Lacy

Lacy. The Herefordshire branch of the Lacy family, which originated from Lassy in Normandy, was prominent in Ireland during the first two generations of the Anglo‐Norman settlement. Hugh de Lacy I (d. 1186), who had lands in England, Wales, and Normandy, accompanied Henry II to Ireland, and in 1172 was granted Meath. His lands were inherited by his eldest son, Walter (d. 1241), while his second son, Hugh II (d. 1242), was made earl of Ulster by King John in 1205. Walter and Hugh II fell foul of John and suffered forfeiture in 1210. Meath was restored to Walter in 1215, but Hugh did not recover Ulster until 1227, after a failed rising in 1223–4. Their half‐brother, William ‘Gorm’ de Lacy, born of Hugh I's second marriage to a daughter of Rory O'Connor (Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair), supported Hugh II's rebellion. But William, who had married a daughter of Llywelyn the Great, the prince of north Wales, went on to serve Henry III in Brittany in 1230, before being killed in warfare against the Irish of Bréifne in 1233. Neither Walter nor Hugh II left direct male heirs. Ulster reverted to the crown, while Meath passed to Walter's two granddaughters, who married Geoffrey de Geneville (d. 1314) and John de Verdon (d. 1274). A cadet branch of the family, descended from Robert de Lacy of Rathwire (possibly another son of Hugh I), survived in Meath. The Lacys of Rathwire were outlawed for supporting the Bruce invasion (1315–18), probably out of hostility to Roger Mortimer, who had become lord of Trim through marriage to the Geneville heiress.

Robin Frame