King William entrusted Walter de Lacy with a crucial role on the Welsh Marcher borders of  Wales, a responsibility of immense importance. King William elevated Walter de Lacy to the title of Marcher Lord, Baron of Weobley, a key border area situated at Hereford. 
The de Lacy brothers, Walter and Illbert, were now serving King William in different capacities. Walter was stationed in the Welsh Marcher borders, while Ilbert was tasked with building defences in the North. King William had ordered Ilbert de Lacy to stay in the North  to prevent further rebellion from invading the South.
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The North of England had been dominated by Anglo-Saxons or Danes and were not prepared to submit to the Normans as new rulers. Having failed once, they rebelled again in 1070, only to be forcibly put down by a Norman army recognised today as the Harrying of the North.
William the Conqueror chose Ilbert de Lacy to safeguard the rest of England from Northern aggression. He awarded him fifty knights, and his orders were to: 

"stay in the North and defend the South".

Iberts plan was to lock his attackers within Northumbria and hold them there.
He would plan advance warning  and bring them on to his prepared defences. Later to be called:

The Key to the North!

With mountains and thick forest to the West.
Treacherous marches & rivers leading to the Humber estuary to the East 
​Castleford was the best position to make a stand.

Ilbert de Lacy prepared his defences at the nearby ford across the river Aire. ​
​Building his castle on nearby high ground at Pontefract.

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King William 1st, elevated ​Baron ​Ilbert De Lacy 
to ​Lord of the Honour of Pontefract

Pontefract Castle
​the "Key to the North"
West Yorkshire England

Robert de Lacy: 

1070 to 1129
​Lord of the Honours of
​Pontefract and Clitheroe 

Baron Robert de Lacy succeeded his father, becoming the 2nd Lord of Pontefract. King William II, William Rufus granted other estates and manors in the North West of England. Robert de Lacy set about restoring Clitheroe Castle as his administrative centre for the Honour of Clitheroe as part of the de Lacy estates.

Robert de Lacy was the first member of his family to found a monastery.  He founded the Cluniac priory of St John the Evangelist at Pontefract in 1090, during the reign of William Rufus.

Clitheroe Castle

North West England

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Robert became one of the most powerful Barons in the North of England.
In 1100, King Henry granted Robert de Lacy the Honour of Clitheroe, lands all of which can be found in today's Northern Lancashire.
Robert de Lacy had increased to almost double the landholding of the de Lacy family. Pontefract Castle remains the principal seat of power and home to Robert de Lacy and his family. Robert had no intention to become an absentee Lord, leaving either Honour in the hands of a Chief Steward. The second principle de Lacy Castle was now built at Clitheroe.  Robert de Lacy had grown powerful undertaking the maintenance of King Henry's royal authority throughout the North of England. His position was not to last and by 1114, King Henry was fearful that Robert de Lacy was conspiring with the Kings  elder brother Robert, the dispossessed Duke of Normandy. The fickleness of absolute Kings had a habit of quickly reversing events. In 1114, Baron Robert de Lacy was dispossessed of all his estates and found himself living in exile, probably in Normandy. 
Robert de Lacy’s wife was named Matilda. They had three sons and one daughter. Their eldest son was Ilbert, after Robert's father, and a second son, also called Robert, died in a Battle. Their third son was Henry de Lacy, who would eventually inherit from his elder brother, Ilbert (II). Their daughter was called Albreda.
​

Ilbert de Lacy, (II)

3rd Baron of Pontefract

On the death of Robert, Ilbert de Lacy (II) Inherited the family titles but not the estates.
Hugh de Lavel had purchased the estates of Pontefract from King Henry I. This was to be held on a lifetime family lease. Hugh died in 1129. King Henry allowed the holdings to be purchased again by a financier and speculator, Hugh de Maltravers. 

In 1116, Ilbert(II) took part in a rebellion of Norman Barons. Who rose against Henry I, who was constantly demanding his Baron's support and funds for his wars in France. Ilbert (II), for his part in the rebellion, was dispossessed and exiled to Normandy, remaining there until after the death of Henry I.

Ilbert was pardoned by the newly crowned King Steven and regained his Barons of Pontefract and Bowland titles. The King expressed sympathy but ruled that Ilbert’s  Yorkshire lands could not be returned as William Maltravers held them on a lifetime lease. A tenancy that King Stephen said he must honour.  History records that Maltravers and his guards were returning home after collecting taxes. They encountered an unknown  Knight on horseback; he charged and killed Maltravers before swiftly riding off. 

The King's coronation occurred shortly after this encounter; King Stephen restored to Ilbert de Lacy, all his family estates, including Pontefract and Clitheroe Castles.  The identity of the knight was never known.

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King David of Scotland invaded Northumbria. King Stephen marshalled an army, and on 22 August 1138, Ilbert de Lacy and his knights and foot soldiers fought alongside King Stephen to repel the Scottish invasion at the Battle of Northallerton in North Yorkshire. England was gripped in civil war. Empress Matilda was contesting King Stephen's right to the English throne. The Battle of Lincoln occurred on 2 February 1141. The forces of King Stephen of England had been besieging Lincoln Castle. Only to find themselves attacked by a larger force loyal to Empress Matilda.  King Stephen's forces were defeated. Stephen he was captured, taken to Bristol, and imprisoned.  Ilbert, was left mortally wounded and died, leaving no heirs after after a short dispute while Matilda ruled England. The title of Lord of Pontefract Castle passed to Ilberts younger brother, Henry de Lacy.

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Henry de Lacy

4th Baron of Pontefract and Lord of Clitheroe

Some years later, while fighting an illness, Henry vowed that if he recovered, he would found a religious house. Having fully recovered, Henry gave the Cistercian order of Fountains Abbey a site to build a daughter Abbey at Kirkstall. Much of Kirkstall Abbey's ruins remain today Click or tap image to visit the Abby

Since the days, Ilbert built the original Motte and Bailey castle. Pontefract Castle had continued to grow and improve through the generations. In 1181, King Henry II decided to visit Henry at Pontefract Castle. Henry de Lacy welcomed King Henry II to Pontefract Castle. It was the ideal time to propose a request to the King He believed there was always a better way to grow wealth than just taking it from someone else. Until then, the only way to become richer was by Plunder from battle or Taxation. Both of which destroyed the common man.    Henry petitioned King Henry II, for a license to hold an six-day fair starting on the feast day of St Giles. To be held at Pontefract, Yorkshire. The King agreed and the license, which only the King could sanction, was granted.   Timeline 1171: Pontefract Fair. Holding a fair or market was not new even in 1181. They were usually one- or two-day local events. Henry de Lacy was thinking much bigger. 
From far and wide, the response was enormous. Ironmongers, Blacksmiths, Basketmakers, Harness makers and other tradesmen came to sell their services or wares. Entertainers who normally went from castle to castle, now demand a license to entertain in the marketplace. Many others also requested an opportunity to trade at the fair.. Pontefract and surrounding villages were packed. You can read a full account in the de Lacy Chronicles book.
Every activity had required a paid license or royalty payment. There is no record of the true income that went to the coffers of Henry de Lacy, but it was a  huge amount. 

King Henry II was delighted when he learned of the success. He understood that the last hundred years of wars and battles had created a dispirited nation that needed some levity and merriment to lift its spirits. He urged other Barons and Earls in other parts of his domain to hold similar fairs.  Of course, he would also have received a percentage of their profits.
Had Henry de Lacy, at his six-day fair, held the forerunner of all the County Shows still held today?   ​

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​At Easter 1187, he again joined the Crusade to free Jerusalem—this time in the company of the Earl of Essex and the Count of Flanders. Henry de Lacy died on the Crusade on September 25, 1187,  Henry had one known son named Robert de Lacy (2), who inherited the de Lacy estates and titles

Robert (ll) de Lacy

5th Baron of Pontefract and Lord of Clitheroe 1113 to 1193

One of Robert de Lacy's first tasks was the extensive renovation and rebuilding of Clitheroe Castle as the administrative centre for the honour of Bowland. Each visit required many ox carts and a large retinue of servants and soldiers. The journey from Pontefract to Clitheroe took four days. Pontefract Castle. would remain the de Lacy family's main principal seat.
Robert would reside at Clitheroe for only several months each time so it was built with one of the smallest keeps of contemporary Norman castles. He added a curtain wall to secure this small keep. Robert de Lacy married Isabella, the second daughter of the Earl of Warenne.  They had no children; Robert spent most of his life building the prosperity of all the de Lacy estates. 
In the latter years of his life with still no heir being born he was visited by his cousin Albreda de Lisours, the daughter of the first Robert de Lacy Albreda had grown up at Pontefract Castle and was a fierce supporter of the de Lacy line. She had Grandsons carrying the de Lacy blood, and rather than see the de Lacy titles and estates reverted to the crown, Robert should leave them to her in his will. Robert was fully in agreement, and when Robert died on 21st August 1193, the lands and titles passed to his cousin Albreda de Lisours, 
Robert and Isabella de Lacy no heir to the de Lacy estates, which they passed as agreed to Albreda de Lisours nee de Lacy Thus, the pure line of parental descent from Hugh de Lacy Lord of Lassy in Normandy and  had passed through his sons, Ilbert and Walter, ended in English history. With the death of Walters son also Walter in 1241
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Albreda de Lisours (nee de Lacy).

Holder by inheritance of the de Lacy titles and  estates)

Albreda, the widow of Robert de Lisours, Lord of Sprotborough, was a fierce member of the de Lacy family. She was born and raised at Pontefract Castle. Her father was the first Baron, Robert de Lacy, and her brother was Baron Ilbert (II). Albreda took pride in tracing her ancestry to Lassy and Normandy through her grandfather, Ilbert de Lacy, the 1st Baron of Pontefract.
Her daughter, also named Albreda, married Richard FitzEustace, the 5th Baron of Halton. Richard and Albreda FitzEustace had two sons. The eldest, John, died in 1190 at Tyre while on a crusade. Albreda de Lisours bequeathed her inherited titles from the de Lacy estates to her younger grandson, Roger, on the condition that he first changed his name to Roger de Lacy and ensured the continuation of the de Lacy family name before her death. He readily agreed to this condition. 

Roger de Lacy ​

(while still Roger de FitzRichard)
1194
​became 6th Baron of Pontefract,
7th Lord of Bowland,
7th Baron of Halton,
​ 1170 to 1211

Roger  FitzRichard Had dedicated his life to being a soldier of the King 1191: Siege of Acre.  The port of Acre lay on a peninsula in the Gulf of Haifa. Roger joined Richard the Lionheart on the Third Crusade. Arriving in 1291 with an English fleet of 100 ships. Roger had held a command, earning him the trust of King Richard. Roger de Lacy was now considered part of King Richard's retinue. Roger was with King Richard when England in 1198 reconquered Normandy from the French.
Roger married Maud de Clere in about 1188. His eldest child and heir, John, was born in 1191 In 1194, Roger inherited his grandmother's vast de Lacy holdings. On his father's death, Roger also inherited the hereditary title of Constable of Chester, the Barony of Halton with Halton Castle, and the lordship of Donington in Leicestershire.  

Having regained Normandy, King Richard set about improving the defences. Key to the defence was the construction of Chateau Gaillard, a massive fortification situated high on a hill overlooking the Seine, the best possible strategic position to defend Normandy. Built between 1197 and 1198, it is reputedly one of the finest medieval castles ever built. King Richard boasted that it was impenetrable. 1191 King Richard died in battle. The title of King of England passed to King John I By 1203, King John failed to regain the French provinces that his elder brother, King Richard, had regained. Holding Normandy was now the key to also holding Breton and Anjou. King John called upon Roger de Lacy, now considered his best military leader, to take command of Chateau Gaillard and hold it at all costs against King Philip of France's advances. Roger quickly asserted his authority and implemented his defensive options.  

King Philip's much larger army swooped on Chateau Gaillard. Having spent five weeks repeatedly trying to storm the defences and failing. King Philip ordered his military leaders to lay siege on the Chateau.  King Philip called for a meeting under a flag of truce with Roger. He offered Roger High Office within his Kingdom rather than remaining loyal to John's weak and cruel kingship. Roger de Lacy rejected the terms, returning to the Chateau. Roger de Lacy continued to defend the chateau until every scrap of food was gone. Ultimately, all who remained alive were so weakened that the fortress was easily overrun. Roger de Lacy held Chateau Gaillard from Sept 1203 to March 1204. Holding the advance of the might of King Philip's army.
Roger de Lacy was imprisoned by King Philip but was well treated, as he was admired by the King. He was soon released when King John paid a ransom. King John re-confirmed to him that the honour of Pontefract was Roger’s and bestowed upon him the further offices of Sheriff of York and of Chester. He held both till his death in 1210.
Lassy the commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in Northwestern France. The two hundred square miles of Calvados, which had been granted to the de Lacy family in the Tenth Century,. Normandy reverted to France. Anglo-English lords with estates in England and France had to decide between England and France; they lost one, whichever they chose. It was an easy decision for the two powerful de Lacy families; The de Lacy family was in England to stay. Only a few untitled de Lacy farms in the area remained as citizens of Lassy, France.

Having recuperated his health, Roger de Lacy returned to Pontefract to find it had been well ran in his absence. Looking for another challenge in 1205, he turned his efforts to the family's honour in Herefordshire. The estates ran from Longstone Castle had deteriorated as Walter de Lacy had left the running of the Hertfordshire estates to his steward. The descendants of Walter de Lacy were now more involved in their massive Irish interests than being wholly active Marcher Lords. As Constable of Chester, Roger de Lacy pushed his younger Cousin Gilbert to better husbandry to repel rival claims to the neglected lands. 

Roger earned for himself during the Christmas of 1208 the title of Roger ‘Helle’ de Lacy on hearing that the Earl of Chester was besieged in the newly built Rhuddlan Castle by a local Welsh Army. He pondered on how best to help. Most of his garrison of Knights had been given leave to return to their families for Christmas. With the few Knights he had at his disposal, he went around all the local Chester fairs, taverns and jails. His promise for their support was free ale for the whole of the Christmas festivities. The Welsh army fled, terrified by the apparent crazy advance of a drunken screaming force. Their superstitious mind thought it was an army from hell!

Roger de Lacy died at the age of 41. November 1211 at Pontefract Castle. He was buried at Stanlow Abbey, founded in 1178 by his father, John FitzRichard, and was succeeded by his eldest son John.

John de Lacy

2nd Earl of Lincoln (from 1232)   
1192 –22 July 1240
7th Baron of Pontefract,
8th Lord of Bowland,  & Halton, 
Constable of Chester  

John de Lacy was born in 1192 at Hatton, Lincolnshire. He was a minor at the time of his father’s death and did not enter into possession of his lands until September 1213. His was one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most powerful Baronial families in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The de Lacy territorial interests were distributed widely across the North and Midland counties. 
Educated at court till the age of 19, John was soon embroiled in the troubles of King John's reign.  In September 1213, he was ordered to pay a massive tax of 7,000 marks to King John (inheritance tax), repayable over the following three years. Payment enabled John de Lacy to retain possession of his father’s estate.  These comprised more than 100 knights fees, together with the Baronies of Pontefract, Clitheroe, Penwortham, Widnes and Halton. John de Lacy was also forced to surrender the occupancy of his castles at Pontefract and Donington to King John to be garrisoned by the King at John's expense.  ​
 Other noble families approached John de Lacy to impose a charter upon the King that would restrain his powers of wealth accumulation; John harboured a grievance against the King due to the terms imposed on him prior to King John granting him possession of his father’s estates. John de Lacy consented to align with the other Barons.

Magna Carta (the Great Charter) was agreed upon by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. King John put his seal to the charter, witnessed by twenty-five Barons, including John de Lacy. It was intended to make peace between the unpopular King and the rebellious Barons. The charter promised protection of church rights and complete protection from illegal imprisonment. Provide access to swift justice and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown. To be implemented by the council of 25 Barons.  Five Barons were chosen to oversee the observance of the charter. John de Lacy was to lead this group. To this day, sections of the Magna Carta still form parts of today's laws in many free countries.True to his nature, King John did not abide by the charter's terms and appealed to Pope Innocent III. The Pope responded, and John de Lacy learned that he had been excommunicated along with the other Barons, who had made King John sign the Magna Carta.

October 1216: King John I died at Newark Castle. His nine-year-old son, King Henry III, came to the throne. John de Lacy was pardoned of all charges made against him by King John. Pontefract and Donington castles were restored to his estate. 
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In May 1218, to absolve himself from excommunication, he accompanied Ranulph, Earl of Chester, on a crusade. He participated in the siege of the Egyptian port city of Damietta as part of the Fifth Crusade. It was later recorded that John de Lacy and his knights rendered valuable service. Whilst at Damietta, John de Lacy made a donation to establish a chapel at Pontefract in honour of the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Cross. 

In 1221, John de Lacy was selected by the King to escort the King of the Scots to Henry's court for the June marriage of his daughter, Joan, to King Alexander II of Scotland.
Baron John de Lacy married Margaret de Quincy in 1221 at Stanlaw, Chester. Margaret was the only daughter and heir of Robert de Quincy, a fellow crusader who had perished in the Holy Land. Their son and heir, Edmund, was born in 1230.

Margaret de Lacy’s father died during the Crusade, leaving her as the heir to her Uncle Ranulph de Blondeville's estates. In 1232, John was elevated to the title of 2nd Earl of Lincoln due to this inheritance. John de Lacy became influential at King Henry's court and played a ceremonial role in the coronation of Henry's bride, Eleanor of Provence, in 1236.

​John began to suffer from ill health and died on 22 July 1240. He was buried beside his father, Roger de Lacy, at Stanlaw Abbey. However, due to flooding, his remains were moved to Whalley when the monks relocated to establish a new Abbey. Although still a minor, their son Edmund de Lacy inherited the de Lacy titles.

Edmund de Lacy

1230-1258
8th Baron of Pontefract,
9th Baron of Halton, and Bowland, 
Constable of Chester
​

Edmund, at the age of ten, inherited all of his father's titles except the Earl of Lincoln. For five years, the Archbishop of York administered the estates on Edmund's behalf. As a minor, his titles were held in wardship by his mother. Edmund became a ward of the court and was raised at the royal court of King Henry III. His education was conducted by a Dominican friar named Richard Wych, who later became the bishop of Chichester and was canonised as a saint.
Edmund thrived at court, and King Henry III decreed that at the young age of eighteen, Edmund would fully inherit all his rights without having to wait until the age of twenty-one. He was no longer viewed as a ward of the court.
Arrangements were made for Edmund to marry Alesia, Queen Eleanor's cousin. Alesia, the eldest daughter of the Viscount of Saluzzo (Italy), The couple then withdrew from court life and settled at his beloved Pontefract Castle to manage his vast baronial estates.
One-third of Edmund's estate duties were carried out at Clitheroe Castle, necessitating a four-day journey over the Pennines for foot soldiers and their inevitable ox carts from Pontefract Castle. A charter granted the manor of Stanbury in 1234, along with five other manors, to Edmund de Lacy. This strategically connected the two castles with a route running from Pontefract through Bradford Dale, Haworth, over the Pennines at Colne Edge and to Clitheroe Castle, the second baronial seat of the de Lacy family.
In 1249, possibly on 19th December, their son and heir, Henry, was born. Later, they also welcomed a daughter, Margaret, followed by a second son, John, who sadly died in infancy.
In 1256, following the death of his mentor Richard Wych, Edmund de Lacy founded a house of Dominican friars at Pontefract in his honour. Edmund was recorded as saying,
“I assign this place to St. Richard, bishop and confessor, formerly my teacher and dearest friend, whose wish was to establish a church on this spot. For him, I lay the first stone.”
Edmund made it clear that upon his death, his body would be laid to rest at Stanlow Abbey in Cheshire, the burial place of his father, John, and grandfather Roger. He had often stated, 
“My heart has always been in Pontefract. Bury my body at Stanlow with my kinsfolk, but leave my heart here, in the new Pontefract Dominican church.” 
Edmund died the same year, on 2nd June 1258, at the age of about twenty-eight, leaving his only son, Henry de Lacy, as heir. While often given the courtesy title of Earl of Lincoln, Edmund never actually inherited the title, as his mother outlived him.
His burial occurred at Stanlow Abbey,  so Edmund was resting with his father and grandfather. All of their remains were later removed to the new Whalley Abbey. Edmund’s wishes were carried out, and his heart remains in Pontefract. What was important was that Edmund left an heir, His son Henry, who became the greatest of all the de Lacy lords.

Henry de Lacy

1249 to 1311
Earl of Lincoln, From (1266 )
8th Baron of Pontefract,
9th Baron of Halton
​Lord of Bowland,
1st Lord of Denbigh (from 1282)
​

Henry is the greatest of all the de Lacy Barons. There are too many exploits to list here. Here is a Wikipedia page. Or a fuller story is available in my “de Lacy Chronicles” book on Amazon.
Henry was the grandson of John de Lacy. His parents, Edmund and Alesia de Lacy, had both died when Henry was in his early teens. Henry de Lacy was only ten years younger than King Edward, and they had shared parts of their education together. Henry and Edward became good friends and remained close confidants throughout the King’s life.

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Edward put his three-part political plan to Henry de Lacy. 1. Bring Wales & Scotland within his reign.  2. Regain control of Gascony recently seized by King Louis of France.  3. Organise the English law into a common law that would be fair for all.  Henry agreed it was a just plan for the King. He vowed to do all he could to help King Edward successfully achieve them. Henry de Lacy led the English army in many battles. With Wales, Scotland and on the Continent.

From 1284, Henry de Lacy became King Edward's legislative ramrod (Prime Minister?). As the King's closest councillor, he handled setting up, then steering through parliament, much of King Edward's legal reforms. Framing general regulations for the whole country, thus setting up the framework to organise a reformed national life. Much is, still recognised to this day.

​Henry's tomb had been in the old St Paul's Cathedral. both were destroyed  in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A new memorial.  The titles of Lord of Halton, Barons of Bowland and Pontefract, Earl of Lincoln all passed in 1310 as agreed, through his daughter Alice de Lacy to King Henry’s son in law. Thomas Earl of Lancaster.
The marriage of Thomas and Alice was dramatic and not happy. However, that is a story for another to tell.

The de Lacy line, which began with Ilbert de Lacy in 1066, had now come to an end after 250 turbulent years.

In 1322, Thomas Earl of Lancaster was beheaded for treason for opposing King Edward II. His estates, including those inherited from the de Lacys, were seized and became Crown property.    

​Before leaving the Henry de Lacy Chronicle, there is one outstanding mystery to account for. Many records show Henry had two sons, Edmund and John. Both of whom history shows as dying while still young. What is less recorded is that Henry had another son called John de Lacy, who outlived him, but he was illegitimate and ineligible to retain his father’s estates. Records show that John de Lacy inherited substantial properties in or around Grantchester in Cambridgeshire at that time. No doubt, many modern-day English members of the broader de Lacy family may have derived from this same John de Lacy.

The Religious Houses of the Ilbert de Lacy Family. Tap or click the image to open the page.