Richard
de Clare, the son of Roger of Clare,
was born in 1153. On the death of his father in 1173 he became the
6th Earl of Clare and the 4th Earl of Hertford. He married Amicia,
the daughter of the Earl of Gloucester. In
1183 Richard de Clare obtained control of Glamorgan, the largest and
the most important marcher lordship in Wales.
In 1200, King
John became involved in a long-drawn out war with France. This
war was expensive and John was forced to introduce new taxes to pay
for his army. This
created a great deal of resentment in England, and John's position
was not helped when, in 1205, the king's army lost control of Normandy,
Brittany, Anjou and Maine.
In 1215, King John made
another desperate attempt to gain control of his lost territory in
France. Once again he was defeated and was forced to pay £40,000
to obtain a truce. When John tried to obtain this money by imposing
yet another tax, the barons rebelled.
Richard de Clare was one
of the leaders of the rebellion. Few barons remained loyal, and in
most areas of the country, John had very little support. John had
no chance of victory and on 15th
June, 1215, at Runnymede in Surrey, he was forced to accept the peace
terms of those who had successfully fought against him.
The document the king was
obliged to sign was the Magna Carta. In
this charter the king made a long list of promises, including no new
taxes without the support of his barons, a reduction in the power
of his sheriffs and the right of a fair trial for all freemen.
The barons had doubts whether
King John could be trusted to keep his word.
A small group of barons were given the task of making sure that John
kept the promises he had made in the Magna Carta. Two of the barons
chosen were Richard de Clare and his son Gilbert
de Clare.
Soon after he signed the
charter the king appealed to Pope Innocent III for help. The pope
was concerned about this rebellion and decided to excommunicate the
barons who had fought against their king. The pope also provided money
to help King John recruit foreign mercenaries to fight against his
disloyal barons. The civil war resumed. One of King John's main targets
was Richard of Clare and in November, 1215, his troops seized his
castle at Tonbridge.
Richard de Clare died in
1217.
The
Normans: Classroom Activities
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