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Richard Fitzgilbert of Tonebruge [Richard De Clare], a lawyer and Chief Justice of England, born before 1035, was the founder of the House of Clare in England, first Lord of Clare. He was the eldest son of Gislebert, Count of Eu and Brionne, a descendant of Emperor Charlemagne. He accompanied Duke William into England, and later held one hundred and seventy-six lordships or manors. At the time of the General Survey, which was towards the close of King William's reign, he is called Ricardus de Tonebruge, from his seat at Tonebruge (now Tunbridge), in Kent, which town and castle he obtained from the archbishop of Canterbury, in lieu of the castle of Brion; at which time he enjoyed thirty-eight lordships in Surrey, thirty-five in Essex, three in Cambridgeshire, with some others in Wilts and Devon, and ninety-five in Suffolk, among those was Clare, whence he was styled Richard de Clare; and that place in a few years afterwards becoming the chief seat of the family, his descendants are said to have assumed thereupon the title of Earls of Clare (Burke, pg. 118-119). He married Rohese Giffard of Bolebec, daughter of Walter (Gautier) Giffard de Bolebec, Earl of Buckingham and Earl of Longueville, in Normandy, granddaughter of Osborne de Bolebec, a noble Norman, living in the time of Richard, Duke of Normandy, and granddaughter of his wife, Aveline, sister of Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy. According to Burke, pp. 230-231, he was granted for his gallant services at the Battle of Hastings, the title of Earl of Buckingham. At the time of the General Survey, he was sent with Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln, and others, into Worcestershire, and some other counties, to value the lands belonging to the crown, as well as to private individuals in these parts. He himself possessed at that time two lordships in Berkshire; one in Wilts; one in Somersetshire; one in Huntingdon; five in Cambridgeshire; nine in Oxfordshire; nine in the co. of Bedford; three in Suffolk; twenty-eight in Norfolk; an forty-eight in Buckinghamshire; in all one hundred and seven. In 1089, he adhering to William Rufus, fortified his mansions in Normandy, for that king, and became chief general of his army there; yet in some years afterwards (1102), he sided with Robert Curthose (Courthouse), against King Henry I. The earl married Agnes Flaitell, daughter of Gerard Flaitell, and sister of William Flaitell, Bishop of Eureux. They had three children: Walter, his successor, 2nd Earl of Buckingham, who d.s.p; Rohais (Rohese), named above; and Isabel Giffard, who married Richard Granville or Grenville, progenitor of the house of Grenville, Dukes of Buckingham. According to Crispin and Macary, "Falaise Roll" pg. 22, Rohese was the daughter of Walter (Gautier) Giffard, brother of Berenger and Osberne (Osborne), who contributed 30 vessels and 100 men to the fleet for the Conquest as well as the horse on which William the Conqueror rode at the Battle of Hastings. He was awarded the earldom of Buckingham for his services. "Rohesia married Richard de Bienfaite, eldest son of Gilbert, Count of Brionne, from which union sprung the great house of Clare.")
Source: The Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James

William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, inherited the large estates, and besides possessed of the honor of Braose, in Normandy. This feudal lord was a personage of great power and influence during the reigns of King Henry II. and King Richard I, from the former of whom he received a grant of the "whole kingdom of Limerick, in Ireland," for the service of sixty knight's fees, to be held of the king and his younger son, John. For several years after this period he appears to have enjoy the favor of King John, and his power and possessions were augmented by divers grants from the crown. But in the 10th year of the king's reign, when the kingdom labored under an interdiction, and John deemed it expedient to demand hostages from his barons to ensure their allegiance, should the Pope proceed to the length of absolving them from obedience to the crown, his officers who came upon the mission to the Baron de Braose, were sent by Maud, his wife, and peremptorily informed that she would not intrust any of her children to the king, who had so basely murdered his own nephew, Prince Arthur. De Braose rebuked her, however, for speaking thus, and said that if he had in any way offended the king, he was ready to make satisfaction, according to the judgment of the court, and the barons his peers, upon an appointed day, and at any fixed place, without however giving hostages. This answer being communicated to the king, an order was immediately transmitted to seize upon the baron's person, but Braose having notice thereof fled with his family to Ireland. This quarrel between the king and Braose is, however, differently related by other authorities. The monk of Lanthony states, that King John disinherited and banished him for his cruelty to the Welsh, in his war with Gwenwynwyn, and that his wife, Maud, and William, his son and heir, died prisoners in Corfe Castle. While another writer relates, "that this William de Braose, son of Philip de Braose, Lord of Buelt, held the lands of Brechnock and Went, for the whole time of King Henry II., King Richard I., and King John, without any disturbance, until he took to wife the Lady Maud de Walerie, who in revenge of Henry de Hereford, caused divers Welshmen to be murthered in the castle of Bergavenny, as they sat at meat; and that for this, and for some other pickt quarrel, King John banished him and all his out of England. Likewise, that in his exile, Maud, his wife, with William, called Gam, his son, were taken and put in prison; where she died, the 10th year after her husband fought with Wenwynwyn, and slew three thousand Welsh." From these various relations, says Dugdale, it is no easy matter to discover what his demerits were; but what usage he had at last, take here from the credit of these two historians, who lived near that time. "This year, viz. anno 1240," qouth Matthew of Westminster, "the noble lady Maud, wife of William de Braose, with William, their son and heir, were miserably famished at Windsore, by the command of King John. ; and William, her husband, escaping from Scorham, put himself into the habit of a beggar, and privately going beyond the sea, died soon after at Paris, where he had burial in the abbey of St, Victor." And Matthew Paris, putting his death in the year 1212 (which differs a little in time), says, "That he fled from Ireland to France, and dying at Ebula, his body was carried to Paris, and there honorably buried in the abbey of St. Victor....Being by inheritance from his mother, Lord of Bergavenny, he made grants to the monks of that priory, conditionally, that the abbot and convent of St. Vincenti, in Maine should daily pray for the soul of Maud his wife." Source: The Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James.

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