page_title: Eleanor de Clare
section_title: Marriage to William de la Zouche
hierarchical_section_title: Eleanor de Clare / Marriage to William de la Zouche
caption_attribution_description: 1329 seal of William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer (d.1337), w:jure uxoris w:Lord of Glamorgan, husband of w:Eleanor de Clare (1292-1337), daughter and eventual heiress of w:Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th w:Earl of Gloucester, w:Lord of Glamorgan and feudal baron of Gloucester. Inscribed: S(igillum) Will(elm)i La Zouche Domini De Glamorgan ("Seal of William la Zouche, Lord of Glamorgan"). His shield and the caparison of his horse show the Zouche arms Gules,w:bezantée. 7.7 cm diameter. National Library of Wales, Penrice and Margam Deeds 204 (Front). Description: Armoured man with crested helm and armorial surcoat (bezantee) holding a sword up in his right hand and a shield (10 bezants) on his left arm on a horse with armorial caparisons (bezanty) and head-crest galloping to the right, on a diapered ground. Rhif ffeil delwedd / Image file no.&#160;: sea00136 Rhagor o wybodaeth am brosiect Seliau yng Nghymru'r Oesoedd Canol. More information about the Seals in Medieval Wales project
context_page_description: Eleanor de Clare, suo jure 6th Lady of Glamorgan was a powerful English noblewoman who married Hugh Despenser the Younger and was a granddaughter of Edward I of England. With her sisters, Elizabeth de Clare and Margaret de Clare, she inherited her father's estates after the death of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hereford at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. She was born in 1292 at Caerphilly Castle in Glamorgan, Wales and was the eldest daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 5th Lord of Glamorgan and Princess Joan of Acre.
context_section_description: In January 1329 Eleanor was abducted from Hanley Castle by William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer, who had been one of her first husband's captors and who had led the siege of Caerphilly Castle. The abduction may in fact have been an elopement; in any case, Eleanor's lands were seized by King Edward III, and the couple's arrest was ordered. At the same time, Eleanor was accused of stealing jewels from the Tower of London. Sometime after February 1329, she was imprisoned a second time in the Tower, and was later moved to Devizes Castle. In January 1330 she was released and pardoned after agreeing to sign away the most valuable part of her share of the lucrative Clare inheritance to the crown. She could recover her lands only on payment of the enormous sum of 50,000 pounds in a single day.
  Within the year, however, the young future King Edward III (Eleanor's first cousin) overthrew Queen Isabella's paramour, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and had him executed. Eleanor was among those who benefited from the fall of Mortimer and Isabella. She petitioned Edward III for the restoration of her lands, claiming that she had signed them away after being threatened by Roger Mortimer that she would never be freed if she did not. In 1331 Edward III granted her petition "to ease the king's conscience" and allowed her to recover the lands on the condition that she should pay a fine of 10,000 pounds, later reduced to 5,000 pounds, in instalments. Eleanor made part-payments of the fine, but the bulk of it was outstanding at her death.
  Eleanor's troubles were by no means over, however. After Eleanor's marriage to Zouche, John de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Rotherfield claimed that he had married her first. In 1333 Grey was still attempting to claim marriage to Eleanor; the case was appealed to the Pope several times. Ultimately, Zouche won the dispute and Eleanor remained with him until his death in February 1337, only a few months before Eleanor's own death. By Zouche Eleanor had children as follows:
  William de la Zouche, born 1330, died after 1360, a monk at Glastonbury Abbey.
  Joyce Zouche, born 1331, died after 4 May 1372, married John de Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt.
caption: 1329 seal of William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer (died 1337), jure uxoris Lord of Glamorgan, husband of Eleanor de Clare (1292–1337), daughter and eventual heiress of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, Lord of Glamorgan and feudal baron of Gloucester. Inscribed: S(igillum) Will(elm)i La Zouche Domini De Glamorgan ("Seal of William la Zouche, Lord of Glamorgan"). His shield and the caparison of his horse show the Zouche arms bezantée
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