General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> Lord Meath
Hugh is possibly Gilbert's brother rather than son.
"Much more is known of the actions of Hugh II than of any p
revious member of
the family. He paid no scutage in 1164-5, so that he was pr
obably present in
person on the campaign of 1165 from Shrewsbury into North W
ales. He was in
Ireland with the king from October 1171, and remained ther
e after the king
returned in April 1172. He was back in England by 29 Decemb
er 1172, when he distinguished himself at the first publi
c festival of St. Thomas at Canterbury. The archbishop wa
s carried away by the occasion and expressed himself rathe
r too strongly, only to be rebuked firmly by Hugh II. In th
e summer of 1173 he was in Normandy helping to quell the ri
sing, and with Hugh de Beauchamp held the castle of Verneui
l while it was being besieged by
Louis VII in July. He spent some time during the year in Ir
eland, where he
had acquired the old kingsom of Meath, so that from now onw
ards he spent a
good deal of time on the west side of St. George's Channel
. In the same
year he had been given the city of Dublin and its castle
, a grant followed
five years later by his promotion to Viceroy. That post h
e held until 1184,
although he had been deprived of Dublin castle for a shor
t period in 1181-2
as a penalty for marrying the daughter of Rory O'Connor, th
e last king of
Connaught. At Durrow in July 1186 he had his head cut off b
y an Irishman
while he was showing him how to use a pick, according to th
e graphic
desctiprion in the chronicle of St. Mary, Dublin -- a comme
ntary on his
restless nature, apparently intolerant of inefficiency to t
he end."
--- W E Wightman, *The Lacy Family in England and Normandy
, 1066-1194*,
Oxford (Clarendon Press) 1966, p 190-191