King John called upon Baron Roger de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract.

​Click or Tap Comments immediately above here
Posted to de Lacy Chronicles Facebook 17th Sept 21

King John called upon Baron Roger de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract. The King, considering Roger, his best front line military leader, appointed him to take command of Château Gaillard to defend it at all cost against the advances made by the much larger French army of King Philip. For five weeks, despite repeatedly trying to storm the defences and failing. King Philip ordered his military leaders to now lay siege on the Château. Roger de Lacy continued to defend the Château until every scrap of food had gone. In the end, all who remained alive were so weakened that the fortress was easy to overrun. Roger de Lacy had succeeded in delaying the advance of a large part of King Philip's army. By holding Château Gaillard from September 1203 till the end of March 1204. King John never returned with his army, and with the fall of Chateau Gaillard, Normandy, Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and Aquitaine were all lost within the next few months. Within only one year, all the French territories that each of the Kings of William the Conqueror through to John's brother King Richard the Lionheart had built over two centuries had now been lost by King John. Roger de Lacy was imprisoned by King Philip but treated well as he was admired by the King, who soon released him when King John paid a ransom. Re-confirming to him that the honour of Pontefract was Roger’s and bestowed upon him the additional offices of both Sheriffs of York and Chester. He held both until he died in 1210. The consequence of King Johns failure was the loss of all the Plantagenet French holdings in 1204 was highly significant to French/English history. Many of the English noble families including the de Lacy’s, lost family estates in Normandy and France.

---