John (Lacy) de Lacy (abt. 1192 - 1240)

Born about 1192 in England

Ancestors

Husband of Alice (Aigle) de Lacy — married 1214 in England

Husband of Margaret (Quincy) de Wiltshire — married before 21 Jun 1221 in England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 22 Jul 1240 at about age 48 in England

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Magna Carta Surety Baron John de Lacy was one of the twenty-five medieval barons who were surety for Magna Carta in 1215. Join: Magna Carta Project Discuss: magna_carta

Biography

Birth and Parents

John was the son of Roger de Lacy and Maud/Matilda de Clere.^[1][2][3] He came into possession of his father's lands in 1213, indicating that he was of age then and pointing to a birth date of about 1192.^[4]

Marriages and Children

John is said to have married twice. According to a 15th century chronicle of Stanlaw Abbey, Cheshire (of which John was a benefactor), his first wife was Alice de l'Aigle, daughter of Gilbert de l'Aigle and Isabel de Warenne. The chronicle says they had no children.^[1][2][3][4] Wikipedia, citing p. 261 of a 1966 book on the Lacy family, says says they married in Pontefract, Yorkshire in 1214 and she died in 1216, and that John and his first wife had a daughter, Joan.^[5] There is no mention of this in the main text of the book, which is viewable on Internet Archive:^[6] the page cited in Wikipedia is the first page of the index; it is possible that Joan is listed in one of the two genealogical tables, which are not viewable on Internet Archive.

Alice de l"Aigle must have died before June 1221: before 21 June that year (when they were given livery of some land in Dorset^[1]), John married Margaret de Quincy, daughter of Robert de Quincy and Hawise, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Chester.^[2][3][4] They had the following children:

• Edmund de Lacy^[1][2][3]
• Maud de Lacy, who married Richard de Clare^[2][3]
• Margaret de Lacy^[2][3]
• another daughter^[2][3] (see Research Notes (below)).

Inheritance

John inherited very extensive lands from his father. They included the baronies of Pontefract, Yorkshire.^[7] He was charged a massive fine of 7000 marks to gain possession of them, and made to surrender Pontefract Castle and Donington Castle, Leicestershire until this was paid. Donington Castle was restored to him in July 1214 in return for John's brother Roger and others being handed over as hostages for his good behaviour. On 5 March 1215 the outstanding amount of the fine, 4200 marks, was remitted.^[4]

Life

John was hereditary Constable of Chester, Cheshire.^[4]

In 1214 he accompanied King John to Poitou. On 4 March 1215 he was one of the barons who took a crusading vow at the same time as King John.^[4]

A little later in 1215 John joined the rebel Barons who made King John agree to the Magna Carta, of which he was one of the Sureties. This led to his excommunication in December that year.^[2][3] In August 1217, following the defeat of rebel Barons in the second Battle of Lincoln, he returned to allegiance to the Crown.^[1][4]

The next year he joined the Fifth Crusade, and was in the forces which occupied Damietta in Egypt. He returned to England in 1220.^[4]

In 1223-4 John was one of the opponents of the regime of Hubert de Brugh, Justiciar of England, but was reconciled to the royal government. In 1225 he witnessed the reissue of the Magna Carta.^[4] From at least 1226 he served as an itinerant judge.^[2][3]

The following year, in 1227, John was a member of an embassy to Antwerp.^[1] In 1230 he took part in Henry III's expedition to Brittany and Poitou, receiving two manors as a reward, and then helped to negotiate a truce with France.^[1][4]

In 1232 John helped to orchestrate the fall of Hubert de Burgh, and he subsequently became one of those detaining Hubert at Devizes Castle. In November that year, following the death of Ranulph, Earl of Chester, he was granted the rank of Earl of Lincoln, and some of Ranulph's lands. This made him 7th Earl of Lincoln.^[1][4]

In 1233 John was one of those defending the Welsh Marches during a rebellion by Richard Marshal. For the next few years he played a significant role in royal administration.^[4] In 1236 he was ceremonial sword-bearer at the coronoation of Henry III's queen, Eleanor of Provence.^[1][2][3][4] The next year he was one of those appointed to negotiate peace with Scotland.^[1][2][3] He was Sheriff of Cheshire from 1237 to 1240.^[1][8]

John was a benefactor of Stanlaw Abbey, Cheshire.^[9]

Death

John died on 22 July 1240 and was buried at Stanlaw Abbey, Cheshire.^[2][3] When the monks of Stanlaw moved to Whalley Abbey, Lancashire, his remains were transferred there.^[4]

His wife survived him, going on to marry Walter Marshal, Earl of Pembroke.^[2][3][4]

Research Notes

Cheshire Visitations

The Harleian Society edition of Cheshire Visitations has an inaccurate pedigree for "the Barons of Halton, Constables of Cheshire". This wrongly shows Margaret de Quincy as John's first wife, and Alice de l'Aigle (given in Latin as de Aquila) as his second wife and mother of two daughters: Matilda/Maud who married Richard de Clare, and Idonia, who married Roger de Camville.^[10] See Idonia's profile for some more discussion.

Research Notes

Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Biography

For the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta in 2015, Professor Nigel Saul wrote a set of biographies of the Surety Barons. He and the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee generously gave permission for them to be reproduced on WikiTree. They can be viewed here.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. VII, St Catherine Press, 1929, pp. 676-680, Internet Archive
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. II, pp. 514-517, LACY 1, Google Books
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. III, pp. 466-470, LACY 3
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Nicholas Vincent for 'Lacy, John de, third earl of Lincoln', print and online 2004, revised online 2008
5. ↑ Wikipedia:John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln
6. ↑ W E Wightman. The Lacy Family in England and Normandy, 1066–1194, Clarendon Press, 1966, Internet Archive - book available for one-hour loan
7. ↑ E P Sanders. English Baronies, a Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford University Press, 1960, p. 138
8. ↑ Lists of Sheriffs for England and Wales, Public Record Office, 1898 (Kraus Reprint Corporation 1963), pp. 17A and 17B, Internet Archive
9. ↑ W A Hulton (ed.). The Coucher Book of Whalley Abbey, Vol. I, Remains Historical & Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester, Chesham Society, 1846, Internet Archive, pp. Internet Archive 3, 32-33, 36-37 and 72-75
10. ↑ John Paul Rylands (ed.). The Visitation of Cheshire in the year 1580, with numerous additions and continuations..., Harleian Society, 1882, p. 6, Internet Archive

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 31, p. 380, entry for 'LACY, JOHN de, first Earl of Lincoln of the Lacy family (d. 1240)', Wikisource
• de Lacy-Bellingari, Edward. The Roll of the House of Lacy, privately published, Baltimore, 1928, pp. 17-19, Internet Archive
• Farrer, William & Brownbill, J. The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, Vol. 1, Archibald Constable and Co. Limited, London, 190, pp. 304-307, Vol. 1, Internet Archive
• Mastin, John. The History and Antiquities of Naseby, in the County of Northampton (Francis Hodson, Cambridge, 1792) Page 62

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

John de Lacy is a Magna Carta surety baron and has the Magna Carta Project as a manager.

See Lacy-284 Descendants for profiles of his descendants that have been improved and categorized by the Magna Carta project and are in a project-approved trail to a Gateway Ancestor. See this index for links to other surety barons and category pages for their descendants. See the project's Base Camp for more information about Magna Carta trails.