 The lands went into royal possession while the matter of inheritance was being settled . By the entail of 1290 , the lands could only be inherited by direct descendants of the seventh earl and Joan of Acre . Maud managed to postpone the proceedings by claiming to be pregnant , but by 1316 it was clear that this could not be the case . The late earl 's sisters , Eleanor , Margaret ( now widowed after the death of Gaveston ) and Elizabeth were by 1317 all married to favourites of Edward II : Hugh Despenser the Younger , Hugh de Audley and Roger d 'Amory respectively . The three were granted equal parts of the English possessions , but Despenser received the entire lordship of Glamorgan in Wales , politically the most important of the de Clare lands . 
