Clare: Elizabeth de Burgh - a woman who plotted against a king

The remains of Clare Castle (Image: Archant)

Somewhere, I come across a drawing purporting to be of Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady de Clare. “Don’t use that picture!” pleads historian Jennifer Ward. “It is a 18th or 19th century imaginary portrait, and I think it is too gentle for the real Elizabeth, who had a very determined personality.”

That’s true. A woman with the guts to join a rebellion against the king and endure imprisonment cannot have been weak. Not that Elizabeth sought turmoil and confrontation.

“In her lifetime, she was a wealthy, influential, courageous and determined member of the higher nobility, noted for her piety and philanthropy and deeply attached to family and friends,” says Jennifer, who has edited a Suffolk Records Society account on Elizabeth’s affluent and somewhat quieter life once the dust had settled.

Elizabeth de Burgh’s homes included Clare Castle, near Sudbury, which in the 1300s became the main administrative centre for her estates in East Anglia, Dorset and Wales. It was there she drew up a secret protest against her uncle, the king. She also had a house at Great Bardfield in Essex.

Clare Church and the remains of Clare Castle seen from the Common.

Elizabeth was born in 1295, the youngest of the four children of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester (who died that year) and Joan of Acre. “Her father was the wealthiest nobleman in England outside the royal family, with lands in East Anglia and the West Country, in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire in South Wales, and County Kilkenny in Ireland,” explains Jennifer, a retired teacher of medieval history at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her mother was the daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile.” Elizabeth married her first husband, John de Burgh, in 1308. He was the heir to the earl of Ulster. At the same time, her brother Gilbert – then earl of Gloucester – married John’s sister, Matilda.

“Elizabeth went to Ireland to live, but, shortly after the birth of her son William in 1312, her husband died. This loss was followed in 1314 by the death of her brother Gilbert at the battle of Bannockburn.

“Although it was hoped that his widow was pregnant and would have a son, no child was born, and the heirs to the Clare estates and wealth were Gilbert’s three sisters.

“According to the law of the time, the lands had to be equally partitioned among them. The heiresses’ uncle, Edward II, was facing unrest among the nobility, and postponed the partition as long as he could.

Part of the portrait of Elizabeth de Burgh that hangs in Clare College (Image: Archant)

“It was in these circumstances that Elizabeth returned to England in 1316, and was lodged by the king in Bristol castle. Edward II was particularly anxious that all three heiresses should be married to men he favoured. Elizabeth realised the importance of having male support, and eloped with Theobald de Verdun, whom she had probably met in Ireland. It was a short marriage, as Theobald died later in 1316; their daughter, Isabella, was born in March, 1317. By then Elizabeth had realised that she would have to accept the king’s choice of husband, and she married Roger Damory the following month. The Clare lands were partitioned about six months later, Elizabeth and Damory receiving estates in East Anglia, Dorset and the lordship of Usk.”

An ambitious man called Hugh Despenser the younger had married Elizabeth’s eldest sister, explains Jennifer. Over time, he emerged as Edward II’s favourite. Hugh’s goal was to build up a great lordship in South Wales, including all the Clare land. A rebellion by nobles with Welsh interests had some success... before being crushed by Edward II and Despenser in 1322.

“Damory and Elizabeth had joined the rebellion; Damory died of his wounds at Tutbury, while Elizabeth, who had probably recently given birth to their daughter Elizabeth, was captured at Usk. She was imprisoned in Barking Abbey, and forced to hand over the lordship of Usk to Despenser. On May 15, 1326, in her oratory in the small chapel next to her chamber in Clare castle she and a close adviser drew up a secret protest over her treatment by the king and Despenser since 1322. That autumn she joined Queen Isabella’s invasion of England, which culminated in Edward II’s deposition and the succession of his son, Edward III. Very early in his reign, Elizabeth recovered the lordship of Usk. From 1327 to her death in 1360, Elizabeth lived as a widow. Compared with the 1310s and 1320s, her life was uneventful.”

Uneventful, yes, but glitzy by the standards of the day. “The 14th Century was an age of conspicuous consumption, and Elizabeth was no exception. She engaged in considerable building work at Clare castle and Bardfield Hall; gardens were laid out, and colourful and expensive furnishings purchased. Silver plate would have been on display. The chapel was richly furnished with altar vessels and books, candles, pictures, hangings.”

The household probably ran to about 100 people. “Many of Elizabeth’s servants were engaged in provisioning the household, and although much of the wheat, barley and oats was obtained locally, other foodstuffs were bought further afield – herring from Southwold and Yarmouth, wine from Ipswich, Colchester and London, and spices from London.

“Fresh meat was preferred, and sheep could be bought locally, but oxen and cows were driven over from Usk, and pigs from Warwickshire and elsewhere.”

Elizabeth travelled from one residence to another every few months. She also went to see friends and family, such as daughter Elizabeth in Norfolk. Her other two children died before her. William, earl of Ulster, was killed in Belfast in 1333, and daughter Isabella de Verdun died during the Black Death of 1349.

“When she was at home, she often entertained members of her family, friends among the nobility, and local gentry. A high point was her entertainment of Edward III for three days at Clare in May, 1340, when he was on his way to win the naval battle of Sluys, and to fight in Flanders.

“Elizabeth regularly worshipped in her household chapel and occasionally in Clare church, and regularly gave alms to the poor. She was an active patron of Clare priory, and entertained the friars to dinner from time to time. She was a great patron of the Franciscan friars, founded their priory at Walsingham, and built her London house in the outer court of the abbey of Franciscan nuns outside Aldgate.”

Jennifer has little doubt about the Lady of Clare’s stature. “Elizabeth de Burgh comes over as a great lady who enjoyed the noble lifestyle, was fully engaged with her household, estates and local concerns, and was hospitable and pious.

“She was a determined woman who survived the downs and ups of the 1320s, and made her mark forcefully with her patronage and philanthropy. She was conscious of her rights and social position.

“A few months before her death in November, 1360, she wrote to Edward III, protesting that sheriffs in Essex and Suffolk were interfering with her tenants; she stated that she was staying at Clare castle, which was near the sea, to defend the area in the event of a French invasion.”