Earl of Clare was a title of English nobility created three times: once each in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and Ireland.
The title derives from Clare, Suffolk, where a prominent Anglo-Norman family was seated since the Norman Conquest, and from which their English surname sprang from possession of the Honour of Clare. The Norman family who took the name 'de Clare' became associated with the peerage as they held, at differing times, three earldoms (Gloucester, Pembroke, and Hertford).
Read more about Earl Of Clare: The Honour of Clare, Possible Medieval Earls, Earl of Clare, First Creation (1624), Earls of Clare, Second Creation (1714), Earls of Clare, Third Creation (1795)
Famous quotes containing the words earl and/or clare:
“Distrust all those who love you extremely upon a very slight acquaintance, and without any visible reason. Be upon your guard, too, against those who confess, as their weaknesses, all the cardinal virtues.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“We dreamed that a great painter had been born
To cold Clare rock and Galway rock and thorn,
To that stern colour and that delicate line
That are our secret discipline
Wherein the gazing heart doubles her might....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)