Douglas Richardson
2016-09-08 21:27:29 UTC
Dear Newsgroup ~
Complete Peerage discusses Isabel de Clare and her two marriages in at least two different accounts, Berkeley and Warwick.
Isabel de Clare is first mentioned in 1285, when she and her sister, Joan, are styled “kinswomen” by King Edward I [Reference: Sharpe, Calendar of Letter-Books of London: A (1899): 162]. Isabel and Joan were indeed near related to King Edward I, for their mother Alice de Lusignan (or de la Marche) was a niece to King Edward I's father, King Henry III.
Isabel de Clare is likewise styled “king’s cousin” in a royal mandate dated 4 March 1291 [Reference: Calendar of Chancery Warrants 1 (1927): 30].
On 5 Id. May. [11 May] 1297 the Pope granted a "dispensation, at the king's request, to Guy, son of William de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, and Isabella, daughter of Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, to remain in the marriage they have contracted, they being related in the fourth degree of kindred; declaring their future offspring legitimate." [Reference: Papal Regs.: Letters 1 (1893): 570].
The 4th degree of kinship between Isabel de Clare and her 1st husband, Guy de Beauchamp, is due to their common descent from William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and his wife, Isabel de Clare.
Complete Peerage 12(2) (1959): 371, footnote j (sub Warwick) expresses doubt that this marriage was ever completed or consumated. Yet the dispensation states the couple were permitted to remain in the marriage they had already contracted.
Whatever the case, Isabel and her husband, Earl Guy, were apparently separated by 25 Sept. 1302, as stated by a well researched article published in the Genealogist n.s. 38 (1922): 170.
Elsewhere Philips, Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324 (1972): 263 affirms that Isabel and Earl Guy were separated by 1302. Mr. Philips adds that Isabel held £100 of land in her own right at Bromsgrove and Norton in Worcestershire, as well as the manor of Stanley in Gloucestershire.
As far as her land holding in Gloucestershire is concerned, Genealogist n.s. 38 (1922): 170 states that at Michaelmas 34 Edward I [1306], Isabel being then "femme sole," William le Seneschal demised to her the manor of Stanley Pontlarge, co. Gloucester, for life, at a rent of £16 a year.
Genealogist n.s. 38 (1922): 170 likewise reports that Gilbert de Clare, son of Gilbert, late Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, granted to Isabel de Clare, his sister, the manors of Shipton and Burford, Oxfordshire by his charter, dated at Caversham, 6 Dec. 1 Edw. II [1307].
By these records we see that Isabel de Clare was single in 1285 and 1291. She was dispensed to remain in a contracted marriage to Guy de Beauchamp in 1297. She and Earl Guy were separated before 25 Sept. 1302. Isabel was again single in 1306 and 1307.
Complete Peerage 12(2) (1959): 371, footnote j (sub Warwick) states that Isabel de Clare married (2nd) "about 1316" to Maurice de Berkeley, Knt., 2nd Lord Berkeley [died 1326]. The same date for this marriage is given by Complete Peerage 2 (1912): 129 (sub Berkeley), but neither account cites a source to confirm the marriage, nor is any evidence advanced for the date of "about 1316."
I've been able to confirm that Isabel de Clare married Sir Maurice de Berkeley, for I find she issued a charter of her own to Godstow Abbey in 1328 as "Isabelle of Clare, Lady of Berkley." [Reference: Clark, English Register of Godstow Nunnery 1 (1905): 549]. This charter may be viewed at the following weblink:
https://archive.org/stream/englishregist12900godsuoft#page/548/mode/2up
So when did the marriage of Isabel de Clare and Maurice de Berkeley take place?
I don't have an exact date for the marriage but it would appear that Isabel and Maurice were married after Easter term 1317, when Isabel de Clare is named alone in a legal proceeding in the Court of Common Pleas regarding her land holding at Stanley Pontlarge, Gloucestershire. The lawsuit in question dated 1317 may be viewed at the following weblink:
Court of Common Pleas, CP40/218, image 194f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/E2/CP40no218/aCP40no218fronts/IMG_0194.htm.
So the 2nd marriage of Isabel de Clare to Sir Maurice de Berkeley has been confirmed. Complete Peerage alleges the marriage took place "about 1316," but it probably took place after Easter term 1317.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Complete Peerage discusses Isabel de Clare and her two marriages in at least two different accounts, Berkeley and Warwick.
Isabel de Clare is first mentioned in 1285, when she and her sister, Joan, are styled “kinswomen” by King Edward I [Reference: Sharpe, Calendar of Letter-Books of London: A (1899): 162]. Isabel and Joan were indeed near related to King Edward I, for their mother Alice de Lusignan (or de la Marche) was a niece to King Edward I's father, King Henry III.
Isabel de Clare is likewise styled “king’s cousin” in a royal mandate dated 4 March 1291 [Reference: Calendar of Chancery Warrants 1 (1927): 30].
On 5 Id. May. [11 May] 1297 the Pope granted a "dispensation, at the king's request, to Guy, son of William de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, and Isabella, daughter of Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, to remain in the marriage they have contracted, they being related in the fourth degree of kindred; declaring their future offspring legitimate." [Reference: Papal Regs.: Letters 1 (1893): 570].
The 4th degree of kinship between Isabel de Clare and her 1st husband, Guy de Beauchamp, is due to their common descent from William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and his wife, Isabel de Clare.
Complete Peerage 12(2) (1959): 371, footnote j (sub Warwick) expresses doubt that this marriage was ever completed or consumated. Yet the dispensation states the couple were permitted to remain in the marriage they had already contracted.
Whatever the case, Isabel and her husband, Earl Guy, were apparently separated by 25 Sept. 1302, as stated by a well researched article published in the Genealogist n.s. 38 (1922): 170.
Elsewhere Philips, Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324 (1972): 263 affirms that Isabel and Earl Guy were separated by 1302. Mr. Philips adds that Isabel held £100 of land in her own right at Bromsgrove and Norton in Worcestershire, as well as the manor of Stanley in Gloucestershire.
As far as her land holding in Gloucestershire is concerned, Genealogist n.s. 38 (1922): 170 states that at Michaelmas 34 Edward I [1306], Isabel being then "femme sole," William le Seneschal demised to her the manor of Stanley Pontlarge, co. Gloucester, for life, at a rent of £16 a year.
Genealogist n.s. 38 (1922): 170 likewise reports that Gilbert de Clare, son of Gilbert, late Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, granted to Isabel de Clare, his sister, the manors of Shipton and Burford, Oxfordshire by his charter, dated at Caversham, 6 Dec. 1 Edw. II [1307].
By these records we see that Isabel de Clare was single in 1285 and 1291. She was dispensed to remain in a contracted marriage to Guy de Beauchamp in 1297. She and Earl Guy were separated before 25 Sept. 1302. Isabel was again single in 1306 and 1307.
Complete Peerage 12(2) (1959): 371, footnote j (sub Warwick) states that Isabel de Clare married (2nd) "about 1316" to Maurice de Berkeley, Knt., 2nd Lord Berkeley [died 1326]. The same date for this marriage is given by Complete Peerage 2 (1912): 129 (sub Berkeley), but neither account cites a source to confirm the marriage, nor is any evidence advanced for the date of "about 1316."
I've been able to confirm that Isabel de Clare married Sir Maurice de Berkeley, for I find she issued a charter of her own to Godstow Abbey in 1328 as "Isabelle of Clare, Lady of Berkley." [Reference: Clark, English Register of Godstow Nunnery 1 (1905): 549]. This charter may be viewed at the following weblink:
https://archive.org/stream/englishregist12900godsuoft#page/548/mode/2up
So when did the marriage of Isabel de Clare and Maurice de Berkeley take place?
I don't have an exact date for the marriage but it would appear that Isabel and Maurice were married after Easter term 1317, when Isabel de Clare is named alone in a legal proceeding in the Court of Common Pleas regarding her land holding at Stanley Pontlarge, Gloucestershire. The lawsuit in question dated 1317 may be viewed at the following weblink:
Court of Common Pleas, CP40/218, image 194f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/E2/CP40no218/aCP40no218fronts/IMG_0194.htm.
So the 2nd marriage of Isabel de Clare to Sir Maurice de Berkeley has been confirmed. Complete Peerage alleges the marriage took place "about 1316," but it probably took place after Easter term 1317.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah