Anthony Lucy, 1st Baron Lucy

Coat of arms of the Lucy family

Anthony Lucy, 1st Baron Lucy (also Anthony de Luci ) (* around 1283; † between May 20 and June 10, 1343 ) was an English nobleman and military man who temporarily served as Justiciar of Ireland .

Origin and heritage

Anthony Lucy was the second son of Sir Thomas de Lucy († 1305) and his wife Isabella († 1319), the eldest daughter of Adam of Boltby. His father was a descendant of William Fitz Duncan, Lord of Allerdale in Cumberland and Skipton in Yorkshire , so that he inherited a sizable estate in Cumberland. His mother had the Langley estate and other estates in Northumberland as a dowrybrought into the marriage. Anthony is first mentioned in 1301 when his father gave him as a younger son estates in Cumberland and Ireland for maintenance. After the death of his father in 1305, his older brother Thomas inherited most of the family estates. However, when Thomas died childless in 1308, Anthony became the heir to the estate.

Border wars against Scotland

Around this time, after the failure of the English conquest , northern England was increasingly the target of Scottish raids. Anthony Lucy was part of the English contingent protecting the western Scottish Marches in 1309 and 1311 . In the summer of 1314 he took part in the campaign to Scotland under the leadership of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford , and was knighted before the catastrophic defeat at Bannockburn . Together with Hereford, he fled after the battle to Bothwell Castle , whose commander, however, handed the refugees over to the victorious Scots. Lucy was only released in early 1315 after paying a ransom. At the end of 1315 King Edward II handed over the administration of Hexham in Northumberland to him and encouraged him to undertake raids into Scotland himself. When the English commander in North West England, Andrew Harclay , was captured by Scotland in late 1315 or early 1316, Lucy became one of the most important English commanders in North West England. Together with Ranulf Dacre he was from November 1316 to November 1317 administrator of the western Scottish Marches. On July 20, 1318 he was appointed sheriff of Cumberland.

Rivalry with Andrew Harclay

After Harclay's release, he replaced Lucy as sheriff in April 1319. Both took part in the unsuccessful siege of Berwick in 1319 and also served together on the border with Scotland for the next few years, although they were more rivals than partners. On May 15, 1321 Lucy was Writ of Summons as Baron Lucy in the parliament appointed, but Harclay remained the more prominent of the two soldiers, especially after he in March 1322 his victory at Boroughbridge the rebellion of the Earl of Lancaster was able to finally knock down and it was raised to the Earl of Carlisle . Harclay accused Lucy without basis of sympathizing with the rebels and confiscated his rival's lands. The King quickly ordered Harclay to return the lands to Lucy, but Harclay then sued Lucy in court. When Harclay made an arbitrary peace with the Scottish king in early 1323, he believed that Lucy would support this in view of the difficult military situation, but Lucy arrested him on February 25 at Carlisle Castle and handed him over to the royal judges. Harclay was sentenced to death as a traitor, and on March 3, Lucy had his rival executed.

Justiciar of Ireland

The king rewarded Lucy with an annual pension of 100 marks , with the Cockermouth reign and the Papcastle estate , on which Lucy made hereditary claims. From 1323 to 1328 he served as constable of Carlisle Castle, which he had extensively restored. In view of the ongoing armistice with Scotland, King Edward III appointed. Lucy to the Royal Justiciar of Ireland on February 27, 1331 , for which he received an annual allowance of £ 500. Together with his family and mainly from Cumberland followers he reached Ireland on June 3, where he tried to restore royal authority through a strict rule. He took back rights that were granted during the minority of Edward III. had been awarded and took vigorous action against the seditious Earl of Desmond , whom he had imprisoned in Dublin Castle . In July 1332, he hanged the powerful, but also rebellious Sir William Bermingham . By doing this he made many enemies in Ireland. However, his recall took place in view of the new fighting on the Scottish border, which is why the king appointed a new legal counsel for Ireland on September 30, 1332. Lucy left Ireland on December 3rd and returned to the north of England.

New fighting on the Scottish border

Until his death, Lucy fought again in the Scottish Marches. In March 1333 Lucy led a successful raid to Scotland, in which he inflicted a heavy defeat on the Scottish garrison of Lochmaben , who wanted to relocate him, on March 24th or 25th . Between June and September 1334 he administered Berwick before he returned to Cumberland. In 1335 he took part in Eduard III. and Edward Balliol participated in the invasion attempt. In May 1336 he was again appointed administrator of Berwick and justiciar of the territories occupied by England in Scotland, these offices he held until the end of 1337. The king lent him the Earlston estate in Berwickshire, Scotland . In 1336 he undertook a campaign with troops from Cumberland and Westmorland to south-west Scotland, while in 1337 he raided Galloway and attacked a Scottish army who wanted to undertake a raid on Cumberland. He then led troops from Berwick during the siege of Edinburgh . In May 1338 he was reappointed Sheriff of Cumberland. Shortly after horrifying besieged Perth , the Cumberland nobles asked the king that Lucy should not attend Parliament because of the ongoing fighting. In August 1340 he was to lead a force for the relief of Stirling , and although he had been replaced as sheriff in November 1341, he fought in June 1342 with 30 men-at-arms and 30 archers in the Scottish Marches. On May 20, 1343 he was warned to keep the armistice with Scotland, but he died before June 10.

Marriage and offspring

He was married to Elizabeth, whose origins are unknown, possibly the daughter of Robert Tilliol from Scaleby. His heir became his son Thomas Lucy , who also inherited the title Baron Lucy. Since he died without male offspring, the title fell to Thomas' daughter Matilda and her second husband Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland .

Web links

• Henry Summerson: Lucy, Anthony, first Lord Lucy (c.1283–1343). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Lucy 1321-1343	Thomas de Lucy