Roger de Clare

Roger de Clare 2nd Earl of Hertford 5th Lord of Clare
Arms of the de Clare Family
Hereditary
Earl of Hereford Lord of Clare	1152-1173 1152-1173
Predecessor	Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford
Successor	Richard de Clare
Spouse	Maud de St. Hilary
Issue Mabel de Clare Richard de Clare James de Clare Eveline (Aveline) de Clare Roger de Clare John de Clare Henry de Clare
Detail Titles and styles 5th Lord of Tonbridge 4th Lord of Cardigan
Family	de Clare
Father	Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare
Mother	Alice de Gernon
Born	1116 Tonbridge Castle, Kent, England
Died	1173 Oxfordshire, England
Occupation	Peerage of England

Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, 5th Lord of Clare, 5th lord of Tonbridge, 5th Lord of Cardigan (1116–1173) was a powerful Norman noble during the 12th century England. He succeeded to the Earldom of Hertford and Honor of Clare, Tonbridge and Cardigan when his brother Gilbert died without issue.

Roger was a son of Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare and Alice de Gernon. In 1153, he appears with his cousin, Richard Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, as one of the signatories to the Treaty of Wallingford, in which Stephen recognises Prince Henry as his successor. He is found signing charters at Canterbury and Dover in 1156. Next year, according to Powell, he received from Henry II a grant of whatever lands he could conquer in South Wales. This is probably only an expansion of the statement of the Welsh chronicles that in this year (about 1 June) he entered Cardigan and 'stored' the castles of Humfrey, Aberdovey, Dineir, and Rhystud. Rhys ap Gruffydd, the prince of South Wales, appears to have complained to Henry II of these encroachments ; but being unable to obtain redress from the king of England sent his nephew Einion ab Anarawd to attack Humfirey and the other Norman fortresses. The 'Annales Cambriæ seem to assign these events to the year 1159 ; and the 'Brut' adds that Prince Rhys burnt all the French castles in Cardigan.

In 1158 or 1160, Clare advanced with an army to the relief of Carmarthen Castle, then besieged by Rhys, and pitched his camp at Dinweilir. Not daring to attack the Welsh prince, the English army offered peace and retired home. In 1163, Rhys again invaded the conquests of Clare, who, we learn incidentally, has at some earlier period caused Einion, the capturer of Humfrey Castle, to be murdered by domestic treachery.In 1164 he assisted with the Constitutions of Clarendon. From his munificence to the Church and his numerous acts of piety, Roger was called the "Good Earl of Hertford". He was the founder of Little Marcis Nunnery prior to 1163.

A second time all Cardigan was wrested from the Norman hands ; and things now wore so threatening an aspect that Henry II led an army into Wales in 1165, although, according to one Welsh account, Rhys had made his peace with the king in 1164, and had even visited him in England. The causes assigned by the Welsh chronicle for this fresh outbreak of hostility are that Henry failed to keep his promises — presumably of restitution — and secondly that Roger, earl of Clare, was honourably receiving Walter, the murderer of Rhys's nephew Einion. For the third time we now read that Cardigan was overrun and the Norman castles burnt; but it is possible that the events assigned by the 'Annales Cambræ' to the year 1165 are the same as those assigned by the 'Brut y Tywysogion' to 1163.