This page traces the descent of the Sewell Family from Richard of Normandy through Magna Charta Sureties Richard and Gilbert de Clare to Robert Bruce. As well, it is in this line that we find links to the Capets of France, "Strongbow" de Clare, Robert de Caen and the Marshal Family.
To see where all this information came from, please click on Sources.
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Generation One
Richard I the Fearless, 3rd
Duke of Normandy
Please click on Normandy
for his descent.
Born in 933 at Fecamp, France
Died on November 20, 996 at Fecamp, France
Richard married first in 960 to Emma of Paris who died in 962. Emma was a daughter of Hugh "the Great" Capet. Click on Hugh Capet for Emma's descent.
Richard married second to Gunnor of Crêpon and they had the following children:
Generation Three
Gilbert "Crispin", Count
of Brionne
For a short period in the autumn of
1040 following the sudden death (murder?) of Count Alan of Brittany, Gilbert
was chief tutor to the young William the Conqueror.
Died in 1040, said to have been murdered by his cousin,
Ralph of Gacé
Gilbert had the following sons:
Generation Four
Richard FitzGilbert de Clare,
Earl of Clare; Lord of Bienfaite, Orbec and Tonbridge.
Richard FitzGilbert de Clare was most probably present
at the Battle
of Hastings.
Born in 1035
Died in 1090
Richard married Rohese Giffard, daughter of Walter Giffard
(died 1084), Lord of Longueville who was most certainly present at the
Battle
of Hastings.
Richard and Rohese had the following children:
Generation Five
Gilbert FitzRichard de Clare,
Earl of Clare
Born circa 1066
Died in 1114 / 1117
Gilbert married Alice
(also Adeliza and Alice) de Clermont and they had the following children:
Generation Seven
Roger de Clare, Earl of Hertford
and Clare
Born after 1115
Acceded: 1153
Died in 1173
Roger succeeded his older brother Gilbert (d.s.p. 1153)
as Earl of Hertford and Clare.
Roger married Maud de St. Hilary, daughter and heir of
James de St. Hilary.
Roger and Maud had the following children:
Generation Eight
Richard de Clare, Earl of
Hertford and Clare
Born circa 1153
Died in 1217 between October 30 and November 28
Richard de Clare was one of the 25
Sureties of the Magna Charta. The following is from Richard
Thomson: An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John,
London, 1829; Pages 270 – 272:
"Richard de Clare . . . All genealogical
historians agree that he married Amicia, 2nd daughter and heir of the Earl
of Gloucester, by whom he had Gilbert, his successor . . ..
"The arms usually assigned to him are, Or, three Chevrons, Gules; but in a manuscript copy of Cook’s Baronage, in the Harleian Collection, No. 4223, fol. 43, there is the addition of an escutcheon of pretence, Argent, charged with a Canton, Gules. The place whence the title of Clare took its origin, is stated by Heylin, to be an ancient town on the borders of Suffolk, where it joins to Essex, not far from the banks of the Stour, which divides the Counties; the Castle and Church being both in ruins."
Richard married circa 1180 to Amicia,
Countess of Gloucester, daughter and heir of William FitzRobert, Earl of
Gloucester and Hawise de Beaumont. William FitzRobert was a son of
Robert de Caen, Earl of Gloucester and son of Henry I Beauclerc.
Click on Amicia
of Gloucester for this descent.
Richard and Amica had the following children:
Generation Nine
Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl
of Gloucester, Earl of Hertford and Clare
Born circa 1180
Died on October 25, 1230 at Penros, Brittany
Gilbert de Clare was one of the 25
Sureties of the Magna Charta. The following is from Richard
Thomson: An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John,
London, 1829; Pages 289 – 290:
"Gilbert de Clare, was the first Earl
who held the titles both of Gloucester and Hertford; and he was the eldest
son of Richard de Clare . . . whose Armorial Ensigns he also bare. He likewise
seems to have been one of the Peers to whom the Welsh Lordships were granted
. . ..
" . . . he was one of the principal of those Barons who were in arms against King John; one of the 25 elected to govern the kingdom . . . one of those excommunicated by Innocent III; and one, who, adhering to Louis the Dauphin, was made prisoner at the Battle of Lincoln by the Earl of Pembroke, who sent him to Gloucester. After the conclusion of the Civil Wars, however, he married Isabel one of the daughters, and at length co-heirs of that celebrated Baron . . ..
Gilbert married on October 9, 1217 at Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucester to Lady Isabella Marshal, daughter of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Clare. Please click on Marshal for the descent of Lady Isabella Marshal.
Gilbert and Isabella had the following children:
Generation Ten
Isabel de Clare
Born on November 8, 1226
Died in 1254, after July 10
Isabel married on May 12, 1240 to Robert de Bruce, Lord
of Annandale and they had a son:
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