Maud de Lacy
Encyclopedia
Maud de Lacy, 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
.
, 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.
. 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".
. 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, Devon
shire 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 did, however, endorse many religious houses, including the priories of Stoke-by-Clare and Canonsleigh. 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.
John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln
John de Lacy 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 .-Public life:...
, 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
Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln
Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln was a confidant of Edward I of England.In 1272 on reaching the age of majority he became Earl of Lincoln...
, the son of Maud's deceased younger brother Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract
Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract
Edmund de Lacy was the son of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln. When his father died in 1240 he inherited his father's titles and lands which included Baron of Pontefract, Baron of Halton, Lord of Bowland, and Constable of Chester. As he was a minor his inheritance was held by him in wardship by...
.
Her eldest son was Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester
Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford
Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester was son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and Isabel Marshal. On his father's death, when he became Earl of Gloucester , he was entrusted first to the guardianship of Hubert de Burgh. On Hubert's fall, his guardianship was...
, a powerful noble during the reigns of kings Henry III of England
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
and Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
.
Family
Maud de Lacy was born on 25 January 1223 in LincolnLincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England, the eldest child of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln
John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln
John de Lacy 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 .-Public life:...
, a Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
Surety, and Margaret de Quincy, 2nd Countess of Lincoln suo jure.
Maud had a younger brother Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract
Edmund de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract
Edmund de Lacy was the son of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln. When his father died in 1240 he inherited his father's titles and lands which included Baron of Pontefract, Baron of Halton, Lord of Bowland, and Constable of Chester. As he was a minor his inheritance was held by him in wardship by...
who married in 1247 Alasia of Saluzzo, by whom he had three children.
Her paternal grandparents were Roger de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract
Roger de Lacy (1170-1211)
Roger de Lacy , 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 and during the time that he was hoping to inherit his grandmother's de Lisours lands as Roger de...
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
Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke
Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke was the fourth son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke who succeeded his childless brother Gilbert as the 5th Earl of Pembroke and Earl Marshal of England in 1242 a year after the latter's death...
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 MarshalIsabel Marshal
Isabel Marshal was a medieval English countess. She was the wife of both Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and 1st Earl of Gloucester and Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall...
. 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
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
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
Usk
Usk is a small town in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated 10 miles northeast of Newport.The River Usk flows through the town and is spanned by an ancient, arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. A castle above the town overlooks the ancient Anglo-Welsh border crossing - the river can...
, 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
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, 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
William de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle
William III de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle played a conspicuous part in the reign of Henry III of England, notably in the Mad Parliament of 1258.He married:# Christina William III de Forz, 4th Earl of Albemarle (died 1260) (Latinised as de Fortibus) played a conspicuous part in the reign of Henry...
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
Chirograph
A chirograph is the term given to a medieval document, which has been written in duplicate, triplicate or very occasionally quadruplicate on a single piece of parchment, where the Latin word "chirographum" has been written across the middle, and then cut through...
that showed Maud's participation in the writing of the document; this according to the Common Law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
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 AngoulemeAlice de Lusignan of AngoulemeAlice of Lusignan was the first wife of Marcher baron Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and half-niece of King Henry III of England....
by whom he had two daughters; he married secondly Joan of AcreJoan of AcreJoan of Acre was an English princess, a daughter of the King Edward I of England and queen Eleanor of Castile...
, by whom he had issue. - Thomas de Clare, Lord of ThomondThomas de Clare, Lord of ThomondThomas de Clare, Lord of Inchiquin and Youghal was a Hiberno-Norman peer and soldier. He was the second son of Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and his wife Maud de Lacy...
(1245 – 29 August 1287), married as her first husband Juliana FitzGeraldJuliana FitzGeraldJuliana FitzGerald, Lady of Thomond was a Norman-Irish noblewoman, the daughter of Maurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of Offaly, and the wife of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond, a powerful Anglo-Norman baron in Ireland, who was a younger brother of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford. Juliana was...
, daughter of Maurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of OffalyMaurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of OffalyMaurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of Offaly was a Norman-Irish peer, soldier, and Justiciar of Ireland from 1272 to 1273.-Career:...
and Maud de PrendergastMaud de PrendergastMaud de Prendergast, Lady of Offaly , was a Norman-Irish noblewoman, the first wife of Maurice FitzGerald, 3rd Lord of Offaly, Justiciar of Ireland, and the mother of his two daughters, Juliana FitzGerald and Amabel. Maud was a descendant of Strongbow, the Irish kings of Leinster and Thomond, and...
, by whom he had issue including Richard de Clare, 1st Lord ClareRichard de Clare, Steward of Forest of EssexRichard de Clare 1st Lord Clare was the son of Thomas de Clare, Lord of Thomond and Juliana FitzGerald.A descendant of Strongbow, he succeeded his older brother, Gilbert, in 1308 as Lord of Thomond. In 1309, and then again between 1312 and 1316, he was sheriff of Cork...
and Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere. - Bogo de Clare, Chancellor of LlandaffLlandaffLlandaff is a district in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales, having been incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Church in Wales Bishop of Llandaff, whose diocese covers the most populous area of South Wales. Much of the district is covered by parkland known as Llandaff...
(21 July 1248 – 1294) - Margaret de Clare (1250 – 1312/1313), married Edmund, 2nd Earl of CornwallEdmund, 2nd Earl of CornwallEdmund of Cornwall of Almain was the 2nd Earl of Cornwall of the 7th creation.-Early life:Edmund was born at Berkhamsted Castle on 26 December 1249, the second and only surviving son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and his wife Sanchia of Provence, daughter of Ramon Berenguer, Count of Provence,...
. Their marriage was childless. - Rohese de Clare (17 October 1252 – after 1316), married Roger de Mowbray, 1st Baron MowbrayRoger de Mowbray, 1st Baron MowbrayRoger de Mowbray, 1st Baron Mowbray , was an English peer and soldier.The son of another Roger de Mowbray, served in the Welsh and Gascon Wars. He was summoned to the Parliament of Simon de Montfort in 1265, but such summons have later been declared void...
, by whom she had issue. - Eglantine de Clare (1257 – 1257)
Widowhood
On 15 July 1262, her husband died near CanterburyCanterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
. Maud designed and commissioned a magnificent tomb for him at Tewkesbury Abbey
Tewkesbury Abbey
The Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Tewkesbury in the English county of Gloucestershire is the second largest parish church in the country and a former Benedictine monastery.-History:...
where he was buried. She also donated the manor of Sydinghowe to the priory of Legh, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire 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 did, however, endorse many religious houses, including the priories of Stoke-by-Clare and Canonsleigh. 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.