| 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 |
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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]
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:
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]
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]
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]
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.
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.
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L > Lacy | D > de Lacy > John (Lacy) de Lacy
Categories: Sheriffs of Cheshire | Honour of Pontefract | Magna Carta | Surety Barons
- now DONE
edited by Michael Cayley
(pages 17-19): "The roll of the house of Lacy; pedigrees, military memoirs and synoptical history of the ancient and illustrious family of De Lacy, from the earliest times, in all its branches, to the present day”. Collected and compiled by De Lacy - Bellingari. Baltimore 1928.
Thank You!
edited by Ch. Casals i Dalmau
I'm just starting on a re-review of this profile.
I'm working on a re-review of Maud's profile. It was my understanding that a pedigree given in a Visitation lost credibility the farther apart in time they were (e.g., Maud, born about 1220, is 350 years removed from the 1580 Visitation).
Am I misreading that statement or is the mother of Maud disputed?
John de Lacy is written "SIR JOHN DE LACY" by Richardson in Royal Ancestry, Vol III, page 467.
Regardless that there may be more to it than can be covered here, and this era produces conflicting opinions among experts, it is my opinion WikiTree should continue to use "SIR" unless a question in G2G produces changes in the guidelines.
http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p381.htm#i11444