General Notes

EARLDOM OF LINCOLN (IX, 3)

HENRY (DE LACY),EARL OF LiNCOLN, and Constable of Chester, son and heir. He was born 6 or 13 January 1250/1. On or before 23 December 1256 he was contracted to marry Margaret, daughter of Sir William LUNGESPEE, and on 1 June 1268, when still under age, he did homage with Margaret his wife and had livery of her inheritance. In 1269 he and the Earl of Surrey engaged in a private war about certain lands, which the King stopped and brought the matter into court. On 5 April 1272 he was appointed governor of Knaresborough Castle. On 13 October 1272 he was knighted by the King and girded with the sword of the Earldom of Lincoln. From now on he was constantly employed on the public service, being a devoted servant of the King. He was summoned for military service frequently from 1276, and in that year and the next was in the Welsh campaign, being present at the siege of Castle Baldwin, and taking the castle of Dolforwyn, near Montgomery. On 20 January 1277/8 he went beyond seas to arrange for the marriage of the King's daughter to the son of the Duke of Brabant, and in that year he escorted Alexander III on a visit to England. On 27 April 1279 he was appointed one of the Lieutenants of England during the King's absence in France, and was given charge of Hartmann, son of the King of the Romans, during his visit to London. In 1282 and 1283 he was again fighting in Wales, and on 16 October 1282 was rewarded with the cantreds of Rhos and Rufeniog. He was summoned 28 June 1283 to the Council at Shrewsbury for the trial of David ap Griffith. He went with the King to Gascony, and was there in the years 1286-89. After his return, in October 1289, he was commissioned to hear complaints against the King's ministers. On 20 June 1290 he was appointed with the Bishop of Durham and others to treat with the Scottish envoys, and in February 1290/1 he went to Spain to arrange a treaty. He was present at Norham Castle in May when the King's peace was proclaimed as overlord of Scotland. In February 1291/2 he was one of the executors of Queen Eleanor. He was again at Norham the following November, when Baliol and other Scots took the oath of fealty, and at Berwick when the claims to the Scottish crown were discussed. Having lost both his sons, Edmund and Johni, through accidents, he resigbed his lordships into the King's hand, and they were regranted to him and him Issue, with remainder to Edmund of Lancastcr, the King's brothcr, and his issue. On 10 May 1293 he and Edmund the King's brother had letters of credence to tho King of France regarding disputes between the seafaring men of Normandy and of England. On 12 June 1294 he had acquittance of all debts due to the Exchequer by him, Margaret his wife, and their ancestors. He settled his posscssions in Cheshire and Lancashire on himself for life, with remainder to Thomas son of Edmund Earl of Lancaster, who had married Henry's daughter Alice, and to Thomas's right heirs. He was in the army in Gascony in the summer of 1294, but apparently came home, and was at Portsmouth about to return when he was recalled by a revolt in Wales, and on 11 November was defeated by his own Welshmen and escaped with difficulty. He remained in the Principality until May 1295, and on 24 June was summoned to what is known as the model Parliament. On 3 December 1295 he was made Lieutenant of the King and Captain of his men-at-arms in Gascony, whither he sailed from Plymouth in the company of the Earl of Lancaster, 14 January 1295/6, with 352 ships. They pillaged St. Mathieu and other places, and attacked, but failed to take Bordeaux. When the Earl of Lancaster died, 5 June 1296, Lacy succeeded to the command by consent of the whole army, and he was called the King's Lieutenant in Guienne. He defeated Robert of Artois at Bourg, and in July and August besieged Dax. He returned to Bayonne for the winter. In February 1296/7 he tried, but failed, to relieve Bellegard, and in the summer raided eastwards towards Toulouse, returning to Bayonne again for the winter. At Easter 1298 he returned home, and at the end of April went to Scotland, and was one of the leaders at the battle of Falkirk, 22 July 1298. On 26 December he was appointed to preside at the trial of Luccese merchants who were accused of a conspiracy to poison the King and his son. Payment of his debts at the Exchequer was respited, 30 March 1299, on account of his good and faithful service in Gascony. In May he was appointed a commissioner for a truce with France and to arrange a marriage between Prince Edward and Isabel of France, and next month acted on behalf of the Prince at the agreement made at Montreuil. In July he had returned and attended a Council at York about the fortresses in Scotland, whither he was summoned for service in August, and had charge of the barony of Renfrew. In November he was in the South again, and witnessed a charter at St. Albans on the 2nd of that month. He returned to Scotland in April 1300, and in July was at the siege of Carlaverock. In October he went to Rome to lay a complaint against the Scots before the Pope, who counselled a truce. In February 1300/1 he was appointed governor of Corfe Castle and warden of Purbeck Chase. In the summer, in the company of Prince Edward, he again marched against the Scots, and subdued Galloway. For the next two or three years he was frequently in France to arrange terms of peace, and this being effected, 20 May 1303, in October he took possession of Gascony, which was restored to England by the treaty, on the King's behalf. In the Parliament of February 1304/5 he was a trier of Gascon petitions; he was also summoned to the Parliament in July, to a Council in 1306, and to Parliaments in 1307 (which he opened) and 1308.  He was again in Scotland in April 1305, and in September was appointed a commissioner in Parliament to deal with Scottish affairs. Next month he went to Lyons, to congratulate Pope Clement V on his election, and on his return in February 1305/6 was publicly welcomed by the Mayor of London. At the knighting of Prince Edward, 22 May 1306, he and the Earl of Hereford fastened the Prince's spurs. In the summer he was again in Scotland with the Prince, of whom he had charge. In November 1306 he renounced his claim on the lands of James the Steward of Scotland, which had been given to him by the King, for 4,000 marks. On 8 July 1307, the day after the death of Edward I, he did homage at Carlisle to the young King (represented by his Chancellor). He was friendly to Gavaston, Edward II's favourite, whose creation as Earl of Cornwall he is said to have promoted, but within a few months he joined the party against him. At the Coronation of Edward II, 25 February 1307/8, he bore one of the swords of State. Though he had been won over to Gavaston early in 1309, they were at enmity again by July, when Henry de Lacy joined the Earl of Lancaster in refusing to attend a Council at York if Gavaston were to be present. On 6 August 1309 he joined in the Barons' Letter to the Pope. On 7 February 1309/10 he was appointed a commissioner to prevent armed forces from coming to the Parliament, and in March was one of the petitioners for the Ordinances, being appointed one of the "Ordainers" to supersede the King's authority. On 1 September 1310 he was appointed Guardian of the Kingdom during the King's absence in Scotland. On 6 October 1310 the £20 per annum for the 3rd penny of the county of Lincoln was ordered to be paid to him with arrears from the death of Edward I.

He married, 1stly, Margaret, 1st daughter and coheir of William LUNGESPEE. She was living 11 Kal. September 1306. He married, 2ndly, before 16 June 1310, Joan, daughter of William, LORD MARTIN, by Eleanor, widow of John DE MOHUN, of Dunster, and daughter of Sir Reynold FITZPIERS. He died s.p.m.s., at his manor of Holborn, 5, and was buried 28 February 1310/1, in St. Paul's, London. His widow had livery of her dower 22 May and 26 June 1311. She married, without the King's license, before 6 June 1313, Nicholas, LORD AUDLEY. She was living 21 July 1322 and presumably died shortly before 27 October 1322.  [Complete Peerage VII:681-7, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]