Sir Gilbert de Clare 4th Earl of Hertford

     Gilbert de was born circa 1180 in Herefordshire, England. Gilbert, as a young man became entitled by inheritences and at a young age was trusted with the care of substantial manors. During the political quagmire involving the barons, the royalty, and the Magna Carta, Gilbert found himself in the strange postion of being taken prisoner by William Marshal in 1217, the father of the woman he was to marry later that same year. Gilbert married Isabel Marshall, daughter of William Marshall 4th Earl of Pembroke. and Isabel Fitz Gilbert de Clare, on 9 October 1217 in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, at Tewkesbury Abbey. Despite the fact that Gilbert was 20 years older than Isabel, they had a very happy marriage.² This marriage was very likely arranged by the king given the young age of Isabel, the age difference, and that the king granted the Earldom of Gloucester to Gilbert at the time of the marriage (his mother who was the Countess of Gloucester, was still alive). After the marriage, Gilbert spent much of the remainder of his life taking part in conflicts under orders of the King and at times was fighting beside his father-in-law, the now famous warrior amd politically powerful, William the Marshal. Gilbert was killed while fighting in the King's army in the Dutchy of Brittany in what is now France. He had joined in an expedition to Brittany in 1229, but died 25 October 1230 on his way back to Penrose, in that duchy. His body was conveyed home by way of Plymouth and Cranborne, to Tewkesbury. He was buried at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, in Tewkesbury Abbey.³