Edward II's Nieces, The Clare Sisters

Powerful Pawns of the Crown

Kathryn Warner

• Publisher: Pen & Sword History
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781526715579
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526715593
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

"A great book to introduce you to three fascinating sisters whose marriages during the reign of the infamous Edward II transformed England." — Adventures of a Tudor Nerd
The de Clare sisters Eleanor, Margaret and Elizabeth were born in the 1290s as the eldest granddaughters of King Edward I of England and his Spanish queen Eleanor of Castile, and were the daughters of the greatest nobleman in England, Gilbert "the Red" de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. They grew to adulthood during the turbulent reign of their uncle Edward II, and all three of them were married to men involved in intense, probably romantic or sexual, relationships with their uncle.
When their elder brother Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, was killed during their uncle's catastrophic defeat at the battle of Bannockburn in June 1314, the three sisters inherited and shared his vast wealth and lands in three countries, but their inheritance proved a poisoned chalice. Eleanor and Elizabeth, and Margaret's daughter and heir, were all abducted and forcibly married by men desperate for a share of their riches, and all three sisters were imprisoned at some point either by their uncle Edward II or his queen Isabella of France during the tumultuous decade of the 1320s. Elizabeth was widowed for the third time at twenty-six, lived as a widow for just under forty years, and founded Clare College at the University of Cambridge.
"Another enjoyable read on women in history that don't always get the limelight that they deserve. Kathryn Warner has done it once again by providing a well-written, well-researched, informative and engaging read." — Where There's Ink There's Paper

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Clare Sisters
• Chapter 2: The New King
• Chapter 3: Journeys to Ireland
• Chapter 4: Two Young Widows
• Chapter 5: The Earl of Gloucester’s Heirs
• Chapter 6: The First Abduction
• Chapter 7: Widowed Again
• Chapter 8: Two Favourites, Two Weddings
• Chapter 9: A Rich Inheritance
• Chapter 10: The New Favourite
• Chapter 11: The Despenser War
• Chapter 12: Contrariants
• Chapter 13: In the King’s Favour
• Chapter 14: Unequal Treatment
• Chapter 15: A Secret Lover
• Chapter 16: Intruder and Pharisee
• Chapter 17: A Protest Against the Regime
• Chapter 18: The End of Hugh Despenser
• Chapter 19: Deposition
• Chapter 20: Rebellion and Abduction
• Chapter 21: The King Lives
• Chapter 22: A Belated Funeral
• Chapter 23: Death of an Earl
• Chapter 24: A Third Abduction and a Death
• Chapter 25: The Young Generation
• Chapter 26: The Last Sister
• Chapter 27: The Final Years
• Appendix 1: Brief Biographical Details of the Clare Sisters
• Appendix 2: The Sisters’ Children
• Appendix 3: The Descent of the Sisters’ Inheritances
• Abbreviations
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Plate section