Richard, the son of Gilbert
de Clare, was born in about 1130. His mother was Elizabeth, the daughter
of Robert de Beaumont, the Earl of Leicester.
In 1138 Stephen
created Gilbert the first
Earl of Pembroke. On the death of his father in 1148, Richard became
the 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
In 1169, Dermont MacMurrough,
the king of Leinster was defeated by Roderic, the king of Connacht.
Dermont went to Wales and asked Richard to help him in his war against
Roderic. Richard agreed to help on condition that he was allowed to
marry Dermont's daughter, Eva.
With Richard de Clare's
help Dermont was able to defeat the king of Connacht's
forces, who were armed only with slings and stones. Richard de Clare,
whose army relied heavily on Welsh archers, soon obtained the nickname
'Strongbow'.
When Dermont died in 1171,
Strongbow became the new king of Leinster. Henry
II of England
became concerned about Strongbow's growing power in Ireland and so
later that year he arrived with his own army. Strongbow was forced
to surrender Leinster to the king. The land was then given back to
Strongbow in return for the service of 100 knights.
Henry II now began establishing
his hold over Ireland. He built several castles and persuaded most
of the Irish kings to accept him as their overlord.
In 1185 Henry sent his
son John
to rule Ireland. Disliked
by both the Normans and the Irish, John was unable to establish himself
in Ireland and six months later was forced to return to England.
Several attempts were
made by English kings to take control of the whole of Ireland. These
campaigns failed and royal authority was limited to a few hundred
square miles round Dublin known as 'the Pale'.
Strongbow did manage to
keep control of Leinster. To help the local economy he encouraged
the development of towns and markets in
the area.
To maintain control he
built several castles. He divided the territory into five lordships:
Wexford, Kilkenny, Kildare, Dunamase and Carlow. A seneschal, based
at Kilkenny Castle, was appointed to administer the land for the Clare
family. He received £100 a year, which made him the highest
paid of all Strongbow's officials.
Richard de Clare, Earl
of Pembroke, died in 1176. The Irish estates were inherited by his
daughter Isabel and her husband William Marshall. The couple had five
boys and five girls. When William Marshall died none of his sons were
left alive and so the Irish estates were divided up among the five
daughters and their families. By 1262 only the lordship of Kilkenny
remained under the control of the Clare family. The lordship was valued
at £343 a year and in return the Clare family were required
to provide the king with 22 knights. However, instead of supplying
knights, the Clare family chose to pay a regular scutage of £44
to the king.
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