PANTAGRUEL.
PEDIGREE OF RICHARD EARL OF CHEPSTOW.
(Vol. v., p. 126.)
It seems there can be no doubt that Richard de Clare, second Earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow, was eldest son of Gilbert de Clare, first Earl of Pembroke: which last was second son of Gilbert de Tonebrugge. That Strongbow's father's name was Gilbert is proved from a charter in which he (the father) made a grant of the church of Everton to the priory of St. Neot, commencing "Gilbertus, filius G. Comes de Penbroc," &c. (See Dugdale.) And I find this confirmed by a valuable old pedigree in the possession of a member of my family (date cir. 1620), which was admitted as principal evidence, and examined, in a successful suit in the Court of Chancery, in the latter half of the last century; in which pedigree the De Clares are introduced among the "præclarissimæ affinitates." An extract would be needless, and occupy your valuable space to no purpose.
To account for the singularity mentioned by your correspondent in the charter of Strongbow, I can make but these two suggestions: either the reading is correct,—in which case the true name of the first Earl of Pembroke was Richard Gilbert, which, I need hardly say, is possible, notwithstanding the existence of his elder brother Richard; or, the reading is incorrect, in which case the mistake probably arose from the writer, notwithstanding he had written "Comes Ric'" previously, by a natural oversight inserting it again after "fil," intending to write, "Comes Ric' fil Gisleb'ti."
It may be an admission of ignorance on my part, but I am unable to find in any of the authorities I have at hand, that Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, was, as your correspondent states him to have been, also Earl of Chepstow. Will he be kind enough to give me a reference?
In the above-mentioned pedigree the arms of the De Clares are given down to Strongbow—or, three chevrons gules; while the bearing of the latter is or, five chevrons gules. Burke, in his Extinct Peerage, gives the arms of both the De Clares, Earls of Pembroke, or three chevrons gules, a lable of five points az.; while in another authority, Berry's Encycl., I find for the two De Clares, Earls of Pembroke, two widely different coats, viz. ar. on a chief az. three crosses pattée fitchée of the field; and or, three chevrons gules, a crescent az. Can any of your heraldic correspondents account for these various bearings?
H. C. K.
—— Rectory, Hereford.
ISABEL, QUEEN OF THE ISLE OF MAN. (Vol. v., p. 132.)
MR. WM. SIDNEY GIBSON has correctly referred to the authority for this designation; but it may be well, before pursuing the inquiry, to place before the reader the very words of the register of the Grey Friars of London: