General Notes

Nicholas de Segrave, who, in the 43rd Henry III [1259], attended that monarch into Frances, but soon after espoused the cause of the barons and became one of their most active leaders. In the 47th of Henry's reign [1263], he was amongst those who appeared openly in arms and fortified Northampton, for which proceeding his lands were seized by the crown. Upon the subsequent fall of Northampton to the royalists, Nicholas de Segrave fled to London, where the citizens having raised a large army for the barons made him their general. At the head of this force, he marched with Gilbert de Clare and Henry de Hastings to the siege of Rochester, and thence to Lewes, at which place the celebrated battle, so disastrous to the king, commenced by a charge made by Segrave and the head of the Londoners; in this, however, he was worsted by Prince Edward who, flushed with success, pursued his advantage too far and thus mainly contributed to the defeat which the royal arms sustained. This issue of this battle is well known. The king, Prince Edward, and the chief of their adherents became prisoners to the rebels who followed up their triumph by immediately summoning a parliament in the king's name, to which Nicholas de Segrave was summoned as Baron Segrave, 24 December, 1264. But the tide soon ebbing, he was among the defeated at Evesham where he was wounded and make prisoner. He was, however, admitted to the benefit of the Dictum of Kenilworth, and obtained a full pardon with restoration of his lands which had been seized. In four years afterwards, he attended Prince Edward to the Holy Land and when that prince ascended the throne, he appears to have enjoyed a large share of royal favour. In the 4th year of Edward's reign [1276], he was with the king in a campaign against the Welsh and was subsequently employed in Scotland and Ireland, having had a second summons to parliament 24 June, 1295. His lordship m. Maud de Lucy, by whom he had issue, John, Nicholas, Geoffrey, Peter, Gilbert, and Annabel. Lord Segrave d. 1295, and was s. by his eldest son, John de Segrave, 2nd baron. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 484, Segrave, Barons Segrave of Barton Segrave