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Ralph de Monthermer was a commoner, squire to Gilbert de Clare, the Earl of Hertford, Earl of Gloucester, whose wife was Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307), a daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile, born in the Holy Land while her parents were on a Crusade. After Gilbert de Clare died in 1295, leaving Joan of Acre a young widow, she secretly married her late husband's squire and companion, despite their unequal social rank. The marriage is said to have been secretly celebrated in January 1297. When King Edward I heard of the affair in April 1297, flying into a rage, he had the young man incarcerated. Joan pleaded for her husband, reportedly saying: [1]
No one sees anything wrong if a great earl marries a poor and lowly woman. Why should there be anything wrong if a countess marries a young and promising man?
When the Bishop of Durham backed the "rebel" daughter's claim, her father relented and formally recognized Ralph de Monthermer as jure uxoris, [by widow's right] Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, during his wife's lifetime. In 1309, after Joan's death, he became 1st Baron Monthermer; the other titles passed to Gilbert de Clare's son.
He is also remembered for saving Scottish nobleman, Robert the Bruce, from being arrested by King Edward I in 1306, after overhearing his father-in-law mention a plan to imprison the Scottish Lord, who was visiting the English Court. He then fought against the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, during which Ralph de Monthermer was captured by his former friend. Robert, now the victorious King of Scots, discharged his debt of 1306 by releasing Ralph without ransom after hosting him at a celebratory banquet.
Ralph de Monthermer's 2nd wife was Isabel le Despenser, the widow of Lord Hastings and a daughter of the Earl of Winchester, whom he is said to have married around 1316, also in secret. For this 2nd social transgression he remained under ban from Court until 1319. Ralph Lord Monthermer died on 5 April 1325, age 54, while Isabel (le Despenser) de Monthermer survived his passing. She died in 1336 in England. He is buried at the Grey Friars Church in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.
