Richard “Strongbow” de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Striguil (1130 – 1176) Leader of the Norman Invasion of Ireland, Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland

Post author By Steven Wood Collins
Post date November 17, 2021
215 Comments on Richard “Strongbow” de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Striguil (1130 – 1176) Leader of the Norman Invasion of Ireland, Lord of Leinster, Justiciar of Ireland

“When King Dermot saw
That he could get no aid
From King Henry as he had promised him,
He would not stay there any longer.
King Dermot then, you must know,
Goes everywhere seeking aid:
Aid everywhere he seeks
In Wales and in England.
So far did he ask for aid
Up and down in this kingdom
That he had an interview,
So says the geste, with Earl Richard.
He was a brave earl.
Courteous, generous, and lavish.
Very earnestly the king
Besought him, very courteously.
To give him some succour,
Or that he himself should come
To conquer his kingdom.
From which he had been wrongfully cast out.
To the earl, he told plainly
How he had been betrayed by his people:
How his people had betrayed him
And driven him out and put him to flight.
His daughter he offered him to wife,
The thing in the world that he most loved :
That he would let him have her to wife,
And would give Leinster to him,
On condition that he would aid him
So that he should be able to subdue it…”

Excerpt from the English translation of The Song of Dermot and the Earl

Written anonymously in Norman French verse in the early part of the 13th century, The Song of Dermot and the Earl begins by telling of the events leading to the friendship struck between Dermot and Earl Richard de Clare. Their acquaintance was first occasioned when Dermot, who was in exile from Ireland at the time, approached Strongbow to assist him in his quest to reinstate his kingship of Leinster, mainly by offering him his daughter’s hand in marriage as the ipso facto ruler of Leinster if he succeeded. The only manuscript of the poem was miraculously discovered in the archives of the Church of England during the 17th century.

Isabel de Clare, the eldest daughter of Strongbow and Aoife, married Sir William le Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 – 1219) Regent of England. L’Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal, an epic Norman French poem, was also written by an anonymous author about his life after his death.

Strongbow wasn’t the first invader of Ireland with Norse Viking ancestral roots. He was an agnatic descendant of the legendary Ragnarr “Loðbrók” Halfdansson (c. 765 – 845) King of Denmark & Sweden. He and his raiders savagely plundered Northumbria and France (as far inland as Paris on a couple of raids) during the 9th century. After his death, his son Ivar (primogenitor of the Uí Ímair dynasty) invaded and conquered Leinster following his conquest of most of England and Scotland as the supreme commander of the Great Heathen Army.

Of historical interest is the fact that Dermot’s arch-enemy, Irish High King Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair “Rory O’Connor” ( – 1198), was one of Ragnar’s direct descendants, as well. That may explain one reason for O’Conner’s displacement of Dermot as the king of Leinster that may have also given Strongbow one more reason to agree to assist in his reinstatement. Both Dermot and Rory were agnatic descendants of Niall Mor Noígíallach of the Nine Hostages (380 – 454) High King of Ireland.

Though Henry II Plantagenet (1133 – 1189) 1st Plantagenet King of England and Ireland politely reneged on his initial offer to directly assist Dermot, he sanctioned the Norman invasion plan in 1169. Fearing losing all of Ireland to the Normans, however, he invaded the country in 1171, thereby establishing a somewhat loosely-controlled regency over large swathes of Irish countryside for the next 400 years.

In 1172, Henry sent Hugh de Lacy, 4th Baron Lacy (1125 – 1186), to receive the submission of Rory O’Conner. Afterward, Henry granted Hugh lordship of County Meath and placed him in charge of Dublin Castle. Rory’s submission to Henry as his vassal marked the end of the sovereignty of the High Kings of Ireland that legend has it stretches back in time to the 17th century BC (although some historians put the inception date at around 900 BC).

Raymond FitzGerald (died 1185–1198), an agnatic descendant of Other Geraldinum (Gherardini of Tuscany) Baron of Windsor (died after 1078), was Strongbow’s second in command of the Norman invasion force. Dominus was an Italian knight from Tuscany who first found favor with William the Conqueror in fighting in his battles on the European continent. He later served as one of his knight commanders at the Battle of Hastings. In reward of his service, William appointed him as the first Constable of Windsor Castle upon its completion. In 1174, Raymond married Strongbow’s sister, Basilla de Clare, in Wexford, Ireland.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 – 1963) Congressman, Senator, 35th U.S President was directly related to Raymond through the FitzGerald’s of Ireland branch of descendancy.

Strongbow was an agnatic descendant of Rollo Ragnvaldsson, 1st Duke of Normandy, Count of Rouen (860 – 930).

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

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