heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

CLARE. 235
" owes for the fruits of the churches, formerly belonging to the said Bogo,
" of Tacham and Chievele (Thatcham and Chieveley), which fell into the
"hands of the said Bishop, after the decease of the aforesaid Bogo
" Edward 23rd." Probably, therefore, he had only the tenure for life
granted
to him by the King, and at his death, provision was made therewith for
the lodging and support of the scholars from Maiden, which was the
commencement of Merton College.
The armorial bearings of the College testify to the founder having
been a retainer of the Clare family, as they are :
pale azure and gules,
i.e. the arms of Clare differenced.
Or, three chevronels per
Anthony Wood says (p. 36) of this house: "After some small time
" of the endowment of it, there was one Bogo de Clare (kin to the Earl
"of Gloucester), who gave to it the Church of St. Peter-in-the-East,
" Oxford, the Chapel of Wolvercote, and the Chapel and Lordship of
" St. Cross (now known by the name of Holywell), with all the appurten-
"ances and liberties thereunto belonging, which he held of the gift of
" King Henry III., and which were valued really at ^40 per annum. The
" said Bogo de Clare, and others of that house, were so great benefactors
" to this house, that it is
supposed the College imitated them in the bearing
" of their arms ; for, whereas the Clares bear Or 3 chevrons gules, the
" College bore the same, only counterchanging the chevrons per pale gules
" and azure ;
and for the great respect the College owed to that family
" did set up their arms in many places of the College, besides in the
" Chancel of St. Peter-in-the-East, the Chapel of Wolvercote, and Holywell."
We now go back to Hugh de Audley, the husband of Margaret,
second daughter of the " Red Earl," and widow of Piers Gaveston. He,
however, sided with the Earl of Lancaster, and was taken prisoner with
him at the battle of Boroughbridge but being treated with indulgence on
;
account of marriage with the King's niece, and, perhaps, his relationship
to Gaveston, he was not beheaded with the good Duke.
His estates were seized, but restored in 1327, the first year of the
following reign. Some years after he was summoned to Parliament as
Earl of Gloucester, and died in 1347, leaving one only daughter and heir,
Margaret, married to Lord Stafford, the eldest son of Edmund Lord
Stafford, by Margaret, daughter of Ralph Lord Basset, of Drayton.