de Lacy (Laci, Lacie, Lascy, Lacey, Lassey) is the surname of an old Norman family which originated from Lassy, Calvados. The family took part in the Norman Conquest of England and the later Norman invasion of Ireland. The name is first recorded for Hugh de Lacy (1020–1085). His sons, Walter and Ilbert, left Normandy and travelled to England with William the Conqueror.[1][better source needed] The awards of land by the Conqueror to the de Lacy sons led to two distinct branches of the family: the northern branch, centred on Blackburnshire and west Yorkshire was held by Ilbert's descendants; the southern branch of Marcher Lords, centred on Herefordshire and Shropshire, was held by Walter's descendants.
Pontefract CastleBowland, northern EnglandClitheroe Castle, founded by Robert de Lacy
Brothers Ilbert and Walter de Lacy jointly held the Norman lands of the Bishop of Bayeux.[2] They participated in the Norman conquest of England. While there is evidence that Ilbert fought at William's side at Hastings,[3] there is no record of Walter fighting at Hastings. Ilbert was a major participant in the Harrying of the North (1069–70) which effectively ended the quasi-independence of the region through large-scale destruction that resulted in the relative "pacification" of the local population and the replacement of local Anglo-Danish lords with Normans. In return, he received vast grants of land in West Yorkshire, where he built Pontefract Castle.
The Honour of Pontefract, which included the manor of Stanbury, was maintained by Ilbert's direct male descendants for the next three generations until 1192. It continued in the female line until 1348.
John de Lacy (d.1240), a descendant via a female line whose father, Roger Fitz John, Constable of Chester, adopted the surname "de Lacy", gained more titles, including that of the Earldom of Lincoln in 1221.
Robert de Lacy (probably died before 1130),[9] 2nd Baron of Pontefract, 2nd Lord of Bowland, the son of Ilbert. He founded Pontefract Priory about 1090 and built Clitheroe Castle.
Ilbert de Lacy (died c.1141), 3rd Baron of Pontefract, 3rd Lord of Bowland, the eldest son of Robert de Lacy. He was captured with King Stephen during the Battle of Lincoln (1141), possibly dying in captivity.[9]
Henry de Lacy (died 1177[9][10]), 4th Baron of Pontefract, 4th Lord of Bowland, the second son of Robert de Lacy. He built Kirkstall Abbey.
Robert de Lacy (died 1193), 5th Baron of Pontefract, 5th Lord of Bowland, son of Henry. Although he married he had no children. Buried at Kirkstall.[9]
Albreda de Lacy, daughter of Robert de Lacy the 2nd Baron, who married Robert de Lissours.
Roger de Lacy (1170–1211), 6th Baron of Pontefract, 7th Baron of Halton, 7th Lord of Bowland, was the son of John FitzRichard and the grandson of Albreda de Lissours. He adopted surname de Lacy. In addition to inheriting his grandmother's vast holdings, Robert also inherited his father's hereditary title of Constable of Chester and the Barony of Halton with Halton Castle and the lordship of Donington in Leicestershire.[12] In 1205 he purchased the barony of Penwortham[13] It seems that one of his daughters married Alan, Lord of Galloway (died 1234), who later married Rose, the daughter of Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster.
Maud de Lacy (1222–1262), eldest child of the 2nd earl. Married Richard de Clare in 1238, becoming the Countess of Hertford and of Gloucester.
Edmund de Lacy (c. 1230–1258), 8th Baron of Pontefract, 9th Lord of Bowland, son of John. He inherited his father's titles but as he predeceased his mother (Margaret de Quincy) he never became the Earl of Lincoln.
Henry de Lacy (c. 1251–1311) 3rd Earl of Lincoln, 9th Baron of Pontefract, 10th Lord of Bowland, son of Edmund and grandson of the 2nd Earl. In 1282 he was granted the Lordship of Denbigh and built Denbigh Castle. He oversaw the transfer of the monastery from Stanlow to Whalley near Clitheroe in 1296.
The counties considered to be the Welsh Marches (in red)Site of Weobley Castle
Walter de Lacy, the son of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Lassy, was granted the lordship of Weobley in Herefordshire after the Conquest.[8] He is already attested in the Welsh Marches by 1069.[14] By the time of Walter's death, he held blocks of land in Herefordshire (including Holme Lacy) along the border with Wales with another group of lands centered on Ludlow in Shropshire. These groupings allowed Walter to help defend the England–Wales border against Welsh raids. He also had smaller holdings in Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire. Walter was second in the region only to William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford and his son, Roger de Breteuil although he was not subordinate to them. After the latter's rebellion against the king in 1075 (which Walter de Lacy helped to ensure failed) Walter became the leading baron in the region.
Roger de Lacy[15] (died after 1106), eldest son of Walter, who built Ludlow Castle. Following his banishment from England, his English estates were confiscated.
Gilbert de Lacy (died after 1163), son of Roger, who inherited his father's estates in Normandy only. He succeeded in recovering his father's lands about Longtown, Weobley and Ludlow. He became a Templar in the 1150s and granted the Templars Guiting in Gloucestershire.
Robert de Lacy, eldest son of Gilbert, who predeceased his father
Hugh de Lacy, younger son of Gilbert, who inherited his father's estates. He was later awarded the Lordship of Meath in Ireland.
Hugh de Lacy (died before 1115), younger son of Walter, who received the English lands upon his brother's banishment. The de Lacy lands then passed to Pain fitzJohn (a relation by marriage) and others.
Walter de Lacy, Abbot of Gloucester Abbey, son of Walter[8]
Lordship of Meath
Arms of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath [2]Trim Castle, County Meath, Ireland
These lords were reliant on their own aggression for laying claim to their lands and for securing them. Castles, by virtue of their defensive and offensive capabilities as well as their symbolic status, were indispensable for dominating the area of the lordship.[16] Known as a great builder of castles, by c. 1200, de Lacy had settlements all over the lordship, either in his own hands or the hands of his barons. With his son Walter (1180–1240) he built Trim Castle and Kilkea Castle. Some time after 1196, Walter granted "the whole land of Rathtowth" to his younger brother, Hugh. This sub-division, named the Barony of Ratoath, was perhaps the first instance of the use of the term barony in Ireland for a division of a county. By letters patent from John, King of England,[17] the prescriptive barony was granted to Walter de Lacy and his heirs in perpetuity in 1208.
Walter (before 1170 to 24 February 1240/41), 2nd Lord of Meath, 5th Baron de Lacy of Longtown, Weobley and Ludlow, eldest son of Hugh, married Margaret de Braose.
Gilbert de Lacy, son of Walter, married Isabel Bigod, daughter of Sir Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk. He predeceased his father before 25 December 1230.
Walter de Lacy son of Gilbert, married Rohese le Botiller but had no issue.
Margery (Margaret) de Lacy, daughter of Gilbert, married Sir John de Verdun, the son of Theobald le Botiller, 2nd Chief Butler of Ireland and Rohese de Verdun. As co-heir with her sister to her grandfather's estates, she received Westmeath as her inheritance.
Maud de Lacy, daughter of Gilbert, married Lord Geoffrey de Geneville, Justiciar of Ireland, the son of Simon de Joinville, Seneschal of Champagne, and Beatrix of Burgundy.[18] As co-heir with her sister to her grandfather's estates, she received the eastern part of the lordship as her inheritance.
Geoffrey de Geneville (died 1283), son of Maud.
Joan de Geneville, daughter of Maud, who married Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald (died 1287).
Sir Piers de Geneville (1256 – shortly before June 1292), son of Maud, married in 1283 Jeanne of Lusignan.
Several later families claim descent from the Hiberno-Norman Lacys.
The Lacy baronets of Ampton Hall, granted their title in the 20th century, derive from a Wexford Lacy family that claim descent from the Anglo-Norman de Lacy family.
It is claimed that a Limerick Lacy family that gave rise to several continentalgenerals were descendants of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, but this claim has been challenged by Synnott,[19] who suggested that the Limerick families may have originated as Lees, a name of frequent occurrence in Limerick records from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Members of this family include:
^"The Medieval Borough of Hornby (Lancashire)", pp 187-92, Alan G Crosby, ed., Of Names and Places: Selected Writings of Mary Higham (English Place-Name Society 2007)
^Farnham, G; Thompson, AH (1926). "The Castle and Manor of Castle Donington"(PDF). Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society. Vol. 14. pp. 33–40.
^Roger of Lacy, Lassy. Alternative spellings: Roger de Laci, Roger de Lacie, Roger de Lascy.
^The Irish Story – Joanna Pierce, "The Castle in the Lordship of Ireland, 1177-1310".
^John, previously Prince, Lord of Ireland and Earl of Mortain, was crowned King of England in 1199: "Rex Angliae, Dominus Hiberniae, Dux Normanniae et Aquitanniae, et Comes Andegaviae, coronatus fuit in festo ascensionis Dominicae, A.D. 1199"
^Nicholas J. Synnott. "Notes on the Family of De Lacy in Ireland" The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1919, vol. 9, pp. 113-131
Round, J. Horace, and Oswald Barron, "The Barony of Lacy, of Clitheroe", in William Farrer and John Brownhill (eds.), The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Lancashire, vol. 1 (London: Archibald Constable and Co., 1906), pp. 312–319.
Veach, Colin, "A Question of Timing: Walter de Lacy's Seisin of Meath, 1189–94", Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C, vol. 109 (2009), pp. 165–194.
