A King or feudal Anglo-Norman overlord with sufficient status and landholding within England or Ireland had the right to grant the title ‘Sir’ and a knight's fief in perpetuity. The size of the rent-free fief required an acreage able to produce a good crop or revenue To support the Knight, his family and all his workers. Depending on its location, the richness of its soil and the local climate, as well as the presence of other exploitable resources such as fish weirs, quarries of rock or mines of minerals. If a knight's fief includes a manor, an average size would be between 1,000 and 5,000 acres, but may, on granting contain, forest yet to be and developed moorland. As well as the title, Sir, be may also referred to as Squire. He will often serve as the local magistrate. In return, the Knight paid homage and fealty, giving a vow of loyalty to his overlord by offering a significant internal role or, in most cases, military service. A knight was required to maintain the dignity of knighthood, meaning he should live in suitable style and be well-turned out in battle, with the necessary number of esquires and retainers to serve him and his horses. All the de Lacy barons had granted many Knights' fiefs throughout England and Ireland. Many were given to loyal de Lacy cousins. As well as military aid, they became the eyes, ears and caretakers for de Lacy's interests at estates controlled by the barons in other parts of the country away from the principal castles. There is minimal history about the many English Knights following the end of the Lacy Barons of Pontefract. They were left alone in the English shires to develop their estates and pay their taxes to the Plantagenet Kings. From the Tudor era, de Lacy Knights had to accept the reformation, lose their Estates, or even their lives. Oliver Cromwell decreed that no English catholic could inherit any title if they did not accept the Reformation. In the West of Ireland, the de Lacy family retained a presence long after the de Lacy barons were gone. You can follow their progress in the Lacys of Limerick page, An English/Irish de Lacy meeting. 1569: Enter Sir John Lacy, an English landowner recently admitted into Queen Elizabeth's court in London. The queen dispatched him to Ireland as her representative to negotiate with the Earl of Desmond to transmit the Irish people’s passage to Elizabeth's wishes. With real Irish humour, the Earl could not resist appointing his representative Sir John de Lacy of Ballingarry Castle as his representative. Advising John,” Promise him nothing then send him packing, I have no wish to talk with him” Sir John Lacy, an Englishman, to his astonishment, found himself trying in vain to negotiate with Sir John de Lacy ‘Irishman’. The significant difference, however, was that the Irish John de Lacy followed the family faith and was a staunch Catholic. John de Lacy from England was in the Queen's service and would undoubtedly have been a Protestant—a massive difference in the 1500s. Inevitably, the talks failed.
