Rohese de Clare (bef. 1166) was a member of the wealthy and powerful Anglo-Norman de Clare family, and a strong patron of Monmouth Priory.
Life Rohese was a daughter of Gilbert Fitz Richard de Clare (c. 1066–c. 1117) and Adeliza de Clermont.Cokayne, G. E., The Complete Peerage; or, A History of the House of Lords and All its Members from the Earliest Times, Vol. X, Eds. H. A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, & Howard de Walden (London: St. Catherine Press, 1945), p. 348 Her father was an influential Anglo-Norman baron who was granted the Lordship of Cardigan, in Wales c. 1107–1111. Her paternal grandmother Rohese Giffard was one of the few women mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book as holding land in her own right.
Around 1130, Rohese married Baderon fitzWilliam of Monmouth. Her father being already dead by that date,Sanders, I. J., English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent, 1086–1327 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), p. 65 the wedding was celebrated at Striguil Castle (Chepstow), the stronghold of her brother Gilbert Fitz Gilbert de Clare, who gave the bride away.
Rohese is most notable for her generosity to Monmouth Priory beginning soon after her marriage. As a married woman she acted through her husband, who records in the charter that the gifts were made "by myself and my wife, at her request ... at the Feast of All Saints on the same day on which she was married to me at Striguil".Dugdale, William, Monasticon Anglicanum, Vol 4, Eds. J. Caley, H. Ellis & B. Bandinel (London: Longman, Hurst, et al., 1823), pp. 596–597 The gift was put into effect "on the Feast of St. Martin next following" at a ceremony at Monmouth attended by Rohese's brothers Walter and Gilbert and by Gilbert's wife Isabel de Beaumont (a former mistress of Henry I).Cokayne, G. E., The Complete Peerage; or, A History of the House of Lords and All its Members from the Earliest Times, Vol. VII, Eds. H. A. Doubleday & Howard de Walden (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1929), p. 526, footnote (c) The gift consisted of a tithe of the regular revenues of the town of Monmouth, to be paid in installments three times each year. In 1144, Rohese and Baderon made further donations to Monmouth Priory.Round, J. Horace, ed., Calendar of Documents Preserved in France: 918–1206: Anjou: Part 2 (1899) no. 1143
Family Together Rohese and Baderon had four recorded children. Gilbert fitzBaderon succeeded his father as lord of Monmouth. Rohese of Monmouth married Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath about 1155 and had eight children. She continued her mother's support of Monmouth Priory.Cokayne, G. E. The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant, Vol. XII, Part 2, Ed. Geoffrey H. White (London: St. Catherine Press, 1959), p. 168 Less is known about their sons Payn (fl. 1144) and Robert (fl. 1144). References