advowson of St. Gregories, Sudbury, Suffolk, which the Prioress of Eton said had been granted to Eton by Earl William, Amice’s father. The issue of the validity of their marriage was presumably resolved, as Amice styled herself in later charters the "Countess of Clare." Regardless, they appeared to have been estranged at the time of Earl Richard's death, as her charters make no mention of her husband, but only their son and heir, Gilbert. In 1201 he paid £100 in order to obtain possession of the manor of Saham, Norfolk by writ of mort d'ancestor against Roger de Tony, but Tony subsequently recovered the manor. Sometime prior to 1206, he granted the church of Yalding, Kent with the chapelry of Brenchley to Tonbridge Priory. In 1211 Amice, Countess of Clare, offered 40 marks for the recovery of certain fees of which she had been disseised by Guy de Chanceaux. In 1214 the canons of Nutley Abbey secured the church of Bottesham, Cambridgeshire against Richard de Clare. He joined the confederacy of the barons against the king in 1215. He was one of the twenty-five barons elected to guarantee the observance of Magna Carta, which King John signed 15 June 1215. In consequence he was among the barons excommunicated by Pope Innocent III 16 Dec. 1215. On 9 Nov. 1215 he was one of the commissioners on the part of the Barons to treat of peace with the king. On returning to returning to fealty 5 Oct. 1217, he had restitution of his lands. On the death of her sister, Isabel, Countess of Gloucester (former wife of King John) in 1217, Amice became sole heir to their father, William, Earl of Gloucester. SIR RICHARD DE CLARE, Earl of Hertford, died between 30 Oct. and 28 Nov. 1217. Following his death, Tonbridge Priory petitioned the bishop to grant indulgence "to all who pray for the soul of Sir Richard de Clare, formerly Earl of Hertford, whose body lies in the church of St. Mary Magdalen of Tonbridge, and the souls of all faithful departed deceased and those who have assisted in the building or upkeep of the lights, etc." of the church of St. Mary Magdalen in Tonbridge. His widow, Amice, caused the earl's body to be carried to Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire, where it was buried in the choir of the Abbey. In the period, 1217-23, in her widowhood ["viduetate mea"], she gave to Stoke by Clare Priory a messuage and possessions of the hospital of St. Sepulchre in Sudbury, Suffolk. In the period, 1217-36, Amice, Countess of Clare, in her widowhood ["viduitate mea"] confirmed grants made to Margam Abbey by her grandfather, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and William, Earl of Gloucester. At an unknown dete, Countess Amice founded the hogpital of St. Sepulchre in Sudbury, Suffolk, as well as one dedicated to Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. At an unknown date, Amice granted Abraham Fitz Ralph of Thaxted three acres at Holgate in her fee at Sudbury, Suffolk at a yearly rent of 12d. Amice, Countess of Clare, allegedly died 1 January 1224/5.247

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Dugdale Monasticon Anglicanum 2 (1819): 59-65; 6(3) (1830): 1658-1659 (charters of Amice, Countess of Clare, daughter of William Earl of Gloucester). Thomson Hist. Essay on the Magna Charta of King John (1829): 270-272 (biog. of Richard de Clare). Palgrave Rotuli Curiæ Regis 2 (1835): 180. Jour. British Arch. Assoc. 26 (1870): 149-160. Matthew of Paris Chronica Majora 2 (Rolls Ser. 57) (1874): 604-605, 642-644. Turner Cal. Charters & Rolls: Bodleian Lib. (1878): 127. Clark Land of Morgan (1883): 84-86. Doyle Official Baronage of England 2 (1886): 176 (sub Hertford). Birch Cat. Seals in the British Museum 2 (1892): 268-269 (seal of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford — To the right. In hauberk, surcoat, conical helmet, sword, kite-shaped shield. Legend wanting.). Delaville le Roulx Cartulaire Général de l'Ordre des Hospitaliers de S. Jean de Jérusalem 1 (1894): 298-299 (charter dated 1172/99 by Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, mentions his father, Earl Roger; his mother, Countess Maud; this charter was witnessed by his "brothers" [fratribus], Richard de Clere and James de Clare). Fry & Fry Abs. of Feet of Fines Rel. Dorset 1 (Dorset Rec. Soc. 5) (1896): 26. Genealogist n.s. 13 (1896): 98; n.s. 34 (1918): 181-189 (charter of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford, names his parents, Earl Roger and Countess Maud). Rye Cal. Feet of Fines for Suffolk (1900): 13. Ramsay Angevin Empire (1903): 195. VCH Buckingham 1 (1905): 377. Wrottesley Peds. from the Plea Rolls (1905): 146. VCH Hampshire 3 (1908): 85-93. Clark Cartæ et Alia Munimenta de Glamorgancia 2 (1910): 343, 358 (charter of Amice, Countess of Clare, widow to Margam Abbey). Lambert Bletchingley 1 (1921): 52-59. Curia Regis Rolls 1 (1922): 186, 249; 4 (1929): 13, 15, 139-140, 172; 6 (1982): 3, 30, 89, 108, 358; 14 (1961): 92; 15 (1972): 343. C.P. 5 (1926): 694-696 (sub Gloucester); 6 (1926): 501-503 (sub Hertford) ("Whatever the nature of the separation of the Earl and Countess, it did not affect the position of their son, Gilbert."). English Hist. Rev. 61 (1946): 292, footnote 2. Hethe Reg. Hamonis Hethe Diocesis Roffensis 1 (Canterbury & York Soc. 48) (1948): 15, 17 (charter of Richard de Clare dated 1185-1214), 18-19, 45. Paget Baronage of England (1957) 130: 6. Sanders English Baronies (1960): 6, 34-35, 63. Ross Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey 2 (1964): 436-437, 563-564. Cheney Letters of Pope Innocent III 1198-1216 (1967): 172. Gervers Hospitaller Cartulary in the British Museum (1981): 304 (charter of Richard de Clare). Gervers Cartulary of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in England, Secunda Camera, Essex (Recs. of Social and Econ. Hist. n.s. 6) (1982): 548 (charter of Richard de Clare, Earl of Hertford). Harper-Bill Stoke by Clare Cartulary 1 (Suffolk Charters 4) (1982): 3, 12, 23, 37, 41-48 (charters of Amice, Countess of Clare); 2 (Suffolk Charters 5) (1983): 321, 323, 325. Merrick Morganiae Archaiographia (South Wales Rec. Soc. 1) (1983): 41-52. Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 3(1) (1984): 156 (sub Clare). Smith English Episc. Acta 6 Norwich 1070-1214 (1990): 109-110, 216-217, 333-334, 365. Mortimer Charters of St. Bartholomew’s Priory (Suffolk Charters 15) (1996): 25-26 (charter of Amice, Countess of Clare). Curia Regis Rolls 1 (1922): 186.

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C.P. 6 (1926): 503 (sub Hertford) says Amice de Clare, Countess of Hertford "is stated to have died 1 January 1224/5, before which dete she appears to have been recognized as Countess of Gloucester." This statement regarding her being acknowledged Countess of Gloucester appears to be without foundation. In Amice's own charters which have survived and in contemporary records, she is styled solely as Countess of Clare (i.e., Hertford), and never as Countess of Gloucester [see, for instance, Dugdale Monasticon Anglicanum 6(3) (1830): 1658-1659 (charters of Amice, Countess of Clare, daughter of William Earl of Gloucester); Fry & Fry Abs. of Feet of Fines Rel. Dorset 1 (Dorset Rec. Soc. 5) (1896): 26; Clark Cartæ et Alia Munimenta de Glamorganda 2 (1910): 358 (charter of Amice, Countess of Clare, widow); Harper-Bill Stoke by Clare Cartulary 1 (Suffolk Charters 4) (1982): 41-48 (charters of Amice, Countess of Clare); Mortimer Charters of St. Bartholomew's Priory (Suffolk Charters 15) (1996): 25-26 (charter of Armice, Countess of Clare)]. Rather, Dugdale Monasticon Anglicanum 1 (1817): 33 states that Amice's son and heir, Gilbert de Clare, took up the twin earldoms of Gloucester and Hertford in 1217, which occurred during his mother's lifetime. In Nov. 1217, shortly after the death of his aunt, Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, Gilbert confirmed several benefactions as Earl of Gloucester and Hertford [see Stevenson Durford Cartulary (Sussex Rec. Soc. 90) (2006): 81]. In the same month there was a plea between Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and William de Cauntelo and his wife, Milicent, widow of Amaury, Count of Evreux. Livery of various lands was aso ordered [see C.P. 5 (1926): 694 (sub Gloucester)]. Gilbert certainly had possession of the Gloucester inheritance before 1220/1, when the Pipe Rolls sub Norfolk and Suffolk state that “Isti habunt quietancias per brevia... Comes de Clara de 131 f etc.” [see Great Roll of the Pipe Michaelmas 1221, cited in C.P. 6 (1926): 503, footnote c]. Presumably Amice was excluded from the Gloucester inheritance by the terms of her father's agreement with King Henry II in 1176, by which King Henry's son, John (later King John) was acknowledged as heir to William Earl of Gloucester (as future husband of his youngest daughter, Isabel); in return for this grant, the king agreed to give £100 yearly rental to Earl William's older daughters, Mabel and Amice [see Lambert Bletchingey: A Parish Hist. 1 (1921): 53-54, 59, footnote 2].