Robert de Lacy, called, from his birthplace, “of Pontefract,” claims to have built Clitheroe, which has, indeed, been attributed to his second son. He also had a confirmation from Rufus. By Maud, his wife, he had Ilbert, who, with his father, on the death of Rufus, joined Curthose against Henry I., and fought at Tenchbrai. Both were banished, and Robert was disseized of Pontefract in favour of William Transversus, and then of Hugh de la Val, or Lanval, who held it to the reign of Stephen. Robert finally regained the Honour, but King Henry claimed 2,000 marcs, and de la Val had £150. for the demesne lands, and 20 knights’ fees, which are entered in the Liber Niger in 1165 as held “de veteri feodo Pontisfracti.” Robert confirmed some of de la Val’s grants to Nostel, and founded the Cluniac Priory of Pontefract.
Ilbert de Lacy, next Lord of the Honour, fought at Northallerton, and was a zealous supporter of Stephen, on whose death he adhered to Henry II. He married Alice, daughter of Gilbert de Gant, but died childless.
Henry de Lacy, next brother, succeeded. To him is attributed the later Norman work in the castle. He appears in the Liber Niger as holding 60 fees. Henry II. confirmed him in the Honour of Pontefract, and the other English and the Norman possessions of his family. 12 Henry II. he was assessed upon 79½ fees. He was a considerable church benefactor, and gave St. John’s Church and St. Nicholas’s Hospital, both in Pontefract, to the priory there. He founded Kirkstall.
Robert de Lacy, his son, and successor to the Honour, was present at the coronation of Richard I. He died childless in 1193.
The heir, according to Dugdale, and in violation of an accepted rule of inheritance, was Albreda de Lizures, Robert’s uterine sister. Mr. Hunter, however, in his preface to the Pipe-roll of 31 Henry I. has shown that in all probability Albreda was the daughter of Robert de Lizures by a sister of Ilbert de Lacy, second of this name, and therefore Robert’s cousin, and heir of the full blood. This point is important as setting aside what has been regarded as a singular exception to an accepted law. Albreda married Richard FitzEustace, Constable of Chester.
John, their son, who died before his mother, Lord of Pontefract and Constable of Chester, abandoned his House of Halton, took the name and arms of de Lacy, and died 1179, having married Alice de Vere.
Roger de Lacy, son and heir. 5 Richard I. he received from his grandmother the Lacy lands. He visited the Holy Land with his father in King Richard’s train. 7 Richard I. he paid 2,000 marcs to have livery of the Honour of Pontefract, excepting the castle, which the king retained in his own hands, and to which he paid at least ten visits between 1205 and 1216. 1 John, he reopened the question of the de la Val 20 fees, for livery of which he paid 500 marcs; and 4 John, 1203, the king addressed a letter to the tenants directing them to acknowledge Roger de Lacy as their lord. Though John continued to hold the Castle, he employed Roger in various important offices, and made him governor of the strong fortress of Château-Gaillard, on the Seine, in which he stood a very famous siege, only giving way when short of food, and deserted by the king. 13 John he paid scutage upon 47¾ fees of his own land, besides others which he held in wardship. He seems to have been the baron who, in the absence of regular soldiers, led the Chester minstrels to the relief of Earl Ranulph, when surrounded by the Welsh. He was a great soldier, and an openhanded benefactor to the church, and deserved the line with which the monks of Hanlau began his epitaph:—
“Hic sepelitur Heros generosus in orbe Rogerus.”
Earl Roger died a young man in 1211. He had married Maud de Clare, and by her had John, his successor. In December, 14 John, 1212, the Honour was in the king’s hands, and he seems to have made free with its revenues; for in 1213 he directed 300 marcs from its issues to be spent on the works at Corfe Castle.
John de Lacy had seizin 20 September, 1213, and paid John 7,000 marcs for livery of the Honour, less the castles of Pontefract and Durrington, which the king kept, and for the expenses of keeping which Peter FitzHerbert had an order on the Exchequer. John, who is styled in the writ John de Chester, joined the Barons against King John, and was duly excommunicated by the Pope. He married Margaret, co-heir of Saer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, by Hawise, Countess of Lincoln and co-heir of Ranulph, Earl of Chester and Lincoln. Early in the reign of Henry III., 1232, on the death of Earl Ranulph, Hawise seems to have made over her earldom to her daughter’s husband, who bore the title till his death, in 1240.