Richard fitz Gilbert
Richard de Bien Faite ( * before 1035, † April 1090 ), also called Richard of Tonbridge, Richard de Clare and Richard Fitz Gilbert, was Seigneur de Bien Faite et d' Orbec, later Lord of Clare and Tonbridge. He was one of the most important Anglo-Norman barons, and one of the advisers of William the Conqueror.
Biography
He was the son of Gilbert de Brionne († 1040 ), Count of Eu, and perhaps also Count of Brionne. His father was a short period during which the guardian of William restless minority. After Gilbert de Brionne was murdered in 1040 or early in 1041 by Robert Giroie and Raoul de Gacé, his two sons, Richard and Baldwin were sent to Flanders and - under the protection of Count Baldwin V - with the loss of their possessions in Normandy. After about 15 years of exile, Richard and Baldwin returned for the wedding of Duke William II with Mathilde, daughter of Count Baldwin in the Normandy back to where them Duke William at the request of his father- Baldwin of Flanders transferred several places: Meules and Le Sap for Baudouin and Bien Faite and Orbec for Richard. Brionne, however, remained in the possession of the Duke, although the two brothers since then were regarded as close followers of the Duke.
Richard belonged to with the Council, with the Duke consulted in spring 1066 in Bonneville -sur- Touques a conquest of England, but there is no evidence that he took part in the invasion itself and in the Battle of Hastings. However, he was soon called back as a witness of royal charters and Wilhelm got rich land in England. He received 176 goods, especially in Suffolk, as well as seven other counties. 95 of these goods in Suffolk formed the Honor of Clare family, a time for unusual extensive area in the hand of the Lord. In Kent he built the castle of Tonbridge, also in Clare, Suffolk. In 1086 he is mentioned in the Domesday Book as the Baron, who is in ninth place among the rich of the country .. A portion of his lands had been in the possession of the diocese of Rochester, and the archbishopric of Canterbury before, which is why Richard quarreled with Archbishop Lanfranc, the was first settled by his son Gilbert.
When in 1075 the revolt of the Earl Ralph de Guader, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, Roger de Breteuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford broke out, were Richard and William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey by King William as regent of England (Joint Chief Justiciar ') was established. With the support of Odo of Bayeux and Geoffrey de Montbray they could the rebels in a battle of Fagaduna, probably hit at today's Beachamwell in Norfolk. Orderic Vitalis reported that the losers of the right foot was amputated. Ralph de Guader escaped, but his wife Emma resistant with a few faithful a three-month siege of Norwich Castle, before she was found in an open hood and went to her husband in Brittany.
Richard de Bien Faite was buried in St Neots ( Cambridgeshire), which was donated by his wife priory. The Abbey Le Bec he left generous endowments. As in most successions of the first Anglo-Norman generation was succeeded by his eldest son Roger in the possessions in Normandy, while the younger Gilbert de Clare was awarded the British possession.
Richard de Bien Faite of the reasons is one of the most powerful families in England, the Clares, Earls of their relatives Hertgord, Pembroke and Gloucester were.
Progeny
He married Rohese Giffard ( † after 1113 ), daughter of Gautier Giffard, Seigneur de Longueville, and Ermengarde, daughter of Gérard Flaitel and sister of Guillaume Flaitel, bishop of Évreux - an allegedly arranged by the King marriage. Rohese was the sister of Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham (since 1097 ). Your dowry consisted of goods in Huntingdonshire and Hertfordshire. Their children were: