Sir John de Lacy, Knight, 2nd Earl of Lincoln

Male 1192 - 1240  (~ 48 years)


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  • Name John de Lacy 
    Title Sir 
    Suffix Knight, 2nd Earl of Lincoln 
    Birth ~ 1192  [1, 2
    Gender Male 
    Occupation Constable of Cheshire  [2
    Death 22 Jul 1240  [3
    Burial Cistercian Abbey of Stanlaw, in County Chester, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Person ID I46763  The Hennessee Family
    Last Modified 22 Nov 2016 

    Father Sir Roger de Lacy, 6th Baron of Pontefrac,   b. 0___ 1170   d. 0___ 1211 (Age ~ 41 years) 
    Mother Maud de Clare 
    Marriage Y  [4, 5
    Family ID F17649  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Lady Margaret de Quincy, 2nd Countess of Lincoln,   b. ~ 1206, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 0Mar 1266, Hampstead, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 60 years) 
    Marriage Bef 21 June 1221  [1, 2, 3
    • The purpose of the alliance was to bring the rich Lincoln and Bolingbroke inheritance of her mother to the de Lacy family.[4] John's first marriage to Alice de l'Aigle had not produced issue; although John and Margaret together had two children:
    Children 
     1. Maud de Lacy,   b. 25 Jan 1223   d. 1287-1289 (Age 65 years)
    Family ID F17139  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Apr 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Cistercian Abbey of Stanlaw, in County Chester, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • He was the eldest son and heir of Roger de Lacy and his wife, Maud or Matilda de Clere (not of the de Clare family).[1]

      Public life

      He was hereditary constable of Chester and, in the 15th year of King John, undertook the payment of 7,000 marks to the crown, in the space of four years, for livery of the lands of his inheritance, and to be discharged of all his father's debts due to the exchequer, further obligating himself by oath, that in case he should ever swerve from his allegiance, and adhere to the king's enemies, all of his possessions should devolve upon the crown, promising also, that he would not marry without the king's licence. By this agreement it was arranged that the king should retain the castles of Pontefract and Dunnington, still in his own hands; and that he, the said John, should allow 40 pounds per year, for the custody of those fortresses. But the next year he had Dunnington restored to him, upon hostages.

      John de Lacy, 7th Baron of Halton Castle, 5th Lord of Bowland and hereditary constable of Chester, was one of the earliest who took up arms at the time of the Magna Charta, and was appointed to see that the new statutes were properly carried into effect and observed in the counties of York and Nottingham. He was one of twenty-five barons charged with overseeing the observance of Magna Carta in 1215.[2]

      He was excommunicated by the Pope. Upon the accession of King Henry III, he joined a party of noblemen and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and did good service at the siege of Damietta. In 1232 he was made Earl of Lincoln and in 1240, governor of Chester and Beeston Castles. In 1237, his lordship was one of those appointed to prohibit Oto, the pope's prelate, from establishing anything derogatory to the king's crown and dignity, in the council of prelates then assembled; and the same year he was appointed High Sheriff of Cheshire, being likewise constituted Governor of the castle of Chester.

      Private life

      He married firstly Alice in 1214 in Pontefract, daughter of Gilbert de Aquila, who gave him one daughter Joan.[3] Alice died in 1216 in Pontefract and, after his marked gallantry at the siege of Damietta.

      He married secondly in 1221 Margaret de Quincy, only daughter and heiress of Robert de Quincy, son of Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester, by Hawyse, 4th sister and co-heir of Ranulph de Mechines, Earl of Chester and Lincoln, which Ranulph, by a formal charter under his seal, granted the Earldom of Lincoln, that is, so much as he could grant thereof, to the said Hawyse, "to the end that she might be countess, and that her heirs might also enjoy the earldom;" which grant was confirmed by the king, and at the especial request of the countess, this John de Lacy, constable of Chester, through his marriage was allowed to succeed de Blondeville and was created by charter, dated Northampton, 23 November 1232, Earl of Lincoln, with remainder to the heirs of his body, by his wife, the above-mentioned Margaret.[1] In the contest which occurred during the same year, between the king and Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, Earl Marshal, Matthew Paris states that the Earl of Lincoln was brought over to the king's party, with John of Scotland, 7th Earl of Chester, by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, for a bribe of 1,000 marks.
      By this marriage he had one son, Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, and two daughters, of one, Maud, married Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester.[4]

      Later life

      He died on 22 July 1240 and was buried at the Cisterian Abbey of Stanlaw, in County Chester. The monk Matthew Paris, records: "On the 22nd day of July, in the year 1240, which was St. Magdalen's Day, John, Earl of Lincoln, after suffering from a long illness went the way of all flesh". Margaret, his wife, survived him and remarried Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke. [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S9137] "Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester", biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_de_Clare,_6th_Earl_of_Glouc.

    2. [S10010] "John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln" biography, accessed & downloaded Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016 by David A. Hennessee,.

    3. [S10011] "Margaret de Quincy, Countess of Lincoln" biography, accessed & downloaded Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016 by David A. Henn.

    4. [S7941] "Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere (ca. 1 April 1287 - 22 October 1333/3 January 1334, disputed)" biography, https:.

    5. [S10606] "Roger de Lacy (1170-1211)" biography, which was abstracted, downloaded and published Wednesday, March 8th, 2017 by Davi.