The Honour of Pontefract

See Domesday Described
Silkstone [Silchestone], Penistone, High Hoyland [Holant], Royston(e), Felkirk, Huddersfield, Rothwell and Kirkthorpe and thus held lands here. He also had built a keep at Castle Hill  near Almondbury which no longer stands but is now dominated by a  folly or "castle" built in the 1800's. Ailric held these lands under his Norman overlord Ilbert de Laci.
* A Wapentake ["Weapon-take"] is equivalent to a "Hundred" in southern England.
 

Castle Hill, Almondbury. Part of the honour of Pontefract Chase.

In 1158 Adam the son of Swein and grandson of Ailric of Cawthorne died. He was probably the last Anglo-Danish Lord of the manor of Cawthorne. The village of  Hoylandswaine was named after Swein.  Adam Fitz-Swein succeeded Swein but had no sons. Adam's two daughters, Amabil [Amabel] and Matilda inherited the estates. The eastern portion went to Matilda with the manor at Brierley and the western portion went to Amabil centred on the manor of Cawthorne. The Lordship probably was aquired by the Beaumonts i.e.Bellomonte ( after Bello Monte in Calvados, Normandy) sometime after this¹.
Ilbert had a brother Walter de Laci who was an important baron in the Welsh Marches.
The de Laci family history is dealt with at some length in three sources titled, History of Whalley by Dr. Whittaker²  the Dodsworth Manuscripts³ and a more recent study, The Lacy Family of England and Normandy by Wighton⁹
Ilbert de Laci died in 1090 or 1095. He was succeeded by his son Robert I de Laci. Robert was the forebear of the earls of Lincoln. Robert was banished from England  by Henry I (Beauclerc) for supporting Robert Curthose, for this he was in exile for a few years. He was pardoned and returned to England where he assisted in the refoundation of a Priory to St. Oswald at Nostell ['North Stall'], south of Barnsley. He also established a priory of the Cluniac Order [St. John's] at Pontefract and a Cluniac priory at [Monk] Bretton, the closeness of these two Cluniac houses caused some friction between them. Robert I de Laci is known to have held the Hundred of Blackburnshire in what is now part of Lancashire which eventually formed part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Here he probably established a castle at Clitheroe [Clyderhow]. Robert also confirmed to the abbey of Selby the manor of Hamelden [Hambledon] given by Ilbert his father, for the soul of Hugh, Robert's brother. The lands were quit claimed by John de Laci son of Hugh de Laci of Gateford.¹¹ Robert was banished twice, being the last of the true De Laci line, male or female.
Others [Dugdale] say Robert I left two sons, Ilbert[ii] and Henry. Ilbert fought at The Battle of The Standard and married Alice de Gaunt daughter of Gilbert de Gaunt. Ilbert died without issue and was succeeded by his brother Henry. Henry became the Lord of Blackburnshire.
Henry was succeeded by a son, Robert II de Laci he died in 1193 with no issue. It may be this Robert who established the castle at Clitheroe, he died without issue in 1193. It is with this member that Dugdale says the male line of the De Lacis died out.
Robert de Laci's  eldest son Ilbert II strongly supported  King Stephen against Matilda's claims. He fought with conspicuous valour at the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton in 1138 where the Scottish were routed. He died without issue.
Ilbert's brother and successor,  Henry de Laci distinguished himself by founding Kirkstall Abbey. He was confirmed Lord of Wakefield Manor by King Stephen⁷. Henry was suceeded by his son Robert  II de Laci and was one of the barons who attended Richard I's coronation in 1193, dying shortly after [perhaps at the seige of Nottingham against Prince John's forces].

According to Hunter⁶, the estates now passed to Henry's half sister Albreda [Aubrey] de Lizours, the daughter of Henry's mother by her second husband Robert de Lizours of Sprotborough. But Hunter  later showed by examining Pipe Rolls that it is more likely that Albreda was Henry's cousin and the grand-daughter [seems unlikely] of the first Robert de Laci.

The best interpretation however by Glover, places Albreda de Laci as the sister to the  Ilbert II de Laci. She married  Robert de Lizours. They produced a daughter, Albreda de Lizours who married firstly Sir William Fitz-Godric/FitzWilliam de ClairFait, Lord of Hampole and Emley (whose son was Sir FitzWilliam, Lord of Elmley) and secondly Richard Fitz-Eustace, Lord of Halton, made the Constable of Chester, who died before 1178. Richard appears to have begun a feudal alliance with the earls of Chester, who became the overlords of De Laci family. This probably began with Hugh Le Meschines, the third earl of Chester who was pitched along with William The Lyon, King of the Scots, Robert de Beaumont, 3rd earl of Leicester and the young prince Henry against the prince's father Henry II [Curtmantle]. By Richard FitzEustace, Albreda had a son, John Fitz-Euctace who died in 1190 pre-deceasing his mother, leaving a son, Roger de Lizours (taking Albreda's father's name of Lizours), heir both to the De Laci and Fitz-Eustace estates. However Albreda caused her grandson, Roger de Lizours to quit all claims to the de Lizour estates.
Eventually Roger de Lizours assumed the name of  Roger de Laci and founded the second de Laci family, again their seat was at the fortress and palace of Pontefract. Roger was Constable of Chester as well as Lord of Pontefract and Clitheroe who also held a castle at Halton in Cheshire.⁷ Roger held out bravely for King John in France and was a major player in the subjugation of the Welsh for which he was named Roger of Hell [Rogeri de Helle]. At the time of Richard I in 1192, Roger de Laci was accompanied by William I de Bellomonte* (Beaumont) in the third Crusade.¹ However, this is disputed ^*  See Roger de Laci below.

Bellomonte - tenants and under tenants in the honour of Pontefract.                                                          

 William [I] Bellomonte may have acquired his interest at Huddersfield between 1190 and 1200. This tenancy may have been a direct one rather than an under tenancy, given by Roger 'Helle' de Laci [d.1211]. William [II] de Bellomonte or Beaumont was the lord at the manor of Cawthorne, part of the honour of  Pontefract.¹  He was survived by his widow, Alice le Strange. William II's eldest son, Sir Richard de Bellomonte married Annabella who later as a widow was given a grant of land at "Hodresfield" [ Huddersfield] by Henry de Laci, earl of Lincoln.¹ It has been suggested by Whittaker that this grant of land was provided in order that the Bellomontes would provide safe passage to and  from Pontefract to the Laci castle at Halton [near Runcorn] Cheshire. The line of the earls of Lincoln became a large branch of the de Laci family with notables such as Henry de Laci. William I's grandson [William III] may have aquired Crosland by marrying Elizabeth Crosland and also gained lands at South Kirkby which could have previously been under tenancies, the mesne lord having been Roger de Montbegon, Lord of Hornby who died s.p. in 1227-8. Montbegon's lands appear to have descended from his mother Matilda FitzAdam, who held the manor of Brierley, S.E. of Wakefield. She was one of two daughters of Adam FitzSwein. The Beaumonts also aquired some lands at Lepton near Huddersfield.¹⁴

William III may be the knight whose blazon is given in the Galloway Roll [1300]:  William de Beaumont : GULES A LION RAMPANT ARG a label of three points azure semy of crescents or.

* Deves-sur-Mer - the embarkation point for William the Conqueror's fleet [700 ships, 7000 soldiers and 55,000 men]. The original port is long silted up.

The very numerous place-names in Normandy ending in ville have usually the name of the early settler as a prefix, often little changed, as in Tancarville, Etouteville, Omonville, Benoitville, Lamberville, Normanville, or now disguised, as in Bellengreville (Berenger), Amfreville (Humphrey), Psalmonville (Salomon), Rauville (Ralph), Tourville (Torf), &c.¹⁷ 

                              
Perhaps about 1220, the Beaumonts acquired lands at Whitley, near Thornhill. Some or all of Whitley could have been an under tenancy of the Lords of Thornhill  i.e. John de Thornhill or his son Richard in the mid to late 1200's. By the mid 1300's Brian de Thornhill was heavily involved in Beaumont affairs as the Beaumonts lost much of their property due to their criminal behaviour. Some may have been related earlier to the Lancastrian revolt and later to the Eland Feud. The latter involved the murder of John de Eland, Sheriff of Yorkshire and steward of the Warenne estates of the manor of Wakefield. Roger 'Helle' de Laci would have known William I Bellomonte, Roger de Montbegon and another in the De Laci circle, John de Birkin of Laxton Nottinghamshire, who also held land at Lepton, from whom descended Adam de Everingham of Everingham & Stainborough and his son Robert de Everingham, Lord Paramount of Rouston, both keepers of Sherwood Forest.¹⁴ 

Roger de Laci - did he join King Richard's third crusade?

Roger is thought by some to have been commanding Tickhill and Nottingham Castle during the period of Richard's absence. The entry for Roger de Laci in the Dictionary of National Biography¹⁶ may be correct in stating that Roger was entrusted with Nottingham and Tickhill castles in 1192. The third crusade against the Saracens lasted from December 1189 to1192. The D.N.B. also provides a quote that "Dugdale's statement that he was present at the sieges of Acre and Damietta is due to the confusion with his father and son".¹⁴ Roger's father, John I FitzRichard, constable of Chester, perished, according to Howden, during the third crusade on 11th October 1190 at Tyre whilst John II, Roger's son was born about 1190 which would see him aged about 29 if he left for Damietta [1219] on the fifth crusade presumably with his overlord Ranulf de Blondeville later called "The Crusader". Other companions were the aged Saher III de Quincy, his son Robert [and perhaps his second son Roger] and William "Stronghand" Albini of Arundel. Saher III died on his way to Jerusalem in the same year, this crusade continued until 1222.  John is known to have issued a charter at Damietta about 1218 [Pontefract Chartulary No. 21].¹⁴ John II de Laci was constable of Chester for Ranulf de Blondeville and also John Ceann mhor Le Scot de Huntingdon for whom he witnessed a charter [K.J. Stringer].

Keeping back the Saracens - The Hospitaller grandmaster Guillaume de Villiers or de Clermont defending the walls of Acre, Galilee, 1291.

Thus it appears that Roger'Helle', constable of Chester was controlling both Nottingham and Tickhill castles whilst Richard was away. Roger was opposed, in the early stages, to Count John of Mortain and had  two of John's knights, the constables of Tickhill and Nottingham hanged at the behest of William Longchamp, chancellor of England. As a consequence Roger had his lands ransacked by Count John.
It would appear that the reference in Whittaker and Pratt may be challenged, there does not appear to be much evidence if any that Roger was in the Middle East although there is nothing to say that he did not go part way there. Some crusaders returned from Sicily after it became clear that Count John and William Longchamp could not be trusted, for Richard had heard how Longchamp was abusing his position.
When Longchamp the justicar moved north and displaced Hugh de Puiset, Justicar for the north, Richard sent Walter de Coutances, archbishop of Rouen to replace him. Could Roger have been sent back to Nottingham to control the North against Richard's adversaries? Given this evidence that Roger was garrisoning Nottingham and Tickhill for Richard I in the same year that the crusade ended we may have to amend the notion that William Bellomonte and Roger went on the third crusade although they may alternatively have left England together and then returned before reaching the Holy Land.
Rather like earl David Ceann mhor, Roger's whereabouts seem somewhat shrouded during the third crusade. Earl David though seems to have fallen off the radar completely, as no references to his whereabouts [K.J. Stringer] occur during the third crusade even though he sired the illegitimate Henry of Stirling about 1193.There are strong suspicions that Earl David did not go on Richard's crusade. Richard had left England basically at peace with Scotland after the 100,000 marks were handed over for his debilitating militarily foray into Outremer.
By 1194 Roger inherited the honours of Pontefract and Clitheroe [VCH Lancs, i, p.300] the same year as the siege of Nottingham. He assumed the name De Laci from his great grandmother Albreda de Laci, daughter of Robert I de Laci. Roger is also found as the castellan of Chateaux Galliard, Richard's 'saucy castle' in 1194.  Prior to his inheritance he was often referred to rather grandly as Rogero conestabulario Cestrie which appears in one of Earl David's Charters [1190-1194]:

As we can see there were other witnesses, the more important of whom were Thomas Bigod, William de Warenne of Wormgay [Norfolk] and Eustace de Vesci, Lord of Alnwick. The latter was an opponent of Count John particularly during the subsequent Baron's Revolt in John's reign. The Scottish links of the De Lacis is further examined below. This Act suggests that Roger and Earl David were associates at this time [1190-1194] during Richard's reign. Roger de Laci was also a Sheriff of Yorkshire under King John's rule for about seven years from 1206 until his death in 1211. Some part of this time he shared the shievality with Robert Wallensis [from Wales]. Roger was also involved with Robert FitzRoger, Lord of Warkworth who was also a sheriff of Northumberland. Robert was related to Roger through Richard FitzEustace who married firstly Albreda de Lizours  which gave rise to Roger's line and secondly to Jane Bigod, daughter of the 1st earl of East Anglia which gave rise to Robert's line, making them in effect second cousins. Both these men would have collectively wielded considerable power in the North of England. Later after John ascended as King in 1199, Roger's opposition to John yielded, a matter of reality as much as opportunity..

When Roger de Laci died in 1211 he left a son John (Johannes) II de Laci, Constable of Chester, Count [Earl] of Chester and Earl of Lincoln through his wife Margaret, the daughter of Hawise, sister to Ranulf de Blondeville, Earl of Chester and Lincoln. Roger married firstly, Alice de Aquila, without issue and secondly Margaret de Quincy. John granted Whitley Hall (Whitley Beaumont) to William de Bellemonte¹⁰, which became the seat of the Beaumonts of Whitley. We are also told by K.J. Stringer¹³ that a sister of John de Laci who is un-named, was betrothed to Alan MacDougall of Galloway, who was Lord of Galloway, Constable of Scotland and an adviser to King John. There appears to have been no issue but the various marriages of Alan speak volumes for the cross-border relationships of the De Lacis at this time: 

                                                             Rose de Laci d. of Earl of Ulster                       Roger 'Helle' de Laci
                                                                                      ||                                                            |
                                                                                      4
                                                                                      ||                                                            |
    Helen de L'Isle=======1==========Alan of Galloway=====2=====sister of John de Laci of Pontefract
                                                                                     ||                                         hered. const. of Chester, earl Lincoln
                                               |                                     3
                                                                                     ||
                                               |                                       =========Margaret Canmore d. of Earl David De Huntingdon

                                               |                                                 |
                                                                                  ___________________________________________________
                                               |                                  |                                                                  |                                                   |
Roger de Quincy====Helen of Galloway        Devorguilla*==John I Balliol           Christiana==William                   Marion===John Comyn
earl Winchester                                                                                of Barnard Castle                          Fortibus
                                                                                                                                                                     of Skipton====Maud De Ferrers
                                                                                                                                                                     Castle
Key:
* heiress of Alan of Galloway who had inherited the constableship and the Moreville estates through his mother.

                                     
                         Pedigree for Bellomonte from Flowers Visitation beginning with Richard who died 1472.

Edmund left a son, Henry de Laci born 1251. He became a close confidant of Edward I and  in 1278 received the earldom of Lincoln and Lordship of the honour of Pontefract.  In 1272 Edward I granted the right for Henry de Laci to hold a market at Almondbury on each Monday. Henry died in 1311 and was buried at St. Paul's London.

Henry had two sons and two daughters the first three pre-deceased  him. The only surviving child was his youngest daughter Alice de Laci. Alice inherited the de Laci estates and entered into a marriage contract at the age of nine in 1294 to Thomas Plantagenet, later Earl of Lancaster, Leicester, Derby, Lincoln and Salisbury. As a result Alice de Laci became Countess of Lancaster and Thomas inherited the de Laci estates. Thomas was the grandson of Henry III. His father, the Earl of Lancaster was brother to Edward I.
Alice, according to one version, was abducted forcibly from her husbands Pontefract Castle by Earl Warrene of Conisbrough, probably with the assistance of Edward II.  Another version says she was taken from Canford Castle, near Wimborne, Dorset.
She was taken to Earl Warrene's castle at Reigate in Surrey. This gave rise to a private war between the the House of Lancaster and the Warrenes. After his rebellion, Thomas Earl of Lancaster was beheaded at Pontefract but Edward II was already unpopular with noble and commoner alike and this led to Thomas being deified, the cult of 'Saint' Thomas appeared.
Thomas's brother, Henry Plantagenet inherited the de Laci estates (died 1345). He was succeeded by his son Henry Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Lancaster. Except for Edward the "Black Prince" he was the first Duke since the Conquest . He died of the Great Plague ("Great Pestilence") on 24th March, 1361.
Henry had two daughters, the eldest of whom died with no issue. The second, Blanche Plantagenet [d.February 1349], married John of Gaunt (Ghent), Earl of Richmond, Duke of Lancaster. Blanche and John of Gaunt had a son Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, (born 1366 at Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire) who inherited the de Laci estates and led to the line of Lancastrian kings. see William de Dronsfield, esquire to Lord Bolingbroke
Henry Bolingbroke deposed his cousin Richard II [son of the "Black Prince"] and assumed the crown in 1399 as Henry IV, the first Lancastrian king. Richard II was ostensibly murdered in Pontefract Castle by starvation, such like Edward II, no marks would be left on the body.
Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, was the first King to be crowned using the English language.The great plague had decimated the priesthood and aristocrats did not have sufficient latin teachers for their children, English became the lingua franca by the end of the 1300's

The Laci name lingered in the western part of the region. John Lacy married Ann, Alice de Eland they had three children an eldest son, a daughter who married Henry Murgatroyd and a second son, Gilbert Lacy born abt. 1400. This Gilbert married Johanna Soothill [Sotehill] born abt. 1400, daughter of Lord Gerald Soothill [b. abt. 1375]
Gilbert and Johanna Lacy had a child, Gerald Lacy b. abt. 1425 who married Joan Symmes who had a son, Hugh Lacy b. abt. 1489 at Brearley Hall, d. abt. 1573. Hugh was Lord of Midgley. His will was proved in 1570. Hugh married Agnes Savile b.1496 of Newhall, Thornhill.

From the time of Henry Bolingbroke's coronation  [Henry IV] to the present, the honour of Pontefract has been vested in the Crown. The honour of Pontefract is a separate Crown estate, managed by its own officers as part of the Duchy of Lancaster.

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