Thomas de Clare ★

Born Abt in Tonbridge Castle, Tonbridge, Kent, England. He married February 1275, to Juliana FitzGerald. He died August 29, 1287, in Thomond, Lordship of Ireland.

Family Background

Thomas de Clare, born around 1245 at Tonbridge Castle in Kent, was the second son of Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford and Gloucester, and Maud de Lacy, descending through his family from figures including William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. He studied at Oxford between 1257 and 1259, receiving gifts from Henry III during his education.

Early Career and Royal Service

Thomas built a close relationship with Prince Edward, the future Edward I, joining him on the Ninth Crusade, a friendship that shaped his subsequent advancement. He served as Governor of Colchester Castle from 1266 and Governor of London from 1273, and in 1272 was appointed Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine.

Marriage

In February 1275 Thomas married Juliana FitzGerald, daughter of Maurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of Offaly, then only twelve years old; the marriage strengthened his ties to the Anglo-Irish nobility and paved the way for his later ventures in Ireland. The couple had four children.

The Grant of Thomond and Its Conquest

On January 26, 1276, Edward I granted Thomas the entire lordship of Thomond in Ireland, along with Inchiquin and Youghal, launching a decade-long struggle to actually control the territory amid a civil war between rival branches of the O'Brien dynasty. Thomas first backed the deposed king Brian Ruad against his great-nephew Toirrdelbach Ua Briain, but in 1277 their combined forces were badly defeated at Glenmalure fighting alongside the justiciar Geoffrey de Geneville against Irish clans of County Wicklow.

After Brian Ruad's son drowned in 1284, Toirrdelbach emerged as the dominant O'Brien claimant, and Thomas made his peace with the new arrangement, collecting rent of £121 a year on Bunratty Manor from him. Thomas invested heavily in fortification, rebuilding Bunratty Castle in stone and beginning construction at Quin Castle in 1280.

Death and Legacy

Thomas died August 29, 1287, in Thomond; while the Annals of Inisfallen suggest he died in battle, most contemporary records do not indicate a violent death. His six-year-old son Gilbert inherited the lordship.

His daughter Maud married Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford, and later Robert de Welle; another daughter, Margaret, married Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere. His son Richard was killed at the Battle of Dysert O'Dea in 1318, and his widow Juliana, still only twenty-four at his death, remarried twice more.