(Vol. v., p. 126.)
It seems there can be no doubt that Richard de Clare, second Earl of
Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow, was eldest son of Gilbert de Clare, first
Earl of Pembroke: which last was second son of Gilbert de Tonebrugge.
That Strongbow's father's name was Gilbert is proved from a charter in
which he (the father) made a grant of the church of Everton to the
priory of St. Neot, commencing "Gilbertus, filius G. Comes de Penbroc,"
&c. (See _Dugdale_.) And I find this confirmed by a valuable old
pedigree in the possession of a member of my family (date _cir._ 1620),
which was admitted as principal evidence, and examined, in a successful
suit in the Court of Chancery, in the latter half of the last century;
in which pedigree the De Clares are introduced among the "præclarissimæ
affinitates." An extract would be needless, and occupy your valuable
space to no purpose.
To account for the singularity mentioned by your correspondent in the
charter of Strongbow, I can make but these two suggestions: either the
reading is correct,--in which case the true name of the first Earl of
Pembroke was _Richard Gilbert_, which, I need hardly say, is possible,
notwithstanding the existence of his elder brother Richard; or, the
reading is incorrect, in which case the mistake probably arose from the
writer, notwithstanding he had written "Comes Ric'" previously, by a
natural oversight inserting it again after "fil," intending to write,
"Comes Ric' fil Gisleb'ti."
It may be an admission of ignorance on my part, but I am unable to find
in any of the authorities I have at hand, that Strongbow, Earl of
Pembroke, was, as your correspondent states him to have been, also _Earl
of Chepstow_. Will he be kind enough to give me a reference?
In the above-mentioned pedigree the arms of the De Clares are given down
to Strongbow--_or, three chevrons gules_; while the bearing of the
latter is _or, five chevrons gules_. Burke, in his _Extinct Peerage_,
gives the arms of both the De Clares, Earls of Pembroke, _or three
chevrons gules, a lable of five points az._; while in another authority,
Berry's _Encycl._, I find for the two De Clares, Earls of Pembroke, two
widely different coats, viz. _ar. on a chief az. three crosses pattée
fitchée of the field_; and _or, three chevrons gules, a crescent az._
Can any of your heraldic correspondents account for these various
bearings?