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This book examines the rise and fall of the aristocratic Lacy family in England, Ireland, Wales and Normandy. As one of the first truly transnational studies of individual medieval aristocrats, it provides a fresh look at lordship and the interplay between aristocracy and crown from 1166 to 1241. Hugh de Lacy (†1186), traded on his military usefulness to King Henry II of England in Wales and Normandy to gain a speculative grant of the ancient Irish kingdom of Mide (Meath). Hugh was remarkably successful in Ireland, where he was able to thwart the juvenile ambitions of the future King John to increase his powers there. Hugh was hailed by native commentators as ‘lord of the foreigners of Ireland’ and even ‘king of Ireland’. In this study his near-legendary life is firmly grounded in the realities of Anglo-Irish politics. The political career of Hugh’s less famous son and heir, Walter de Lacy (†1241), is in turn illuminated by surviving royal records and his own acta. Walter was one of the major actors in the Irish Sea province under Kings Richard I, John and Henry III, and his relationship with each king provides a unique insight into the nature of their reigns. Over the course of fifty-two years, Walter helped to shape the course of Anglo-Irish history. That history is recast in light of the transnational perspective of its chief participants. This book is a major contribution to current debates over the structure of medieval European society.
received by the king in all happiness and enthusiasm as if a father by his son … 12 After a little the archbishop called together many co-provincial bishops and magnificently dedicated that noble and royal abbey of Reading, in which Henry of divine memory, formerly king of England, and grandfather of our illustrious king Henry II, himself its founder, rests in a glorious
, Ireland was to be the focus of the Lacy family enterprise. Henry II’s choice of Hugh as royal administrator ran counter to his practice of promoting lesser men to positions of influence within the localities in his other realms. The reasons for Henry’s break in Ireland with his former policy say much about Angevin rule there, and the adaptability of Henry’s kingship. So too does his reaction to Hugh’s rapid rise to pre- eminence across the Irish Sea. Henry had to balance his desire for a stable Ireland with his need to control the colony, and his handling of Hugh de
political spheres of Angevin government. 9 Paradoxically this duel which never took place is an important – and incidentally often neglected – episode in the medieval history of judicial combat, but it also interestingly illustrates the closeness of the relationship between law and politics at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. That relationship will be the main underlying theme of an essay which is also intended to show the continuing importance attached by the laity to the judicial duel during the years of Angevin government in England, in ‘Henry II
at Weobley (Herefordshire). The Norman territories of the family were shared by the two brothers, so that from 1066 both branches of the Lacy family controlled territories either side of the English Channel. However, the Herefordshire branch was to extend itself even further. From the outset, the Herefordshire Lacys sought to control lands in Wales, being lords of Ewyas Lacy in the Welsh march. In 1172, however, King Henry II granted them the ancient Irish kingdom of Mide (henceforth known as the lordship of Meath). This meant that the Herefordshire Lacys
Most legal historians would date the emergence of a recognizable English ‘Common Law’ to the last quarter of the twelfth century. It was during this period that King Henry II and his advisers created the first of a new type of royal court in England: a court where decisions were made by a small group of full-time (and later fully professional) justices appointed by the king, which held virtually continuous sessions over periods of several weeks or months, which exercised a national jurisdiction and whose decisions were recorded in writing. These courts soon
number of substantial provincial towns. In London, craft guilds lavished their attention upon the Midsummer Watch rather than Corpus Christi (Hutton, Merry England, pp. 40–4). 23 WAC, E3 (1530–32); Rosser, pp. 272–4. 24 In 1530, the waits were paid 5s 4d, while their breakfast cost the parish another 7d. WAC, E3 (1530–32, 1533–34). 17 The social world of early modern Westminster st martin in the fields Although a church of St Martin in the Fields was in existence before the death of Henry II in 1189, the parish of St Martin’s was originally subsumed within the larger
Few historical problems have received so much attention among those studying the modern period and so little attention among medieval scholars as that of peacemaking. In the medieval period, peace was intrinsically linked to Christianity. As peace was seen as the perfect realisation of the laws of God, peace in the medieval period also became a standard justification for war. This book develops Professor Christopher Holdsworth's ideas and to put these, and other, common themes into a wider context by examining two case studies: peacemaking involving the kings of England and their neighbours in Britain and on the continent; and that involving the kings of Denmark and their neighbours. For England, the investigation looks at the reigns of Henry II and his sons, Richard I and John, encompassing the period between 1154 and 1216. For Denmark, the focus is on the reigns of Valdemar I and his sons, Cnut VI and Valdemar II, thereby covering most of the period between 1157 and 1241. In 1177, the treaty of Winchester satisfied what both kings wanted to achieve at that particular time. At the heart of the medieval peacemaking process stood the face-to-face meeting.
the perception that Welsh lordship was personal before it was territorial. 4 It is also evident that, though certain Welsh rulers appeared to dominate the political arena at various times, there were usually a number of Welsh princes operating within the three regional hegemonies. For instance, in 1175, at least seven different princes obtained peace from Henry II at a
which Hugh de Lacy built his relationship with King Henry II, through his position as custos of Dublin in 1172 and defender of Verneuil in 1173, and the way he extended his profile in Ireland following his royal commission in 1177. Because his perceived fidelity to Henry II was the basis for his advancement, it was also the link that his rivals sought to challenge. Contemporaries report that Hugh de Lacy was recalled from Ireland several times owing to King Henry’s anxiety at his growing stature. However, none of these eclipses lasted longer than a few (winter) months