Notes:

Maud de Lacy, (25 January 1223 - 1287/10 March 1289), was an English noblewoman, being the eldest child of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, and the wife of Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester.

Maud de Lacy had a personality that was described as "highly-competitive and somewhat embittered". She became known as one of the most litigious women in the 13th century as she was involved in numerous litigations and lawsuits with her tenants, neighbours, and relatives, including her own son. Author Linda Elizabeth Mitchell, in her Portraits of Medieval Women: Family, Marriage, and Politics in England 1225-1350', states that Maud's life has received "considerable attention by historians".

Maud was styled Countess of Hertford and Countess of Gloucester upon her marriage to Richard de Clare. Although her mother, Margaret de Quincy, was suo jure Countess of Lincoln, this title never passed to Maud as her mother's heir was Henry de Lacy, the son of Maud's deceased younger brother Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract.

Her eldest son was Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, a powerful noble during the reigns of kings Henry III of England and Edward I.

Family

Maud de Lacy was born on 25 January 1223 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, the eldest child of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, a Magna Carta Surety, and Margaret de Quincy, 2nd Countess of Lincoln suo jure.

Maud had a younger brother Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract who married in 1247 Alasia of Saluzzo, by whom he had three children.

Her paternal grandparents were Roger de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract and Maud de Clare, and her maternal grandparents were Robert de Quincy and Hawise of Chester, 1st Countess of Lincoln suo jure.

Maud and her mother, Margaret, were never close; in point of fact, relations between the two women were described as strained. Throughout Maud's marriage, the only interactions between Maud and her mother were quarrels regarding finances, pertaining to the substantial Marshal family property Margaret owned and controlled due to the latter's second marriage on 6 January 1242 to Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke almost two years after the death of Maud's father, John de Lacy in 1240. Despite their poor rapport with one another, Maud was, nevertheless, strongly influenced by her mother.

The fact that her mother preferred her grandson, Henry over Maud did not help their relationship; Henry, who was also her mother's ward, was made her heir, and he later succeeded to the earldom of Lincoln.

Marriage to the Earl of Gloucester

On 25 January 1238 which was her fifteenth birthday, Maud married Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, and 6th Earl of Gloucester, son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, 5th Earl of Gloucester, and Isabel Marshal. Maud was his second wife; his first marriage, which was made clandestinely, to Megotta de Burgh, ended in an annulment. Even before the annulment of the Earl's marriage to Megotta, Maud's parents paid King Henry III the enormous sum of 5,000 pounds to obtain his agreement to the marriage. The King supplied her dowry which consisted of the castle of Usk, the manor of Clere, as well as other lands and manors.

Throughout her marriage, Maud's position as the wife of the most politically-significant nobleman of the 13th century was diminished by her mother's control of a third of the Marshal inheritance and her rank as Countess of Lincoln and dowager countess of Pembroke.

Richard being the heir to one-fifth of the Pembroke earldom was also the guarantor of his mother-in-law's dowry.

In about 1249/50, Maud ostensibly agreed to the transfer of the manor of Navesby in Northamptonshire, which had formed the greatest part of her maritagium [marriage portion], to her husband's young niece Isabella and her husband, William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle as part of Isabella's own maritagium. Years later, after the deaths of both women's husbands, Maud sued Isabella for the property, claiming that it had been transferred against her will. Isabella, however, was able to produce the chirograph that showed Maud's participation in the writing of the document; this according to the Common Law signified Maud's agreement to the transaction, and Maud herself was "amerced for litigating a false claim".

Issue

Together Richard and Maud had seven children:

Isabel de Clare (1240 - before 1271), married as his second wife, William VII of Montferrat, by whom she had one daughter, Margherita. She was allegedly killed by her husband.
Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester (2 September 1243 - 7 December 1295), married firstly Alice de Lusignan of Angouleme by whom he had two daughters; he married secondly Joan of Acre, by whom he had issue.
Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond (1245 - 29 August 1287), married as her first husband Juliana FitzGerald, daughter of Maurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of Offaly and Maud de Prendergast, by whom he had issue including Richard de Clare, 1st Lord Clare and Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere.
Bogo de Clare, Chancellor of Llandaff (21 July 1248 - 1294)
Margaret de Clare (1250 - 1312/1313), married Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall. Their marriage was childless.
Rohese de Clare (17 October 1252 - after 1316), married Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray, by whom she had issue.
Eglantine de Clare (1257 - 1257)

Widowhood

On 15 July 1262, her husband died near Canterbury. Maud designed and commissioned a magnificent tomb for him at Tewkesbury Abbey where he was buried. She also donated the manor of Sydinghowe to the "Priory of Legh" (i.e. Canonsleigh Abbey, Devon, for the soul of Richard, formerly her husband, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford by charter dated to 1280. Their eldest son Gilbert succeeded Richard as the 6th Earl of Hertford and 7th Earl of Gloucester. Although Maud carefully arranged the marriages of her daughters, the King owned her sons' marriage rights.

She was involved in numerous lawsuits and litigations with her tenants, neighbours, and relatives, including her eldest son Gilbert, who sued her for admeasurement of her dowry. In her 27 years of widowhood, Maud brought 33 suits into the central courts; and she herself was sued a total of 44 times. As a result she was known as one of the most litigious women in the 13th century. She endowed many religious houses, including the Benedictine Stoke-by-Clare Priory, Suffolk (re-established in 1124 by Richard de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford having been moved from Clare Castle) and Canonsleigh Abbey, Devon, which she re-founded as a nunnery. She also vigorously promoted the clerical career of her son, Bogo, and did much to encourage his ambitions and acquisitiveness. She was largely responsible for many of the benefices that were bestowed on him, which made him the richest churchman of the period. Although not an heiress, Maud herself was most likely the wealthiest widow in 13th century England.

Maud died sometime between 1287 and 10 March 1289.

Maud married Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford 6th Earl of Gloucester 02 Feb 1237/38. Richard (son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford 5th Earl of Gloucester and Isabel Marshal) was born 04 Aug 1222; died 14 Jul 1262, Waltham, Kent, England; was buried 28 Jul 1262, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet]

1. Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond was born Abt 1245, Tonbridge, Kent, England; died 29 Aug 1287.

Notes:

John de Lacy (1192 - 22 July 1240), son of Roger, became 1st Earl of Lincoln, 8th Baron of Halton and 5th Lord of Bowland. He and his cousin Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, chosen surety to enforce the King's adherence to Magna Carta. John de Lacy was buried in Stanlow Abbey.

John de Lacy (c. 1192 - 1240) was the 2nd Earl of Lincoln, of the fourth creation.

Background

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).

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 license. 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.

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. 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, 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.

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.

John married Margaret de Quincy Bef 21 Jun 1221. Margaret (daughter of Robert de Quincey and Hawise of Chester, Countess of Lincoln) was born Abt 1206; died Abt Mar 1265/66, Hampstead, London, England; was buried Clerkenwell, London, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Margaret de Quincy, 2nd Countess of Lincoln suo jure (c. 1206 - March 1266) was a wealthy English noblewoman and heiress having inherited in her own right the Earldom of Lincoln and honours of Bolingbroke from her mother Hawise of Chester, received a dower from the estates of her first husband, and acquired a dower third from the extensive earldom of Pembroke following the death of her second husband, Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke. Her first husband was John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, by whom she had two children. He was created 2nd Earl of Lincoln by right of his marriage to Margaret. Margaret has been described as "one of the two towering female figures of the mid-13th century".

Family

Margaret was born in about 1206, the daughter and only child of Robert de Quincy and Hawise of Chester, herself the co-heiress of her uncle Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. Hawise became suo jure Countess of Chester in April 1231 when her brother resigned the title in her favour.

Her paternal grandfather, Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester was one of the 25 sureties of the Magna Carta; as a result he was excommunicated by the Church in December 1215. Two years later her father died after having been accidentally poisoned through medicine prepared by a Cisterian monk.

Life

On 23 November 1232, Margaret and her husband John de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract were formally invested by King Henry III as Countess and Earl of Lincoln. In April 1231 her maternal uncle Ranulf de Blondeville, 1st Earl of Lincoln had made an inter vivos gift, after receiving dispensation from the crown, of the Earldom of Lincoln to her mother Hawise. Her uncle granted her mother the title by a formal charter under his seal which was confirmed by King Henry III. Her mother was formally invested as suo jure 1st Countess of Lincoln on 27 October 1232 the day after her uncle's death. Likewise her mother Hawise of Chester received permission from King Henry III to grant the Earldom of Lincoln jointly to Margaret and her husband John, and less than a month later a second formal investiture took place, but this time for Margaret and her husband John de Lacy. Margaret became 2nd Countess of Lincoln suo jure (in her own right) and John de Lacy became 2nd Earl of Lincoln by right of his wife. (John de Lacy is mistakenly called the 1st Earl of Lincoln in many references.)

In 1238, Margaret and her husband paid King Henry the large sum of 5,000 pounds to obtain his agreement to the marriage of their daughter Maud to Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 2nd Earl of Gloucester.

On 22 July 1240 her first husband John de Lacy died. Although he was nominally succeeded by their only son Edmund de Lacy (c.1227-1258) for titles and lands that included Baron of Pontefract, Baron of Halton, and Constable of Chester, Margaret at first controlled the estates in lieu of her son who was still in his minority and being brought up at the court of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Edmund was allowed to succeed to his titles and estates at the age of 18. Edmund was also Margaret's heir to the Earldom of Lincoln and also her other extensive estates that included the third of the Earldom of Pembroke that she had inherited from her second husband in 1845. Edmund was never able to become Earl of Lincoln, however, as he predeceased his mother by eight years.

As the widowed Countess of Lincoln suo jure, Margaret was brought into contact with some of the most important people in the county of Lincolnshire. Among these included Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, the most significant intellectual in England at the time who recognised Margaret's position as Countess of Lincoln to be legitimate and important, and he viewed Margaret as both patron and peer. He dedicated Les Reules Seynt Robert, his treatise on estate and household management, to her.

Marriages and issue

Sometime before 21 June 1221, Margaret married as his second wife, her first husband John de Lacy of Pontefract. The purpose of the alliance was to bring the rich Lincoln and Bolingbroke inheritance of her mother to the de Lacy family. John's first marriage to Alice de l'Aigle had not produced issue; although John and Margaret together had two children:

Maud de Lacy (25 January 1223- 1287/10 March 1289), married in 1238 Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, by whom she had seven children.
Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract (died 2 June 1258), married in 1247 Alasia of Saluzzo, daughter of Manfredo III of Saluzzo, by whom he had three children, including Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln.

She married secondly on 6 January 1242, Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke, Lord of Striguil, Lord of Leinster, Earl Marshal of England, one of the ten children of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke. This marriage, like those of his four brothers, did not produce any children; therefore when he died at Goodrich Castle on 24 November 1245, Margaret inherited a third of the Earldom of Pembroke as well as the properties and lordship of Kildare. Her dower third outweighed any of the individual holdings of the 13 different co-heirs of the five Marshal sisters which meant she would end up controlling more of the earldom of Pembroke and lordship of Leinster than any of the other co-heirs; this brought her into direct conflict with her own daughter, Maud whose husband was by virtue of his mother Isabel Marshal one of the co-heirs of the Pembroke earldom. As a result of her quarrels with her daughter, Margaret preferred her grandson Henry de Lacy who would became the 3rd Earl of Lincoln on reaching majority (21) in 1272. She and her Italian daughter-in-law Alasia of Saluzzo shared in the wardship of Henry who was Margaret's heir, and the relationship between the two women appeared to have been cordial.

Death and legacy

Margaret was a careful overseer of her property and tenants, and gracious in her dealings with her son's children, neighbours and tenants. She received two papal dispensations in 1251, the first to erect a portable altar; the other so that she could hear mass in the Cisterian monastery. Margaret died in March 1266[9] at Hampstead. Her death was recorded in the Annals of Worcester and in the Annals of Winchester. She was buried in the Church of the Hospitallers in Clerkenwell.

Margaret was described as "one of the two towering female figures of the mid-13th century"; the other being Ela, Countess of Salisbury.

Notes:

Roger de Lacy (1170-1211), 6th Baron of Pontefract, 7th Lord of Bowland, Lord of Blackburnshire, 7th Baron of Halton and Constable of Chester was formerly Roger le Constable. He was also known as Roger FitzJohn (son of John) and during the time that he was hoping to inherit his grandmother's de Lisours lands as Roger de Lisours. He was the son of John FitzRichard (son of Richard), Baron of Halton, Lord of Bowland, Lord of Flamborough and Constable of Chester. Roger became Baron of Pontefract on the death of his paternal grandmother Albreda de Lisours (-aft.1194) who had inherited the Barony in her own right as 1st-cousin and heir to Robert de Lacy (-1193), 4th Baron of Pontefract. In agreements with his grandmother Roger adopted the name of de Lacy, received the right to inherit the Barony of Pontefract and its lands, and the lands of Bowland, and Blackburnshire. He gave up all claims to his grandmother's de Lisours lands. He also gave his younger brother Robert le Constable the Flamborough lands that he had inherited from his father. He married Maud or Matilda de Clere (not of the de Clare family).

Military service

Siege of Acon

Roger was the Constable of Chester. Under the banner of Richard the Lionheart, Roger assisted at the siege of Acon, in 1192 and shared in the subsequent triumphs of that chivalrous monarch.
Accession of King John

At the accession of John, Roger was a person of great eminence, for we find him shortly after the coronation of that prince, deputed with the Sheriff of Northumberland, and other great men, to conduct William, King of Scotland, to Lincoln, where the English king had fixed to give him an interview; and the next year he was one of the barons present at Lincoln, when Davis, of Scotland, did homage and fealty to King John.

Siege of Rothelan

In the time of this Roger, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, having entered Wales at the head of some forces, was compelled, by superior numbers, to shut himself up in the castle of Rothelan (Rhuddlan Castle), where, being closely besieged by the Welsh, he sent for aid to the Constable of Chester. Hugh Lupus, the 1st Earl of Chester, in his charter of foundation of the Abbey of St. Werberg, at Chester, had given a privilege to the frequenters of Chester fair, "That they should not be apprehended for theft, or any other offense during the time of the fair, unless the crime was committed therein." This privilege made the fair, of course, the resort of thieves and vagabonds from all parts of the kingdom. Accordingly, the Constable, Roger de Lacy, forthwith marched to his relief, at the head of a concourse of people, then collected at the fair of Chester, consisting of minstrels, and loose characters of all description, forming altogether so numerous a body, that the besiegers, at their approach, mistaking them for soldiers, immediately raised the siege. For this timely service, the Earl of Chester conferred upon De Lacy and his heirs, the patronage of all the minstrels in those parts, which patronage the Constable transferred to his steward; and was enjoyed for many years afterwards.

High Sheriff

He was appointed High Sheriff of Cumberland for the years 1204 to 1209.

Death and succession

Roger died in 1211. Roger was succeeded by his son, John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln.

Notes:

Robert died in 1217 in London. He had been accidentally poisoned through medicine prepared by a Cistercian monk. Robert and his father had both been excommunicated in December 1215 as a result of the latter having been one of the 25 sureties of the Magna Carta six months before.

Robert married Hawise of Chester, Countess of Lincoln Bef 1206. Hawise (daughter of Hugh of Kevelioc 5th Earl of Chester and Bertrade de Montfort, of Evreux) was born 1180, Chester, Cheshire, England; died Abt 1242. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

She inherited the Castle and Manor of Bolingbroke and other large estates in Lincolnshire from her father. She was created 1st Countess of Lincoln [England] on 27 October 1232, suo jure.

Hawise of Chester, 1st Countess of Lincoln suo jure (1180- 6 June 1241/3 May 1243), was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy heiress. Her father was Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester. She was the sister and a co-heiress of Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. She was created suo jure 1st Countess of Lincoln in 1232. She was the wife of Robert de Quincy, by whom she had one daughter, Margaret, who became heiress to her title and estates. She was also known as Hawise of Kevelioc.
Family

Hawise was born in 1180 in Chester, Cheshire, England, the youngest child of Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester and Bertrade de Montfort of Évreux, a cousin of King Henry II of England. Hawise had four siblings, including Maud of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon, Mabel of Chester, Countess of Arundel, Agnes of Chester, Countess of Derby, and a brother Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. She also had an illegitimate half-sister, Amice of Chester who married Ralph de Mainwaring, Justice of Chester by whom she had children.

Her paternal grandparents were Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, and Maud of Gloucester, the granddaughter of King Henry I of England, and her maternal grandparents were Simon III de Montfort and Mahaut.

In 1181, when Hawise was a year old, her father died. He had served in Henry II's Irish campaigns after his estates had been restored to him in 1177. They had been confiscated by the King as a result of his having taken part in the baronial Revolt of 1173-1174. Her only brother Ranulf succeeded him as the 6th Earl of Chester.

She inherited the castle and manor of Bolingbroke, and other large estates from her brother to whom she was co-heiress after his death on 26 October 1232. Hawise had already became 1st Countess of Lincoln in April 1231, when her brother Ranulf de Blondeville, 1st Earl of Lincoln resigned the title in her favour. He granted her the title by a formal charter under his seal which was confirmed by King Henry III. She was formally invested as suo jure 1st Countess of Lincoln by King Henry III on 27 October 1232 the day after her brother's death.

Less than a month later, in the same manner as her brother Ranulf de Blondeville, 1st Earl of Lincoln, she likewise made an inter vivos gift, after receiving dispensation from the crown, of the Earldom of Lincoln to her daughter Margaret de Quincy who then became 2nd Countess of Lincoln suo jureand her son-in-law John de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract who then became the 2nd Earl of Lincoln by right of his wife. (John de Lacy is mistakenly called the 1st Earl of Lincoln in many references.) They were formally invested by King Henry III as Countess and Earl of Lincoln on 23 November 1232.

Marriage and issue

Sometime before 1206, she married Robert de Quincy, son of Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester and Margaret de Beaumont of Leicester. The marriage produced one daughter:

Margaret de Quincy, 2nd Countess of Lincoln suo jure (c.1206 - March 1266), married firstly in 1221 John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln by whom she had two children, Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, and Maud de Lacy; she married secondly on 6 January 1242 Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke.

Hawise's husband Robert died in 1217 in London. He had been accidentally poisoned through medicine prepared by a Cistercian monk. Robert and his father had both been excommunicated in December 1215 as a result of the latter having been one of the 25 sureties of the Magna Carta six months before. Hawise died sometime between 6 June 1241 and 3 May 1243. She was more than sixty years of age.

Hawisse was married a second time to Sir Warren de Bostoke; they had a son, Sir Henry de Bostoke.

[Sources: Burke's Landed Gentry (1847), vol. 1, p. 81; G. Ormerod, "History of the County Palatine and City of Chester" (1882), vol. 3, pp. 253, 259; J. P. Rylands, "The Visitation of Cheshire in the Year 1580", Harliean Soc., vol. 18, p. 27.

Notes:

The son of Richard FitzEustace. He was a Governor in Ireland for Henry II. Being a patron of science, he maintained an astronomer at Halton Castle. He founded a Cistercian monastery at Stanlow. In 1190 he granted the second known charter for a ferry at Runcorn Gap. He served with Richard I in the Third Crusade and died at the siege of Tyre

Notes:

He married Margaret, daughter of Robert, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Pernel Grandmesnil.

Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester (1155 - 3 November 1219) was one of the leaders of the baronial rebellion against King John of England, and a major figure in both Scotland and England in the decades around the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Saer de Quincy's immediate background was in the Scottish kingdom: his father, Robert de Quincy, was a knight in the service of king William the Lion, and his mother Orabilis was the heiress of the lordship of Leuchars in Fife (see below). His rise to prominence in England came through his marriage to Margaret, the younger sister of Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester: but it is probably no coincidence that her other brother was the de Quincys' powerful Fife neighbour, Roger de Beaumont, Bishop of St Andrews. In 1204, Earl Robert died, leaving Margaret as co-heiress of the vast earldom along with her elder sister. The estate was split in half, and after the final division was ratified in 1207, de Quincy was made Earl of Winchester.

Following his marriage, de Quincy became a prominent military and diplomatic figure in England. There is no evidence of any close alliance with King John, however, and his rise to importance was probably due to his newly-acquired magnate status and the family connections that underpinned it.

One man with whom he does seem to have developed a close personal relationship is his cousin, Robert Fitzwalter(d.1235). They are first found together in 1203, as co-commanders of the garrison at the major fortress of Vaudreuil in Normandy; they were responsible for surrendering the castle without a fight to Philip II of France, fatally weakening the English position in northern France, but although popular opinion seems to have blamed them for the capitulation, a royal writ is extant stating that the castle was surrendered at King John's command, and both Saer and Fitzwalter had to endure personal humiliation and heavy ransoms at the hands of the French.

In Scotland, he was perhaps more successful. In 1211-12, the Earl of Winchester commanded an imposing retinue of a hundred knights and a hundred serjeants in William the Lion's campaign against the Mac William rebels, a force which some historians have suggested may have been the mercenary force from Brabant lent to the campaign by John.

In 1215, when the baronial rebellion broke out, Robert Fitzwalter became the military commander, and the Earl of Winchester joined him, acting as one of the chief negotiators with John; both cousins were among the 25 guarantors of the Magna Carta. De Quincy fought against John in the troubles that followed the signing of the Charter, and, again with Fitzwalter, travelled to France to invite Prince Louis of France to take the English throne. He and Fitzwalter were subsequently among the most committed and prominent supporters of Louis' candidature for the kingship, against both John and the infant Henry III.

When military defeat cleared the way for Henry III to take the throne, de Quincy went on crusade, perhaps in fulfillment of an earlier vow, and in 1219 he left to join the Fifth Crusade, then besieging Damietta. While in the east, he fell sick and died. He was buried in Acre, the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, rather than in Egypt, and his heart was brought back and interred at Garendon Abbey near Loughborough, a house endowed by his wife's family.

Family

The family of de Quincy had arrived in England after the Norman Conquest, and took their name from Cuinchy in the Arrondissement of Béthune; the personal name "Saer" was used by them over several generations. Both names are variously spelled in primary sources and older modern works, the first name being sometimes rendered Saher or Seer, and the surname as Quency or Quenci.

The first recorded Saer de Quincy (known to historians as "Saer I") was lord of the manor of Long Buckby in Northamptonshire in the earlier twelfth century, and second husband of Matilda of St Liz, stepdaughter of King David I of Scotland by Maud of Northumbria. This marriage produced two sons, Saer II and Robert de Quincy. It was Robert, the younger son, who was the father of the Saer de Quincy who eventually became Earl of Winchester. By her first husband Robert Fitz Richard, Matilda was also the paternal grandmother of Earl Saer's close ally, Robert Fitzwalter.

Robert de Quincy seems to have inherited no English lands from his father, and pursued a knightly career in Scotland, where he is recorded from around 1160 as a close companion of his cousin, King William the Lion. By 1170 he had married Orabilis, heiress of the Scottish lordship of Leuchars and, through her, he became lord of an extensive complex of estates north of the border which included lands in Fife, Strathearn and Lothian.

Saer de Quincy, the son of Robert de Quincy and Orabilis of Leuchars, was raised largely in Scotland. His absence from English records for the first decades of his life has led some modern historians and genealogists to confuse him with his uncle, Saer II, who took part in the rebellion of Henry the Young King in 1173, when the future Earl of Winchester can have been no more than a toddler. Saer II's line ended without direct heirs, and his nephew and namesake would eventually inherit his estate, uniting his primary Scottish holdings with the family's Northamptonshire patrimony, and possibly some lands in France.

By his wife Margaret de Beaumont, Saer de Quincy had three sons and three daughters:

Lorette who married Sir William de Valognes
Arabella who married Sir Richard Harcourt
Robert (d. 1217), before 1206 he married Hawise of Chester, Countess of Lincoln, sister and co-heiress of Ranulf de Blundeville, Earl of Chester.
Roger, who succeeded his father as earl of Winchester (though he did not take formal possession of the earldom until after his mother's death);
Robert de Quincy (second son of that name; d. 1257) who married Helen, daughter of the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great;
Hawise, who married Hugh de Vere, 4th Earl of Oxford.

Saher married Margaret de Beaumont Bef 1190. Margaret (daughter of Robert, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Pernel Grandmesnil) died Abt 12 Jan 1234/35. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

He was also known as Hugh le Meschin. He succeeded to the title of 3rd Earl of Chester [E., 1071] on 16 December 1153. He succeeded to the title of Vicomte d'Avranches [Normandy] on 16 December 1153. He fought in the Battle of Alnwick on 13 July 1174, where he was taken prisoner by King Henry II. He was deprived of his Earldom, but was then restored in January 1177.

Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester (1147 - 30 June 1181) was the son of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester and Maud of Gloucester, daughter of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (otherwise known as Robert de Caen, the illegitimate son of Henry I of England, making her Henry's granddaughter).

Early life

He is thought to have been born Kevelioc in Monmouth. But he may have taken the name of, the cwmwd of Cyfeiliog (in modern Powys) in the southern part of the Kingdom of Powys, Wales.

He was underage when his father's death in 1153 made him heir to his family's estates on both sides of the channel. He joined the baronial Revolt of 1173-1174 against King Henry II of England, and was influential in convincing the Bretons to revolt. After being captured and imprisoned after the Battle of Alnwick, he finally got his estates restored in 1177, and served in King Henry's Irish campaigns.
Marriage

In 1169 he married Bertrade de Montfort of Evreux, daughter of Simon III de Montfort. She was the cousin of King Henry, who gave her away in marriage. Their children were:

Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester
Matilda (Maud) of Chester (1171-1233), married David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon
Mabel of Chester, married William d'Aubigny, 3rd Earl of Arundel
Agnes of Chester (died 2 November 1247), married William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby
Hawise of Chester (1180-1242), married Robert II de Quincy
Beatrix of Chester, married Lord William Belward of Malpas

Hugh also had another daughter, Amice of Chester, who married Ralph de Mainwaring. There is no record of Amice's mother or whether she was Hugh's wife or mistress. The issue of Amice's legitimacy has been subject to a longstanding dispute.

One letter from the Pope suggests that Llywelyn Fawr may have been married to an unnamed sister of Earl Ranulph of Chester in about 1192, but there appears to be no confirmation of this. If this was the case it could have been either Mabel or Hawise, or perhaps Amice, and the marriage would have had to have been annulled before any subsequent marriages.

Death and succession

Hugh of Kevelioc died 30 June 1181 at Leek, Staffordshire, England. He was succeeded by his son, Ranulf.

Hugh married Bertrade de Montfort, of Evreux 1169. Bertrade (daughter of Simon de Montfort, Comte d'Evreux and Maud) was born Abt 1155; died Abt 1227. [Group Sheet]

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Notes:

She was also known as Bertrade de Montfort.