Margaret de Clare

Marriage to Piers Gaveston Margaret was married to Piers Gaveston, the favourite of her uncle Edward II on 1 November 1307. However, the evidence is circumstantial and the official records only list Joan Gaveston as born to Piers Gaveston and Margaret de Clare. On 28 April 1317, Margaret de Clare wed Hugh de Audley at Windsor Castle. They had one daughter: Margaret Audley, born between January 1318 and November 1320.

Despenser War Hugh and Margaret were among the victims of their brother-in-law, Hugh the younger Despenser. In his rashness and greed for the Clare lands, he robbed Margaret of much of her rightful inheritance. In 1321, Hugh de Audley joined the other marcher lords in looting, burning, and causing general devastation to Despenser's lands which subsequently became the Despenser War. Hugh was captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322, and was saved from a hanging thanks to the pleas of his wife. He was imprisoned, and two months later Margaret was sent to Sempringham Priory in Lincolnshire. She remained there until 1326, when Hugh escaped prison and she was released from Sempringham.

Countess of Gloucester Hugh and Margaret were reunited sometime in 1326. In summer 1336, their only daughter, Margaret Audley, was abducted by Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford. Her parents filed a complaint, but King Edward III supported Stafford. He appeased Hugh and Margaret by creating Hugh Earl of Gloucester. Margaret was henceforth styled Countess of Gloucester.

Death Margaret died on 9 April 1342, and her sister Lady Elizabeth de Clare paid for prayers to be said for her soul at Tonbridge Priory in Kent, England, where she was buried.

Ancestry