present to hold the reigns of government, his sister,
Basilia, sent an enigmatical letter[301] to her husband, which certainly
does no small credit to her diplomatic skill. The messengers were not
acquainted with the Earl's death; and such of the Anglo-Normans in
Dublin as were aware of it, had too much prudence to betray the secret.
Raymond at once set out on his journey. Immediately after his arrival,
FitzGislebert, Earl de Clare, was interred in the Cathedral of the Holy
Trinity, now called Christ's Church.

Strongbow has not obtained a flattering character, either from his
friends or his enemies. Even Cambrensis admits that he was obliged to be
guided by the plans of others, having neither originality to suggest,
nor talent to carry out any important line of action.

The Irish annalists call him the greatest destroyer of the clergy and
laity that came to Ireland since the times of Turgesius (Annals of
Innisfallen). The Four Masters record his demise thus: "The English Earl
[_i.e._, Richard] died in Dublin, of an ulcer which had broken out in
his foot, through the miracles of SS. Brigid and Colum-cille, and of all
the other saints whose churches had been destroyed by him. He saw, he
thought, St. Brigid in the act of killing him." Pembridge says he died
on the 1st of May, and Cambrensis about the 1st of June. His personal
appearance is not described in very flattering terms;[302] and he has
the credit of being more of a soldier than a statesman, and not very
knightly in his manner or bearing.

The Earl de Clare left only one child, a daughter, as heir to his vast
estates. She was afterwards married to William Marshal, Earl of
Pembroke. Although Strongbow was a "destroyer" of the native clergy, he
appears to have been impregnated with the mediaeval devotion for
establishing religious houses. He founded a priory at Kilmainham for the
Knights of the Temple, with an alms-house and hospital He was also a
liberal benefactor to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where he was
buried.[303]

An impression on green wax of his seal still exists, pendent from a
charter in the possession of the Earl of Ormonde. The seal bears on the
obverse a mounted knight, in a long surcoat, with a triangular shield,
his head covered by a conical helmet, with a nasal. He has a broad,
straight sword in his right hand. A foot soldier, with the legend,
"Sigillum Ricardi, Filii Comitis Gilleberti," is on the reverse. The
last word alone is now legib