Life History

Notes

• Gilbert was styled Gilbert of Irchingfield.   He became the 5th Lord Strange of Blackmere, inheriting this title and the lands from his mother, Ankaret Le Strange.  We are told in sources that the tile of Blackmere passed into the Neville family when his wife Ankaret married Thomas Neville, 6th Lord Furnival, at the death of Richard Talbot.
  
  I note that according to the date of death of Ankaret, she died before her son, but only by 6 years.  it seems odd that if these dates are correct, the tile would have passed from Gilbert to his mother's second husband.  This may have happened because Gilbert died without children.  Gilbert married Beatriz de Portugal de Aviz, but I have no information on any children.
  
  Gilbert was a Knight of the Garter.  Here is soem information on that order.
  
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  King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter as "a society, fellowship and college of knights." The foundation year is usually presumed to be 1348, although dates from 1344 to 1351 have been proposed. The King's wardrobe account shows Garter habits first issued in the autumn of 1348. Regardless, the Order probably was not established before 1346; its original statutes required that each member already be a knight (what would now be referred to as a knight bachelor) and some of the initial members were only knighted that year.
  
  Various legends account for the origin of the Order. The most popular legend involves the "Countess of Salisbury" (probably either his future daughter-in-law Joan of Kent or her former mother-in-law, Catherine Montacute, Countess of Salisbury). While she was dancing with or near King Edward at Eltham Palace, her garter is said to have slipped from her leg. When the surrounding courtiers sniggered, the king picked it up and tied it to his leg, exclaiming, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," ("Shamed be the person who thinks evil of it."), the phrase that has become the motto of the Order.
  
  According to another legend, King Richard I was inspired in the 12th century by St George the Martyr while fighting in the Crusades to tie garters around the legs of his knights, who subsequently won the battle. King Edward supposedly recalled the event in the 14th century when he founded the Order. Another explanation is that the motto refers to Edward's claim to the French throne, and the Order of the Garter was created to help pursue this claim. The use of the garter as an emblem may have derived from straps used to fasten armour.
  
  Soon after the founding of the Order, women were appointed "Ladies of the Garter," but were not made companions. King Henry VII discontinued the practice in 1488; his mother, Margaret Beaufort, was the last Lady of the Garter before Queen Alexandra. Except for female sovereigns, the next Lady of the Garter named was Queen Alexandra, by her husband King Edward VII. King George V also made his consort, Queen Mary, a Lady of the Garter and King George VI subsequently did the same for his wife, Queen Elizabeth. Throughout the 20th century, women continued to be associated with the Order, but except for foreign female monarchs, they were not made companions. In 1987, however, it became possible to install "Ladies Companion of the Garter" under a statute of Queen Elizabeth II.
  --  Ancestry Stories, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/5171145/person/-1429058681/story/30d71964-d36a-4788-8635-fa8fc49a37b3?src=search&ftm=1
  
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Sources

• 1. GeneaNet
• 2. Le Strange Family Genealogy -- TudorPlace