The de Lacy family now in Ireland

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In 1155, Pope Adrian IV granted English King Henry II lordship of Ireland.
With other state problems, the King was in no hurry to comply. During 1167, Dermot MacMurragh, the ousted Irish King of Leinster, sought help from Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, known as "Strongbow", to regain his crown with King Henry's agreement Strongbow agreed to help, and he and other Anglo-Normans quickly conquered Leinster, and the areas of Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford. 
In exchange for his help, MacMurragh promised Strongbow his daughter Aoife in marriage with the Kingdom of Leinster upon MacMurragh's death. With few prospects in England, Strongbow accepted the offer. 
In May 1171, MacMurragh died, and Strongbow was crowned King Richard of Leinster.

​King Henry II now feared Strongbow's growing power. He used Pope Adrian IV's investiture to invade Ireland and subject the country to English rule. The King requested Baron Hugh de Lacy accompany him in the invasion. 
Once Ireland was conquered, Hugh became the King's first Viceroy of Ireland. In 1172, King Henry II granted Hugh de Lacy the unconquered kingdom of Meath and fifty of his knights, solidifying his control over the region.​​

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Tap or click Castle for Dublin Castle information​

​Following Hugh's investiture by the King at Dublin Castle, Hugh de Lacy, received in addition to his English titles Viceroy of Ireland and Lord of Meath

​Now the custodian of Dublin Castle, ​ the official residence of the King when in Ireland and the seat of the Viceroy of Ireland.

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The de Lacy family built many Motte & Bailey castles throughout Ireland to hold the lands they claimed by conquest or Royal Charter. Below we share with you the most prominent castles. The de Lacy family also had a history relating to Dublin Castle,  Limerick (King John's) Castle and Carrickfergus Castle

Baron Hugh de Lacy.
1135 -1186
​1st Viceroy of Ireland, 4th Lord of Weobley, 1st Lord of Ludlow 1st Lord of Meath                     .

Hugh rarely returned to his Marcher estates. Weobley and Longtown Castle and the newer Ludlow Castle, Hugh considered his Welsh-English borders well protected. Trim castle became the centre of his administration of his Lordship of Meath. As governor of Ireland, Hugh ensured the security of both Meath and Leinster. He had carved out a solid foundation for the Lacy family in Ireland.

The Meath manors became highly productive, filling many of Hugh de Lacy's cargo ships which were able to sail from alongside Trim castle down the River Boyne with grain to sell throughout England and Europe.

Hugh introduced the Norman feudal manorial system into Meath. The income was vast, primarily going to Hugh's coffers or those who had the tenancy of a Meath Manor. The Irish peasants saw little of it!

Hughe’s first wife, Rohese, mother of sons Walter and Hugh, died before 1180. In 1181,  Hugh re-married without the King's permission, Princess Rose daughter of Ruaidri Ua Conchobair ​ The King of Connacht and deposed High King of Ireland, King Henry II never recognised the marriage, but the significance of the wedding caused concern. King Henry had not forgotten the marriage by Strongbow in 1171 without his permission. Hugh de Lacy and Rose had two children, a son and a daughter: William Gorm and Ysota. Both were declared illegitimate by Henry II  but not by the church.

​While visiting the construction of a castle at Durrow in 1186, Hugh de Lacy was murdered by the local Irish chief, Gilla-Gan-Mathiar O'Maidhaigh, who severed Hughes' head with a sword blow.
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Baron Hugh de Lacy Lord of Meath

​Of all the de Lacy Barons, only one has been pictured: Hugh de Lacy. He was drawn in the margins of a manuscript.
According to Giraldus Cambrensis, Hugh de Lacy was an able and resolute governor but physically unprepossessing, swarthy, short, and ill-proportioned. ​​

​Trim Castle

The first and the most important de Lacy Irish power base.

Baron Walter de Lacy 

1176-1241

5th Lord of Weobley,2nd Lord of Ludlow 2nd Lord of Meath.  

Walter, still a minor, did not succeed in his inheritance until 1188. He was forced to pay heavy taxes to King Richard to release the titles and estates after over ten years of considerable political and personal argument and cost with not one but two Kings. Walter married Margaret, the daughter of William de Braose, the 4th Lord of Bramber. They also had  powerful estates on the Welsh border and Ireland, Feeding the King’s suspicions of powerful Marcher Lords allying their holdings together. When de Braose inherited other English estates on his behalf, Walter agreed to govern Meath and also Limerick for his father-in-law from Limerick castle. This led again to King John seizing Trim and the Meath estates.
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Limerick Castle (King Johns) tap or click for Wikipedia page

By 1215, King John was desperately seeking support from Ireland against the growing rebellion of Barons throughout England, ending with King John signing the Magna Carta. Having first seized a hefty financial penalty from Walter de Lacy, King John promised the return of all his lands for Walter's support. Walter was trying to improve the dwindling incomes from the Ewyas Lacy estates that had fallen desperately low due to his poor stewardship. The King's fines had reduced Walters's overall revenue. Walter had become an absent landlord at Weobley and Longtown as he was now expected to attend King John's depleted court more frequently. Walters's debts finally caught up with him, and on 19th November 1240, the Crown issued orders for the restraint of his estates to recover those debts. Walter died on the 24th of February 1241 in Meath, Ireland. He was blind, feeble, bankrupt and without a male heir.
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Dundrum Castle, ​Dundrum County Down.
Home of Hugh de Lacy Earl of Ulster

Hugh de Lacy
Born Weobley Castle Ewyas Lacy, Hertfordshire.  The Second son of Hugh de Lacy Lord of Meath.

Hugh was appointed by King Richard as a coadjutor (Principal aide) to Baron  John de Courcy in Leinster and Munster. The post proved to be a disaster as bitter rivalry had broken out between them. Hugh disagreed with de Courcy's ambitions. John de Courcy assembled a personal army and swept through Northern Ireland, invading and taking Irish Kingdoms. Without the permission of Prince John, the  Lord of Ireland. Prince. Upon being crowned, King John was enraged to discover that John de Courcy had authorised the issue of new coins into Ulster. One side depicts St Patrick and, and the other, the head of de Courcy. King John saw this act as treason. In 1199, King John gave Hugh de Lacy the authority and resources to raise an army and wage war on John de Courcy. Hugh de Lacy led a raiding force into Lecale and attacked, de Courcy in Downpatrick. Hugh had proved himself a capable leader and by 1204 had defeated John de Courcy, taking occupation of all his lands in Northern Ireland. King John had de Courcy sent into exile. Elevating Hugh de Lacy to Earl of Ulster. Over the following 20 years, Hugh's attitude to the crown hardened, and he allied himself with the powerful Irish O’Neill family, past Kings of Northern Ireland, who were still antagonistic towards English rule. In 1230, Hugh de Lacy joined with Richard Mór de Burgh to subdue Aedh mac Ruaidri Ó Conchobair, the Irish King of Connacht. Richard de Burgh later became the 1st Baron of Connacht following the death of his estranged first wife. Hugh de Lacy then remarried Emmeline de Riddlesford, the daughter of Walter de Riddlesford, in about 1242. Hugh de Lacy died one year later, in 1243, with still no heir from either marriage. The earldom became extinct, and the Hugh de Lacy estates reverted to the crown.
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Carlingford Castle,

Built in the late 12th century by Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath.

Carlingford Castle in County Louth, Ireland. on a rocky outcrop by the shore, overlooking the harbour.  On occasions also the  home of his half-brother William Gorm de Lacy The castle is a D-shaped enclosed castle. The curtain wall on the western side had a rectangular gatehouse and a square flanking tower. Portions of the northern tower of this gatehouse still remain. The curtain wall was well protected with deep embrasures with narrow defensive slits. During the second half of the 13th century, William Gorm de Lacy added a large rectangular hall on the eastern side. This hall had two main floors over a basement, which is now partly filled with masonry. The great hall is situated on the castle's first floor overlooking the harbour.
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William Gorm de Lacy

Half Brother to Walter & Huge 1180 - c.1234
 
Longtown Castle, Ewyas Lacy Hertfordshire
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During his absence in 1215, Walter de Lacy installed his younger half-brother William Gorm as custodian of Trim Castle and the de Lacy Irish estates. By 1216, Ireland was in turbulence. William Gorm de Lacy built a formidable army of Meath Knights, feared all over Southern Ireland; they were involved in fighting a succession of small Irish wars. William added more land to the de Lacy estates by taking the castles of Dundrum and Carlingford, which, before his absence in 1210, belonged to his half-brother Hugh de Lacy. Later, the King commanded William to return the castles to the crown. Newly crowned King Henry III decreed that as the Lord of Meath, in July 1217, Walter de Lacy should be made to stand surety and make amends for William's excesses towards the King. In 1224, the Earl of Pembroke, William Marshall, besieged Trim Castle under the command of William Gorm de Lacy. Marshall stormed and, with some difficulty, took the castle. Only to find William Gorm de Lacy had escaped. By 1227, William Gorm was reconciled with King Henry III and, to get him out of Ireland, agreed to enter the King's service on a grant of £20 per year. His role was to fight in the King's name in Europe. By 1233, William Gorm de Lacy had returned from serving the King in his European struggles. The armies of King Henry III  regarded him as the “chiefest champion in all of Europe”. William Gorm was immediately involved again in Irish affairs. While leading his forces in a skirmish, he was injured and died some days later sheltering in his lake castle in the Brenie (Breifne) deep in Ireland’s hills.  William Gorms' wife, Gwenllian, was a younger daughter of Llywelyn the Great, the Prince of Gwynedd, Wales. There is speculation that William Gorm and Gwenllian de Lacy had at least two sons, Thomas de Lacy and Henry de Lacy, who lived on beyond the fall of the House of de Lacy.
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The de Lacy Marcher Lords were in Ireland for only  69 years  Baron Hugh de Lacy's 1172 arrival as the Lord of Meath led to the death of his son Walter, the second Lord of Meath, in 1241. Even so, Father and Son, despite continually being involved in fighting and English court intrigue, still managed to be benefactors to the restoration of some Irish Religious houses ruined

Duleek Priory Co Meath Reputed to have been established as an abbey in the 5th century by St Patrick where the first Abbott eventually became known as St Kiernan. The Abbey suffered much from Viking invaders and finally descended into ruins. Ultimately, the site was re-consecrated as a Priory for Canons Regular by the O'Kelly family only to be sacked again in 1171 by an Anglo-Norman Knight Milo de Cogan serving within Strongbow's mercenary army. The Priory was rebuilt to save the same order in 1182 by Hugh de Lacy Lord of Meath as a daughter priory to Llanthony Priory in Wales. Duleek Priory continued as a religious house until the British Parliament's order of dissolution. Records show confusion about the Abbey and or Priory.
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Kells Priory (Meath) Kells Priory (not to be confused with Kells Priory Kilkenny) on the mail-coach road from Dublin to Enniskillen. The Monastery established for Canons Regular was founded circa 550 AD by St. Columb, It is sited on land donated by McKervaill, King of Ireland. In 1156, the whole town, with all its sacred edifices, was destroyed by fire. The Monastery,, once restored, was plundered in 1172, by Dermod Macmurrough, at the head of a party of mercenary English in his employ. With Hugh de Lacy coming to power in the following year, The Lord of Meath bestowed substantial grants of land and income to entitle him to be regarded as its second founder. In 1176, the Priory was again plundered by some of the native Irish, about the same time, a castle was erected in Kells for its defence against the O'Neals. Later in the reign of Richard I. Walter, son of Hugh de Lacy, founded a monastery for Crouched friars and granted them a charter confirming all their privileges. The action by Walter de Lacy gave stability till the time of Henry VI. The town then ranked with Trim and Athboy as one of the principal boroughs in Meath.

Durrow Abbey
St Columba founded this historic Abbey in Durrow County. The Abbey is an early medieval monastic complex containing religious and secular monuments, including five ancient Christian grave slabs, a High Cross raised in the ninth century and a well deemed as being holy, plus other extensive archaeological features. Durrow received the patronage of successive kings, at least one of whom was buried there. Durrow Abbey is most famous for producing the illustrated Book of Durrow. The 7th-century text, the earliest of the great manuscripts to have survived, is a remarkable feat, considering it was recovered from a farm where it was dipped in the cattle's drinking water to cure illnesses. It is today on display at Trinity College, Dublin. The Monastery had been in arguments with other such establishments, particularly nearby Clonmacnoise; a battle between the two in 764 left two hundred monks from Durrow dead. Durrow's fame and wealth left it vulnerable to attack, and between the ninth and twelfth centuries, the Monastery was plundered and burnt down more than twelve times. History gives no reason why, in 1186, Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, decided to build a motte castle on the site, presumably for the protection of the Abbey while overseeing progress on the building of the Keep on top of the Motte Hugh was killed by a blow with an axe by an Irish worker. Baron Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, already unpopular with the local Irish, had gone too far by erecting a Motte within one of their sacred places. Hugh de Lacy, on his death, was first buried where he fell at Durrow Abbey. Later he was reinterned at Bective Abbey in Meath; his head was removed and placed within the tomb of his first wife at St Thomas’s Abbey in Dublin. The Monastery itself continued until the 16th century and the Reformation.
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Feighan of Fore Situated on Lough Lene is of great antiquity, formerly a borough, comprising the parishes of St. Feighan and St. Mary, and appears to have originated in the foundation of a priory for Canons Regular by St. Feehan, about the year 630, in which, while presiding over 300 monks, he died in 665. From 771 till 1169 the Priory and the town, which had risen around it, were, destroyed twelve times by fire by and pillaging invading Vikings. Walter de Lacy Lord of Meath refounded the Priory under the invocation of St. Taurin and St. Fechin, for Benedictine monks, and made it a cell to the Monastery of that order at Evereux, in Normandy. Many of the buildings that remain today (in ruins) are from the 15th century.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fore_Abbey
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Colpe, or Colpe-cum-Mornington In 1182, Hugh de Lacy founded an abbey for Augustinian canons, and made it dependent on the Abbey of Llanthony, in Monmouthshire, afterwards translated to the vicinity of Gloucester. In 1234  Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath, granted to the Abbey the lands of the "town of Mariners in Ireland near the port of Drogheda, with the words "to God and the Abbey of St. Mary of Furness and the abbot and monks serving God there"? (Had the dependency changed from Llanthony to Furness)?​

Priory of St John the Baptist                                                                                                                    ​St John the Baptist, Drogheda Priory Hospital. A Priory of Knights Hospitallers (also called Crutched priors) was built in 1216 by Walter de Lacy  Lord of Meath. (during the reign of King John).
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Kilbeg ​Kilbeg, or Kilmainhambeg, a parish, in the barony of Lower Kells, county of MEATH, and the province of LEINSTER. This parish takes its name from a commandery of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, founded by Walter de Lacy in the reign of Richard I.
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Baron Walters's debts finally caught up with him, and on 19th November 1240, the Crown issued orders for the restraint of his estates to recover those debts. Walter died on the 24th of February 1241 in Meath, Ireland. He was blind, feeble, bankrupt and without a male heir. Leading to the end of the Marsher and Meath Lords

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From 1311, I had little or no history to add to the de Lacy Chronicles. There were de Lacy's cousins since 1066 who, from their Normandy de Lacy estates had followed and served Ilbert and Walter de Lacy; their decedents can still be found today in England, Ireland and beyond. ​Some carry the title of Sir and managing their estates but not lleave historical trails. You  may consider it was the start of today’s worldwide Lacy Family tree.
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Until I unearthed the explosive story of the “de Lacys of Limerick”.

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