70 Essay on Caerphilly Castle. 



I have been able to find no further mention of Caerphilly 



Leland, until the tiraeof Leland, who thus describes it in his Itinerary : 



VII. 39. " In Iscaibac is Cairfilly Castelle sette amonge marisches, wher 



be ruinous walles of a wonderful thickness and tower kept up 



for prisoners as to the chief hold of Senghenith." 



Our typograpliical arrangements do not admit of the insertion, in the 

 usual manner, of the pedigree, shewing the descent of Caerphilly ; we shall 

 endeavour, however, thus to supply its place : — 



1. Robert Fitz-hamon left a daughter and heiress, 2. Maud, who mar- 

 ried Robert earl of Gloucester, natural son to Henry II. and left 3. William, 

 1173, married Hawisia, daughter to the earl of Leicester. 4. They left 

 four children. 1. Robert, who died without issue ; 2. Isabel, married John 

 earl of Oxford and Lancaster, afterwards king, for his first wife ; 3. Amicia 

 married Sir Richard de Clare, earl of Clare and earl of Gloucester in her 

 right ; 4. Mabel married the earl of Eureux. The earldom, the west of 

 of England and the Welsh estates, centered in Amicia, who had issue, 

 5. Gilbert de Clare, fourth earl, from whom sprung, 6. Richard de Clare, 

 fifth earl, Thomas his brother, and Margaret. 7. Gilbert, the sixth 

 earl, son of Richard, had issue, 8. Gilbert de Clare, seventh earl, 

 married Joan of Acre or Aeon, daughter of Edward I. They left, 9. four 

 children. I.Gilbert, eighth earl of Gloucester, slain at Bannockburn, 

 (7 E. II.) without issue. 2. Eleanoba, married, first, Hugh Le Despencer, 

 jun., in her right, ninth earl of Gloucester, and governor for the king, of 

 Caerphilly ; and secondly, William La Zouch, of Mortimer. 3. Margaret 

 married, first, Hugh de Audley, afterwards tenth earl of Gloucester, 1347 ; 

 and secondly. Piers Gaveston : she had issue by the first marriage. 4. 

 Elizabeth, foundress of Clare Hall, Cambridge : she married, first, John de 

 Burgh ; secondly, Theobald de Verdon ; and thirdly. Sir Roger D'Armory. 

 The Welsh estates descended with Eleanora, who was kept prisoner in 

 the Tower, with her family, until .'ith Feb. (2 E. III.) ; she left two sons, 



10. 1. Hugh Spensek, lord of Glamorgan, 134S, married Elizabeth, 

 daughter of Hugh Montacute, earl of Salisbury. 2. Sir Edward Spenser, 

 married Anne, daughter of Henry lord Ferrers, of Groby, and had issue, 



11. four sons. 1. Edward. 2. Thomas. 3. Gilbert. 4. Henry, the 

 Avarlike bisiiop of Norwich. Edward lord Spenser, K. G., married 

 Elizabeth, daughter of Bartholomew de Burglersh, and died at Cardiff: he 

 had issue, 12. Thomas lord Spenser, (1400) to whom the earldom of 

 Gloucester seems to have been restored, but who was beheaded for treason, 

 and forfeited his estates, (1 H. IV'.). He married Constance, daughter of 

 Edmund duke of York, and had issue, 13- 1. Richard earl of Gloucester, 

 (1414.) 2. Isabella, on her brother's death, heiress : she married, first, 

 Richard Beauchamp earl of Worcester, and had issue, Elizabeth j and 

 secondly, Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, and by the latter had 

 issue, 14. Henry Beauchamp, duke of Warwick ; and Anne, who 



