John (Lacy) de Chester (abt. 1150 - 1190)

Born about 1150 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 11 Oct 1190 at about age 40 in Tyre, Lebanon

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Robert Patterson [send private message]

Biography

John fitz Richard, 6th Baron of Halton, following the death of his father, Richard FitzEustace in 1171.

He married Alice, who was a sister of William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex. ^[1]

He was a patron of science, he maintained an astronomer at Halton Castle. ^[2]

In 1178, John fitz Richard founded a Cistercian abbey, Stanlow Abbey on the banks of the River Mersey, Cheshire, England. Stanlow, or Stanlaw Abbey (at Stanlaw Park) was a daughter abbey of Combermere Abbey. ^[3]

In 1180, John de Lacy (John, Constable of Cheshire) and Richard de Peck (Richard Peche) were appointed Lords Justices in Ireland by King Henry ll ^{[4] [5]}

In 1190, just before taking part in the Third Crusade to the Holy Land, he granted the second known charter for a ferry at Runcorn Gap Halton.

John FitzRichard is said to have died at Tyre on the 11th October 1190. Successfully defended by the crusader Conrad of Montferrat, Tyre had been under siege from November 12th 1187 to January 1st 1188 by an army commanded by Saladin who had made an amphibious assault on the city. By 1190 Tyre was a busy crusader port, a gate way to the Holy Land. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Sources

1. ↑ JOHN, son of Richard, sixth baron .... married Alice, sister of William de Mandeville, earl of Essex. The Castle and Manor of Castle Donington by George Farnham & A. Hamilton Thompson pdf
2. ↑ Wikipedia : Halton Barony
3. ↑ Stanlow Abbey was founded by John de Lace, Baron of Halton, in the latter half of the 12th century. It was dedicated to St Mary and colonised from Combermere. Stanlow Abbey
4. ↑ The Peerage of Ireland: vol: 2 page: 237.
5. ↑ The Present State of Great-Britain and Ireland: In Three Parts ... by Guy Miege pub: 1718
6. ↑ John, son of Richard, sixth baron .... succeeded his father about 1178, and died at Tyre 11 October, 1190. The Castle and Manor of Castle Donington by George Farnham & A. Hamilton Thompson pdf
7. ↑ Wikipedia : De Lacy
8. ↑ Note : John fitz Richard was not traveling with King Richard's party, who were in Sicily, Italy in September 1190; King Richard attacked Messina, Sicily, capturing it on 4 October 1190. King Richard arrived in Cyprus 1st May 1191 & did not leave until June, landing at Acre on 8 June 1191. King Richard I of England

• The Castle and Manor of Castle Donington by George F. Farnham and Hamilton Thompson Castle Donnington

1.Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000

Page: V:518-9 Note

2.Title: Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.medieval, at groups - google.com

Page: Chris Phillips, 15 Sep 2000

3.Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000

Page: X:Appendix J:118 Text: father of Alice, by Alice de Vere

4.Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000

Page: V:518-9 Note Text: 1190

• Royal Ancestry by D. Richardson, Vol. II. p. 218

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I01887

• Genealogy worksheets compiled by Ralph Pryor during his 40 years of research, traveling extensively in the military and in retirement. Entered by Greg Rose, Grandson.

• The Ancestor (Archibald Constable & Co., Ltd. Whitehall Gardens, Westminster S.W.) No. 12, Page 111

• Hulton, W.A. ed., The Coucher Book or Cartulary of Whalley Abbey. Vol. I, Remains Historical & Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester (Printed for The Chetham Society, 1846) Vol. 10, Page 2

Notes

Douglas Richardson states that he was not known as "de Lacy", although his son adopted the surname. Apparently the Lacy inheritance was not received until 1194.

From: Douglas Richardson Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 3:13 PM To: jim.weber Subject: Name of John, Constable of Chester

Dear Jim ~

The individual below was known as John, Constable of Chester. He doesn't appear to have used a patronymic like his father. If you have to assign him a surname, I recommend you use "de Chester" which was the surname borne by his four sons and at least one grandson. He also never used the surname, Lacy. The Lacy surname was adopted by his son, Roger de Chester, in or after 1194, when Roger obtained the vast Lacy estates by quitclaim from his mother, Aubrey de Lisours.

"When Robert de Lacy dsp in 1193, his half sister, Albreda Lisours (the dau. of his mother, Albrida, by her 2nd husband, Eudo de Lisours), then the wife of Richard Fitz-Eustace, feudal baron of Halton, and constable of Chester, possessed herself of the Barony of Pontefract, and all the other lands of her deceased brother, under pretence of a grant from Henry de Lacy, her 1st husband. By Fitz-Eustace, she had a son, John, who becoming heir to his half uncle, Robert de Lacy, assumed that surname and inherited, as John de Lacy, the Baronies of Halton and Pontefract." [Ref: Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 310, Lacy, Earls of Lincoln]

"The eldest son and heir of his father, Richard Fitz-Eustace, John also became heir to his half uncle, Robert de Lacy, assumed that surname and inherited, as John de Lacy, the Baronies of Halton and Pontefract, with the Constableship of Chester. This feudal chief, who was Lord of Flambro, Baron of Halton, and Constable of Chester, had two sons, Roger, Constable of Chester, and Robert." [Ref: John Burke, Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I, R. Bentley, London, 1834-1838, p. 548, Constable, of Wassand]

____

• Note. The above extracts from Burke's contradict the ancestry that WikiTree is showing (which appears to be correct). The notion that Aubrey de Lisours was Robert de Lacy's half-sister was popularised in the 19th century. It had the drama queen James Planché frothing at the mouth about "not one drop of Lacy blood". The story that was told was that Aubrey and her husband Richard of Chester stole by abuse of power an estate to which they had no entitlement. The line was followed by several other writers, eg. the Duchess of Cleveland (4th paragraph). This was all part of a larger war that was going on at the time, so ulterior motives were involved. Interesting to see even Burke joining the debunkers, not his usual style - but then, Planché was Somerset Herald, so he had to choose whose to lick.

The alternative view now favoured is that Aubrey was Robert's cousin, and the legitimate sole heiress. And the powerful evil Baron Richard, who allegedly master-minded the theft of the estate, was long in his grave, as also was their eldest son John. The villains of this piece of purple Victorian melodrama were an elderly lady and her under-age grandson.

PS I now see the statement that Aubrey was Robert's maternal half-sister came from an old manuscript history of the Lacy family. Still wrong though.

Acknowledgements

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